So much noms!

Hi there!

So many new things, one is almost too busy to write things in here. I will try to sum up the last days. There is not much use in Phoebe, she is only lying on the kitchen window sill and sleeping day in and day out. She says she is never gonna move and will get as fat as I am. I am still not fat, arrrrgggg.

There is ridiculous amounts of amazing food here. In Finland there is only one affordable food that you can buy in the supermarkets and that won't slowly kill us, says Mommy. In Germany there are lots of them apparently, Mommy brings home something new all the time! I also got some food for Christmas from the bear. Today we ate two different foods already. Mommy said it is good for us to eat different foods, so we won't get picky. As if I'd ever get picky. Food is food and always amazing. But I won't complain.

While Phoebe is lying on the window sill in the kitchen, I usually lie on the one in the sofa room. Or I am napping with Mommy on the sofa and watch TV. Or I follow Mommy through the flat and tell her I want more food. She still fails to understand me. Or she doesn't want to. Sometimes I also lie in the shelf. We were never allowed to lie in the shelf before, but now there is even two beds installed in it. It's just too amazing.

On Saturday our Grandma came to visit with our spare Grandpa and the bear. The bear was nice. Grandma likes me more than Phoebe. I can understand her. Phoebe is difficult to like, even though I do. Most of the time.

There are interesting noises in the house often... because we have a common hallway with the neighbors, not like in Finland. There is also the dog, that is barking sometimes.
Outside there are boomboom noises lately... it's that time of the year again. Mommy and Daddy will go to Grandpa's and spare Grandma's place tomorrow. We can't come, because Mikko will eat us. Or something. Phoebe can't wait for the boomboom. I am a little unsure, but I guess we are safe in here and it can't be worse than the trip to here.

Mommy tries to teach German to Daddy. She puts post its on everything. Daddy was complaining that only the word for "cat" was not enough, so he got all the forms, too.

Whaaat? Chubby?? Me?? WHAAAAT?

Oh well, luckily I speak German already. Wouldn't wanna be in Daddy's fur.

Mommy also is looking for jobs to buy me more food. That is good. I think. I hope she finds one, soon. I want food.

Bye humans!
-Ruska

Look, it's me and Phoebe!

Tucked in and watching TV... me at least. Phoebe is watching Mommy.

In Phoebe's fave spot!

You have reached your destimeowtion!

Oh hi, hello hoomans!

We are not on a boat anymore, but we are in another country!!
Excitiiiiiiiing!

The boat was fun. Ruska got seasick and puked. I am not allowed to tell this to anyone. I still did. Hihiiiiiiii. But otherwise everything was fine. I slept on Mommy's legs. Mommy didn't sleep.

In the morning Mommy put our harnesses on. OMGOMGOMG that means we get to go outside??? She wanted to put Ruska in her harness first, but she could not close it, because Ruska gained too much weight. So funny. Then I had to wear Ruska's and Ruska mine, because mine can be changed to a bigger size. Ruska's was a bit too big for me, even in the tightest size. But we did not get the leashes and outside as usual, but we had to go back into the boxes. We left the boat and got into the big car again.

It was very loud and shaky and I think Mommy was more scared than us. I heard them talk that it was very, very windy and the wind tried to blow over the big car!!! Or something like that. And that we are in Sweden! We drove through the Sweden a long time. Every now and then we stopped, then we got our leashes and could go to the litterbox in the back of the big car. But we were waaaay to excited to use it!! On one stop we were even allowed to walk around a bit. Wow, I walked in Sweden!! What Finnish cat can claim that it has walked around in Sweden? So proud.
My box was on Mommy's lap most of the time. It was fun, cause I could see a bit. Every time she tried to put me down because her legs got sore I made sure I started to scream until she took me back up. Hihi. We were very quiet otherwise, you know. We are nice cats. But when I started screaming then Ruska started whining and then their ears would hurt. Hihi.

We drove over a huge bridge and Mommy said we might be blown into the sea by the wind. But we didn't. Then we drove through a thing called Denmark! Mommy said, that the Mommy of our friend Casey is from Denmark! We didn't get to walk much in Denmark, the only time we stopped we were in a harbour again. I was so excited I accidentally almost slit Mommy's throat when she tried to put me to the litterbox. She wasn't amused. It was very cold and windy. Then we got onto a boat again! YAAAAAAAAY! But this time we didn't have a little flat and we had to stay in the boxes. When we got off the boat Mommy said we are in Germany and that is where our Mommy comes from...and also our brother Mikko.

We drove much more in Germany. At some point Mommy, Daddy and their friend went to get food for themselves at a place with a yellow M. Mommy said it wasn't so good as she's used to. They make different yellow M things in Germany apparently! We also got food there. Ruska inhaled almost the whole bowl, but Mommy stopped her, because she was scared Ruska would puke again. I wasn't hungry. Too exciting!!!!

We drove eeeeeven more and then I could see the picture from our banner!!!! Only without the lightning... and only the top part! But the same buildings with the same lights! We arrived and got out of the car. Mommy didn't seem to like much where we were at first... she said she was never gonna leave the flat. Yaaaay, Mommy will always be home! We went through a gate and a dark backyard and Mommy was reading the names on the doorbells to see who our new neighbors are. She said it looked mixed, German names and not-German names and even doorbells with names like Mommy's and Daddy's: one German and one not German. She said that is a pretty good sign, because she would not want to live somewhere with only German names and neither with only not-German names. I don't get it. I wondered if there were cats.

We walked up many stairs and past a door where a dog barked. Then we got into a flat. We had to wait in the bathroom, because Daddy and the human friend had to get more stuff from the car, so they could sleep. Mommy was in the bathroom with us. She was talking and I am not sure if she was talking to us or to herself. She said everything but the bathroom is really nice and if it wasn't she would already be in a taxi to the airport.

We finally got out and could walk around when Daddy and the friend came back. They had already met a nice neighbor. But no nice cats yet. The flat looked bigger than our home in Tampere, even though Mommy said it is not much bigger actually. Even Ruska got excited, because there are so many peepholes and all of them have a seating spot! And not a wobbly one! And it has warm next to it! I could not see any trees and birds as back in Tampere, though. There are just houses. From the kitchen there is a ugly backyard. From the bedroom and sofa room there is a street with houses and a big muddy hole where more houses will be built. Daddy said, that they are renovating the area and it will look less scary in one year or so.

I was sleeping on Mommy's legs, after I got rid of all the leftover energy from being stuck in the box for so long. Then we had to go to the kitchen for a long time and when we got out there was stuff all over the place again! Mommy was constantly complaining about the chaos and that she wouldn't go to bed before at least the sofa room and kitchen looked like real rooms. Their friend left and Mommy and Daddy carried stuff around for many hours. Luckily Mommy put the climbyscratchthing up right away!

Here are some pictures of our new home:

Sofaroom!

Daddy's workplace in the sofaroom!

Hallway and me!

Mommy's kitchen. She says it's her favorite room.

Tiny ugly bathroom!

More living room!

More kitchen!

Bedroom... there is many things and chaos and we can't go there.

Our Christmas dinner!

That's me!

And me with the climbyscratchthing!

Isn't it amazing??

Goodbyeeee hoomans!

-Phoebe

We're on a boat!!!!

The adventure has begun!!

After a day or so in the funny chaos Mommy locked us into the litterbox room this morning. I didn't find it so funny. Ruska was panicking and from outside there were a lot of strange noises and the space was so small. I wanted out, but I couldn't. Mommy came to keep us company for a while, so I could at least lie on her lap for a while. They were also deviling outside and Ruska said she would prefer to stay in the litterbox room forever, but I had the feeling that was not all the adventure that Mommy meant.

I'm on Mommy's lap!

When they finally let us out the flat looked very, very strange. Almost everything was gone. Just some bags and plastic bags left. After we walked around a bit Mommy put us into our transport boxes. I was so excited I couldn't stop running around and I kinda accidentally started rolling through the bedroom in my box. I found it funny, but Mommy almost got a heart attack when my bag wasn't anymore where she had put it. Hiiiiiiiiiihihihihihiiiii.

Then we drove a long time in a big car. Not so huge as the one we took to the nice lady, but big. Ruska was crying a lot and I was screaming a bit because it was exciting and I wanted out and look at everything. I was at Mommy's lap and Ruska under the legs of Mommy's and Daddy's human friend.
Sometimes Mommy put her hand into my box and rubbed my back.

Then we arrived in the harbour. We had to wait in the car for a very long time and I really needed a toilet. But I was a nice cat and waited patiently.

We're in the harbour! I'm there, black in black, next to the brezels.

We got a ticket. Two pieces of pet.

 We got finally inside and it was a boat!!!! I don't know what a boat is. But Mommy said it drives on water and over fishies! I like boat! Mommy said it is a very, very new and fancy boat. We have a room on the boat. It looks like a tiny little flat. It has 3 beds that you can flap out and a sofa and a litterboxroom. And we got very, very, very yummy food. Some of the super expensive one that we get only every once in a while.

Ruska and the yummy food in the tiny flat on the boat.

Mommy, Daddy and their human friend went to the shower and then left to eat. They came back with bags saying "I <3 tax free"... Mommy said there are presents for out Grandma and her boyfriend and some wine for Mommy. A small bottle for now and a bigger one for tomorrow and Wednesday. She also had a bottle with water and she filled some into our water cup as it is cleaner than from the tab. So special, we never get bottle water. So exciting.

Our cuddlybed is here as well and the sqwiwwel we got from Daddy!
Now I will sleep, cause the adventure is exhausting!

Good night humans!

-Phoebe

So much adventure!

OMGOMGOMGOMG!
Everything is weird and awesome! The flat is a mess. A MESS! HAAAHAAAA!
Everything is lying everywhere, closets are suddenly opened for thorough Phoebe-inspections, boxes all over the place. THIS MUST BE HEAVEN! Daddy came back on Friday and he has been taking apart many of the things in the flat... I waited for Mommy to scream at him. She would have screamed at me for sure if I had taken apart things. But she didn't scream at him... she also doesn't scream at me anymore when I crawl into spaces and check stuff out. I hope this never stops. This is awesome!

There is Daddy in the sofaroommess!

Aaaaaaahahahaaaa! :D

Hihihihihiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihiiii!

HELLO! Can you see me???

I'm in the mess! HELLO!?!?!?

hihihihihihihihi.

Boxheeeeheheheheeheeees!

Ruska is panicking again. Daddy had taken the shelf off in front of the TV. Ruska couldn't watch anymore and she was freaking out. She was running and standing on her back legs and was mumbling in panic "Can't see. Can't see. Must see. Can't see."... Mommy then put the small climbyscratchthing there so Ruska could see. She said in Germany there are sitting spots in front of every TV integrated! How awesome is that? Ruska says she might die, if the adventure does not stop real soon. She is also hyperventilating again. We need that paper bag. Mommy said the worst part is yet to come. She probably means the most awesome part! JIIIIIIHAAAAAA!

I need to comfort Ruska.

I have also seen that Mommy refilled the lunchbox! There is different food in there, my favorite one! She said, if we are too nervous to be hungry we will eat that still, cause we get it so rarely. I am not very hungry indeed, there is too much excitement to be hungry, but I will sure eat that food when we get it. Can we has it already now? Plis?

-excited Phoebe

Daddyday!

Hi there!

Today Daddy must come back, because Mommy was deviling. As she said last time, he comes after the next deviling. It is very late already and he isn't here yet. I hope he still comes. He sent a parcel that arrived today. There was a stuffed sqwiwwel for us to play with in there, yaaay!

Sqwiwwel!

Ruska does not care about the sqwiwwel. She is traumatized for life, she says. Mommy didn't leave the bedroom open when she was deviling and the kitchen was closed as well, so Ruska won't jump on the counter. Ruska was rushing out of the living room as always when Mommy devils. To the left - bedroom door closed. To the right - kitchen door closed. Then back to the sofa room. And out again. It cracked me up so badly. I don't particularly like the devil either, but she really does exaggerate. She was heavily breathing still 10 minutes later and said she needed a paperbag to breathe into. Strange.

She also threw over the litter box today. I cracked up even more. Mommy had washed the litter boxes and put the lid off the one that has a lid usually. Ruska was stepping on the side of the litter box and it flipped over and litter was all over the freshly deviled bathroom. Mommy got angry of course. She had to fill the litter back into the box and she said she would love to lock Ruska in the sofa room together with the devil for a while as a revenge. But she didn't. She said again that Ruska is obviously too fat, though.

Mommy baked cake today. t took very long and seemed to be very exhausting. She made weird things with one of the two cakes. Then she looked at it for a long time without saying anything. Then she laughed very loudly and said "Now that is the ugliest piece of shit I have ever seen."...
Too bad she didn't allow me to post a picture. After the party tomorrow I can, she said.

Yesterday Mommy was gone almost all day. Early in the morning she started putting things into her headfur and then threw some of them around because they didn't do what she wanted to. But in the end her headfur looked very pretty and then she left because she said she needed to graduate.... whatever that means.
When she came back in the late evening she had some papers and flowers. But she brought them to the bedroom so I could not have a closer look. I want to graduate too, if I can get flowers to play with then. What do I have to do for that?

- Pheebs

...but why is the food gone?

Hello hoomans!

Today is a good day. There is not much left of the day and Mommy did not need to scream at me even once. I am very proud. Ruska ruins my happiness by saying that yesterday I fucked up for a whole week in advance. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! And I almost died! And then I almost got killed by Mommy! And my villa was taken away! Why does not anyone have sympathy?

Mommy was getting up very early today, at least much earlier than in the past weeks. It was barely light outside. Then she left for a while and when she came back she started packing again. She packed things from our food drawer! It was open for a long while. And you won't believe it: first she threw out some packs of perfectly fine cat food! Like whaaaat? She said it was crap and contained sugar and grains and no meat and she doesn't even know why we have it and that we have had it for so long that it has gone bad. I ate it once and I really liked it! Sugar is good. Bad is good. Ruska told her, if she doesn't give it to us, she could at least donate it to homeless cats. Apparently Mommy understood cat language suddenly, cause she replied that she had just some weeks ago bought some of the food that we get, too, and gave it to a pet shop that looked for donations, because also homeless cats deserve fresh food and no crap that went old... well, maybe she has a point. I never was a homeless cat, but Ruska was once. She should understand.
Then Mommy started throwing Noms away! She looked at them and said "bad" with almost every single one. There are only two little boxes left now!
She put all the rest of the stuff from the drawer to a big bucket and she wrote "Kitties" on it. Even the dry food is in there and she put it to the bedroom. What?
But she also packed us a lunchbox for the big adventure already! And she put one of the boxes with treats in there, that aren't bad.

On the left there is the lunchbox and right is all that is left of our food stocks.

Here is the bucket.

She bought that stuff that smells nice that she usually sprays around, but she bought it to put it in the walls like we had it when I was little. She says it will help us like our new home more. I like it. It is purple and it smells good.

After Mommy was so very angry yesterday, things have changed. She used to be in the bedroom all the time while being home, as the machine was there. Now she sits at Daddy's table with her machine and the bedroom is closed all the time. Even Ruska lost hope we will get in there ever again. Mommy said it is better that there is no temptation, but that she does not want us to be alone in the rest of the flat all day. So she is with us and nobody can be in the bedroom. That is fair I think.
She even brought our tiny climbyscratchthing from the bedroom to the sofaroom. First she wanted to put it under the window as in the bedroom, but she realized that the sofaroom window is much lower and it looks stupid. So she put it next to the big climbyscratchthing! All the new perspectives! It is like a whole new playground! I like it!

Here is Ruska on the tiny climbyscratchthing next to the big climbyscratchthing.

And my butt as I just went into the cave. How embarrassing.

Now I'll go back to sleep. Only one hour to go and I was a nice cat all day long! YAYYYYY!

-Pheebs

Catastrophoebe and the drama...

Phoebe is crying again. She also tries to work the ringelingthing and call an animal shelter to be picked up and brought to a new home. Puberty really is as bad as they say... luckily my little ones are out of the house already, I really don't even want to start imagining this theater sixfold. Ugh! Usually I don't care much about the trouble of Phoebe and Mommy, but I guess today Phoebe went too far for real.
Mommy was looking for something in Daddy's closet... I think a certain towel or blanket... and Phoebe used the time to jump on the boxes in the bedroom. Mommy has put the empty one away, so we won't try to play in it. Now, I don't know how Phoebe managed, because I figured the boxes are very heavy with all the stuff, but she dropped one of them to the floor accidentally. It was very, very loud. I think Phoebe was lucky she didn't get under it, because she would be flat as a pancake now.
Mommy came and screamed a lot. And then screamed even louder when she saw that there were glasses drawn on the box that dropped and it said "Very fragile!!!" ... she opened the box and took things out that were wrapped in lots and lots of paper and she was screaming and cursing and crying and screaming and telling very many very bad things she would do to Phoebe. She unpacked all of the things and turned them around and then sighed, because none were actually broken. She said it is a miracle and that Phoebe is a lucky bastard, because she might not have to kill her now. I would have killed Phoebe as well, there were our spare foodbowls in the box, what if they would have broken? Then she wrapped everything back into the paper and put it into the box. It took a long time. Phoebe was nowhere to be seen.
Mommy had just stopped crying and screaming, sighed, put the box back, carried me out of the bedroom, closed it and went back to Daddy's closet........ and she started screaming again. When running to the bedroom she had left it open by accident and Phoebe had used the time to have a look... again. Almost everything was thrown out of the lower shelves. Mommy screamed and tried to catch Phoebe and I already wanted to get popcorn, because I was sure THIS is the moment when Mommy actually will nail her to the wall on her ears! But Phoebe got away and ran straight into our villa.
Mommy couldn't get her out, so she went to the kitchen (still screaming) and took scissors and started cut the villa's roof open over Phoebe's head. Phoebe screamed for help and said Mommy was gonna kill her. Then she fled into the kitchen. But Mommy didn't run after her anymore, she kept taking the villa apart while screaming that she would have left it for us until Monday, but if Phoebe can't behave there must be some kind of punishment and if Phoebe will do ANYTHING anymore before the scary adventure the next thing she will take down is the climbyscratchthing. She also told us about the catwalk she wants to make for us in Frankfurt some days ago. Many empty shelves on the walls on which we can jump and climb, so there is more space for us to play. But now Mommy said she won't make that one either. It sounds exhausting anyways, so I don't care, but Phoebe was extremely excited and cried even more when Mommy said she was not giving her one.
I don't care about the villa either, every time I go in there I get stuck in the door and Mommy laughs at me, so nothing missing there. But the climbyscratchthing is nice, I would be angry if Mommy takes it away earlier than necessary because of Phoebe.

Mommy later said to me she would rename Phoebe to "Catastropheebs"... I find it funny. There is "cat" in the word and "catastrophe" and "Pheebs".... so it fits very well. I will never call her with any other name. Hihi.

Mommy had also made a new picture with comic versions of us. This time with different facial expressions.... I don't like to admit it, but she got pretty close!

There you go.

Also, don't forget to like us on Facebook so Phoebe won't start crying even more. It really hurts my ears already.

-Ruska

It's the final countdown...

...dä... dädä... däääää.

...dä... dädädä... dääääää.

*unimpressed*

So, yes. Mommy said it is the final countdown. Apparently the scary adventure thing starts in exactly one week. Erm... no thanks? She hasn't packed much more stuff into boxes after she played in one and said she was quitting the other day. It still looks pretty much like my home and not like scary adventure so far. Luckily.

Today was a weird night. Mommy said she would just stay awake and then be so tired this night, that she would fall asleep early and have a normal sleeping rhythm back. Yeah, didn't work. She fell asleep on the sofa at some point with a very fluffy blanket. I decided to sleep next to her. So warm and comfy.

Phoebe took a picture.

At some point she went to the bedroom, but she was too tired to take the fancy cover blanket away, so she just took the fluffy blanket. I went with her. Phoebe also. Phoebe didn't take a picture. Anyways, I slept very nicely next to Mommy, we should do that more often.

Less happy news: my shelf is gone! Apparently it went to Minttu's and Jekku's place. Unfaiiiiir, it was such a nice sleeping place. And Mommy had just emptied it, so I actually fit in it as well. (No weight jokes here, humans!) Now I sleep on the floor where the shelf was before sometimes. That is quite decent too.

Phoebe is being a real teenager and getting addicted to the internet. Yesterday she found out that humans use Facebook a lot. Well, we knew that, Mommy is there all the time, but also humans who have blogs can make pages about them there and get other humans to like those, so they might get more readers. Phoebe thinks that every human and every cat in the world should probably read our blog, so she hijacked Mommy's profile in order to create a page: https://www.facebook.com/destimeowtionfrankfurt

You should check it out and like it if you haven't yet. We might post some smaller things there every now and then that are not worth starting a blog post for.
Phoebe also heard that humans beg other humans to like pictures and pages of them, by asking other humans to do something when they reach a certain amount of likes. For example - "If this picture gets 1000000 likes, my husband said I can divorce him and marry my cat instead."... which is reasonable, but a little weird still. So of course Phoebe asked Mommy what Mommy would do or allow us if we reach 1000 likes. Mommy said she won't do shit. Phoebe is still trying her luck.

lol

So long,

Ruska

Box-Mommy and some small mishaps...

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid, clumsy little Phoebe. Stupid. Clumsy. Stupid.

Ruska was right at first... Mommy didn't keep the bedroom shut after my little incident the other day. Only when she is not home it is closed, but when she is home it is open. But of course I can't keep my nosy paws off anything, so I messed up yet again. I was curious if the one box up there on the other ones was empty, as Ruska told me. So I wanted to take a look. Only look. With my eyes, not my paws It would have probably worked, but I have this talent for falling down from things... with things. I just tried to climb into the empty box on top of the full boxes in the bedroom... but somehow, while climbing in, I lost my balance and I tumbled and the box tumbled and we both landed on the ground. It made a lot of noise. I told it to shush but it didn't listen. And then Mommy came. Oh no. She gave us a very long speech about how this just can not continue like that and if the temptation is too big and we are unable to keep our paws off the box then we just can't go in the bedroom at all anymore, even if she is home. Ruska says she isn't angry, cause she still does not believe Mommy will go through with this. But I have one baaaad feeling, I can tell you. I think Mommy is pretty serious.

She is a genius, too. After she wiped around in the kitchen with water on devil's day, it is all very clean there, especially the shiny kitchen counters. Yesterday I walked around on them a little, when Mommy was not home. I couldn't go to the bedroom, so I had to find something else to do and checking out the kitchen counters seemed just fine. This time nothing could go wrong, I was very careful. I didn't drop anything and I knew, in case Mommy came home, I would hear her coming in and could just quickly jump down. Everything was under control. I was already long back down when Mommy showed up. She didn't suspect a thing. But then something strange happened, later in the evening. Mommy was cooking human food for herself and suddenly laughed and asked "So who of you two ladies were up on the kitchen counter?" WHAT? WHAT? I mean, HOW? I knew she has to be a witch!! Maybe some hair? But usually she would not need to ask who of you, as she can find that out by color and thickness of the hair. But then she checked out our paws and said it must have been me. WITCHCRAAAAAAAAAAFT!
Or maybe not, cause later on I saw this picture on her ringelingthing.

Whoopsiedaisy.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Dirty pawsies. Stupid pawsies.

Luckily she was too amazed about her detective skills to be really mean at me. She was just laughing and saying she was awesome. Pff.

But my hopes are growing, that Mommy might finally get behind the sense of boxes. In fact, I caught her playing in one herself. Saw it with my own cute plate-sized eyes. She looked frustrated and said she wanted to quit. I don't really get that, but look, she is playing in a box!

Mommy in a box!

Yesterday Mommy was happier than on the other days in the past weeks. She said she found the perfect Christmas gift for Daddy. She is very excited about it. Probably it is a box. Why else would she be SO excited? I got Christmas presents, too, once. I peed on half of them and broke the rest, so they aren't really around anymore. I wonder if I will get some again this year? She should stop buying boxes for Daddy but buy something for me instead. And Ruska. And the bear. I don't know the bear yet, but the bear is a friend of Mommy's in Germany. She said, maybe he will come for a visit when we live there. She also said, me and him combined would be close to a nuclear explosion. I don't get that. His name is Paule.

Hello, Paule, if you read this! *waves* Looking forward to meeting you!
So yes. Presents for me, Ruska, Paule and our adoptive brother Mikko should be first priority for Mommy right now!

Also, Mommy was happy because she said she is going to eat raw fish today! With the Auntie and some other aunties and uncles and also the auntiefriend of Mommy's that carried me to the nice lady's place! Raw fish. Sounds delicious. Am I invited?

-Yours, Phoebe (who wants a present...) (...and raw fish.)

Devils-day!

Used a weak moment of Mommy to get to this machine. Not sure how much time I have. Might be kicked out before publishing this. Life is complicated.

Phoebe had planned to write something here today, but Phoebe is mostly busy sitting in a corner mumbling "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid Phoebe. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." to herself since last night. Frankly, she is a little. Her plan was to be the good cat at least for one day. She never has managed before, but she was super-sure she would succeed yesterday. Mostly because I had let myself go a little, but come on, I was just having a look.
What would you do if there was an empty open box right in front of your nose? That's right.
And the thing with Mommy's cheese? I mean really, it was there, Mommy wasn't, I was hungry and it smelled nicely. Who can blame me? I just planned on having a lick, but it was too good to resist. Mommy got angry and kept yelling at me about 'Camembert' and 'hers, not mine' and that I was too fat already. I am not fat. I am just well furred. Pff.

Anyways, after this trouble Phoebe was very sure that nothing could come in between her and her day as the perfect well-behaved kitty. She forgot about one thing: her own curiosity. And so while Mommy was putting things into boxes in the kitchen, Phoebe jumped onto the piled boxes in the bedroom. I mean jumped. Dude, can't you just like smell first or something? Of course Mommy came in just in that moment and she shoo-ed us both out of the bedroom and closed the door and said "that's it, you're not getting there anymore for the next two weeks". Phoebe feels very guilty and I entertained myself a bit by teasing her, pretending I would be very angry that we can't get into the bedroom because of her. Hehehehe. I am not really angry, Mommy won't go through with that anyways. I just have to sneak in and hide under the bed. I do that sometimes, especially when Mommy tries to get us out of the bedroom. I am not retarded, you know? Mommy always makes a lot of shooshoo and jumps around and waves her arms and tries to reach me under the bed. It is hilarious. So, yeah, there is no way her nerves will allow her to keep us out of the bedroom for the next weeks.

Today was devils-day again. I hate devils-day.
I always know it's devils day when Mommy wipes around on things with a furry thing. That's what she does first. No wait, first she wipes around in the kitchen and there is a lot of water involved. Then she wipes things.... then comes the devil. It is always like that. Luckily she was kind enough to leave the bedroom open for the time she was deviling around. However, she checked every 2 minutes if we were hiding from the devil on the boxes. Survived the devil yet another time. Phew. Mommy said the next devil-day is when Daddy will come back. Who cares, Daddy can't save us from the devil either! He is even also deviling sometimes himself. Cruel world.

Now I will go to lie into the shelf for a little while before Mommy notices I am here. She said that the Mommy of our friends Minttu and Jekku comes to pick it up tomorrow. Meh, another sleeping place less. So I have to use my time wisely.

So long, humans.

-Ruska

More boxes!

Hihihihihihihihi, Ruska just got bitched at!
Usually it is always me, so I enjoy when Ruska does something bad and gets in trouble for it. I am a clever little cat and I know that I am not allowed to play with the nice boxes, because if we play with them, Mommy will close the bedroom door when she leaves and we can't lie on our bed then.
Ruska was talking all day about how tempting the boxes look and how much she would like to just feel a little through the holes with her paws to see if the stuff in there is doing fine. I told her she shouldn't.
She still did and of course just then when Mommy was sitting on this machine, almost next to the boxes! How stupid can you be? Mommy told her to get her paws off there and after 2 times Ruska left. She bitched back at Mommy, too. She said "blaah blaaah blaaah, nothing fun allowed in here, pff". I would never do that. But Mommy laughed at her, because she didn't understand and just heard "meh meh meh meh meh meh"... must sound funny to human ears.
I almost got in boxtrouble today as well, but only almost. My toy had rolled into the gap between the boxes and I tried to get it out. Mommy helped me, though, when she realized I was not actually playing with the boxes.

Mommy apparently went to the boxshop again today and brought more big things that you can turn into boxes. I wonder if she will fill all of those with useless stuff as well, or if we maybe can have at least one to play in? A little?

She also brought paint for the kitchen table from the boxshop. And guess what? Apparently she read my suggestion here, because the paint she brought was black. Just missing the white dot and yellow eyes. But we can work on that.

There is not many more holes left to rip to the advent calender until Daddy comes back, says Mommy. I think she is excited that he comes back. I am, too. Maybe even Ruska. Maybe I should make a present for him. I could build something nice out of the boxes for him. Hmmm...


Yours, Phoebe

Sweet chaos!

Pssst.... it looks weird in here. So exciting!
There are... one, two, three, four, five, six... six big boxes in the bedroom, that Mommy filled with things that contain paper and things that play movies and human fur and stuff. There is also one big bag and one small box and the little shelf is all empty and she does not even scream at us when we climb into it.

Here's Ruska in the shelf...

And the ... "vestibule" *proudly looks to Ruska, see I learn from what Mommy teaches* was open for a long time yesterday and Mommy was sighing and putting weird things into a small box and said "ewewew" and that it's Daddy's oily stuff that he uses when he plays with cars. ...and I could not touch it, because I would become ewewew and oily as well.
Then she filled a lot of bags and her small suitcase with tons of human paws! And she was talking to herself that she can't believe she has become such a girl and there is waaaay too many of them, but she still wants more. Strange. Have to agree with Ruska here, one set of paws and one fur is more than enough.

Also the castleroom looks all different. There was quite a lot of stuff on top of our castle, but that it gone now. It then turned out that one room of our castle has a broken roof, but Mommy said she won't fix it, as we don't take the castle to Germany. Whaaat? But she promised to build a new one there soon. I sure hope so.

She also asks us all kinds of funny questions that we don't get and we can't answer, cause we can't speak human language, only type. She said that she has to "paint the kitchen table", because the nice old-style green was very nice in this old shithole of a kitchen, but it won't fit into the new one, as it is renovated. She wanted to go with either dark brown, black, white or red and asked for our opinion. I'd go with black. With a white spot and yellow eyes. That would be pretty. But also then she wondered how to paint it, cause we would run over it and be all brown, black, white or red ourselves! That's why I'd go with black, you see?

This morning she finally told me more about the adventure... she said we are driving for many hours and that the plan was for us to travel first class in a huge box in the back of a truck! Or something.... how eciiiiting! But then she suddenly said that that is madness and we can't do it and at least Ruska would die of a heart attack, as it is dark and cold and loud back in the truck. Now she wants to use our normal boxes and leashes so we can go to the litter box and have a snack every once in a while. She said it would be better, cause also we can hear their voices and it will calm us down. That is true. But Ruska will probably cry their ears off.

By the way.... note the comic versions that Mommy made of us!!!! They look exactly like us, don't they?
Mommy made also this cool advertisement for our blog:

Hihiiii!! In the background that's the place where we are gonna live!
It has a bridge and biiiiiig houses and lightning! Yes.

- Yours, Phoebe

BOXES!!!

... I take everything back! Mommy did not lie! There are boxes! BIIIIG ones!! I am excited! That happens rarely! I am even more excited, because I am excited! I feel like a teenager! Like Phoebe! Like.... my God, Ruska, get a hold of yourself!! *slaps herself* Ehemhem... *clears throat*

Okay. Slowly... there are boxes. And a stick with color in it.

Mommy went to our bed earlier than usually today, because she said she was very tired. However, she was back out of the bed after a very short time and said it didn't make sense. She brought in some of the big things from earlier today that she had stored behind the human catflap in front of the human catflap that leads to cold and scary adventures (in-text explanation from Mommy, she insisted: "She means in the vestibule." whatever.)...
She looked at the things for a long time and seemed pretty confused... she moved some parts of them and looked even more confused and mumbled something that "even the instructions of Ikea boxes are a nightmare".... Boxes? Did I hear boxes? Where boxes? Gimme!
She struggled with the things a while longer and I could not believe my eyes - slowly but surely the big things turned into boxes! Mommy might be a witch. Which would explain her foible for cats... but I get off the point. Boxes! I was already on my way into them when she told me I could not play with them, cause she needed them. What? Whatwhat? What do humans misunderstand in the definition of boxes? Boxes are meant to be played, sat or slept in. They don't have any other use. Mommy then started to take things out of shelves and put them into the boxes. Most things came out of the big container of human fur in the bedroom. Then she closed the boxes and wrote things on them with a fancy pen. She wrote her name and words like "CDs", "DVDs", "books" and "clothes". Because I wasn't allowed to play with the boxes, I played with the stick with color in it instead.

Box! And the stick with color in it.

There are only a few human furs left in the container now. I took a picture of that as well. I know, it still looks like a lot, especially considering I am perfectly fine with only one fur, but believe me, there was 10 times more! There is also some human fur that she didn't allow Phoebe to sleep on when it was lying on the bed, because she wants to sell it. Heaven. I am strictly against fur trade!

There is also Enno, Ernst and Om Nom! Hello Enno, Ernst and Om Nom!

Now there is 3 boxes and one huge bag full of human fur and other things standing around here. I wonder what she's doing that for. Is that some kind of human box-game? I sure hope she won't waste all the nice boxes on that. I'll keep you updated on the boxsituation.

-confused Ruska

P.S. Here's my revenge for the picture of me with glasses. Mommy investigated a glass of human food today. She said there was supposed to be apple jam in there, as it says on the label, but there was in fact apple sauce in it. Mommy was confused and said Finns are weird.

Hihihihimuahaha... humans look stupid.

Lies!!!

I will get back at Phoebe for posting this embarrassing picture of me. That's for sure.
Maybe also at Mommy, because she took the picture.

I am annoyed. I slept horribly and that is all Phoebe's fault! Yesterday she told me she needed a toilet but didn't feel like going to the litterboxroom. I told her she should better go, I know how angry Mommy gets if Phoebe does her business someplace else. Still Phoebe found it funny to use the snugglybed instead. I usually sleep in there, she does, too, sometimes. I told her that was bad, but she said it was her snugglybed anyways and she could do whatever with it. Even pee in it if she felt like it. That is NOT fair! She didn't even want the snugglybed in the first place! She was wondering "what kind of crap" Mommy had given her for her birthday. I started to like the snugglybed and sleep in it. And then she started, too, because she always copies what I do.
At first I thought Mommy might not notice. I ran around the bed and complained, because I am sure as hell not sleeping in Phoebe's pee. After a while Mommy noticed a weird smell in the living room and stuck her nose into our snugglybed. And she screamed very loudly once again. Luckily not at me, cause she knows who is guilty if there is pee somewhere else than in the litter box. Then she took the snugglybed away and said she wasn't sure if it was ruined for good and that we would never get one again if it was, because it was very expensive and she doesn't like the idea of giving us expensive things when we just pee on them. We? WE? I didn't do anything!

I kept complaining a little, cause I wanted my snugglybed back! She told me, if I never get it back I can thank Phoebe for that, but that she would try to rescue it. Later in the evening I saw it in the castleroom, where Mommy and Daddy keep a part of their human furs. I could not reach it and it stayed there all night. I had to sleep on the sofa and it was moist and smelled weirdly, because Mommy had sprayed some stuff there to get rid of the pee-smell.

This morning, luckily, Mommy put the bed back on the sofa... it does not smell like Phoe-pee anymore, but like flowers and spring. I haven't dared to lie in there yet, though, I don't trust the situation. And Mommy sticks her nose into it every time she comes to the sofaroom. Weird.

Also, yesterday Mommy told she was going to buy boxes today! Many boxes! I was a bit excited, because boxes are amazing. But then she said we could not get them. WHAT?

I was just cleaning myself when she told me the boxes were not for us.

I got such a big shock, I forgot what I was doing.

Today she was gone, but when she came back she didn't have any boxes! She lied to me! She just had something huge and she looked a little bit retarded, because the huge thing was huger than her. Almost.

She had the ringelingthing with her, so I could not take a photo. But I tried to draw how she looked like.

Mommy with the huge thing....

Artist: Ruska

She also brought a blanket for on top of our bed. She says it helps that there won't be so much of our hair on it. What's wrong with our hair? But I like the blanket. It is much better than the one that was there before. It had a hole and Mommy said it belongs under the big blanket not on top of it.

I asked Mommy to take a pretty picture of me on the nice new blanket.

Totally suits my fur, doesn't it?

But I really wonder where those boxes are that she pomised!?

-Ruska

Exhausting wait for adventure...

Hello!

Guess what? Yeah, there is still no adventure in sight. Just boring routine. Except the fact that Mommy starts going nuts, I am a bit worried about her mental health. She is really, really short tempered lately. I only need to look at places I am not allowed at, thinking if I should maybe risk to maybe go there... a little... - and she would already start screaming at me! She threatens me a lot as well.... once she said she was gonna nail me to the wall on my ears. And another time she said she was gonna throw me out of the window.
She also keeps asking what is wrong with me and if I want her to go crazy. I really don't... I think. Even though crazy is fun. Yes, okay, I admit, I might be a bit more energetic than usually, but that is only because I can already smell the adventure and who is supposed to sit still in such excitement?

Like for example there is this funny green blanket in the litterboxroom. The other day, I was thinking it would be nice to see what is on the other side of it, so I started climbing up. It was all going perfectly well, Mommy was sleeping, Ruska was sleeping, nobody noticed and I was sure I would be back down before they would see me.... but something went wrong and the blanket fell down. I did, too. I landed in the litter box and hurt my butt, because my paws were still tightly holding on to the blanket and I could not get them sorted out fast enough. There was some thing on the other side of the curtain that also fell down and that made a lot of noise. Ruska came to see what I was doing and she told me I was probably "in ankle-deep shit"... no, I wasn't, the litter box was perfectly clean.
It didn't take more then a second for Mommy to come rushing out of the room with our bed in it. She looked tired and very, very, VERY angry. In fact, I can't remember the last time she screamed at me that loud. I quickly ran to hide on top of the climbyscratchthing, but she found me there and kept screaming that I was a bad cat and that I finally should stop trying to put my nose into all things that don't concern me and just behave like a normal cat does. I almost cried. But the next day she gave me food and cuddled me, smiled and said I am a cute little catastrophe. That's probably a compliment. But really, who could be angry at me for long?

Yesterday another human girl came, Mommy said her name was "Auntie". Mommy and Auntie made a lot of things that smelled very, very good and Ruska and me wanted some as well, but they ignored us!
There were a lot of different meats and everything, but we didn't get anything! Not a bit! Mommy even teased us with it, look!

We thought we could have it, but then she ate it herself!

Even though later, when Ruska had left, they ate something else, that did not smell as good, but nice as well, and Mommy gave me some "mashed potatoes" to lick off her finger. That was very yummy. And Ruska didn't get any.... that's my revenge, because Ruska told me she got a bit of something called "Creme Brulee" some days ago, when I was not around.

The also had something sweet smelling to eat and they left it on the sofa when Auntie left. So I went there to have a bite. I mean, it was right there! In front of me. I was sure they had left it for us to eat! Ruska was watching me from the climbyscratchthing and had this awkward smirk on her face. I soon understood why, because apparently I got something wrong once again.... the sweet stuff was not for us and Mommy got very angry again. She said "We don't even start with that, do you get me, Miss?" and held me in the fur of my neck, like my real Mommy did when I was a baby. I don't know what she meant, why would she put it there for us, if we can't have it?

Today I was hanging out in the kitchen, and as Mommy wasn't near, I thought I could jump up on the shelves for a change.... there was a hole in them and it sparkled so nicely in there, so I really needed to catch the sparkles. Somehow I lost my balance and landed in the hole. AND I ALMOST DIED! It was very, very, very strange... all cold and wet and I felt like my toy mouse must have felt that one time when I threw her into our drinking bowl. I ran away very quickly and I kept sliding, cause my paws were wet. I was also sure Mommy would scream again, cause I am not allowed on the kitchen shelves. But instead of screaming she started laughing.Very loud and very long. Ruska laughed as well. When Mommy stopped laughing she said that that is what one gets for not obeying the simplest rules.I bet she put the wet stuff into the hole on purpose. It was a trap!

So much to the smaller events of the last days.... I am really getting impatient concerning the big adventure. Mommy does not. She rather seems to get more sad. I don't know if it is because there are some more holes to rip into the advent calender before Daddy comes or if it is something else. She said quite often that she would rather just stay here. I hope she won't! You can't promise me adventure and then cancel it. And it would not be fun to go on an adventure without her. Who would scream at me then?

Tonight we will watch a movie. Mommy said I can choose. Yesterday they watched something with a talking cat that looks like me and has a personality like a mix of me and Ruska. His name was Jiji. I would like to meet him!

Ruska watching the movie of Jiji. His Mommy Kiki can fly!

Yours,

Phoebe

P.S. Here is a random funny picture of Ruska.

Hihihi.

A thing with many tiny holes!

Hello!

Things keep being weird around here... some days ago Mommy put a weird looking thing on the human sideways catflap! I never paid closer attention to it, but today I took a closer look. Well, okay, yes, I tried to get it down from there... but only to get a better view, you know?
Mommy got angry for some reason... she usually gets when I try to get a better view of things. Especially when those things are on her table or the shelves. Or on the human sideways catflaps! She also always puts a nice blanket there and I take it down when I am cold. Then she tells me to stop sleeping on her... "towel". What's a towel? A fancy human word for blanket? Probably.

Anyways, she screamed at me to get off the shelf and keep my nosy paws off her... "advent calender". Really, humans, who comes up with those weird words? I kept staring at it, so she tried to explain. You rip little holes into it and there is some treat behind it. And then the time goes faster. Or something... and that I can't have it. She also pointed at one of the closed holes and says Daddy will come back when it is open. YAY! Maybe I should try to open it, so he comes faster?

Mommy might be going crazy as well, I caught her talking to this machine. She said "Yeah, right, 5 years work experience, fuck you, too!"... Ruska said that is dirty human language and I must never say 'fuck'. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Hiiiiiiihihihihihii. Humans seem to be talking about that work thing a lot. It must be something amazing, cause they all want it! Mommy was all eager to pick the best piece of a work for her. But some of them, other humans have picked already and then there are again other humans who tell if a human is allowed to pick a work. That is all so complicated.
Then Mommy explained, that if she has a work, that means that she can buy me the yummiest food! I don't get the connection, but a work must be a great thing, that's for sure.

Otherwise it is boring here... no sign of the big adventure that is apparently so very close. I got ready, just in case. But Mommy was just laughing at me.

Look how ready I am!

Have fun tearing holes into your 'advent calenders', humans!

Yours,

Phoebe

Mommy's strange bedtime story...

Hello!

I am still quite exhausted from that hell of a trip yesterday. My neck hurts, because that son of a dog tried to.... I don't know what she tried to do. It felt like she tried to cut my head off, but failed. Humans can't do anything right. To be honest I am not even sure if I am still alive. I guess I probably actually died. If that's the case, afterlife is quite a screw up I can tell you. Looks exactly like before. Oh well.
I can only roll my eyes about Phoebe's soft-soaping, but what does she know, she is only a kid. Anyways, the trip to the Grim Reeper is over and I hope it is the last in a long time. Though I heard something about my teeth being dirty. What an insult. My teeth are perfectly fine. I can show them.

What is true from what Phoebe told you is that things have gotten strange around here. For example in the past days, Mommy got the habit to start telling us a bedtime story. A really weird one, too. Phoebe was super excited, of course, she is always, but I really wondered why the heck she is telling me that stuff, because frankly, I just could not care less! But with time, while Phoebe was still convinced it was our amazing new evening ritual, I realized that she did not actually come up with the story to tell it to us, but to tell it to other humans! Because other humans told her to tell a story to other humans! It is totally confusing, right? Anyways, I think Mommy was pretty scared of telling her bedtime story to other humans... maybe she could read my thoughts about how incredibly irrelevant her blabla was? But she seemed almost as terrified as I am of the visits at the Grim Reeper's. Today she left to tell her story to other humans. She told us it was nice to have known us and she will die and we will never see again. Dude, you only tell a boring story to humans, my head got almost cut off! Tell me about who's dying here!

The cool thing about the horror trip is the fancy booklets we got. Mommy even pimped them, look how important we look now!

Pimped fancy booklets!

Yours, Ruska

P.S. I try to put together Mommy's bedtime story, so you can read it. Maybe you humans get the fuzz about it. Let me know. It goes like this:

Hi everyone!

My name is Anni, I am from Germany and I study Tourism here at TAMK and I will graduate this month.
It might sound like a cliché, but if someone had told me 5 years ago that I would end up standing here, in a Finnish university, in front of a bunch of people, giving a speech about "My Finland" - I would have probably thought they lost it completely. Cause I never expected this to happen.
Five years ago I was just applying for a job as an au pair here in Finland. Now all of you have probably heard the question more than once: "Why on earth would you come to Finland? You could have gone anywhere!" So why did I come here?
As ridiculous as it sounds now, 5 years ago I was totally obsessed with Finland and everything that was Finnish. I loved the music, bands like HIM, The Rasmus and Negative, I loved the nature I mostly knew from photos, I loved the language I didn't understand and the people that I didn't even know.
So it was my dream to come here. My family and friends might not have believed that I would pull it off. Maybe I didn't even believe it myself. But I got a job as an au pair in a small town called Mäntyharju, which is 200km east from Tampere. At first I was disappointed, cause I would have wanted to be in the city. Helsinki or Tampere. But I realized quickly that ending up in Mäntyharju was the best that could have happened. Because there I could experience the real Finnish "country" life. One year was not enough, so I applied for Tourism in TAMK afterwards. I got in, so here I am.

After the 4,5 years that I have been here now, there are so many impressions that I could just go on for hours. But the most impressive thing to me, still, is the nature. There is just nothing more beautiful than the typical view of the lake, with the forest in the background and some cottages. Also, even though most people are irritated by it, I love the long summer nights. Waking up at 4 a.m. and the sun is shining through your window. It's just amazing. Northern lights are something special, too. I personally am pretty unlucky with seeing them. In fact, it took me more than 3,5 years to see the first ones, but I managed. And it is just breathtaking.

Another important point of Finland is the people here. Finns are just so welcoming and would never make you feel like a stranger or foreigner. They try to include you into their lives and bring you closer to their country and culture. As you can see in this reception. They just love to show foreigners, who are interested in it, the ways of celebrating certain holidays. Also when you learn their language. It really does not matter if you can only order one beer or if you are - like me after 4,5 years - almost fluent. They know exactly how incredibly hard their language is and they honestly appreciate seeing foreigners taking the effort of learning it, no matter onto what level they get. They are also very encouraging, they would never laugh about you, when you make mistakes. I have been told many times, when I was just learning and sounded like an idiot, that mistakes don't matter, that the most important thing is that people understand what I am trying to say. And that's the best encouragement you could get.

Even Finns you don't know are very friendly, open and helpful people. You probably heard the saying that "If someone smiles at you on the street in Finland, they are either drunk or a foreigner."
That is probably true, but it does not mean Finns are antisocial people. As long as you respect their personal space, they will be happily trying to help you, for example to find the way. They might tell you they don't speak any English and then they turn out to speak better English than yourself.
If you go into a shop, the shopkeeper might have the worst day ever, but they will still be very friendly, smiling and welcoming, at least in most cases.

Then there is one thing about the communication that I love and that's the informality in which people speak. Coming from Germany it was especially surprising for me, as addressing your teacher or boss with their first name in Germany is the biggest insult anyone could imagine. They say that the reason for that is that people have to show respect and calling them Mr./Mrs. is the only way. Funnily enough, even though it is not done in Finland, I think people here have a lot more respect of their teachers as in Germany. Not because they feel forced to, but because the teachers respect them as well and they want to show respect in return. Still they know that they have to listen to what the teacher says, but the whole communication is on an equal and friendly basis.

In a way I feel I am not the right person to talk about all this. I am a bad example and will go back to Germany in 2,5 weeks. My boyfriend, who is a Finn, found a job there, so we will move to Frankfurt. I am kinda sad about it, because there is just that thing about Finland that I experienced and heard so often during my years as a tutor. No matter if you are here for 2 week holidays, for your 3 month nursing internship, for 6 month or 12 month exchange or even longer - Finland becomes home. People leave and they take a part of Finland with them, they come back for visits. Even those who had Finland as their last choice and ended up here, cause they didn't get anywhere else. They are totally annoyed at first, but when they leave they are in love with the country and so happy they ended up here. It is amazing to see this impression that Finland has on people, that manages to mesmerize them, to make them fall in love.

Obviously after 4,5 years I am back on the ground. I know there is good and bad sides about Finland, as about any country. Because it is not a dream anymore, it is reality. It is my life. When I came here I loved snow and I loved winter and I couldn't wait for the first winter here. The first winter came, the snow came too. It didn't leave. For 5 months. Now every time I see a snowflake I get a personal crisis. But that is okay, because that is how you change when you live here. And it does not mean I love Finland any less than before.

Applying for this au pair job was the best decision of my life. I have met so many incredible people here, my boyfriend, my best friend, my au pair family that turned into a second family and lots and lots of friends from Finland and all over the world. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't applied for this job, but I am so glad I did. I had the time of my life and Finland will be always in my heart, always another home.

But I will come back here one day and maybe some of you will, too. Because, you know, we need to give Finns a reason to ask us: "Why on earth did you come here???"

So, Happy Independence Day everyone and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here, no matter how long or short it is. Make the best out of it!

Thanks.

©Anni Dillenburger

That thing called vet...

Hello!

It's me, Phoebe. Mommy has been talking about a huge trip and adventure lately. I am not quite sure what she means by that, but it can only be a blast. Trips are one of my favorite things, so I am already pretty excited!

It was a few weeks ago when I first recognized that something was odd. Daddy all of a sudden left with a suitcase, in the middle of the night, and did not come back yet. Mommy seemed pretty sad, so I already feared he might not come back ever again! I did my best to comfort her. But I quickly realized that he wasn't really gone, but somehow got stuck in this machine here. I see his face and hear his voice every now and then, when he talks to Mommy. They talk about human stuff, about a thing called "Frankfurt", about work and flats. At some point Mommy said they found us a new place to stay and that we all would go there together. Me, Ruska, Mommy and Daddy. I'm a bit confused, I think it is quite decent here, no need to change. But that's humans, who is supposed to understand them?

Lately Mommy has been talking a lot about a thing called vet. I think I heard about it before, but it has been a while and doesn't quite ring a bell. Ruska said, vet means that we are most likely going to die. I don't believe her, she tends to exaggerate with those things. But today was the day! Mommy prepared our transport bags with warm blankets and hot water bottles and sprayed some of that stuff in there, that smells so nicely. I ran into my bag immediately when she called me, because the bags mean that we are in for something super exciting! Ruska was not that convinced, of course, but Mommy stuffed her into a bag as well. I was a little confused because we usually share a bag, so we can cuddle.

Then another human girl came and she took my bag. Mommy carried Ruska and we left the flat. Oh, it was really cold out there! And lots of the fun, strange white stuff on the ground. Too bad I was in the bag, so I could not play in it. We walked a long time through the cold and I heard how Mommy kept saying she would put Ruska on a diet, because her arm was falling off. Hihi. Ruska cried all the time and tried to get out of the bag. Then we got into a huuuuuuuuuge car, with a lot of humans in it! Wow, that was exciting! I screamed as loud as I could, because it was so much fun. Even Ruska stopped crying and stared at me. As well as all the humans on the big car. Whoops.
Then we got out of the car and Mommy and the other human girl started to look for something and kept talking about 'time' and 'too late'. They had to ask someone for help and finally we got into a warm place, that smelled funnily like cats and dogs and the stuff that Mommy sprayed into our bags.
Mommy talked to a woman there and they said something about chips. But I don't think they meant the same chips that Mommy and Daddy eat sometimes. I stole one once, they are bloody delicious!

We had to wait quite a while, there were dogs and other cats that screamed even louder than Ruska, but then a nice lady called our names and Mommy took us into a separate room. She said "Ruska first, cause she will spread terror.". And Ruska did. I was watching from the bag, you know? Ruska tried everything to get off the pretty silver table. Mommy and the nice lady had to hold her together. Then she meowed "OUCH!". Then they held her even tighter and then she screamed very loudly, said many bad, bad things in cat language and tried to bite and scratch the nice lady. But she only laughed and said "Well, now that didn't work. I'll have to sting you again."... they held even tighter, but this time Ruska didn't move or say anything at all. The nice lady stroked her with a thing and it made beep! That was funny! Then she could go back into her bag and oh boy, I have never seen her run in there so fast! Next was my turn. I was allowed to sit on the pretty table and the nice lady said what a cute and well-behaved cat I am. Needless to tell me, as if I didn't know. They held me as well and I got a sting. It was not bad at all, Ruska really is one whiny cat! Then I got the second sting and that hurt very badly!! But I was very brave and didn't cry at all. The nice lady stroked me with the thing as well and guess what!? I beeped as well! Hihiiii! I went also back into the bag and Mommy got two fancy little booklets.
Later she showed mine to her human girl friend and they laughed and said now I am not Fibi anymore, but Pheobe. I didn't get it. We went out into the cold again and Mommy said we are home soon.
Home we took even two of the huuuuuuge cars and in the second one there was a dog sitting almost next to me. He was very nice and we had a wordless conversation through the whole way.

Then we were already home and Mommy dropped onto our bed and said "Once and never again...." Weird.
I am really exhausted from this adventure and there is supposed to be an even bigger one!? Wow! I will go back to sleep and get some rest. What a day. And of course I was right... no yummy chips for us. I wonder what that was all about?

I'll keep you updated in here! And Ruska too at times. Possibly.


Yours, Phoebe



P.S. Here are pictures of the fancy booklets!!

Left is my fancy booklet, on the right is Ruska's.

This might be the reason why Mommy said I am called Pheobe now.