Friday Fun

We noticed many kitties had flat cats of themselves and we wanted to have some too.  As you might have guessed, our big problem is the mom's "photography".  The photos she takes with her phone just can't be blown up that large.  So we convinced the mom to draw flat cats of us.  Hmmm . . . maybe we would have been better off with the photos!

Poor Carl has lopsided eyes . . .

(Biggify too see.)

. . . while Julie got a lopsided head. 

Mica Minnie Moo has a giant head, way too large . . .

. . . and Oui Oui has a pea head, way too small. 

Did you biggify to see her smile, overbite and chinless chin?

And since when is Carl the smallest cat?

And our sizes are all jumbled up!

Oh, well, the mom tried.  She used pastels and it was a drizzly day, so she had to run out when it dried up a little to spray fixative on them, and it took 4 coats.  The fixative changed the colors and muted the contrast by darkening everything up, especially Carl's eyes, which had problems to start with.  It even made some of MMM's furs yellow.

Then there was the spray adhesive, mounting, cutting and affixing the easel backs.  Shall we say each was an adventure in itself?  Too bad we didn't have a video of that day!

We did go to BlogPaws with the mom, even though she wondered how she was going to use us.  She found we were best at poking her in the arm with our ears.  Cause of that, we only showed up the first day.  Bummer!  And we met hardly anyone!

So, what is our advice?  Stick to the professionals!  Making flat cats is not for the faint of heart!

Don't forget to enter our giveaway!  And don't worry about where you are located.  The mom has a couple girls she supports in school and is always sending international packages out to them.  The postal clerks at the post offices closest to her home and to her work all know her.

Have a good weekend!  Happy Memorial Day to our US furriends.  We can't believe the summer is here!  Stay safe all, and good luck in the giveaway.  Purrs!

Giveaway Time!

We are so excited to have a giveaway again!  The mom really wanted to reward our furriends by having a giveaway with swag from BlogPaws.  We truly appreciate all the kitties who take time out of their day to visit and share, so we want to show our appreciation.  Thanks, kitties!  You are the bestest!

However, as most of you know by now, the swag left a lot to be desired.  The mom managed to get some extra samples and she is going to add some surprise items to the swag she picked up to sweeten it up a little.

There will be 2 prizes.

The samples in the second one will differ slightly.

Plus the mom is adding surprise items!

The Sentry people gave the mom a bunch of samples as they were packing up to go home, so if you would like either calming collars or flea+tick drops, or both if you win, say so in your comment and we'll include it in your package.

Let us know if you'd like these included.

We are going to have another giveaway next week 

for collars and flea drops.

We are going to have 2 winners!  We'll pick them randomly on Sunday afternoon, so leave a comment before noon on Sunday (EST).  Just one entry per household/ blog please.  You don't have to have a blog to enter, just make sure we have some way of contacting you (that's especially true for those on Google+).  We'll announce the lucky winners by Monday morning.  Woo hoo!

We really hope this is the first of some great giveaways.  How exciting is that!  Purrs and good luck!  We are keeping our paws crossed for you!

UPDATE:  Our giveaway is open to everyone, no matter where you live!

A Bit About BlogPaws

Sweet Odilia at breakfast.

Our mom had a great time at BlogPaws.  Without a doubt, the best part was meeting all the wonderful kitties, dogs, other critters and their parents who are behind the blogs.  What a truly amazing and friendly set of people and animals.  The days are long and hard, and there wasn't a melt down from the tiniest kitten or largest dog.

Teri and her kitties were the best!  Here Brighton is punked out.  For the red carpet, Teri looked like a movie star.  Too bad the mom's photography was what we expected and the photos didn't come out (it was too dark).

So good!  Only the slightest meow of protest.

All the speakers were fantastic, but many subjects were a little over the mom's head, especially the technical ones like SEO.  She probably should have paid attention to the level of knowledge it was aimed at, but a little brain stretching once in a while doesn't hurt and she's glad she attended.  She would have liked to see fewer sessions geared towards monetizing blogs and more dealing with the day to day problems, like developing your voice, finding inspiration and basics of interesting writing.

Triscuit wakes up from a nap.   We can't believe how well behaved she was!  She makes all of us look bad.

Triscuit loves to sit on her mom's shoulder.

That's Wally's, Ernie's & Zoey's mom in the background.

She's another sweetheart!

They better watch what they say about her in front of us.

Dogs were the dominant animal there, and cats seemed more like an afterthought.  The swag bags were stuffed with canine swag, and if there was anything that applied to cats, it was only because it could be used for dogs too.  That was really disappointing.  There were so many cat people there, we filled tables and tables.  Maybe we weren't 50%, but we were more than 35% I believe.

Icon of Kitty Bloggers, Brian's dad!

You can see the Flat, the Hat, Flat Cody

and our Flat Carl.

(The mom is sorry, she isn't sure who the plush kitty is.)

They had The Cat Lounge, which was a confusing place.  Products were on tables, but there were no representatives to talk to, and no one was sure if the items on display were free samples.  Some of the companies with canine products also had feline products, but not all, and the feline samples were much fewer.

Maus and mom were a hit too!

That said, would the mom do it again?  Absolutely!  It was a great experience!  She loved meeting all the wonderful people, and the sessions were thought provoking.  She can't wait for next year to see all her new friends and meet even more, not to mention the people she looked for but never met.

Charles the Monarch, the lion dog.  He is world famous, and has been mistaken for a lion on the loose.  The mom talked with his dad to get his story.  His daughter attended Old Dominion, whose mascot is a lion.  The dad had a brain storm, and rest is hisstory!

Very well behaved, and not too scary for a lion.

So what advice would she give to new attendees?  First, don't be intimidated by the thought of being by yourself and alone.  There are plenty of others who are alone too.  Look around, do you see someone by themselves?  Say hello!  You have something you both love in common, your pets and your blogs.  Talk about them and ask questions about theirs.  That's what the mom did, she made new friends and wasn't alone for a minute.

Teri's Pink Catillac.

True to the mom's photography, you can't see the cat!

Secondly, stay at the hotel.  7:30 am to 9 or 10 pm is a REALLY long day, and you are going to do a couple of them.  The mom stayed at her dad's, which was on the other side of the river, about 15 or 20 minutes away.  Sometimes she wished she had a room to rest in for an hour or so.  Because of the long days, it was hard getting up in the morning.

Fluffy Odilia again.

Next year its being held in Las Vegas.  Hope to see you there!  Stay tuned cause we are going to do a giveaway!

***********

 The mom had forgotten how beautiful the drive down MacArthur Blvd is.  It runs along the C&O Canal and the Potomac River on the Maryland side.

These pictures don't do it justice.  Its a lovely drive into Georgetown, or over to Tyson's Corner where BlogPaws was held.

Ha, ha!  That's our mom!

We're Back!

Hello to all our good furriends!  Oh My Cat!  We have so much to talk about!  There's all the stuff that happened at BlogPaws, and the kitties, critters, moms, dads and servants we met too.  And our mom is also excited cause she didn't forget you and she got extra samples to have a giveaway for our furriends who didn't get to go.  So look for that later this week.

First, we want to thank all the kitties who showed up for the house trashing party.  It was a resounding success.  The mom was in tears and the neighbors not only called the police several times, but are no longer on friendly terms with the mom.  Sounds like she should have brought them some swag home too!  We hope she gets used to the death glares soon.  Great job, kitties!

Today we are hosting an event at The Tabby Cat Club all about My Gotcha Day!  So stop by for some sweet love stories all covered in fur.  We hope there'll be some great kitten shots too!

These are the first photos of Oui Oui.

Years ago, I was a tiny kitten in a scary place with cages and loud, noisy cats and dogs.  For a while my brothers and sisters were there, but they left one by one, then I was all alone.  I hollered and yelled cause I didn't like it.  A man put his finger in my cage and I tried to hold on but couldn't.  So I yelled some more, but no one came.  A girl looked in.  I was still yelling when a little later a lady looked in.  She had a person open the cage and she held me and scratched me.  I could hear her heart and it sounded good, so I purred and purred.  She was showing everyone what a nice kitty I was, but no one looked and the man was following, telling people I was a bad scratching kitty!  She told the man it was only cause I was lonely and he shouldn't have pulled his finger away.  But still no one was interested in me, so the lady got mad and said she'd "take" me.

A couple days later I went home with the girl who looked in and the lady.  I was SO HAPPY!  When they let me out of the cage, I ranned and ranned all around the room for 15 minutes cause it felt so good!  I did stop to look at some toys, but then I ranned some more while they laughed at me the whole time.  But I didn't care.  The lady wanted to call me Jubilee, and the girl insisted my name be Sweet Pea (Oui Oui is only my nickname).  The lady, who was now the mom, and The Girl laughed cause they were there at the loud scary place to help The Girl's granny find a dog, so this is also the story of how they helped find granny's dog.

Tomorrow we'll tell you all about BlogPaws!

The Partying Doesn't Stop!

Kitties!  Thank you all for coming to my Birthday party!  We had such fun and it was excellent so many of our furriends were there to celebrate with us.

But guess what?  We saw the mom drag out her suitcase and we hung around for extra scratches just to spy and see what was up.  You wouldn't believe what she is going to do next!  SHE IS GOING TO BLOGPAWS!

Innocently spying.

We were stunned! We didn't know if we should cheer cause maybe she will bring home some new toys or interesting noms, or accidentally on purpose leave a hairball in her shoes.  What we do know is,
THERE'S A HOUSE TRASHING PARTY AT OUR HOUSE the rest of the week!

Let's get the party started!

Lots of partying kitties are still here, but those who left, come back!  And this time we'll have some real fun!  No holds barred, and you don't have to use any manners.  There's plenty of foods left over, so let's work up an appetite.

Let's see how soon the neighbors will call the police!

Woo Hoo!

For those kitties coming into town, here's the BlogPaws weather.  Subject to change & revision, of course!

Click to biggify if necessary.

Have a safe trip, all you travelling kitties.  We are SO excited to finally meet you all!  Til then!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY MISS OUI OUI!

Happy Birthday to our Sweet Miss Oui Oui!

Welcome and come help us celebrate!

It just wouldn't be the same without you.

Grab a plate and stop by the buffet, and check out what's on the grill.

Stop by the bar for your favorite drinks.

And don't forget to save plenty of room for desserts and cake!

There's live music . . . 

 . . . and live entertainment.

So stay as long as you like and have some fun!

There's plenty of favors, so help yourself before you leave.

Thanks so much for helping us celebrate and for making the day so special!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

BEST WISHES TO ALL THE MOMS!

To all the wonderful women who have

comforted and raised humans and felines.

Those who have given of themselves unselfishly,

nurtured and supported spiritually and physically

those unable to do so for themselves.

Thank you and God bless you.

Count yourself very lucky if your mother is still alive.  Perhaps you remember my mother died of leukemia last August, and this is my first Mother's Day without her.  I miss her and think of her every day.  There is no one who can ever take the place of your mom, so cherish her while you can.

Like mother, like daughter.
The mom and her mom during earlier and happier times, 

on the way to the church for the mom's brother's wedding.

From left to right:  the mom's dad, her uncle, the mom, 

another uncle, the mom's mom and her aunt.

(The mom's dad doesn't really have a pointed head,

it was a really windy day!)