Monday on Saturday?:Having Fun with Unbalance

Ever had one of those weeks where every day bled into the next? Sure you have. I could have swore when I woke up this morning, it was still Monday. Imagine my freak out factor when I was half dressed in my suit, cup of coffee in my hand, and my dog, and both cats were sitting in the middle of the kitchen looking up at me.

Normally, I would have thought they just wanted food, or water, or (heaven forbid) attention. No, that wasn't the case, they were giving me the "I want my Saturday food" face, and Fluffy was being especially adamant: "Meow, MEOW, MEEEOOOW!, MEEEEEEEOOOOOW!!!!! (Interpretation, 'Tuna, Now!')". You get the picture. I couldn't figure it out and thought that my pets were really suffering from some major Erin neglect until I went to turn on my favorite local news channel to get the traffic updates.

Here I am, half suit, half coffee, two cats and a dog tugging at my side, it is 6:30 am and all I see on my local news and traffic channel is Dora the Explorer. Okay...Dora doesn't normally give me my news...curious, I looked around the room. Hmm. the time is right. What the heck? I flipped through the local channels...no news. Hmm..the situation grew curiouser and curiouser. I then went into my office, and pulled up my Office Outlook. Once all the male enhancement adds and Panama Offshore accounts downloaded, I finally got to my new emails and calendar. I pulled up "today", it was Saturday. Duh ...is a mild interpretation of what I said next. So much for sleeping in.

I decided to just embrace it and take some pics of the kids. The timing is perfect as mom will be getting a chance very soon to view and potentially contribute to the blog in the next few weeks and has never gotten to see her two granddaughters and grandson.

Here is Fluffy letting me know she is none to pleased.

Although she has the temperament of a 2 year old who just got told no, she has an intellectual side as well:

And here was Petey today and one of him in the yard last year:

I guess he thinks his left is the best pose? What a divo!

And last, but not least, the queen of the house, Bianca.

This morning guarding "her room", otherwise known as my office:

And in her favorite chair:

I noticed doing this blog that I spend a lot of time and energy understanding my pets and their different communication patterns and needs..but with people, I get inpatient and expect them to communicate with me in the same style that I do, to speak fast and get to the point quickly, and heaven forbid, to be honest. Wouldn't the world be an easier place to live if everyone communicated the same way, took the time to understand each other, and was honest? Fact is, we don't. But what we can do is try our best on an individual basis, and maybe the people we run into will be as lucky as our pets, to receive our undivided attempt to understand no matter what the message is.

Here is one of my favorite videos that I use when I conduct trainings on communication. View it, and figure out who is the aggressor and who is the responder.

Most folks, when they view this video, assume the black kitten is the aggressor and the orange cat the receiver. Actually, the reverse is true. The black kitten is trying to get the orange's attention, and is doing so in the only manner she knows that the orangie will respond..aggressively. She is modifying her communication patten in order to illicit a response from the orange cat. However, by modifying her behavior and working to solidify a communication from the orange cat, the little kitten gets attacked as a by product. This serves as a good lesson in life. We should modify our communication as much as it takes to get our point across, but not too much as to lose our identity and the intent in the original message. Also, sometimes, we should not try too hard..for some of the folks we communicate with, may only want to fight. The test is to know the balance, and to have fun with those who are unbalanced.