Our first foster child is arriving any minute.

13 hours in. No one has died and/or cried yet. So this is good. She is safe at school and all is fine.

Why I didn’t RP tonight:

If some internet person changes and doesn’t do the problematic shit so well that I can’t tell they are the same person, then congrats, I’ll never know.

I have so many positive feels about Norwood’s end. I’m really happy now it wasn’t RPed out, because I’m not sure it could have been done as gracefully as the action result came out.

Norwood was such a big part of my soul that even after I came to admit I didn’t have room to actively RP any more, I couldn’t let him go. I would sign on every few days to check on him.

Everyone who was involved gets .

May I share my foster kittens with y’all here? Even if I can never find here because it doesn’t show up on Google Results. (I have it bookmarked finally.)

My foster fail Calypso is a HUGE cuddle bug. She loves to cuddle up with other cats.

My senior baby Kiva is not a cuddler, but she doesn’t mind Calypso much, and basically raised her.

So they’ve come to a compromise. Calypso is allowed to lay NEAR Kiva and Kiva will not complain. Calypso tests this sometimes to see how much cuddling she can get away with. Today it was being curled into Kiva’s tail with one Calypso aw on Kiva’s butt. It makes my heart melt.

He sees more ghosts.

Yeah - Until the very end they had me CONVINCED I was the bad person in the interactions. I fell over myself apologizing for hurting them and making them uncomfortable. It wasn’t until I found myself sobbing with my laptop on my lap at the top of a staircase that I finally realized - this wasn’t okay. It WASN’T ooc personal my female alt didn’t like their PC. It WASN’T my fault I didn’t want to RP some things. All of those were perfectly good boundaries and I was being emotionally manipulated by someone who knew exactly what to say and when to say it.

Now, do I think the person behind the screen is some kind of cartoon villain twirling their mustache, petting a white cat, and itching to press the destroy button? Nah. I think they found a way of behaving that typically results in them getting attention (often it doesn’t matter if it is positive or negative) and so they repeat the behavior because it fills a need.

If they are reading this, I hope they know that it is possible to get attention for doing the right things. This doesn’t have to be your entire internet legacy.

Tiny asshole kitten Benjamin Sisko was wrapped around my leg chewing and clawing.

I got tired of it, and now only 60 seconds later, he is asleep with his head supported by my palm.

My revenge will be letting one of the insane other six pounce him once they realize he zzzzed out.

Child has informed me that my therapy is stupid, but hers is essential. I don’t need therapy because I’m an adult, and she does need it because she’s a kid.

Celebrated the girl’s 8th birthday.

Also celebrated that we are officially her longest foster family.

She said recently that if she can’t go home to her mommy and daddy that she wouldn’t mind us adopting her.

Foster girl and I had a screaming, yelling, name calling fight.

And she didn’t hit me or break anything.

I’m so freaking proud of her.

@Pacha

BossMu

Everyone is the best at everything. Everyone is the Boss. Now, Everyone has been kidnapped by aliens and placed in a simulated environment to see who would win in the battle of being the best.

What is YOUR skill??

@Buttercup

I would just embrace your occasional senior discount for longer than some of us get to claim it.

@hellfrog

Dealing with the courts and her bio family had really put a damper on my faith in humanity.

Between last night and her BFFs’ mom brushing her hair today (she won’t let me near it) my faith is beyond restored.

Our foster daughter has some pretty extreme behaviors, and today she exploded pretty spectacularly. So we had to call off going TO a fireworks show because helping her regulate in a crowd of people is impossible.

We didn’t deprive her though and went outside to see what we could of the big shows. There were A LOT. She was screaming with joy and jumping in and down out of her mind with glee.

A few houses over a family was setting of some legal fireworks and so she asked if we could go watch. I agreed and we walked over to ask permission to watch.

This family just reached out and ENVELOPED my little girl in love. First offered a sparkler, then a whole box (“don’t let the fun end!”) Then s’mores, and finally they broke out extra chairs for all of us. Grandpa of neighbors teased her like mad. Just such amazing kindness I almost cried several times seeing the joy on this little girl’s face.

There are just good people.

(Also the dad was a smoker and little girl has had some bad experiences with smokers in the past, so it was really healthy of her to have a healthy one.)

@Aria

I’m crossing my fingers for you!!! He looks like a DELIGHT!!!

I’m fairly sure the rescue I work with is one of the more unhinged ones. I swear they have added several new questions to the app, and every one has a story behind it.

We are considering a new one “Have you ever surrendered a cat due to medical needs?” Because we have a beautiful orange baby who was surrendered with half his face missing. He turned out to be FIV+, was not neutered, and we had to have his eye amputated on top of all the healing for the infection. Several thousand dollars went in and people donated specifically for his care. Now the owners who surrendered him are attempting to get him back.

I don’t think this question will make it, but this isn’t the first time a cat has come to us on death’s door, we’ve saved them, and then they try to get the cat back.

@Aria

Part of my responsibilities at my shelter is to approve or deny adoptions for our cats. This could be after the initial application, or after their Google meets home visit.

I hhattteee having competing apps for cats, but over 50% of interviews fail so it is nice when at least one of them is good so they can still go home promptly. (Over 75% of the initial apps fail, seriously, it is crazy any make it. But with that said, in the 3 years I’ve been there we have only had 10 cats returned with ~100 cats going home each year. )

But the WORST is when they are both amazing and we have to choose. I hate having to tell someone “You are amazing and please come meet more cats and you can take them home that same day! But we have decided to go with another family for these particular cats.”