Put a Pin in It

This morning we returned to our regularly-scheduled programming - after having Thursday, Friday, and yesterday off from school for fall break - and as one expect, we are all D...R...A...G...G...I...N...G. (The break was great, but per usual, it wasn't nearly long enough.)

I had a different post planned, but decided at the last minute that it was too heavy for a morning that already felt like trudging mournfully through a swamp. Instead, I'm going lighter, sharing with you Popeye's current obsession: bobby pins. 

For months Popeye has been collecting Hallie's bobby pins (she leaves them all over the house) and storing them in his food dish, kind of like Plié does with my rubber bands. It's something of a frantic process, in that if Popeye comes across a bobby pin, he seems to feel the need to PLAY WITH IT RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE and then deliver it to the food dish as soon as he's finished.

I was finding at least one bobby pin in the food dish every day, and because Hallie didn't really want to wear smelly, kibble-dusted bobby pins in her hair, I was tossing these in the trash. We had gone through a lot of bobby pins before, but the rate at which we were going through them post-obsession increased dramatically.

In an effort to help Hallie keep track of her bobby pins (and cut down on the number getting thrown away), I bought her a magnetic bobby pin tray. The tray was doing its job by containing the bobby pins - keeping them off of the floors, counters, and tables and therefore also away from Popeye - until Popeye discovered this new accessory. Popeye quickly learned that if there are a lot of bobby pins on the tray, he can still pull the top pins off because the magnetic pull on them is weaker. He also learned that if there are only a couple of pins on the tray (pins he can't pick up because the magnetic pull on them is stronger), he can push the tray across the counter until it topples over the edge, hits the tile floor, and breaks apart, dislodging the magnet and releasing the bobby pins...at which point Popeye gets to work picking them up in his mouth and carrying them to his food dish for safe keeping.

We finally realized that we could tend to both Hallie and Popeye's bobby pin needs if when we take the bobby pins out of the food dish, we just put them on the neighboring cabinet. Then when we see Popeye looking for a bobby pin, we grab one from his personal cabinet stash, throw it for him, and watch with smiles on our faces as he runs - delighted - to "fetch" and return it to the food dish. And he does this over and over and over again. 

It brings all of us - except Plié, who doesn't really like Popeye crowding her rubber bands with his bobby pins - great joy. 

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Happy Tuesday-that-feels-like-Monday, friends. I hope something as simple as a cat who loves bobby pins makes you smile today.