Wirral Whiskers News
*Drum Roll*
I am so excited. This coming Monday is my last day in my finance day job. I will be back to being a cat sitter full time!
The start of Covid meant that there wasn’t much need for cat sitters. Over the last two and a half years, this has varied from travel bans and strict lock downs, to life returning to almost normal with people finally being allowed to go away. It seems as though now things are more or less back to normal.
In November 2020 I started a full time finance job in Ellesmere Port. This worked well as there were still working from home restrictions.
I’ve been in my current ‘day job’ since the middle of December 2021. Five hours of finance each weekday has meant I could fit in three cat visits before work and a few after work. On busy weeks I took annual leave. Some weeks have been busy juggling cat visits, finance work and sleep. Cat visits have kept me sane!
But over the last couple of months, pet sitting visits had increased dramatically. Which I didn’t expect. It has been so lovely to visit regular cats as well as new cats.
This summer saw the explosion of pet boarding too. Having two rabbits for three weeks as well as various guinea pigs, meant I couldn’t take in everyone that wanted to come. I’ve even had repeat bookings for next year.
Family life has taken a bit of a back seat this summer which is not what I wanted. My lovely husband Ben, has been very helpful. He is such a great support being here for the children as well as handing me a coffee and a packed lunch on the way out in the morning. It’s not been all bad for him, he has enjoyed extra sleep at the weekend as I have fed our cats.
Upcoming plans
On Tuesday my first plan is to clean the children’s bedrooms properly. They aren’t pleased at this thought and have started to do it today. Then I need to spring clean the rest of the house. Hay from animals staying goes everywhere. Also, all my pet items need tidying up. They’ve been washed, dried and then left in a pile.
My website is in need of updating. The gallery is missing lots of new pets. This will mean looking through literally thousands of photos. (They all need sorting out too.)
September and October are busy as I have some local house sitting – each with two cats. I will be able to do my cat sitting visits in addition to this.
My Pets
Most importantly I will have time with my family and pets. After a couple of days house sitting recently, my very timid cat came to sit next to me. Without treats being offered! The other two also wanted to sit near me and even curled up next to me. This is very rare.
We are working on training Bean. He can sit and high five but then we stopped. Sit is such as useful command as he will try to climb my legs which is painful. It's funny as when I say sit, our little cat comes runnign as she knows there will be treats. She hasn't learnt to sit.
At the moment we have three cats, five multimammate mice, a Robovorski hamster, twelve shrimp and four African pygmy frogs. (Plus three guinea pigs on holiday but they are checking out tomorrow.)
We are expecting the pitter patter of tiny shrimp feet as three of our shrimp are pregnant. Apparently it is really hard to raise young shrimp but we are hopeful. We have the mating call of the frogs but not seen any eggs yet.
Fun Times Ahead
I’m looking forward to having fun days out with the children. Usually we go to art galleries, museums, etc, but have only been to the Walker Art gallery once this summer. I don’t think they have missed going to educational places but they have missed the coffee and cake stops.
My eldest is going to be doing his GCSE’s this year so I will be around more to ‘help’ with homework. Or at least remind him to revise.
On a Wednesday evening I like to go out roller skating with my little one. Sometimes I have been too tired or migraine-y to go which makes her sad. It such a fun thing to do as a family. Also, I'm hoping that we are able to go back to circus lessons together. Over the last year I haven't been to many aerial lessons. When I do go, I'm out of practice, scared of heights and unfit so struggle. I need to work on my flexibility too. (Still hoping to get my splits...)
I’ve got a few coffee and cake dates planned with friends. Some I haven’t seen since before the summer holidays.
February was the last time I picked up any sewing. I've got half of Bean's face free hand embroidered. It would be nice to finish it.