~ Put the cat on a pillow.
~ Set up your camera and focus it on the pillow.
~ Put the cat back on the pillow.
~ Get a bowl of food and put it next to the pillow.
~ Put the cat back on the pillow.
~ Get a bowl of food and follow the cat. As you run, hold the bowl in your cat's face, tempting her to eat.
~ See if the neighbors will come over and pick up the sofa while you snap a picture of the cat underneath.
~ Cross the names of your neighbors off the list for your next party.
~ Put the cat back on the pillow.
~ Place a catnip-stuffed mouse in front of your cat and wait for your cat to go crazy.
~ Go back to the pet store and demand a refund.
~ Decide on a family portrait with the cat instead.
~ To stop the argument over which child gets to pose with the cat, agree to take pictures of each child holding the cat on his or her lap.
~ Tell each child that it doesn't matter who holds the cat first because you'll shuffle the pictures after they're developed and look at them in a different order than the order they were taken.
~ Get more cats, one for each child, and go back to step one.