Thankful Thursday

Kitties!

Mommy got a surprise in the mail...two books about FINLAND, of all places.

There was no note or card in the package, so she's totally stumped!

What we're wondering is why on Earth she got these books in the first place.  She's not leaving us, is she?  Wait a minute...didn't we see a new suitcase in the closet?

This could be bad, kitties...

To my Mystery Book Benefactor:  Thank you so much for the gift!  Much appreciated and both Scott and I are enjoying them--we read snippets back and forth all last night.  I appreciate your thoughtfulness, whoever you are! 

XOXO Trish

Happy Thursday!

XX  The Kats  XX

Thankful Thursday

Kitties!

Miss KonaKitty here.

I'm verreh thankful for many things today!

Firstly, I love the new (to us) sofa Mommy bought.  She and Daddy sit on it all the time, which means lots and lots of petting for me, because I hang out here every evening.  Daddy sometimes even sleeps on it when his back bothers him, and I get to snuggle under the blanket with him!  That never happened with the old sofa.

Secondly, I'm thankful that Pricilla and Abbygoat's Publicist sent Mommy a huge box of books--because you know what that means--extended Lap Availability!  After this weekend Mommy has ten day's vacation so you can bet your spare fur suit you know where I'll be, curled up and thrumming, (hopefully) on Mommy's full bladder.  She can hardly wait...to read all these good books, that is.

Thirdly, I'm thankful for Mommy's cell phone.  The flash isn't very bright and the blurred effect takes years off my fur!  

Life is Good for this old gal.

What are you thankful for today?

Happy Thursday!

XX  KonaKitty  XX

Pooping Parody

Kitties!

KonaKitty here.

Mommy said the colors in this picture make her think of the cover illustrations of the Harry Potter series, which reminded her of a fun list that Daddy came up with as a Cat-Based Parody of the titles!

Hairy Pooper and the:

1.  Dreaded Cone  (Sorcerer's Stone)

2.  Forbidden Closet  (Chamber of Secrets)

3.  The Captive of the Carrier  (Prisoner of Azkaban)

4.  Saucer of 'Vine  (Goblet of Fire)

5.  Ordure of the Litter Box  (Order of the Phoenix)

6.  Brother From Another Mother  (Half-Blood Prince)

7.  Deadly Claw Holds  (Deathly Hallows)

Isn't Daddy a Hoot?

Happy Wednesday!

XX  KonaKitty  XX

Wherein Sheebie Rambles.

Friends and Kitties!

 I bought myself new flannel sheets!

Two sets, one is lilac with hootie owls, and the second is...wait for it...

Yes!  CUPCAKES!!!!

Totally calorie free.

And on sale.

The cats love 'em, and so do I.  It just about killed me to leave my snug sheets and get up Saturday morning at 05:30 and return to the Salt Mines.  Yup, my vacation is over. 

*sob*

For the many of you who wondered about the dessert I ate at Mom and Dad's house--it was angel food cake covered in non-dairy whipped topping, with fresh raspberries and Trader Joe's fat-free fudge sauce.  SO delicious.  My folks never fail to spoil me culinarily rotten when I visit them, and this trip was no exception.  Thank goodness they keep me on my toes, doing stuff, or they'd have to roll me onto the plane for the return flight.  Their kitty Shadow is so friendly, she slept tight against me the first night but bugged out as soon as I paid her any attention.  Typical feline.  It's been a while since I've had a chance to play with a young cat for an extended period of time and we had tons of fun; she's a goof, stalking Monsters and leaping in the air at Fairies.  My folks are completely enslaved, which cracks me up...I kept telling them "times this by thirteen!"  

In other news, Scott was interviewed (with a few other wonderful Cat Daddies) on being be a Cat Guy!

He's a great Cat Dad and there would be no way on earth that we could care for so may cats without him working from home and catering to their every whim tending to them during the day.  I take the evening shift, with playing, grooming, and treats.  They have preferences for me or him--Salem keeps company with Scott when he's in his office (desk pestering) but enjoys morning time (combing and general fussing) in the bathroom with me.  Felix is Daddy's boy entirely.  Sure, he'll accept rubbins and luvvins from me, but Daddy is the One.  Rupert is my big Gray Man.  And so it goes.

The weather here has been beautiful, perfect for lazing around on the Catio, reading.  I'm deep into the second book The Twelve of Justin Cronin's "The Passage" trilogy, for the second time actually.  I blazed through it the first time in two days just to see how it turned out, and now I'm rereading it, purely to immerse myself in the story.  I am eagerly awaiting November 13th which is when Joe Abercrombie's new book Red Country will be released in the US.  Don't expect to find me doing anything else but reading that day, snuggled up in my snazzy new sheets.

Happy Sunday, and have a GREAT week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Sunday Salon with Sheebie

Friends and Kitties!

  I have a tiny topic for today: Reading.

I went out to dinner with a pal a couple of weeks ago, and we were discussing books.  I made the comment that for me reading is like breathing, I have to do it to survive. And I do mean survive; for me reading is an essential, an escape, a pleasure, a portal to other lands and a source of endless information.  On days that I can't spend an hour (or more) caught up in the written word I get irritable, no other media soothes me like words.

One of my earliest memories is of reading.  I am sitting on the floor of my bedroom with my Dad, and I'm looking at a book about Dalmations and a firehouse when all of a sudden I realize it:  I'm READING the words!  I was three years old, and I haven't looked back since.  In grade school I was bored to death when all the kids in my class were learning to read, I didn't understand that for many, reading is a difficult skill to master while I was devouring Roget's Thesaurus for fun.  I was a nerdy kid and books were a great refuge from both teasing classmates and the crushing depressive anxiety I had as a kid.  (Well, actually I still have the anxiety, but now I have Xanax, too.)  I think my two year long depressive episode in college was partly due to the fact that I was required to spend so much of my time unable to read for pleasure--everything was learning-focused.  To this day I have vivid nightmares about scouring the library at college, desperately seeking the literature section for escape.

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here at Casa de la Cerecke, harvesting my husband's "crop".  With his green thumb you can only IMAGINE the monster plants he grew.   I got smart after the first day and bought a hand-crank trimmer (Amazon!!) which has been a huge time saver.  Nevertheless, I haven't had a lot of time to bury myself in a book.  So I thank you, my fellow bloggers who toil away as I do, posting your (mostly) daily vignettes--you keep me sane by giving me something to read.

How do you guys feel about reading?

Let me know in the comments!

Happy Sunday, and have a Great Week!

XX  Sheebie, a.k.a. "Reader Rat"  XX

Sunday with Sheebie, the Chafed

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here, and I'm in the mood to unload a giant buttload of Snarkastic* Whining.  

(Is there such a thing as a petite buttload?)

Ready?

Lately I've had a niggling suspicion that the Kats' Gmail account (yes, they have their own) wasn't dumping into mine like it's supposed to.  I ignored the feeling for a couple of weeks until Saturday when I decided to bite the bullet and investigate.  Holy shit.  Nine hundred and twenty three unread emails!  Granted, most of them were Facebook updates (how do I get RID of those!?!) but I missed two entries to the Cat-O-Lympic counter Surfing event, which I'll put up next week whilst eating much crow (served by the felines), and several personal messages to various Kats, and even myself.   What a pain.

Remember the last couple of of posts about me being depressed?  Well, I think I'm back on track again but the effing herpes virus that lives just below my left eyelid has not gotten the glad tidings and flared up into two small shingles--which itch worse than fire ant bites on a sunburned hemorrhoid.  Don't ask.  Why can't I get a big old honkin' cold sore like a normal person?  At least people would notice and maybe think I'm getting some damn fine illicit nooky or something.  I'd be the envy of all my friends.  (Hi Mom!)  

Instead, I have a one-half puffed eyelid, like I have some Asian genes just dying to express themselves but not quite getting it--nobody's gonna ask (or be envious) about that.

I know I promised some Park Across the Street pictures but you know, it's just too damn hot outside to lug the camera twenty yards into the desert to show y'all a half built brick restroom and a bunch of brown cement curbs. In the eleven years we've lived here this is the worse Monsoon season I've experienced with temps in the 105-110 range and 40% (and up) humidity.  Hello!  Mister Weather?  This is a DESERT here...you can take this sucky humidity and send it to San Fransisco ('Frisco') or Seattle or wherever they grow webbed toes and drink fancy-shmancy single origin bean coffee and make with the blast furnace!  How am I supposed to maintain my dessicated desert rat status in this soup?  Srsly.

I went out for dinner on Thursday with my girlfriend Dana, who is, I must inform you, a Bad Influence.  She drives me to drink.  Why I persist in dining with her...I just don't know.  It must be the conviviality that draws me in, because the agony of the aftereffects of one lousy gin and tonic are simply horrific.  I was hoisting the sheets a third of the way through my glass, in bed by eight PM, and hung over the next morning!  Dana says the only reasonable cure is to drink more, and more often.  I repeat: she is a bad, bad girl.

I've been staging a private rebellion in that I've not been commenting on blogs as much.  I know, kill me dead.  I realized it was a source of anxiety so I'm forcing myself to not be so OCD about checking in with every single person every. damn. day.  Plus, I'm in the thick of a reading orgy (I updated my Goodreads book list) and since I have to do that work thingy (dirty bastards) my time is limited.  

Speaking of reading, I am all up in arms and stuff over the new branch of the so-called public library by my house.  Since it's located in the Senior Center facility, you're supposed to be over 50 to use it!  I say this is crap ageist and I'm not paying these goody two shoes Senior Rules one iota of attention.  I'm marching my forty nine and one-half year old rebel self in there, and if I'm accosted by some Senior Scofflaw Enforcer Ima flash 'em my AARP** card--and anything else it's gonna take--to get my booty into that damn library and check out a book.

There.  I feel MUCH better.

Anything bugging you?

Happy Sunday and have a great week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

*Snarkastic = Snarky + Sarcastic.  I just made it up.  Feel free to plagiarise.

**AARP--Association of American Retired Persons, or some such nonsense.  Scott joined when he turned 50.

A Totally Fantastic Guest!

Kitties!

We have a super-duper special treat for you today...we have World Famous Kitty Author SPARKLE as our guest!

We won Sparkle's newest book (this is her second one) in a contest a while back...Kitties, you HAVE to HAVE this book.  Here's our review:

“Kitties, this book is chock full of some of the best Cat Advice in the UNIVERSE! We read it eagerly and took copious amounts of notes. We cat-eared the sections we liked, and chewed holes into the pages with our favorite passages. The book is divided into logical sections dealing with play, the litterbox, strangers and MORE. Sparkle deals with all the issues expertly. We think even our Mommy (incredibly dense) was able to grasp the concepts outlined in the enjoyable Q & A format. Photos of Sparkle (Gorgeous!) grace nearly every other page in the book, and there are little bubbles of “Sparkle Says” wisdom throughout, too. The book is printed on nice firm nommable paper…it’s a STEAL at $9.95. We highly recommend this book, and we give it 4 paws up!”

And here's a little information about Sparkle herself:

Sparkle is an award-winning author, blogger, advice columnist and supermodel. She is also a cat – a ruddy Somali of champion lineage, in fact, whose father, GC Tajhara’s Miles Davis, was twice on the cover of Cat Fancy. Sparkle’s first book, Dear Sparkle: Advice from One Cat to Another, won the Wild Card category at the 2007 Hollywood Book Festival and honorable mentions in several other contests. She also recently came home with the Pettie Award — the pet blogging equivalent of an Oscar — for Best Cat Blog. Sparkle lives in Los Angeles with two humans, two feline roommates (both rescue cats), and (unfortunately) a dog.

So, without further ado, we give you Sparkle!

Tell Your Humans What You Want for Christmas!
By Sparkle



A few days ago I wrote a post on my own blog about lame Christmas gifts I've gotten. While my human was the one who bought these awful things, I should also shoulder a small amount of responsibility because I was not specific enough about what I wanted. Do not let this happen to you! If you give your humans the right clues, they should be able to figure out exactly the right gift to give you this holiday season. So use these tips when you want to drop your humans a hint... and if they still don't get it, maybe bookmark this post for them. Remember: you are not being bad! You are merely trying to explain what presents you want.

1. If you want a new scratcher, the best thing you can do is - scratch! You can even tell your human if you want a horizontal or vertical scratcher: let them catch you scratching the rug if you want a horizontal scratcher. Use the side of the couch or a chair if you want a vertical scratcher. Do both if you want a whole cat tree.


2. You know those cool shelves that some humans attach to the wall for their cats? You can have those too! Just jump repeatedly on the china cabinet or on the mantel. You do not have to knock off or break anything - in fact it is better if you don't, because humans seem to be even more strongly motivated at the suggestion that something like that might happen, rather than when it actually does happen. Jumping on mantels and cabinets is another good way to hint that you could use a cat tree.


3. Let your human know you want treats by begging at dinnertime and jumping on the kitchen counter in search of tastes. Get really excited over your favorite flavors, such as salmon or turkey!


4. If you don't have enough cat toys, you can drop a big hint by leaving your humans a bug on their pillow! If you want something that flies through the air like Da Bird, then leave a flying creature like a moth. If you prefer toy mice, or something you can chase along the floor, leave a beetle or a cricket. If you find anything bigger than a bug, say, a real bird or mouse, then you probably don't need any more cat toys. You are already doing fine on your own.


Of course the Katnip Lounge cats don't have to do any of this because they have the pawsome Catio! But if you are not a cat who has everything, then try these out, and keep at it until you get exactly what you want!
 
 
Kitties, we all deserve exactly what we want.  And this book will help you get it!
 

Purchase her book HERE, and live the rest of your life in Fabulous Feline Style.

 

And don't forget to visit her blog, it's a blast!

 

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

XX  Lounge Kats

Wordy Wednesday: Book Review

Kitties!

Miss Salem here.

We won a contest at Sparkle's web site a couple of weeks back, and we got a copy of her newest book as a prize!

Kitties, this book is chock full of some of the best Cat Advice in the UNIVERSE!

We read it eagerly and took copious amounts of notes.

We cat-eared the sections we liked, and chewed holes into the pages with our favorite passages.

The book is divided into logical sections dealing with play, the litterbox, strangers and MORE.

Sparkle deals with all the issues expertly. We think even our Mommy (incredibly dense) was able to grasp the concepts outlined in the enjoyable Q & A format.

Photos of Sparkle (Gorgeous!) grace nearly every other page in the book, and there are little bubbles of "Sparkle Says" wisdom throughout, too. The book is printed on nice firm nommable paper...it's a STEAL at $9.95. We highly recommend this book, and we give it 4 paws up!

You can purchase the book here.

One more thing Kitties...I noticed that some of our fantastic readers are a tiny bit confused which kind of Cat I am.

For the record, I am a LadyCat!

See?

Mommy says my purrsonality is a lot like Mae West's...

So come on over and see me some time!

Happy Wednesday!

XX Salem the Saucepot

Sunday Silly Suprise!

Kitties!

Guess what?

We got a strangely shaped package in the mail!

Last week we won Sparkle's contest for her new book by guessing the correct combined weight of Sparkle, Boodie, and Binga. It was a real nail biter...it went down to a tie and we had to make a SECOND guess for Boodie's solo weight.

But we were the closest!

So we were waiting for a book-shaped package, and we were a little confused.

But LOOK what Sparkle sent us!

Our book has a dedication in it to us, and it has Sparkle's PAWPRINT, too!
(Mommy failed to photograph this...lame.)



We got a wand toy, too!
It's a "Play-n-Squeak Bounce & Pounce" mousie toy!

And that's why the package was a long triangle shape.

Kitties, this is the BEST toy in the world.

We are NOT kidding.

Not only does the mousie bounce and jump around, it SQUEAKS!

Just like a real live mousie.

The Baby went wild!

Sweet Pea gave it a try...

...She really liked the feathery part !

Salem rassled and killed the squeaky mousie about 672 times.

She wore herself out!



Sparkle, we had a ton of fun playing in your contest, and Mommy is all excited about winning something for the first time in her life. Even though WE did the guessing.

Mommy is going to start reading your book tonight. We're hoping she'll be able to learn SOMETHING from all your sage advice. At least she was smart enough to give us the toy to play with immediately!

We'll allow Mommy to post a book review as soon as she's done.

Thank You for our prizes!

We Loves you lots.

XX The Lounge Kats & Mommy Trish

Thursday Thirteen-Plus!

Kitties!

We told you on Monday that Mommy LOVES to read.

And you may have figured out that Mommy also loves CATS!

So, what could be better than:

BOOKS ABOUT CATS?

Presenting: Mommy's Cat Book Collection!

There's some duplication in the photos...


...but we wanted to make sure you got a good look at them all!

This one is hissterical! Mommy got it from Daddy for her Birthday. The book came with some pretty funny magnets that are various types of Cat Butts. For easy identification purposes.

In fact, most of these books were gifts from Mommy's family and friends.

They understand her nuttiness.

And foster it too, apparently!

This author used to maintain a blog; these are some of her essays from her entries.

It's available through Lulu.com.

There's a Famous Local Las Vegas author's book in this group...do you know which one it is?

Mommy's Mommy gave her this one. It's a great children's book and has fabulous illustrations.

We like the lil' fang peeking out!

If you're a CatDaddy, please don't be offended by the "101 Reasons" book.

Seriously, we read it and we just didn't get it.

Mommy says it's full of ribaldry and innuendo.

And she said it like that's a good thing.

Whatever.

So Kitties, we hope you enjoyed the tour through Mommy's bookshelves. How many books did you count in all?

Nothing is better than sitting in Mommy's lap while she reads a book.

(except fudz, of course!)

Happy Thursday, Kitties!

XX Lounge Kats

Monday ManCat Meeting

Felix: Order! Order!

Settle down, every cat. We have a lot of business to get through here today. Fist order of business: A BOOK REVIEW!

For the last few nights, Mommy has been tucking us into bed (after tuna juice & Mice Crispy Treats) and reading to us from Fin's book, Housecat Confidential.

Kitties, this book is great! It's got it all; love, heartbreak, advice & compassion. It even has pictures of Fin! We were on the edge of our pantaloons during some of Fin's VERY exciting adventures. We give the book 48 paws up and highly recommend you purchasing it and reading all about Fin for yourselves. You'll be happy you did!

OK, next order of business...JOHNSON! Wake up!

mmmmphhhh ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Alright! I'm awake...no need to poke me with your clawrs! Friends, look at the card we got Mommy! We had Daddy customize it a little, and then we all signed it. You should've seen us all at the card store, me-arguing over which card to spend our monies on.

Felix: Yup, Scout and KonaKitty were smart to opt out of the shopping trip and stay home. Scouty, you had something to add?

Well, I love my Mommy, but I still can't bring myself to let her pet me! I've started eating yummy nibbles out of her hand and sometimes she'll scritch my chin...I like it but I'm so scared she still might put me in the stew pot!

Felix: Scouty, you are absolutely, compltely out of your mind. There IS NO STEW POT! But speaking of crazy--Maui?

Oh boy is it may turn I was on the edge of my paws waiting for me to be up cuz I need to remind everybody to tell Mommy (I love my Mommy even tho she's been giving me pills to stop me from spraying but I have to spray cuz of the introoder kitty and...

Felix: MAUI!

Oh, sorry my train got derailed I'm supposed to say leave a comment if we haven't linked to you and you want to be on the blogroll cuz it's fun talking to everyone and...

Felix: Maui! Obviously the meds haven't kicked in yet. Who's next, CC?

I love being spanked.

Felix: That's it!?! Oh, good Cod! Well, Rupert, anything before we finish up here?

Well yes! Mommy is preparing a super-special post for Thursday...it's a secret but I can give out a hint...it involves heated sleeping boxes! Oops, that was sorta the whole secret, sorry Mommy.

Felix: With that, this Meeting is adjourned! ::bangs paw::