Cat-puss, or, AcatAlia

We have a cat.  This cat:

Alia is my cat from my previous marriage.  A before cat.  Alia is a grumpy so-and-so who likes no-one, though I mostly convince myself that she likes me.  A bit.  The fact First-Husband and I named her Alia turned out to be prophetic, as sometimes she is very, very like the Baron Harkonnen.

I am above you all...and also quite chubby.

The girls are...let's just say...VERY fond of her.  Alia, on the other paw, has never liked That-Guy [known to me as beloved husband], or That-Guy's Kids.  I'm sure she thinks longingly of the civilised times spent with First-Husband, where snacks were plentiful, children were nil, and all of the attention was hers.  Depsite an attempt at shared custody, after our divorce we tearfully decided that Alia was better off with one home, so I kept her with me.  Adapting to her life in a family is an ongoing project.  After nearly 8 years, she's perhaps beginning to come to terms with it, maybe...

Snail in particular has been Alia's arch-nemesis.  Snail loves to torture the cat.  "Alia" is one of Snail's few precious words, as in "AcatAlia": all-one-word.  For many years she thought AcatAlia was the word for "cat."  All cat's were AcatAlia.  All cats, lions, tigers, panthers, jaguars, small dogs, mere-cats, and, apparently, wombats, were AcatAlia.  Each year, her teacher would get that sudden "aha" of comprehension if we mentioned that AcatAlia in fact was Snail for "cat."  I'm sure it made a whole lot of classroom interactions make sense.

I've always loved the "busted" quality of this shot from a couple of years ago.

Snail: "Let's get AcatAlia!" Lolly: "Sounds Great, sis, let's do it!"  AcatAlia: "Aw shit..."

This is a closeup shot from that moment...

This face definitely says: "awesome" and "I love kids."

Lolly, following in her sister's footsteps, loves to torture the cat, too.  Lolly refers to Alia as "cat-puss," which, much to Alia's chagrin, has become her other name.

I will always be "Alia/Baron Harkonnen" on the inside!

It is, despite herself, a nice life for a Cat-puss these days, with acreage to explore, dogs to love up to, kids to ignore, and That-Guy to hate on.  And a Mumma to pat you.  

Grumpy cat is festive.