Who really rules the Emmaverse?

I live alone.  As such, you'd think that I would be pretty in control of my surroundings, environment, and generally queen of my castle.  But I'm afraid you would be wrong.  Very wrong indeed.  That accolade goes to the furry ball of fluff which I allowed into my home about 3.5 years ago at the age of 9 weeks:

Ever since, she has most definitely been in charge, and has become very proficient at making her feelings and wishes known!  There is a saying which I have learnt is so true it's unreal, that "dogs have owners, cats have staff!".  On her first night in my home I decided to bring her upstairs with all her paraphernalia and see how it went - that lasted all of about 15 minutes!  I decided that a small kitten jumping all over the bed would not be conducive to sleep and back downstairs she went, as she did not seem to yet understand that night time and getting in bed meant sleep time!  The cries of abandonment were heart-wrenching though, the same ones given when I left the house for work, the same ones she made in the car on her journey home (those ones were probably asking "who are you and where are you taking me?") and caused guilty feelings of abandonment every time I left her.

Alas she is not so attached to me anymore, in fact when I arrive home she is just as likely to leave the house via the cat flap as she is to come and say hello!  Cats are quite independent (which is just as well as I do spend a lot of time out of the house, I knew I wouldn't have been able to commit to taking care of a dog) and they want you when they want you, and when they want to be left alone they tell you that too!  She is jolly good company though, and has been the cause of much amusement.

She is really obsessed with the laser pointer I got her (I bought it after seeing how much my friend's cats loved theirs) and still doesn't seem to understand that chasing the little red dot is useless, she will never catch it - much hilarity for me, especially when I make her spin round after her tail!

Only the other day I got out of my car, locked it and was hanging my coat up in my porch only for the car alarm to start going off.  I opened the front door to see Millie staring out the back window of the car - how she had snuck in there without me noticing I'll never know!

The other thing I should have been prepared for with cat ownership but wasn't is the "presents" they like to bring you.  Now Millie is only a small cat, and unlike my Dad's cat who has fun murdering and ripping the heart out of playing with pigeons, she has only graced me with some small field mice (dead and alive at various times) and a couple of birds.  The dead mouse being played with on my bed at 3am whilst I had been trying to sleep was NOT amusing, neither was the sound of chirping which was coming from a bird on my bedroom carpet at 4:30 am on another occasion.

The second bird which got brought in my Mum was present for, as Millie entered the lounge there was a scream of "oh my God she's got a bird" from my Mum.  Now the bird was fairly sizable and looked pretty lifeless in Millie's mouth, but no the bird was released and promptly started flying around the lounge trying to escape, with the cat tracking it every inch of the way!  The cat was evicted from the lounge and put out the back door, and the bird let out the front window, and was  hopefully okay after his shock!

Millie is quite wilful, but clearly knows when she has upset me (not that she lets that stop her at all!).  She definitely understands the words "no", "naughty" and "down" if not exactly the English meaning just by the tone of my voice!  Various crimes include:
1. Thinking that the clothes horses are climbing frames, most especially when they have nice clean washing on.
2. Jumping on the dining table, kitchen surfaces, or practically any other high place she likes, despite the discussions we have had about it not being acceptable!
3. Going from 'gently purring cat I'm liking being stroked cat' to 'get off me I want to attack and scratch you' in the matter of a nanosecond - you really have to pay attention and know when to quit!
4. Thinking the rear bedroom window is a second cat flap.  Now this one I don't mind so much, and in the summer when it's hot and windows are open I suppose she can come in and out over the conservatory up to my window, but it did surprise my friend a bit when she house sat that having trapped the cat downstairs for the night, she suddenly appeared again in the bedroom as she'd left the windows open!

Bags are apparently the most amazing toys don't you know, and the other photos here well, yes, I don't think I'm buying an expensive play centre and while the old armchairs in my bedroom and conservatory ARE effectively scratch posts, if she tried this in the leather sofa she would need a SERIOUS telling off!

So, this is my universe, and this is the ruler.  If you have cats, you'll relate, if you haven't, that's a little glimpse into their world!  See you at the weekend for 10 things of thankful!