Eating Habits

Some might find this disgusting. Others may find it funny. But, seriously - - please don't believe we would actually feed a cat from our table.

OK, we might do that. But, we would never feed the cats directly from our own forks...

At least we haven't yet.

Family

I can't seem to get over the fact that Christmas is over and we're facing a loooooong winter. But, looking on the bright side, I've got my own li'l family and a lot of great friends (just like family) who will help me get threw it...

Anyway, I got a kick out spending time back home with the family (wish I was still there) and I thought I'd post some various pics...


Dad was our guinea pig - here he is in the new sweatbands my sister got him:


And a stocking cap - I liked his placement of the hat:


Mother - cooking us dinner before we left:


My sister and her cats:


And - finally, their cats:

Kitty Christmas

We had a great Christmas weekend. Got to see everyone's families and really enjoyed ourselves. The only problem is it goes by so fast.

Here are some pics of our kitties' little Christmas before we left for the weekend.

More new camera pictures....

Did I mention I love my new camera??


Ally...




Lucky destroying some pesky shoe box fluff for us....





Tuffy on the fridge....





G posing for the camera...




Aggie in a rare, brief appearance...

Christmas Kitties

I bought an early Christmas/no-reason-at-all gift for us - a new digital camera! I was so excited I took a million zillion pictures last night. And the kitties helped us wrap our gifts. I still haven't perfected the red eye stuff yet. Right now I'm getting some very glowy eye shots. Not red - just glowy.

Christmas

Christmas. Christmas is coming this weekend. My tree is still in the same shape it was last time I blogged about it. Well, I take that back - it's probably a little more bent and ugly than it was before and still has a cat in it every night but still no Christmas lights or decorations. Makes me feel weird. Makes me have to admit how lazy I am. After asking my husband almost every night: "Are we going to decorate the tree?" And he'd reply: "How will we keep the friggin' cat away?" (OK, not his exact words, probably mine.) Yeah, can you imagine how much yelling and water spraying and unhappiness we'd go through trying to keep that cat off the tree? And, to top it off, visions of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation are dancing in my head of "fried pussycat". Afraid one of my own will bite through the cords. A friend of mine says she had a bunny that did just that and survived...

I've kept this debate going in my head and with my husband and with my friends and now - it seems too late. I'm lazy. Do I want to decorate the tree just to tear it down in less than a week?

And I haven't watched my special Christmas shows. I've recorded some on my TiVo thingy and some of the others I own. I'm a little kid. I own the classic Christmas shows and Disney movies (even though my husband tells me Disney is evil and corporate and something-or-other but, somehow, if a Disney movie is on my wish list - it ends up being mine.)

I haven't listened to my Christmas music either (which we usually listen to as we decorate our house and the tree).

So, I haven't done a lot of my Christmassy things and it doesn't feel a lot like Christmas so far. But, I've been thinking about it. I can't wait for Christmas this year. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and continuing our traditions 'cause my mother always made sure we had the best Christmas we could have. And I'm excited that I'll get to enjoy some time with my friends and start some new traditions and, damnit, I'm sappy, but I just can't wait for Christmas. I'll try to stay off the sauce and not go around singing and petting people.

My favorite kitty

I think I'd make you throw up if I tried to explain how much I love this little kitten.

Live Nude Cats

Click on the title to this blog entry to go to the website - I have no idea how I did it but I've linked the site to the title of this blog. I'm no computer programmer/website-maker-upper.

That is, click the link if you're interested in this cute, fuzzy calendar I saw the other day - it would make a perfect gift for any cat lover you know. ;0)

Christmas Tree (puke)

This is why my Christmas tree is up and not yet decorated. We may decide to take it down soon and skip the tree this year. This is not Lucky's first Christmas. But, this year he seems overly obsessed with the tree. The other morning, I found Christmas tree puke on the floor in the den. Someone is overindulging!! Can you imagine if we had a live tree???




Mike is 6' tall....Lucky climbed almost to the top of the tree.




If you look closely at the picture below, you'll see that he's licking the tree.

Goofy Fortune

We went to a buffet today at lunch. If anyone can explain this to me, I'd be glad to hear it.

Cat parts - Aggie

Shy, skittish, sweet, Aggie.

Lucky (not as cute as he appears)

Last night we were relaxing on the couch...with four cats. Mike had G and Aggie on him and I had Lucky and Tuffy sprawled across my outstreached legs. Tuffy on my shins and Lucky on my thighs. Suddenly, Lucky jumps up, stands on Tuffy and bites down on his back. Tuffy hardly stirs. We laugh, I pull Lucky off, he lies back down, and we return to TV.

A little while later I said to Mike: "What the heck was that about? What do you think about Lucky getting up and jumping on Tuffy?" I hardly finish the sentence and Lucky does the exact same thing again.

Wha????!?!?

Cat parts - Lucky collage

Cat Parts - Tuffy collage

Cat parts

I love my cats. Obviously. And sometimes I just take and take and take pictures of them. And I get some pretty strange shots.

Before and After

Our Aggie is such a sweet, shy kitty. She's just recently decided that she might join us downstairs once in a while. Even more surprising is that she is following the trend the others have started. Now, I know for you non-catpeople - this is pretty disgusting but some of our kitties like to sit on top of the fridge. I know, I know - health hazards, fur, etc. I don't eat anything that ever comes remotely close to touching my counters (or feed anyone things that do). If you could see how happy they are staring out the window from their fridge perch you might understand. And - if Aggie - the shyest of shy cats gets up there - she's more than welcome.

So - here's Aggie one step above the fridge on a ledge at the top of the kitchen. She's acting lovable and rolling around up there wanting her belly rubbed.





And here's Aggie during her "mishap". She rolled right off the ledge onto the fridge. I was just trying to take a picture of cute little Aggie and thanks to the wonders of old, slow technology - I got another picture I didn't mean to take. A kitty in mid-air. She didn't fall far - mind you - but it sure was funny (to us at least).

Heartwarming...

Lately, I've seen and heard about a lot of sad animals. What with Katrina and the fact that it seems to be squirrel season here at my work. (I work accross the street from a park.)

Anyway, a heartwarming story for sappy animal lovers like me:

Company donates artificial leg for puppy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10048748/

Aggie

Here's our Aggie. She was a bit younger in this picture - but I think it's a good one of her. She was (and still is) a very shy cat but she's getting braver. She's actually been on top of the fridge a lot lately. Which is something for her - she has to actually come out from under the bed to do that.

For the time being...

Since I'm out of cat photos - and since my last few posts have been "politically charged" - I thought I'd share one of my favorite pics of W.

I promise this pic has not been doctored in anyway. It was just poor placement of the fella. I found this picture on Yahoo a day after the 4th of July this year. I hope you enjoy it.

Great Quote

"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051101/ap_on_go_co/senate_iraq_7


Lovely quote. Seems like this quote could be useful somewhere...

or maybe retracted.

Here's our answer

From the BoozeNews website theboozenews.com:
Last week was the premier of “The Bum Trading Card” and it seems like people either like it or hated it. For those who hated it, it was extremely nice of you to send lengthy emails and post us on your blogs, but in the end you just wasted a bunch of people’s time and didn’t help anyone. Rather than blame us for their situation, get up from your computer and go work in a soup kitchen.

For those of you that don't know, The Booze News is a student run publication at the University of Illinois dedicated to bringing the students news they actually care about. We tackle the hard issues of drinking, partying, relationships, and let's face it, we kick ass.

Hardly a message that the U of I should want to present.

THEY HAVE BUM TRADING CARD #2 OUT. I don't know THIS person - but, nontheless, I'm certain he is a real person.

If you're still offended - e-mail them at stuff@theboozenews.com

Objectification

Over the weekend, my husband and I went to our normal Saturday bar for a few drinks with friends. Mike always picks up this little college paper and reads it there. He likes the politcal views in the paper. He stumbled along this disturbing image:



This is a REAL PERSON that we've seen downtown. The Pokemon catch phrase printed accross his picture has a double entendre that I find alarming. My friend, gnightgirl, has already blogged about this and received a comment from the owner of the paper this lovely picture was printed in (www.theboozenews.com). Check out her blog ("This Just In" - see link on my blog) if you're interested. They say they gave THEM sandwiches and money for their time. (Wait, there's going to be more of these cards?!?!?!) I've just written them this morning and will post a reply if I receive one.

And if you're appalled and live in the area - then please write the people at the magazine. And whoever else you can.

I feel like a jerk...

I picked up Ally from the vet today. We spayed and declawed her. I will never declaw a cat again. I don't care what the kitties do to me - scratch me, ruin my furniture, my bedspread, my curtains, my lamp...They don't deserve it. Obviously, it's not beneficial to them at all. It's not as bad as doing it for aesthetic reasons like clipping their ears or boxing their tales (or whatever the terminology for those procedures are). Ilaiy don't read this part -



Her paws aren't attractive. When I look at her little white-turned-pink scabby paws - my stomach sinks and I want to cry. And when I look at her three or four inch incision from her spaying - I just want to hold her and curl up with her and cry. And you know what she did? She rubbed my face and purred and purred and she loves me. She seems to have no idea that this was MY doing.

Ilaiy - you can read again - I blogged about this about a week ago asking for opinions. I received one from "anonymous" and, I concur with everything she or he (I have a feeling it was a she for some reason) said. I knew all of the facts that she listed before I did this. In the past, I even looked for those plastic nail covers and never found them. And I thank anonymous for her comment. She did what I asked - she gave me her opinion. My husband responded to anonymous with his classic, scathing, and sometimes amusing wit. He's right - Ally's better off than if we'd left her as a stray and she loves us. And she's happy. Even though right now she's in pain.

I don't know how to wrap this up or resolve these feelings. I sang really loudly to a song I heard on the radio while on my way back to work after dropping Ally off at home. That let me have a little pity party for myself (and Ally) and be melancholy for a while - also let release some frustration. In a short while - she'll be feeling like herself again (hopefully). And I'm sure I will too. My mother always said I had a flair for the dramatic and maybe I'm just being dramatic here. But, I hope I don't forget this. I will do it differently next time.

Sist - Forgive me!!

OK, I had to seek permission from my mom before I posted this blog because it could get her in trouble. Here it is: a picture of my sister and her homecoming date and the little message my mom sent with it.

Mallory and date for Homecoming at date’s house. I'm so bad. I forgot his name.

Love ya,
The Mom

I still don't know his name. Wait - they told me last night. I've forgotten already. Maybe Mal will comment and tell us.

Stolen Blog

My mom sent me an e-mail with the latest pics of her kitties. I really like her descriptions of the pictures and I feel like I'm stealing but - here it is anyway:

#1 Grandpa Jack and Archie.

#2 Lump (Abby) in my CLEAN sheets.

#3 Abby (Lump) enjoying me making my bed with her in it at the same time. It's our game she plays every time!!!

Question

OK, so I don't have a beautiful new picture of any of my kitties. But, I wanted to blog anyway. Next Thursday (Oct. 20th) we take Ally in to get spayed. We've been trying to decide if we should declaw her. 3 out of 4 of the other kitties are declawed. We didn't declaw the oldest one due to his age. We've since been struggling with the idea because it is kinda cruel. And, I've worried about her running outside and not being able to climb a tree.

Whaddya think?

Big A$$ Cat

Please pay no attention to the fat a$$ owner holding her cat. Just look at the size of the creature she is holding. [No animals were harmed during the taking of this picture. He just looks a little uncomfortable.]