Oh yeah! Hmm, I seem to be singin’ the blues a lot lately on this blog, don’t I? The Summertime Blues, the Not Enough Quarters for the Washing Machine Blues, and of course, everyone’s favorite, that seemingly never-ending waltz around “Plateau Point!” This week is a little less tragic – I’m down to:

189.0

A miniscule little drop, to be sure, but still, any loss of elevation is welcome (unless you’re on Viagra, I guess?).

Anyway, the “stray cat” of my title song is a cute little black kitten who’s trying to stake out territory in the space between our house and the neighbors, as well as in MY HEART waahhh!!

The thing is, although (of course!) he’s super cute, neither Mr. 50by60 nor our current alpha cat, the Budster, is really ready for a cute new interloper just yet. After all, it’s been less than a year since our beloved Princess went to Kitty Heaven,

taking our hearts with her! And none of us is really quite sure we’re ready to reclaim our hearts from way up there and start from scratch (literally – I mean, it’s a cat!) with a new furry friend. But like all good salespeople, Li’l Blackie hasn’t given up yet!

And to be honest, he’s already wormed his way into — if not my heart, at least into that vast Catholic guilt complex inside my head.

I’ve been buying extra cat food and leaving it out between the houses for him, as well as lying awake at night, worrying that he’ll be too cold out there. “It’s 50 degrees!!! Won’t he freeze to death?”

So we’ll see what happens. If nothing else, all this stress should result in a nice, juicy weight loss next week! By which time, by the by, and getting back to the “Washing Machine Blues,” we may just have a brand new washing machine, y’all!!!

Stay tuned — I’ll update you next week on the cats, the major appliances, and of course, the continuing saga of The Weight!!