And that's why I didn't get anything accomplished today

I had a really long, funny(ish) post half-way written but Hunter S. Thomcat kept jumping on me and demanding hugs and when I put him down the 80th time he stared at me and then jumped on my keyboard and deleted everything.  And that’s why I don’t have a post today.  But I do have this:

This doesn't count as "cat-shaming" because he's totally proud of it, and he's wearing this around the house like it's a damn medal of honor.

213 thoughts on “And that's why I didn't get anything accomplished today

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  1. I once fell asleep with my finger on the space bar and woke up with 20 new pages to my dissertation. Interestingly, I was too tired to figure out “ctrl Z” would undo the damage and manually back-spaced all 20 pages. It’s a wonder I ever got the darn thing done.

  2. He knows that you wrote a post about him. A probably shaming post. Hes conspiring against you. And so he wears that badge because hes like yes, i won.

  3. Smart cat,before long he will have another sign round his neck sitting in the street saying ‘My owner is nuts, please save me’

    But, I hasten to add, I know you aren’t, we’ll not totally anyway xxxxx

  4. I had a cat that loved to be near the computer and would knock the pens off the desk, looking each time as if amazed about how gravity worked. Luckily the cat never deleted anything. My son, however, is a true computer geek – did his first file deletion at the age of 9 months.

  5. My toddler is going through a pretending-to-be-a-cat phase. I also choose snuggles over productivity – so worth it for the purrs alone.

  6. Tybalt is about the same age as Hunter, and he was delighted to learn I’m working from home today. He even found one of his favorite toys to play fetch with, and dropped it on my lap. Of course, that means he runs across my keyboard every time he returns it, just to make sure I know it’s time to throw again.

    Ah, kitties. How boring our lives would be without them. :/

  7. Sometimes I feel bad when I shove my cat away but then I remember that it only feeds his strength and determination. I like that he doesn’t take it personally but then on the other hand it’d be nice if he’d take a hint.

  8. Love me some Hunter S. Thomcat! Not that I love that he deleted your post, but that he is so much like my orange tabby Hick that died after 15 years of having kitty AIDS…wait…

    Love me some Hunter S. Thomcat!

  9. Mine is currently pissed off that I didn’t leave the sink running in the bathroom while I was in there. She’s mewling at a new frequency – I think she’s been practicing – and trying to viciously headbutt my shins into compliance. Maybe I should make her a sign, too…

  10. I have a kitty who demands snuggles EVERY time I sit. Whether I’m at my computer, on the couch, at the table, etc. I’m fortunate that she’s never deleted an entire… anything. But she did interfere with a couple papers when I was still in school.

  11. “Will accept tiny strips of your skin under my claws in leu of snuggles” ~shit my cat says if I don’t stop what I’m doing to give him lovin’ when he wants it. He can be so demanding sometimes.

  12. I have the same problem with my cat and my kids…I hardly ever complete a thought or a post 🙂 PS…He is an adorable cat, even if he is demanding

  13. While I adore your writing, I also adore your cats. In the case of your blog, either kind of new post is a WIN.

  14. My dog ruins my writing attempts by sticking her enormous head through the arm of my chair and gnaws on my hand until I pet her. If she jumped on the keyboard it would turn into alphabet soup. She’s extra large. Her sign would warn of potential crush injuries.

  15. I don’t consider myself a cat-person, but I gotta say, that’s one cute cat. If my dog could jump, I bet he’d do the same thing.

  16. Outsource your cat to me. I will snuggle him like he’s never been snuggled before.

  17. I have three cats, a dog, a teenager, and a husband who generally prevent me from getting work done, at home. This is why I love my office at work. Alone time = sanity.
    Additionally, said cats/dog/teenager/hubs also interrupt sleep regularly. I am considering sleeping under my desk ala George on Seinfeld. 😉

  18. Our cat loves to walk on keyboards. The more important your task, the more she wants to help.

  19. SURE, blame it on the cat. The old saying “The dog ate my homework” has been updated.

  20. Everyone knows cats are utterly shameless anyway. He looks like an impatient, expectant ruler tolerating this behavior for now.

    Also, holy crap HST is getting big and all grown-up-looking.

  21. Jenny, you were in my dream last night.

    I apologizing for going all fan-girl on you.

    ps. I like your cat.

  22. How could you resist a cute little face like that? Sending snuggles to him from Illinois! 🙂

  23. Heyyyyyy where’d you get the twine for that sign?

    (I always carry twine around in case I meet up with…cough…someone. ~ Jenny)

  24. My dog lays on my books when I’m ignoring her, refuses to eat unless I’m home with her, and, just the other day, she had been cooped up in my room all day so I gave her free rein of the house while I got ready in my bathroom; minutes later when I came out she was still just lying on my bed waiting for me, not having moved an inch. That’s either real love or a real small brain.

  25. My dog learned how to turn off the power strip under my desk. When he felt I’ve been working at the computer too much and should be paying more attention to him, my dog turned off the power strip and shut down my computer! It wasn’t a mistake, he did it intentionally.

  26. My lapdog and my laptop have a contentious relationship. He usually naps curled up against my side, but if the MacBook is in my lap, that’s where he urgently needs to be. He shoves himself under my arm and goes boneless between me and the keyboard, passive-resistance-style, with his nose on my trackpad.

  27. Mine runs in, rubs ankles and yells….she wants me to follow her to our bedroom. Where I get on the bed and after MUCH cajoling, she does too (she’s paranoid) and then we do headbutts and snorgles and she never calms down for a second. And then 30 minutes later, we do the dance again. She feels better being on the same level rather than a human hovering over her. But while she waits for me to follow her, she stands there with her tail at attention, vibrating practically with excitement.
    She’s spazzy, but hard to resist. I didn’t get much done today, either thanks to the cats.

  28. I recently refused snuggles from my cat (Because: Work). He sat beside me and cried until I bent down and asked “What? What could you possibly NEED right this minute?”

    As a response he winked at me, reached up, and caressed my cheek.

    I was so overcome with the creeps that I had to put him out of the room to get my work finished.

  29. There’s nothing like getting something perfect in photoshop and having the cat mosey its way across the keyboard. That’s our punishment for going wireless with the mouse and taking away that entertainment.

  30. I do believe Hunter and my feline, Winters, may be kindred souls. She has the tendency to steal my socks and parade around the house with them hanging from her mouth. I also bought her one of those laser pointers….endless hours of entertainment right there.

  31. GAH! I would have been so frustrated! But cats don’t really let anything get in their way when they want some attention. Much like husbands.

  32. Someone needs to design pet beds in the shape of laptops/ PC keyboards. They’d make a fortune.

  33. I’ve wondered if I actually own the cats. It seem to me that they have me trained to open doors and feed them on command.

  34. Not 25 month old kittens. I have 2 kittens. They are 5 months old.
    They still tag team you. You can’t sit on the couch.

  35. The question is, Will Victor buy this story? Or will he insist that you spent the entire morning making a sign to hang on the cat?

  36. Maybe you need to do what someone else did and place an ad for a cat snuggler who will come and cuddle Hunter S. Thomcat whilst you work. If you do decide you need someone to do that, please consider me for the position. I think that would pretty much be the best job ever.

    Alternatively, you could snuggle Hunter and dictate your posts, correspondence, novel copy to me and I’ll do the typing. I’m really good at transcription! (And I really, really need a job!)

  37. Ahhh, the old “cat deleted everything” excuse.
    Does that work for incomplete homework, 3rd quarter earnings projection reports, etc.?
    I need to get a damn cat, pronto.

    Jason
    The Cheeky Daddy

  38. I decided JUST THIS MORNING that one of the best work-at-home perks is cat snorgles.

  39. Can you make a sign like that for Weeble? He is the same way….always demanding to be held and snuggled. Brother!

  40. My 13-year-old puppy passed away earlier this month and I’ve been contemplating replacing him with a cat (I’m bi-animal). But I’m in the middle of writing a novel, so this is making me re-think the plan. BTW, there’s an auto-save feature in Word also where you can set the auto-save (I’ve got mine at every minute. I’ve lost too much work in the past.). Still, I’m not sure autosave will help with HST 🙂

  41. I’ve heard of “the dog ate my homework” before, but never “the cat hit my delete button”. Really? How simple do you think we are? Oh… ok… we are simple. That story is totally believable, and not made up sounding at all.
    HST is so cute!

  42. Too funny! Here’s a question I asked my friends and family on Facebook this weekend:
    Please help settle a debate for me. After picking up my whining, 20 year-old cat and zipping him in my hoodie with me so I could carry him around and still have a hand free for other things, I’m now considering making some kind of kitty sling (like a baby sling) so I can keep my hands free, but he feels he is getting the love and attention he feels he so desperately deserves. I live alone. Will this move throw me into crazy cat lady status? Keep in mind, I do only have one cat. And he’s old. Any whines a lot when I refuse to put everything down and pay attention to only him.
    You know, this thought seemed a lot more sane before I saw it in black and white…”

    The consensus was that it didn’t make me any crazier than normal. Maybe I should make 2 so you can try one for HST, too?

  43. My cat demands to be petted, and if I stop, she’ll grab a hold of my arm and bite hard. She’s a violent love machine.

  44. Yeah right….good excuse. BTW, the way he snugs his head, I think your cat has a bad headache. Has he been checked for a brain tumor?

  45. I am familiar with this dilemma – I too work from home and I too have CATS >^.^< (wishing I could attach a photo here)
    Your post makes me sad, but right now that's not too difficult. February 3rd will mark the year since my bestest, bitchiest, sweetest Jane cat went (hopefully?) to the BIG HUGE catnip field in the sky. Jane was my faithful and constant companion & friend for over 17.5yrs (sadly enough just about the longest I've ever lived with anyone?!) Jane was the one who insisted on sitting on my lap while I was trying to work or sitting on the computer desk beside the keyboard and yes sometimes ON the keyboard. I miss all that annoyance. :-/ so very very much.
    So enjoy your hazard cat – enjoy your deleted posting – love your cat!
    BTW – he's very handsome. We call that particular coloring of cat a "punker" cat – I don't know something my nar-do-well father called them and they've been that my entire life – stripy orange cats ARE PUNKER cats. So now you know.
    Go Hunter S!

  46. We inherited a cat when my MIL died last June. I think all Pepper did all day was eat, poop, sun himself, and knead my MIL’s lap. He’s 10 and weighs 13 pounds, and he puts all 13 pounds into kneading. I don’t how she took it for the hours that he can do it. About 10 minutes and I’m good for the day.

  47. You could get one of those baby Snuggli things and strap him to your chest so he could have constant snuggles without the fear of deletion.

  48. My 20 pound orange tabby, Fenway, is a case. His favorite place to sleep is curled around my head, taking up most of the pillow, and if he’s really stressed, he will lick my nose – once, it broke the skin and I looked like I’d fallen on my face!

    It’s good to know I’m not the only one with a totally neurotic kitty.

  49. I have an orange tabby that is like that, who especially wants attention when both your hands are already full, like when trying to breastfeed a baby. She too would proudly wear the sign.

  50. Sir Geoffrey Littlebutt, my 4 mos/old kitten does the same thing to me pretty much every morning. The only thing he likes better than sitting on the laptop and taking selfies is to try to eat my books and steal my pens!

  51. The second I started up that video my cat (seen here modeling my Halloween costume last year) was all, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” and tried to out-cuddle your cat. And then he kind of copped a feel. I’m not sure what to think about that.

    [IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/33u3bpd.jpg[/IMG]

  52. Aw, remember a HUG is a STRANGLE that you have not finished. That CAT is to damn cute for his own good.!

  53. Cats are weird, but you have to love them. I’m in bed recovering from minor surgery, and mine are hovering so they can cuddle me whenever I sit still. They have (or think they have) magical healing powers.

  54. Our cat put his chewed up catnip toy in my daughters boot. That was fun considering he had put a dead mouse in one about a month ago. ARGH.

  55. Oh, yes, I know that all too well. Within minutes of my sitting down at my desk to write an article or a blog post, at least one of my cats suddenly becomes needy, knowing things down, mewing loudly as they go. I feel so bad that I stop what I’m doing, making the whole thing worse when I return to work.

  56. I’ve had 11 cats at one time or another, and 3/11 have been orange tabbies. They are far and away the most needy/snuggly cats I’ve ever had. Enjoy!

  57. Hunter S. is adorable! I have 3 inside cats that DEMAND attention all the time. 8 ferrals that I feed. Only 3 of them demand attention at this time. I worry when the others figure out what all the purring is. I will have to Rent-A-Lap to help with the snuggles.

  58. My cat Manson has discovered that his new favorite thing is riding around on my shoulder like a parrot in a pirate movie.

  59. If only there was a cat in the office I could then explain why I have accomplished darn little today as well….

  60. I’ve found it’s impossible to ignore a cat wanting attention, especially if they’re as cute as Hunter. My mom had one who would decide she’d been ignored long enough and simply flow herself clear across the keyboard, look up at you with big blue eyes and begin purring. Resistance was futile.

  61. My Linky sent my boyfriend an IM today that said 00000000000000000000………… Then he came and tapdanced on my bladder to wake me. 🙁

  62. Titania came to bug me for cuddles last night too, but she was more interested in my hot chocolate. Hell if I know why that cat likes chocolate so much…

  63. Oh my god, what a cutie. My cat demands to sit on top of people often, but he always shies away when I try to pull him closer for snuggles. He will only accept petting.

  64. Aww, he’s so adorable. What is it about cats and computers? Mine destroyed my old laptop by picking off the keys with his claws and chasing them around the house, and he’s scratched the new one by jumping on it and slamming the lid shut. He likes to sandwich himself between me and the screen, obscuring both my view and access to the keyboard. Any other time he doesn’t want to know me!

  65. I normally have tech problems while writing but I think I’d much rather have it happen because of an adorable little animal. 🙂

  66. Your Hunter S and my Fry are cut from the same cloth: I’m late for this week’s Pagan Blog Project post because he kept lying across my forearms while I was trying to type, and then ‘helping’ by flailing madly at the keys inserting gibberish and deleting stuff.

  67. Looks like his is thinking ‘you get my good side?…ummm wait I’m all good side, disregard my previous thought.’

  68. HST is hilarious 🙂 Working from home, I have to redirect more cat ass than I’d like to admit. The monitor is warm, my water is way more delicious than what is in their bowl, and cat-based typos are their specialty.

  69. I had fucking cat bookends last night. One gray tabby girl on one side, and another gray tabby girl on the other. And nobody would move. Even me. The cats are winning.

  70. I have an orange cat almost exactly like that one! He doesn’t go for actual hugs like yours but he lays on his back and begs to have his stomach rubbed and he’ll grab at my hand with both his paws if I try to stop. They are just sooooo adorable aren’t they? So hard to turn down their wishes!

  71. The utter magnitude of your awesome superpowers is that you can get Hunter S. Thomcat to A) wear a sign around his neck; B) that he wears it long enough to have his picture taken; C) that it’s a damn good picture (and sign). My cat would’ve been up the stairs and under the bed at the first sign of me MAKING a sign, let along approaching her with it. I bow to your awesome.

  72. Ship him to me, I’ll give him snuggles!! I’m a college student and dangit, I miss my kitty!!!

  73. Cats, I know. Our cat, Mojo, likes to sit on my laptop. Can’t leave it unattended, not even to go pee or get a drink. He’ll sit on it, walk all over it and next thing I know I’ve googled “667ytu89p” or wrote a blog entry consisting of what seems to be a secret language no one understands. Cats.

  74. I’ve read your book and after that I’ve been reading all your old blogs and this sounds like another excuse for the real reason there isn’t an update, you were watching mass murder biopics on Netflix or were having some arguement with Victor about Zombies. Don’t blame the cute cat, he looks totally innocent, besides what cat person wouldn’t give him hugs? He looks like he totally deserves them.

  75. My Yellow Sided Conure is exactly the same way about the computer and my attention to it; he tends to have a pretty good aim, and an eye toward hitting the space bar first, and random function keys second

  76. That’s ok, my students were sooo fucking hideous today, I came home (five minute early….sort of) and turned on Blondie, lit incense, and made a gin and tonic with elderberry liquor (I don’t fuck around) and held it in one hand and the soap in the other as I showered. Now I feel much better.

  77. Belle does that too, only she prefers to add to what I’m writing instead of deleting it. The other day she made an infinite sad face on Joshs work computer, which we took to mean she hates it when he works, if only because it prevents her from sleeping on the laptop.

  78. I denied my cat, Tiger, cuddles the other day. She got annoyed and jumped on my laptop and clawed at my keyboard, pulling off the left arrow and the control key. Took me and the kids almost a half hour to even FIND the left arrow key (we were certain that she had eaten it) and I couldn’t get the control key to fit back on properly. Once my husband got home, I had him fiddle with the keys until they got back on. The whole time, the cat sat there and smirked.

    Moral of the story? Don’t deny a cat their cuddles. It spells disaster for all electronics.

    I won’t even go into the time that she got mad at the kids for not filling up her water bowl and actually jumped on me, scratched my arm, and started sucking at my blood…

    I love cats! (Yes, she’s watching me type. It is rather creepy.)

  79. I feel like he’d look very dapper in a hat of some sort. I don’t know why. Someone who knows photoshop better than I do (anyone who uses it at all, really) needs to make this happen since every cat in a hat (minus one notable historical figure whose life was chronicled by one Dr Seuss) tends to fling the hats away and give death glares. Not that I’ve tried this. Or anything. Repeatedly.

  80. haha my cat does that to hubby and even sent a message in cat paw jibberish to some high end CEO lol.

  81. I was never a “cat person” – knew nothing about cats (not that I do now) until Motley Nugent (yes, I’m an 80’s girl) strayed up at my door a couple of months ago. She adopted us, and then began telling us what to do. Now, I feel guilty if I sleep in on the weekends because she expects to be fed at 6am each morning. She waits on my kids to get off the bus in the afternoons, and then eats again. She is waiting on me when I get home from work, and of course, is looking for another meal. Then, she makes her way to my porch swing, and glares at it until I sit, so she can allow me to stroke her back. I’ve always been in control and the biggest bitch in the family, until Motley showed up. I’m pretty sure I’ve either lost my mind, or am under some weird cat spell. Either way, I’m now a “cat person”. WTF?

  82. I use to have a cat that would wrap her arms around my neck, while licking my neck. Now she’s living at my dads, and hisses at me when I try to touch her. I’m pretty sure she’s a teenager now.

    I had another cat that would kneed and lick my….um, armpits? A little awkward. Turns out, she was bipolar and had an anxiety disorder. Just like her mama 🙂

  83. First, I will gladly babysit him. He can give my Rascal the much needed run for his money. 2nd, My grey cat, Squeaks, is the one who loves to get lap tie while I am at the computer. If I don’t get on the couch ASAP, she will meow and nudge until I do.

  84. I have an orange cat named Tigger who insists on sitting between me and the monitor. He reaches out with his soft, fluffy, no-claws paw and pats me gently on the lips. Whereupon I leap up and yell “that paw was just in your litter box, wasn’t it?”

    He deliberately tries to creep me out.

  85. Mine looks almost identical and sits on my keyboard, blocking both keys and screen. He’s such a whore.

  86. I love orange kitties.

    I wish mine was orange or 100% gray. No, I get this mix. He’s also bipolar. He could be the happiest kitty in the world, then a complete dick two seconds later.

    Maybe that’s because of what we named him. MacGruber. Yes… after that movie.

  87. When one of my roommates was stressed out writing her final college papers, we would joke that the cat should finally earn his keep and write the papers for her. So while my roommate was locked in her room in front of the computer late one night, I tied a sign around the cat’s neck – “Cinder, the paper writing cat”. When my roommate woke up early the next morning, the first thing she saw was the cat, sitting in front of her door, still proudly wearing his sign.

  88. I have 6 cats, but HST inspires me to want 1 more! Or 10 more. Or however many are waiting for me at Petsmart. Which is why I’m not allowed to go to Petsmart anymore without adult supervision.

  89. My former roommate had a cat named Lion-O. He walked across my laptop (sitting open on the coffee table, of course) and almost deleted Windows from my computer.

  90. thank you for this post..it could not have come at a better time..my bunnycat’s big fuzzy life came to its end yesterday and it’s just so hard to take..this helps me remember him in the good and unabashedly goofy times..
    RIP hunter (aka bunnito pussolini, il pooche, the notorious B.U.N., bunny smalls, bunzo, etcetcetc…)

  91. That is adorable. And a little scary. It’s like he’s telling you there is a very short line between cuddling and strangling.

    A terrifying image of Georg (my St.Bernard) hugging me like that just flashed through my mind. Note to self; Do not watch this video with Georg

  92. I work with two office cats, so I can relate. They have:
    – added text/deleted text in documents I was working on
    -shot their anal glands as defense against being pushed off of working space (ok, only the
    evil cat does this)
    -gotten into a fight right in front of me on my desk (just posturing really, the love each other)
    -all-paged the entire office
    -chewed on all sorts of items: paper, protein bar I was saving for snack, etc
    -eaten my lunch
    -puked in various spots
    -knocked over the wastebasket under my desk to assess contents for possible ingestion
    and/or to tap a nap
    Cats are assholes. You can not shame them. They have no shame. They can also make a really terrible day at the office better just by cozy-ing up for a little bread-making session. Before you know it, your blood pressure is back in the normal range and you no longer feel like sticking a letter opener in anyone’s neck.

  93. I just wanted to say, that I have a cat that looks identical to yours… and when I say IDENTICAL I really mean it…. Orange skinny face, and the white soul patch on the chest… his name is Chong tho, and his best buddy is Cheech. (they are both orange tabbys, from different mothers) But I think it’s pretty awesome, just like you… keep being AWESOME!!!!

  94. Um…didn’t read any of the other comments & don’t want to be the asshole commenting on the weather but the background in that photo was a picture or something, right? I know you live in fucking armpit Texas but come the fuck on! Here in Minnesota it is negative Satan’s asshole right now. I went to the convenience store earlier and I’m pretty sure I died. So…please say those greenish leaves are a picture. There’s no way a United State could have the temperatures needed to sustain them. Or I’m going to cry.

  95. How could you not want to love that little face? I am a total Hunter S. Tomcat fangirl.

  96. I miss having an orange kitteh. They are the most fun and the most trouble, all wrapped into one furry little orange packet. <3

  97. My cat demanded to play fetch today! She was quite persistent, to the point of dropping her nerf dart she likes to fetch into the bathtub with me!! She also brings crayons to bed and insists that I throw them. I always think, it’s dark. . . it’s a little crayon. . . I’ll throw it and she won’t be able to find it and I will get some sleep. Wrong! She finds it quickly and returns and I wake up the next morning with crayon marks on every wall I hit tossing it for her. She owns me.

  98. I forgot to mention that this clip proves that cats are smarter than dogs…

  99. he looks like my charlie cat! <3 my two cats do the same…want tons of love when i'm going potty or on the comp. they're so crazy.

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