Did I tell you the one about the cat tin?

I've been in organizing/purging mode lately. The urge hits me often, but even more so just prior to the present onslaught of birthays and Christmas.

So I was taking some clothes to consign at a local shop. While I was filling out the paper, Ella was admiring all the shiney things in the counter display cabinet. "What is that mommy? What is that cat thing in there?" she asked.

I peered in and saw a small tin with a picture of a cat on it. I explained what a tin was and told her that the things in that case were for sale. "I want that mom. Can I have that?" (Don't even get me started on her "I want that phase" because it's a whole other story!). I calmly replied that we did not come to buy things today.

That's when the well-intentioned (and clearly soft) woman behind the counter said, "Oh, that's not even in there to sell. It's mine and I just put it in there for decoration. She can have it." I politely refused and explained she did not need to give it to my daughter. She insisted. I wanted to avoid carrying this on so I accepted and told her how nice that was and had Ella thank her numerous times.

The woman slid it from the display case and placed it in Ella's hands. "This is heavy mom!" she exclaimed, "What's in here?" The kind (and perhaps crazy/demented) lady behind the counter responded that she couldn't even remember what was in it. We attempted to open it, but it was glued shut. It was indeed heavy and felt like it was filled with sand. It had been filled and glued shut to be used as a paper weight, I reasoned.

Well, we got that cat tin home and Ella kept asking me to try to open it to see what was inside. It only took a slight little prying with a butter knife to free the lid from it's base and that's when I saw it. Yes, the contents were similar to sand, but just a bit more...ahem...finely ground.....or perhaps incinerated. That's right folks. It was a small plastic bag of ashes, a.k.a. A DEAD FRICKIN" CAT.

Ella can read my face and she knew something was up. "What mom!? What is it mom? What's in there mom!? What is it? Can I see it!?"

"Nothing sweetie," I replied, "Just some dirt." Then I chucked the dead cat ashes, sanitized the crap out of that tin and handed it right back to Ella. She loves that tin.