This belongs to Manny...and so does that, and that...

When we first moved into our new place, we used the second bedroom upstairs as a dumping ground for miscellaneous boxes and items that we weren't sure where we were going to put them. Among these items were Manny's litter box and food stuff. We decided to keep his stuff in the second bedroom while we worked on arranging (and rearranging) downstairs. We didn't want to keep shifting his food and litter box every two seconds.


This past weekend we made some great strides in organizing the second bedroom (it can actually be used as a guest bedroom now!). We finally found a couple of spots downstairs that work for Manny's food and litter box and shifted his stuff downstairs. That transition went well for Manny and he just continued eating and using the box in the appropriate places as if nothing ever changed. The daybed that we bought for the second/guest bedroom is set up with bedding and blankets waiting for potential over night visitors (hint, hint family!) to use it. Yesterday, I walked into the room to look for a miscellaneous box, and there staring at me from the bed, was Manny. He looked at me like, "uh, don't you ever knock", and I looked at him like, "uh, what are you doing on *this* bed...". So I went over, picked him up off the bed and carried him to my bed explaining to him that he can not possibly take over every piece of furniture in this house -one bed per customer!". He noted his dissatisfaction by a few tail swishes but eventually plopped down on my bed to continue his snooze.

Fast forward a few hours later. I was walking up the stairs when I heard the unmistakable sound of paws landing on the floor. I looked toward the second bedroom and saw Manny sneaking out of the guest bedroom heading towards my room. I followed him into my room and watched him curl up on my bed.

"Manny", I said. "I know you think everything in this house is yours, but seriously, do you think I can have just one thing that does not have orange fur all over it? I would appreciate it, and future guests would appreciate it - do you think you can make that happen?

I got a tail swish in response.

I'm pretty sure his orange fur is the equivalent to human's leaving yellow sticky notes with the word "MINE" all over their belongings.

So now I am on a crusade to reclaim the guest bedroom as the guest bedroom and not Manny's Domain East. Even if it means having to leave yellow sticky notes all over that bed. I have a feeling it will be a losing battle, but we'll see if it can be done.