I realized the other day when you do not have children; your pets take over the void.

I have two cats both are strays who have funny stories on how we became part of each other lives.

My little black cat was an &uot;I am sorry I am going on a trip with just the guys, I will make it up to you with this cat&uot; cat.

I had been hinting and begging for a cat after we bought our first house.

The guilt finally set in and the search was on for a cat.

Online I found a rescue with the cutest black cat I had ever seen.

First things first, I had to listen to the cuss words fly as he cut a hole in the door to the mudroom for a cat door.

Sandy, the golden retriever, loves cat food and other disgusting cat things, so the door had to come before the new addition.

Later in the afternoon we loaded up the car with the cat carrier and it was off to pick her up.

The so-called shelter was made of two house trailers, owners in one, and animals in the other.

We pulled up and thought there is no way I am going in there but I held my breath and walked in and there she was.

She was the scrawny, stinky, sickly cat in the cage at the end of the trailer. There was no changing my mind she was it.

We got her home and gave her a bath, well actually several baths.

We went back and forth with what to name her; at the shelter they called her Midnight 2.

After hours of negotiation, he walked out the bathroom I had recently redone in a &uot;flower motive&uot; and said lets call her Daisy.

I was tired of arguing so Daisy it was.

The cat loved the dog and wanted to be with her all the time.

Sandy on the other hand was skeptical about the furry stinky black thing.

If the dog laid down the get her belly rubbed, the cat was next to her doing the same thing.

Eventually the two became good buddies.

Daisy has every cat disease known and unknown to veterinarians. She is like the kid you knew in school who was skinny and always coughing and sneezing on you and half the time was absent because they were sick. The cat even had a cavity; unless she is sneaking Snickers bars, I have no idea how that happened.

I call her my 401K because I have so much money invested in her.

My other cat, Stoli, is a very mouthy Russian Blue.

Last year I went to a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house on Lake Gaston.

They have, no exaggeration, 15 cats, and the majority of the time I would not have noticed if they had another cat.

When I walked in I saw a beautiful gray cat.

I asked where it came from and the response was we opened the door to let the other cats in and she walked in.

I was like a kid at Wal-Mart, &uot;can I have her, please can I have her, and I am not going home with out the cat.&uot;

I borrowed their cat carrier and took her home. She spent the first week under the couch.

I felt like a prison warden; I would slide her food bowl under the couch.

Stoli is the first and probably the last purebred cat I have ever had and she is a handful.

She wakes up at 6am on the dot and gets in my face and meows. I turn my head she walks to other side and does it again.

If I decide I want to hit the kitty snooze and sleep for a few minutes longer, she will leave for five minutes and come back.

Last week, I was eating my favorite thing in the world, a big bowl of Lucky Charms.

It was at the end of the box with the marshmallow crumbs too.

Just as I dipped my spoon in for bite number two, Stoli stuck her paw in my bowl. The thirty-second rule would have applied, but I knew where her paws had been.

I suppose it is just like living with a toddler.

I have pictures of my cats on my cell phone so when I am stuck at the airport or an appointment and a proud parent shows me pictures of their children, I can show them my cats.

Keep this in mind the next time you see me and want to tell me what junior did in school today.