February already ?!

Wait what ? How did that happen ? Last I looked I was getting ready for Christmas... What a terrible blogger I've been ! And besides the occasional Instagram posting, I haven't really been up to anything in 2014 so far. No thrifting, no decorating, no rearranging... The blog is neglected, the kitties feel neglected, the plants certainly are and so is the whole apartment.

Ok then. Speaking of kitties, I thought I'd kick off the new blogging season with some furry animal cuteness. Ready for some cat pictures overload ? 

I don't know if you know, but I share my place with cat herd of six. Yep, that's right. Six little awesome rescue kitties ! Here they are in no particular order.

Sammy. The newest addition to the herd. I found her last summer. Here's the before photo.

She and Woody have quickly become best buddies.

My little fluffy rascals !

Speaking of Woody. Do you remember the cat mummy and her newborn kittens my friend Laura and I found in the street in August 2012 ? Well one of those kittens, that's Woody.

Both Woody and Sammy love to snuggle with Flo on my desk, under the warm desk light.

Flo, my one-toothed vampire. And to think she was this tiny skinny kitten back in January 2011 when I found her.

Highstrung Watson. In his mind he's the topcat. Of course the other don't agree.

He loves to snuggle.

And this is Wally. Found in October 2011, but apparently I didn't blog about it at the time. The earliest post I can find is only in March 2012... She's still very, very shy. Ever since Sammy joined, she's been a little less timid though. She now occasionally allows me to cuddle her. 

And finally, my oldest cat. June. Now almost nine. She's been with me ever since I bought this apartment - nine years ago. I bet if you asked her she could still remember when everything was painted yellow and orange... 

Now living with this many cats in a small apartment isn't always easy. It's doable though and here are some of my favourite "helpers" to keep odors, fur bunnies and costs at a minimum.

Modkat litter boxes. What's not to love ? They keep most of the litter inside, are incredibly easy to clean and are super stylish. 
Only downside is of course their rather hefty price tag. But over the years I've managed to score four of them during various sales on the modko and zooplus websites.

And while we're on the subject of cat loos, I can't sing high enough praises to the Tigerino silica cat litter. That stuff is magic ! Just scoop the poo once a day, the rest is absorbed and stays fresh and odorless for weeks (even with this many cats). And again on websites like zooplus, they do regular sales on this litter. Like right now - less than 10 eur for 3 bags...

I also include a picture of my trusted Miele Cat & Dog hoover. Definitely not the sexiest thing to blog about, but what a life saver ! As you can imagine six cats can quickly amount to fur bunnies the size of grapefruits... I don't know how I managed before my Dad got me this one a few years back. Again this thing isn't cheap, but it makes such a difference.

And for those who have read this far and still aren't fed up, here are some pictures of various stray cats I feed outside...

Mostly this lovely cat...

... and her offspring.

Oh and I would also like to point out that in this household we don't discriminate. I also like to feed wild birdies... much to the enjoyment of Watson...

And if you still haven't had enough, check out these awesome internet kitties :

• Princess Monster Truck
• Hamilton the hipster cat
• and Colonel Meow, who I'm very sad to learn has passed away last week. RIP Colonel !

PS. I would also like to point out that this post has in no way been sponsored by modko, Miele, zooplus or Tigerino. But if any of these companies (or Royal Canin btw) would like to send some free samples, testers or donations my way... The kitties and I would be more than happy to oblige ;-) 

Weekend to do

Welcome to snoozefest central ! The kitties are kicking off the long weekend with a well deserved rest...

Me, on the other hand ? I'm wide awake. Scheming, writing lists, drinking coffee and planning a busy weekend, mostly involving yet another clear out. 
You might remember that post from a few months ago about my messy living room. Well, let's just say that room has devolved from disaster state to extreme hoarding area...

Of course, the kitties are unfazed by it all.

So what about you ? Any plans for the (long) weekend ?

Woody

You might remember the cat and her newborns that my friend Laura and I rescued back in Auguest ? 

That cat family has been living quite happily at Laura's lovely home all this time. Laura is going to keep most of them. Bless her ! One kitten is going to another friend of mine. And of course, being the total cat sucker that I am, I couldn't resist adopting one of the little ones.

So here he is. Woody ! An almost three month old, fluffy little rascal. 

Woody has had a few busy days since arriving at the Fat Cat residence on Tuesday. He has discovered a favourite new chair.

He has made lots of new acquaintances.

He has a new BFF.

And he's clearly into West German pottery.

And seems to enjoy it as much as I do, if not more ! He's certainly put it to an unexpected use.

And in case you're wondering. Yep, that now makes a total of five cats. FIVE ! I know, crazy right ? 

Does anybody know what the next step after hoarding is ?

And then there where six... more

I know, I know. I've neglected this blog for far too long, but I've been busy looking for a job and incidentally spending a few more days in the UK, enjoying the sunshine and thrifting to my little heart's content. More about that another time.

As if all this wasn't exciting enough, my good friend Laura and I got sucked into yet another cat rescue mission. Ok, I admit. We've got only our weak-minded, cat crazy selves to blame for this. But still... what can you do when you come across this beautiful cat mummy and her (at that time) three newborn kittens stranded on the side of the road ? You pick everybody up and offer them a cozy, safe place in your home. Of course !

So that's what we did. Mummy cat and her five kittens - she gave birth to two more while Laura and I where out buying her food - now live in a spare room in Laura's house. Everybody seems to be doing well. Fingers crossed. 

Name suggestions anyone ? We've got one adult gray tabby, two white kittens, two gray tabby ones and one little black one. So go crazy.

Oh and btw, if anyone in Brussels and surrounding areas is reading this and can offer one (or more) of these cats a good home, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaase contact me.

Bedroom peek

I'm on a roll ! 

Ebay roll that is. Success has been achieved. And my bank account has been bailed out. Not in the hundreds of millions like most European banks and/or countries, but still enough that I could reinvest part of my gains into some new thrift without feeling too much guilt - and still put enough aside to pay some big upcoming bills. Like house taxes. Grrrrr.

So here you have Watson modelling my latest acquisition. Much like this witty lady, I've been focusing a lot on the bedroom lately. But more about that later. 

I'm particularly happy about this purchase as I've been on the lookout for a 50s "cocktail" chair for a long time, probably ever since I saw T's cream one about ten years ago. Unfortunately these little chairs now tend to sell around the 100 eur mark. And I'm afraid this one was no exception. But since my budget wasn't too tight, I gladly coughed up 115 eur for the chair (justifying the additional 15 eur because of its lovely curved armrests) and an additional 20 eur for delivery.

The entire corner. Actually the only new things are the chair and the big plant (a totally reasonable Ikea find !). The rest is all stuff I already owned and rearranged in a new way.

Lazy weekend

I spend a quiet weekend in Germany, checking out my favourite thrift store and incidentally visiting my grandma. 

Of course, I brought back a whole bag of finds and amongst them this little round Rosenthal bisque vase. As I've been regularly spending a quite substantial part of my meagre income at this shop, I always get welcomed with a big smile, a nice chat and an equally substantial discount. In this case, they knocked off 5 eur on the 17 eur price tag and that little fella was all mine.

God, I just love the texture of those vases ! They'e just asking to be caressed by my chubby little sausage fingers.

Which reminds me, I don't think I ever showed you the one on the right. I'd been drooling over some pretty whacky specimens on the internet (like this one, or those) and was very eager to score an 'ammonite' vase of my own.
However when I eventually spotted a whole bunch of them, they happend to be in one of Brussels more exclusive antiques shops. Of course, I ended up paying a very unfortunate price (I think it was around 40 eur, waaaaaaayyyyy back in September, can't really remember the exact amount) and eating rice and onions the rest of the month. Ah well, all in the name of vintage design !

In yet another bout of insomnia, I also tried to capture the sun rising at the front of the appartement (the light was much more golden in reality). I mean what else does one do at 6 o'clock in the morning... Certainly not tidy up the mess that is the rest of the room and which I cleverly managed to exclude from this shot.

Speaking of sunlight, this weekend we also finally got to see the see the sun again. 

As if that wasn't a rare enough occurence, the entire cat herd decided to have a sunbath on and around the bed. This never happens. The four of them being so close together without any hissing, hitting and biting. I'm very happy I managed to capture this peaceful/sleepy moment.

Watson, passed out. Keeping three furry ladies in check can be tiresome work...

Flo. Bless her. Watson doesn't like her, so she isn't allowed on the bed with the others. But she still manages to keep close.

A little of this, a little of that

Apologies for having gone AWOL for so long ! Although I've continued dabbling around the flat over the last couple of months, I just haven't been inspired enough to take pictures and document anything on this blog... Winter, the last weeks of school, sending out applications and going on interviews for an internship have drained me of most of my energy.

Ok ok, I'm gonna stop whining now and let you discover the changes - big and small - that have occured around here.

Yeah, I simply can't get enough of Jason Munn's posters ! And added a third one to the bedroom display. The Walkmen - fantastic band btw. Go check them out.

My neighbours can't no longer play peeping toms... I finally hung some curtains in the bedroom. Ikea ones, what else ?

And there's definitely some hippie vibe going on in the bathroom. Macramé and plants galore.

Of course, I also keep adding to the West German pottery collection. Now also taking over the kitchen window sill.

And last, but absolutely not least, let me introduce you to my newest 'roommate' - little Wally, who has been living at the Fat Cat residence since October. Hyperactive when it comes to playing, voracious when it comes to food, very shy when it comes to humans, she's been shaking things up amongst the cat herd...