I now have an outside cat.

Cleome hit the last straw today when I got home and found my favorite mug in pieces on the floor.

Let me rephrase that:

I've had this mug for probably close to eight or nine years. I bought two of them at Home Goods in Beechmont before it closed quite some time ago. They are marked 'Hausenware Made in China'. My favorite, of course, was dark wedgewood blue with spirals. It was perfectly weighted, and fit my hand perfectly. It was everything I could ever want in a mug. I used it every single day. Seriously.

The second one has a loose handle, so I use it much more rarely. Now I have no choice.

My blue mug has lived through a lot. My ex threatened to break it, I dropped it on more than one occassion, and it sat next to my computer while I wrote countless novels and stories. It was on my list of possessions dear to me--and I was very, very paranoid about it breaking, because I've never been able to find another one anywhere. (Even ebay; I've looked!)

Every morning before I left, I would put my mug on the counter beside the dish rack, far enough back so that if the cats were to disobey Rule #3 and jump up on the counter, it should be fine. That is where it was when I left this morning.

When I returned home from work, I walked into the kitchen to find my hollyhock plants all over the counter and out of the pitcher of water they were sitting in, and my mug in pieces on the floor.

I have only seen one cat on that particular countertop. And I'm sick and tired of cleaning up her pee. (Grey--you were right--it's a dominance thing.) And I'm sick and tired of having to yell at her every single night when she attacks Zoey (my older declawed cat) with no provocation on Zoey's part. She isn't nice to anyone, she wants to rule the roost, and no one else gives a damn about the roost, who rules it, or where they sleep.

So I tossed her butt outside, after having a screaming fit, because damn it, I'm still angry about this. I know, both my parents said that it's only a mug. But it was my favorite mug. And irreplacable.

Oh, sure, I can use another one. But it won't be the same. Ever. Damn her.

I only have four rules. Everyone else has no problem obeying my rules. I don't think they are horrible rules, or too difficult for anyone here to obey. And they do obey. They know when they've done something wrong. And for the most part, they are very rule-abiding kitties.

Cleome is welcome to stay outside. I will feed her and give her plenty of water to drink. I will give her a place to sleep. My house is really far enough back from the road, so she should be fine, really, if she is smart enough. It's not a busy road anyway, and I've yet to see a roadkill cat since I've moved here.

But she's staying outside. She's fixed, she has her shots, she'll be fine as long as she stays out of trouble. But she will not set foot in my house again. I have had it.

(And I'm sorry if this comes across as if I'm a horrible person. I have cleaned up her pee for months. I have shut her into the upstairs bathroom in isolation. I have endured catfights in the middle of the night, through the night, and morning, and afternoon, and whatever. She would come up to a sleeping cat and just attack without warning. She can attack the stray cats if she wants to, but I've had it. The mug, especially, was the last straw.)

So. I'm looking for a replacement mug, but it needs to be as close to exactly the same as possible. Does anyone here know any potters that might be able to make one to my specifications? Or two, so I can really have a spare?

**Mourn**

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