Sunday, December 31, 2006

Snow!

While the Lady was out hunting Year End, it snowed! I've never seen snow before. Gizzy and I were hanging out in the cat hammock, when I noticed white stuff falling from the sky. It's not like rain, because rain makes noise, but it was kinda like rain, because at first the parking lot outside looked wet. But then it looked silver, and finally white. All the tree branches were covered with white. It was pretty to watch. The little sticky people from next door ran around in the snow, making marks in it, and throwing it around.

I know cats in Colorcato and Whikeronsin and other places have had lots and lots of snow. We didn't get very much, the Lady says just a little more than an inch, whatever that is. When the Lady came home, some of the snow was stuck to her shoes, and it came off on the mat near the door. Here are Gizzy and I checking it out.


Snow is COLD! And it's WET! And it disappears fast when it comes inside. I think it's pretty to look at.

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A little bit about Mr Karate...
Some of you have commented about Mr Karate. He is very very nice, and loves us cats. He is the Lady's son, and you can find out more about him here. He would never hurt the Lady, but I think he would hurt somebody who was hurting her.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Mr. Karate visits

The Lady took down the Christymas tree. She put it in that great big box and Mr Karate brought it down to the basement. The rest of the decorations will come down this weekend. But the Lady has to go hunting today for something called Year End.This is Mr Karate. Isn't he handsome? The Lady loves him a lot. He came over for dinner last night. The Lady cooked a chicken, which all cats tried to get by jumping on the table. We all got shoo'ed away. (We got beef Temptations later.) They also had mashed potatoes (ick), grilled red onion slices (eew), cauliflower (Yuk!) and roasted rutabaga (blek). Then they washed all the pots and pans, shoo'ed me out of the dishwashing box (I was investigating inside) and watched a movie. Little Miss Sunshine. They laughed a lot.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Secret Paw!

My Secret Paw package arrived today from Mew Jersey. It's from Timmy! Thank you Timmy! And everything in it is PINK! My favorite color!

I wasn't sure about the package, so checked it out before I let the Lady take the stuff out of the box.Isn't this little pink bag of goodies cute! PINK! My favorite color!
There is a beautiful handmade pink blankie!There are pink mousies,
and a pink bouncie toy!
and some Fancy Feast, and some noisy rattly pink balls
Thank you Timmy! Thank you so much!

Formerly Feral Friday


The Lady took the ornaments off the tree tonight. These are the ones I broke. (Well, damaged. She put only unbreakable ornaments on the tree. No shiny balls, no glass ornaments) Mostly the loops got torn off or out when I tugged at them. I don't know how the reindeer ornament lost one eye. The little bear on the "M" block wanted to play, so...

The Lady can fix all of them. None of them are completely destroyed. She has to remember that just because I'm formerly feral doesn't mean I'm not gonna act like a cat.

I mean, like, Du-uh!

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About the Nip and Basil... The Lady grew 8 different kinds of basil in her garden last year. She likes Pesto. She made lots and lots of pesto last summer. She put it in ice cube trays and when it froze she dumped them in baggies. She's got bags and bags of the stuff in the icebox. She puts it in soups and sauces, and salads and other yikky rabbit stuff like in smashed potatoes. And it really isn't a garden. There is no good dirt (huh?) so she planted the basil and thyme and other stuff in pots. What did she use for pots?

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Thursday Thirteen (sorta)

Lookit what came in the mail today!I don't understand quite -how- but the Lady promises me that this book will help me get some of this:

'NIP! Our very own 'nip growing plant! Holy Toledo! A Never-Ending Supply of my very own 'Nip! I'm all for that.

Of course, for ME to get 'Nip, the Lady has to get THIS STUFF...

1. Genovese Basil
2. Greek Basil
3. Green Ruffled Basil
4. Purple Ruffled Basil
5. Pesto Perpetuo Basil
6. Spicy Saber Basil
7. Italian Parsley
8. Coriander
9. Mammoth Dill
10. Spearmint
11. Sweet Marjoram
12. Greek Oregano
13. Arugula

And she'll get some Cat Grass too. She kept going WAY after 13, but I just stopped listening. Hey, you know how she gets carried away....

I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip. I'm gonna get 'nip.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Wednesday Christmas Wrap Up!


By now you have all probably read Daisy Mae Maus' blog about their Secret Paws. I was Daisy Mae's, Cocoa Puff's and Fudge Ripple's Secret Paw.

The Lady is the kind of person who is always thinking. And she likes to really do things up. She knew I wanted to be a Secret Paw, so every time she'd go to Petco, she'd pick up a few extra things. Then when we got Daisy Mae and sibs, she thought, "Oh. THREE cats for less than ten dollars." She really wanted each cat to feel special and not have to share. So we thought real hard and worked out a way to make three special packages of fun stuff, one for each kitty. And they liked Purple and Green! Hmm. So we finally picked out the pressies - some Fancy Feast, some crinkly balls, some rattly bouncy balls, some fev-ver mice, and then she made the 'nip bags with cosmic catnip. But she thought it looked kinda meager.She said, "Millie, we need something FUN! Let's shred some paper! I have purple and green paper!" So she dug up her paper and ran it through the paper shredder. Well I thought it was the cat's meow, so to speak. I couldn't stay out of it, as you can see. So we packed up the goodies in three chinese food take out boxes. (If you can believe it, we had them already.) Then she found a big box for them, and stuffed all the extra shredded paper all around them. "Oh Millie, Daisy Mae and Cocoa Puff and Fudge Ripple are gonna LOVE this box. Of course, their Mom is gonna hate me..." Then we wrapped the big box in green Christmas paper. She brought it to work, and the guys in the Shipping department put it in an even BIGGER box, and sent it all the way across the USA to San Diego Catifornia. (Except for Hawaii and Alaska, you can't go farther away from New Hamster and stay in the US than San Diego Catifornia.)

So how did the Lady come up with this neat trick? It is such a good story, I want to share. So get comfy.

When Mr Karate was smaller, he wanted the Lady to put his Christymas presents under the tree before Christymas. He liked to shake the packages to try to figure out what was inside. The Lady didn't want him to be able to know what was in the packages, so she started trying to fool him. Sometimes she'd put small candies wrapped in crinkly cellophane in the box, so when he'd shake it, the candies would bounce around and make noise. Sometimes she'd put something heavy in one corner, to disguise what was really in the box. Once she even took a whole bunch of paper clips and strung them all together, and then taped one to the bottom of the box. Gizzy said he shook that one for days trying to figure out what was inside.

Every year the Lady thought harder about how to confuse him. It got to be a real joke between them. She'd cook up something crazy, and he'd go nuts trying to figure out what it was.

Then he learned to play Chess. That Christmas he wanted a really nice set of Chess pieces. Well, they can be pretty expensive, but the Lady bought a set for him anyway. Problem was, there would only be one or two boxes under the tree for him, and he would have no trouble figuring out what it was. So the lady did this:
Yup! She bought 32 little chinese food take-out boxes, shredded some red and green paper, and put one chess piece in each box, then wrapped them all in red ribbon. Since she knew that if she put 32 little boxes under the tree he'd figure it out, she put some little chocolate candies in some other boxes, tied them with silver ribbon, and put them on the tree for decorations.

He came home from college and said, "What's in the chinese food boxes?" and she said, "little chocolates." He said, "Oh, " and that was that. Until Christymas Eve, when she added the 32 boxes of chess pieces on the tree. It now looked like this:

Christmas morning came and Mr Karate opened the one or two packages under the tree, but didn't find any chess pieces. The Lady suggested he try a little box. "I don't need any chocolate" he said, but reached for one and opened it.

The Lady said the look on his face was priceless as his eyes went from the small white pawn surrounded by green shredded paper, nestled in the tiny chinese food box, to all the other chinese food boxes hanging on the tree. He started to laugh and laugh.He had to take down all the little boxes and open them to find his set of Chess pieces. And while he was doing that, he said the the Lady, "Hey Mom, the tree looks kinda weird without these boxes on it. You have to wrap some up again and put them back on the tree for decoration."

And that is why to this day we have some half-pint Chinese food take-out boxes wrapped with ribbon on our Christymas tree as ornaments. The Lady and Mr Karate laugh and tell the story each year.

Now Mr Karate knows it isn't just the present itself, but the experience of it, and the story, that make it extra-special and memorable.

For her part, the Lady doesn't know how or if she'll ever top that. They both say it doesn't matter!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day. Does that mean that this is the day all cats get to play in the boxes from Christymas Day? The Lady got lotsa little boxes, but nothing big enough for me. Hmm. Well, there’s always the Tree…

We had “company” over the holiday. One of Mr Karate’s friends, Rhette, stayed with us. She has visited before, and has always wanted to be able to pet me. Well, this time I let her. And I ate out of Mr Karate's hands and I also let him pet me and give me neck scritches. I purred for both of them.

It was a big day, and after all the excitement, I relaxed next to my bestest pal, Gizzy.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends all over the world!

Not only have you all literally given me a life, but you have made it a wonderful life, full of excitement, learning and sharing. I wish for all of you good health, loving families and safe homes. May your food dishes always be filled at mealtimes, may your drinking water always be fresh, may the hands that touch you always be loving, and may you all have a safe place to play, nap and sleep. May you have good 'nip, fun toys, "fev-vers," and Temptations.


~~ your friend, Millie


Gizzy here!

I'd like to wish Millie's fans all over the world a Merry Christmas. She sure has brightened up MY life. I'm a senior cat, and don't have the energy to keep up with her the way she'd like, but it is nice to have her around. Yes, she pesters me a lot, and wants to hog the cat hammock and eat my crunchies, but she's really sweet. I'm rather proud I've been able to help her become a domesticated little kitty. To all you senior cats out there in the blogosphere, tolerate your younger sibs and have a little fun with them. Remember they learn how to be family cats from us oldsters.


this from Jasmine~

Hi everyone. Merry Christmas to all of you cats and your people. To all the older kitties out there, who are afflicted with nothing more than advanced age and the troubles that go along with it, I wish you really good v-e-t-s, meds that work, the love of your people and a nice quiet place where nobody bothers you. I'm feeling fine, the tumor on my eye isn't growing, and that's good.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Transformations and Explanations

I finally understand why there haven't been any presents underneath our Christymas tree. I understand why the hot-as-hell box has been getting a lot of work, and why the house smells so, so, well, good.

All those biscotti and cookies the Lady has been baking (and she made twelve different kinds of biscotti),
and has kept in the icebox are now being packaged in boxes and wrapped up.There's something else she's been doing. It's obviously very strenuous, because she makes all kinds of grunting and groaning noises while she's been doing it. Here are some pictures.

First, she starts with a great big bowl, and puts all kindsa stuff in it, like milk and butter and eggs. And lots and lots of white dirt. Then she dumped it onto the counter.
After that, she started hitting that sticky stuff, and knocking it all around. She obviously won, because it looked much nicer afterward.
Then she left it alone. And it grew!

But she mustn't have been happy with it, because she smashed it.

It grew back! Heh.
She cut it up, and put it in these boxes, and then they all went into the hot-as-hell-box.
The house smelled REALLY good. Here's what that sticky stuff looks like now:

Gizzy says it's Bread, and that people like it even more than homemade cookies, and that homemade cookies are a lot like 'nip to people, so this stuff, this bread, must be REALLY special.

Gizzy says that the Lady makes this bread only for the very special people in her life. He says it's a better Christymas present than anything that comes from a store. He says it's a gift of her hands, and that means it's a Gift of Love.

(you can click on the pictures to biggify)

All you cats and people who are traveling to visit your loved ones this holiday season, you be careful and be safe. I don't want any people or any cats (or woofies) getting hurt.


Oh! Oh! I can't wait! It's Christymas Eve! Christymas is tomorrow, Christymas is tomorrow...

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Higher

The Lady was baking ginormous cookies tonight. Every time she took one off the pan, I saw this bright shiny thing bounce all over the ceiling and the walls. I watched very closely, but I couldn’t get close enough to catch it. So I went investigating, and the Lady took this picture of me. She thinks it’s pretty funny. I don’t understand why.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Formerly Feral Friday


The Lady does these sudo-kat things every morning while she eats her breakfast before she goes hunting. I am quite curious about them so I thought I'd investigate.

Christymas is coming soon. I know both Opie and my Secret Paw received their packages from Mr. Brown. I check every day for my package. I can't wait.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #2

Last week I showed you 13 unusual ornaments on our Christymas Tree. This week I want to show you 13 things on our tree that you will probably find on EVERY Christymas Tree.

1. A reindeer

2. A snowflake

3. An angel

4. A Santa

5. Christmas Stockings

6. A Star

7. A Tree Topper

8. A present

9. A heart

10. A Toy

11. A Snowman

12. A Candy Cane

13. A Wreath

Wednesday, December 20, 2006