Nigella …

Cha-ching. I heard that noise coming from M Kaz’s telephone the other day and I’ve worked out that it’s the notification sound for messages she gets from that online shop she’s always buying stuff from. It’s kind of cute (is that the right word for it?) that it makes a sound like a cash register. Yes, I do know what a cash register sounds like, I’ve seen them on the television, maybe even in Midsomer.

It is getting cooler here, not as cold as it was overnight in Stanthorpe where Uncle Wayne is at the moment. There was frost on the ground there when he woke up this morning. It’s not that cold here but it’s cold enough that i’m sleeping in with the Mummies most nights. I know there’s not a lot of room but M Kaz is learning how to sleep with her legs on either side of or around me. I sometimes sleep on M Sooz’s bed too.

It’s so nice to have Outback. Even when it’s raining it’s still warmer out there than it is in Jannie.  M Kaz has ever been out there a couple of days recently – she was taking some rays, and then she was having some zzz’s. I’m not sure how she can actually sleep on the table – it’s not like she can climb up on it and stretch out like I do. She just rests her head on her arms – and not long after that she starts snoring. She can be a very loud sleeper.
I am still enjoying my patio and I’m sure the Mummies love watching me while I’m in there. Sometimes I sit; sometimes I stand; sometimes I lie down – on my side, on my back, on my front – they just never know which is probably why M Kaz always has a camera device right there ready to snap photos of me.

It is a mystery, isn’t it M Kaz? How I can sleep in a tiny little ball on the end of my bed but need to stretch out to my full length (and then some) when I’m on yours. Hmmm. I guess we’ll never know.

I do like the new ‘balcony’ though. M Kaz found it for me – we can’t really say ‘built’ because it came already constructed from their favourite store Aldi – but ti was Aunty M who decided what to call it. It goes with the gingerbread house that Aunty M bought for me as a flat-pack and which M Kaz put together – with my help of course.

I wonder how long it will be before M Kaz tries to sneak another one of my things out of the house. She’s still doing that ‘decluttering’ which takes so much time – almost as much time as she’s already spent this week looking for something else she had put ‘in a safe place’. I don’t know why people can’t be minimalist like cats!

There has been a bit of sun out and about this week and M Kaz came Outback to sort the laundry on Monday (after she had been to the dentist) but she ended up popping her head down on the table and having a nap in the sun with me. I hope she never works out just how lovely it is out there or she’ll want to be out there with me all the time. No, I don’t mind sharing, but word on the street – and I can attest to this – is that she can tend to snore a bit when she puts her head down for a nap. Has she never heard of ‘quiet enjoyment’ of a space.

Yes. Yes. Midsomer Murders continues to show here at Jannie in the evenings. We do have a change of pace when Aunty M comes over to watch the Madame Blanch Mysteries. I think they were all pleased when they realised they still have two more seasons of it to go. But will Barbara the naughty woman (‘Bad to the Bone’ plays on Jean’s phone when she calls) come back in Season 2 or will the R-I-P bullets have done their job? Stay tuned.

M Kaz and I had a lovely start to the day with a game of Kill and Destroy on the bed.  Luckily M Sooz didn’t move her feet while she was asleep or she may have had a Nigey launch herself on to them with teeth and claws out.  Surprisingly, M Kaz managed to get bitten only twice (no blood was drawn either time) and she didn’t even get clawed.  I did try – otherwise what fun would Kill and Destroy be?  And then, when M Kaz was getting ready, she let me play with her shoelaces on the bed.  It doesn’t get much better than this!  Unless she lets me play with her new shoelaces.  She bought a yellow pair for herself and a red pair for M Sooz and once she works out how to use them – I think she knows how shoelaces work but these have little clasps which go over the aglets so the two ends just clip together.  It’s going to make it much easier to undo the shoelaces without having to work on those double-knots which are sometimes a bit tricky.  I am forever grateful that Nigeys don’t need to wear shoes. 

Aunty M came around to see me this morning but by the time I realised she was there, she and M Sooz were on their way out to breakfast.  M Kaz called out to them for me but they didn’t hear (or just ignored her – no, no, they wouldn’t do that).
I spent some time yesterday afternoon trying to break in to M Kaz’s office.  I don’t know why she insists on locking me out – I just want to help her with her work.  No, I can’t type (well) – we all know that, and the headphones don’t really fit me – but I can operate the foot pedal!  No, seriously I can – maybe not well because it’s hard to select which part of the pedal to press when most of you is on it.  Hmmm.

I thought the rain had gone, but I was wrong.  It bucketed down last night and again this morning, while M Kaz was out and about – yes, that would be when she was down at the Broadwater for her walk and morning photo session.  It didn’t rain heavily, but enough for her to get caught out in it and to realise that her backpack may not be entirely waterproof.  Hmmmm. 

What I was doing while she was out?  I was sleeping at the foot of her bed – stretched out – which I can’t do while she’s in there as well.  I do try to section off as much room as I can but her feet are bigger than mine and I am always a little worried that she will forget I am there and send me hurtling off the bed.  Well, no, it hasn’t happened yet, but a Nigey can’t be too careful.

Now that I think about it, yes, they are still watching Midsomer Murders – they’re up to Season 16 now, and Barnaby has a new sidekick – and he and Sarah have a baby on the way.  They miss Jones, but since they’ve already watched the whole series before, they know that he will be back – just for one episode, but they’re looking forward to that.
Aunty M has been coming around to watch television with the Mummies.  They had been watching ‘Queens of Mystery’, which they all seemed to enjoy, but they have now watched all two seasons of that – and have now moved on the ‘Madam Blanc Mysteries’ and, can you believe it, the second episode wasn’t about solving a murder – it was a completely dfferent type of mystery.  M Kaz said she likes it because she learns ‘stuff’ – like the meaning of ‘Ellie in a Nightie’ which is nothing like ‘a pig in a blanket’ or ‘Nigey on a towel’.

M Kaz is now disappearing for hours at a time out the front.  At first I thought she was going out, but it seems she is actually clearing out the garage/shed.  I know this now because M Sooz was saying the other day that it was getting a bit colder and she thought she needed some heavier covers on the bed.  When M Kaz came back in after her shed session yesterday, she had a blanket, a duvet cover and a duvet for her.  Just as well she hadn’t gone out there with the express intention of finding them because we all know that that would never have happened.  We’re all hoping it will be a different scenario when she’s finished decluttering and reorganising out there.  I’m hoping she will get to move some of the clutter out of my bedroom and stow it out there or send it on its way. I don’t really care either way.