Dear Reader,

Today I have a story about the litter box. I will spare you many photos related to this topic, except for this one:

When I was a kid, the family called it the "Sand Box", but I'm sure we must have used clay litter.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned that this thing is actually a kitchen tool, so the revelation was rather shocking (and disgusting). I gotta hand it to mom for making clever use of whatever was on hand, though.

I was about 9 years old when mom got pregnant, so I was all worried about how my life would change (no, I was not excited to get a "little brother or sister"). I don't really remember anything about her pregnancy except this: one day she came to me and told me there was this disease that she could get from cat poop. She said that it was dangerous for pregnant women to be in contact with cat poop because the woman could catch the thing and pass it on to her fetus. My 9 year old intelligence was on to her immediately:I was absolutely certain that she'd cooked up a plan to pass this chore on to me. Yeah, mom was pretty clever.

Well, by now you've most likely heard of the parasite named Toxoplasma gondii, and the disease it can cause, toxoplasmosis. There has been a lot of coverage on the condition in the last year or so. It turns out that mom wasn't lying after all.

I really thought it was the best ruse she'd ever created.