My college degree = nothing compared to a cat

a few things before i go to bed:

last night around 6 am (stella's favorite time to wake me up and demand to be pet) i woke up with a small fuzzy thing on my leg on top of the covers. i turned on the light to realize it is my expensive bare minerals kabuki make up brush (i believe it was somewhere in the vicinity of $30 and it's only 2 inches tall). i had sleepily noticed stella on my desk (where i keep said brush) and thought, "great, another thing i have to hide from the girls."

just now, as i was reading my favorite blog ever (neil gaiman's, of course), stella demanded my attention (a loud, "MEROWR" over and over again, which means in stella/siamese speak: i am bored! help! do something! get away from that computer!) and jumped up on my desk as i sat here (also waiting for my freshly painted nails to dry, btw). now this will be hard to explain, but i will try:
my desk has a triangular shelf on the left corner, which i keep a lamp on top of and some random stuff in the small cranny beneath. i keep my make up stuff in a shoe box top and pull it out in the morning when i'm putting it on (that way it stays organized, easy to reach, and out of sight when i dont need it). stell started to stick her head in there (its not big enough for much of her) so i put my make up brush under a tiny bowl (it fit perfectly). Stell proceeded to go to town on the shoe box top, pulling it out from under the triangle shelf and pawing at the cup to get at the brush. it took her .5 seconds to flip that over and get my brush (which she proceeded to lick and chew, and i promptly removed it from her jaws and it's air drying after being thouroughly washed).

my point is that my girls are super smart. thess has learned to jump up on the kitchen island counter (right in front of the stove, which freaks me out) to push open the heavy but easily opened drawers so she can jump within. wtf? what do you do when your cats out smart you? i'd get some baby gates and other baby proofing materials if i didnt think they'd laugh, stick out a claw, and dismantle any precaution with a Bond-esque skill. They're not even 1 year old yet!
seriously, what am i going to do with children? i think i need to stick with cats...

ps- now the make up brushes are hidden in a bathroom drawer, which they haven't figured out how to open....yet....