• I did NOT add rooms to the house just for the cats. The 18x14-foot fully-screened porch enclosure with fully weatherized cedar posts COULD be used by people if we could fit through the cat door. And yes, I know I spent $90 on the "playground" out there, but each cat NEEDS their own perch: ask anybody!

• And the $100+ "cat's bathroom" is just a big custom-made box that holds 3 litterboxes side by side so the litter doesn't get pushed out onto the floor. The wood panels with melamine on both sides weren't even a special order. And it only takes up one fourth of the laundry room. And I only had to go to 4 stores, not every store in town, to find that looped-pile entry-way rug for their bathroom. (Note: Here are the instructions for building your own cats' bathroom.)

• The cats DON'T get special food. Buster only gets that special brand of food 5 days out of 7. And Libby, the poor little baby, will only eat her food if it's mashed up well with a fork and is fully covered by all the liquid from the can.

• I haven't had curtains on the windows for 10 years now; buying the vertical blinds (textured pvc vinyl) wasn't just so the cats would be able to get to the window; vertical blinds are very contemporary.

• I don't ALWAYS microwave the cats' food ... only if it is still cold from the refrigerator. And they DON'T get fed immediately after they meow; they have to wait sometimes as long as 5 minutes.

• No, the cats DON'T have special food dishes - those are "ordinary" crystal bowls; and they like the placemats.

• I did NOT order special sofa pillows just for Galahad. The fact that people haven't been able to get near them is simply coincidence.

• I did NOT buy special area rugs for the cats. They just ended up in places where people don't have an opportunity to step on them.

• The same is true for those 3 blankets; I just forgot that I hate wool but the cats love it.

• Yes, I know that we could have gotten a regular screen door - but it was only $50 more (each) so the cats could look out without having to stand on their back legs. And I wanted that extra-wide shelf under the window in the den, the one that Stanley keeps pushing everything off from so he can sleep on it.

• I did NOT insist that we had to have a special $400 "greenhouse" window in the kitchen just for the cats. But all the plants ended up in the sink, so the cats may as well get some sun in it. And I didn't buy the extra-plush towel just for that window. Really.

---