The other night when I was changing the litterbox I broke it! I went
to tap the box on the bathroom counter to knock the stuck litter loose
because I didn't want to wash it out, and when it hit the counter the
corner shattered! I patched it up with a load of packing tape, and
yesterday we went to Walmart in search of a new one...

Well, they were all out of jumbo litterboxes, so I got another
under-the-bed-storage box instead... it's the same size as a
litterbox, cheaper than a litterbox, works just as well as a
litterbox, but it's not as strong (which is why the last one
smashed...) While we were hunting for the box we found them a present
- a Kitty playhouse for twenty bucks :) It's plastic tubing with nylon
mesh hammocks and a nylon tunnel for them to climb in... Silver was
wary of it, sniffed at it, and decided she was too old for such
things. Scouty took one look at it and ran away to the opposite end of
the house to hide from the Scary Monster... and Tessie adored it so
much she started trying to climb on it before we'd even finished
putting the thing together! :P It seems to be a hit!

Tessie spent about three hours climbing all over it and playing with
the pompom balls that are attached to it (I think she likes having a
couple of balls that run away) and then she settled down on top of it
to sleep... Silver still hasn't been near it and I don't think she's
going to (but she might surprise us - she wouldn't deign to touch the
cat tree for weeks but now she climbs it and perches on the second
platform and even jumps off it onto John's chair, and plays
pouncy-tail with Tessie.) Scouty's already surprised me - she doesn't
want to have an audience but after we turned the lights out last night
she was sitting in the bottom level of the tunnel batting at the
pompom (she ran away when I went out there to take a photo) and she's
been in it twice this morning already, playing chasey with Tessie :)
She loves caves and she loves balls, and this this playhouse she gets
to have both at once.

While we were at Walmart I got a pair of new cake storers which I
accidentally left behind in the store (grrr... I HATE the way the
Walmart checkouts work - it's not the first time we've accidentally
left a bag or two behind on their stupid carousel because it was only
partly full or had clear/lightweight items in it, and if you don't
realise before you leave the carpark it's too late to go back and get
them :( ) And I bought six plastic jars for the kitchen cupboards - we
had a weevil incident last weekend and even though I cleaned
everything up and they were only in ONE packet, it was a wakeup
call... even John can see the value of airtight storage containers now
- if something comes into the house infested, the little blighters
will only be able to infest ONE storage jar instead of attacking
everything in the pantry.