Spontaneous+Jocelyn= Bad Idea

Have you ever done something that seemed like a really good idea at the time and then turned out to be a really bad idea?? Well this is a story about how I did that one time (one time...ha). And it's called:

Figaro

and it looks a little something like this:

Now where to begin??? At the beginning, naturally. On a cold day in January all the way in Frankfurt, Germany I pushed myself into the world. (Well more accurately I was pushed...) Okay Okay maybe that was a little too far back. Lets start instead on July, 25, a holiday celebrated in Utah as Pioneer Day.

Chris' cousin and his cousin's brother in law were over playing computer games all day. Woo. I was less than excited. I made it to the gym, watched a little tv, but honestly I was feeling a little neglected. My best friend Alena was still out of town for the summer so I really didn't have anything fun to do. At one point I decided that I wanted to be artsy and so I headed to Michael's to get some paint. The Michael's in Orem is right near Walmart so Chris asked me to go get a new computer game for him and the guys to play. woo.

So after getting a GREAT deal on paint (0.29 a bottle!!!), I headed over to Walmart to look for their computer game. And what did I see as I pulled into the Walmart parking lot???? Two people sitting on the lawn with a box and on the side it said:

Sidebar: I'm living in my aunt's very nice home and she doesn't want me to have any sort of animal that could relieve themselves or scratch up the carpet.

I drove past the sign and parked but I couldn't stop thinking about the cute little kittens who needed a home. I called Chris to find out what the title of the game was,

Chris: "Heeyyy Babbyy"

Jocelyn: "Hey"

Chris: "Are you there yet"

Jocelyn: "Yeah I'm walking back to the electronics right now...guess what was outside?!"

Chris: "What?"

Jocelyn: "Kittens!"

Chris: "Your aunt would never know..."

Jocelyn: "You think?"

Chris: "Nahh"

If only he had been paying attention to what he was saying while he was playing his game.

"Alright," I thought to myself, "If they cost money, I won't get one."

So I drove up to the nice people with the kittens sign and saw three of the most adorable kittens I had ever seen in my existence. I couldn't wipe the goofy grin off my face.

"Want a kitten?" The man said.

"YES!" Was my overly enthusiastic answer. 

And before I knew it, I had a tiny 4 week old kitten in my lap and I was driving home. Before knowing her gender I was calling her Goliath, and then Oscar Wilde, and then Koshka (which is Russian for oatmeal when pronounced with a long 'O' but a regular 'O' means cat, but her name was oatmeal.) before I decided on Figaro (Figgy Pudding for short). 

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home (yes I know I was just at Walmart) to get some baby kitten food. While inside a small boy, missing the appropriate shoes and shirt needed for a place of business, saw me walking down the aisle, "A kitten!" He exclaimed. (Obviously I couldn't leave her in the hot car...thats baby 101 people). Then he went to retrieve his small and also shoe-less sister so she could see the kitten too. After getting passed some more "aww how cute"s and "I want a kitten"s and one sarcastic "oo look a rat" I made it out of the store with baby kitty in tow.

Now getting her inside the house without being detected was going to be the hard part. So being the smart new mother that I was I put her inside my purse instead of inside the plastic bag with my new paints (honestly people, the bags say keep away from children right on the side.) 

Just as I stepped out of the car with cute baby kitty tucked safely in my purse, my aunt walked outside on her way to a neighborhood get-together, "Jocelyn are you coming over," she asked referring to the little event.

"No," I replied, "Chris and I have dinner plans," which at the time was the truth.

Safely inside the house I closed the door behind me and pattered down the stairs to our basement apartment.

Chris was standing right next to the door when I opened it. No words came out, I just smiled and held my purse open so he could see the two adorable little eyes peering out at him. He practically jumped into the air when he realized what he was looking at.

And so our cute little family of three began. I set up a litter box in the bathroom and a place for her food under my desk on a plastic bag. She was too timid to really explore the house so she stayed with me wherever I went, mostly just sleeping on my lap. That night we had to go pick up Chris' newly married friend at the airport from their honeymoon. Figaro came along and slept in my lap the whole way. It was precious. It was love.

She cuddled with us all night and since I don't work until 3pm on Tuesdays I got to sleep in. When my body woke me up at 8am and I wasn't ready to be awake, I saw Figaro just sitting there watching me. Not daring to move until I was ready to get up. Unfortunately her timidity didn't last for very long and soon she was happy to explore. But exploring was only fun for so long. And when she got bored and wanted attention, she whined/meowed. Not a good combination when you're trying to keep the kitten a secret. After a day and a half it became apparent that I couldn't keep her.

I was heartbroken. How can I fall in love with something I just met? I just didn't have the time or energy to watch her every second of every day to make sure she wasn't getting into anything she wasn't supposed to. As much as I hated it, She had to go.

My first goal was to put her on KSL (online classifieds in Utah) and hope that some nice little girl or boy or young couple would want a new kitten. It was so hard to take the pictures of her knowing I was just putting them on the internet to find someone to take her away. Just as I posted the ad, I noticed a wanted ad posted at the same time...looking for a kitten for her daughter's birthday!!! "It's fate!" I thought. I perfect home for my perfect kitten. 

But apparently it wasn't fate because that woman wasn't interested. I was afraid that the longer I kept Figaro the more attached she would become to me and then when I did give her away she would feel betrayed. I couldn't stand the thought. So I started researching animal shelters. It eased my heart a little to know that little kittens go fast in places like this. The fact that I had to pay $15 for them to take her just assured me that they would take care of her.

So on Thursday, only a couple days after she had come home with me, we took her to the animal shelter. Despite the fact that every other time I had taken her in the car she was content, she wasn't then. She wouldn't sit still in my lap as we left our street and would not stop meowing. We pulled over down the road a ways because Chris was afraid she had to go to the bathroom and didn't want her to do it in the car.

She stood in the grass by the high school we stopped at, meowing even louder than she had been before.

"It's like she knows," Chris said.

And I think she did.

After some poor navigating on my part and several U turns we made it to the animal shelter. I stood outside holding her, not wanting to go in. But I knew this would be better for both of us.

So one broken heart, $15, 1 bag of uneaten kitten food (still sitting on my kitchen floor btw) and about a week later and am still a little sad to think about my little Figaro who is probably named Princess or Fluffy by now. I have also realized that it is NOT smart for me to make spontaneous, rash decisions (unless its something like, I'm gonna get some ice cream). 

But in the end I blame the whole thing on Chris. After all, he was the one who wanted me to go the Walmart in the first place...