Noodleman and SpiceGirl can usually be found curled up together in a variety of places such as under the couch, in the middle of the kitchen floor, on the rug in the bathroom, and even on top of the dresser in the bedroom.
But the moment you want to lie down, you can be sure that two little furballs will already be snoozing on top of the bed!
"Well, I guess they think we're not going to sleep any time soon." I said to my husband as we entered the bedroom to find both kitties napping on our covers.
"What do you mean "we", my love," laughed Mike. "They're on YOUR side of the bed!"
And with that, he proceeded to go to HIS side of the bed, throw back the blankets, lie down, and cover himself back up, all the while smirking at me! "Aaaaaaaaahhh!" Mike taunted. "This feels SO good!"
"Oh stow it, sailor," I grumbled while looking over the situation. "They look so comfortable...I hate to move them."
"Well, you had better do something or you're going to be standing there all night long!" And with that, Mike repositioned himself onto his side while pulling the pillow further under his head. "Come on, Honey... get into bed!"
Sighingly, I went over to the closest furball. "Come on, Noodleman. Time to get up so I can go to bed."
Noodleman just lifted his head, looked me squarely in the eye for a second, and then put his head back down as though dismissing a flea.
"Oh no you don't, buddy," I informed him. "It's my turn to sleep here!" With that said, I gently started gathering this now-boneless kitty body into my arms...carried him into the living room... and carefully laid him on the couch.
"You're such a good kitty," I whispered to him as I turned to go back to the bedroom. But before I could finish taking three steps, a black and white blur shot past me, and greeted me on top of the bed as I came through the doorway.
"Noodleman, get off! If you think I'm doing this all night long, you've got another 'think' coming!"
This time, as I went to catch him, Noodleman simply jumped off the bed's end, looked up at me very haughtily, and then sauntered back into the living room where he proceeded to curl up in Mike's chair.
"Okay," I muttered to myself. "One down and one to go."
As I approached SpiceGirl, she never moved a muscle...not even a twitch when I called her name. You would think that she was completely unaware of what had just gone on with Noodleman. But our kitties have trained me to know a fake-out when I see one!
"Come on, little girl. Time to go into the living room with Noodleman."
SpiceGirl opened her eyes, looked up at me sleepily, yawned a big yawn, and then s..t..r..e..t..c..h..e..d for what seemed like forever. Then all movement stopped while she watched me to see if maybe I could change my mind just this once.
"Will you stop fooling around and get into bed?!" grumbled my husband. "How hard is it to move a cat?!"
"I'm moving them, Honey. I just don't want them to feel like we're kicking them to the curb, that's all."
"We ARE kicking them to the curb!"
"Yeah, but we can do it gently!"
"Okay...," my husband conceded as he sat up in bed. Turning to SpiceGirl, he announced, "SpiceGirl, we love you. Now get off the bed!" And with that said, he stood her up and pushed her towards the edge.
But SpiceGirl likes to be asked at least twice if not three times before doing anything that anyone wants her to do...just in case you weren't totally sure of what you were asking up until then.
So she veered to the left instead of going straight...and dove under the covers.
As we watched this little lump of blanket head for Mike's feet, I cautioned, "Be careful...don't move your feet or she'll..."
Yup, she did. Mike yelled, "ow...nails...NAILS...GET her!"
Since there were now several lumps of blanket moving all over the place, I made an educated guess and grabbed the one that I felt looked most like a cat's silouette.
Well, nobody's perfect.
"That's ME!" Mike sputtered as he pulled his foot away. Forgetting about sleep, he quickly swung both legs to the side of the bed and then jumped up.
Now there was just one lump moving, and it was heading towards Mike's pillow.
"I'LL get her, this time!" And with that, Mike swooped down on the little lump, gathered up both the lump and the blanket, and then strode out into the living room where he deposited the entire pile on the couch cushions.
Noodleman looked up from his chair as though to say, "Hey, can we cut out the noise...I'm trying to sleep here!"
In the meantime, the blanket started to move again, and a little white nose peaked out from under one corner.
My husband bent over and, shaking his finger at the innocent little face now staring back at him, said, "YOU are such a little troublemaker!"
SpiceGirl then swatted playfully at his finger.
"You know, Honey," I said. "If you keep playing with her, we'll never get any rest tonight!"
"I'm not playing with her...I'm telling her what a bad girl she is!"
"Yeah...right!"
I then reached for the blanket, picked it up while shaking a little furball out of it, and then headed back towards the bedroom.
Spreading the blanket back on the bed, Mike and I proceeded to get under the covers. It wasn't very long before we both started dozing off...
Plop...Kaplop...SpiceGirl and Noodleman were back on the bed.
As Noodleman laid down on top of the blanket...and on Mike's feet... and as SpiceGirl cuddled up to my neck, I had all I could do not to laugh. What a couple of opportunists, they were!
Mike shifted his position a little bit to get more comfortable...
And his feet moved...
"Ow! NOODLEMAN!"
It was going to be a long night.
Christine