Thursday 13 - Updated!

You know, for a project that is supposed to be secret, Mom sure isn't being secretive. Two nights ago she made a big stack of fabric pairs to use to make the new blocks. She wanted to make 13 for today's Thursday 13. But she only finished 7. Here are the first 6 she finished.

She really likes this one with the flowers and the pink swirls.

Here are the last 6 that she's too tired to finish.

These big blocks are 14-3/4" square, and she says "Yes," she does plan to cut them up.

I'd say she's crazy, but let's face it, all she does is buy BIG pieces of fabric, cut them up into smaller pieces, and then sew them back up into BIG pieces of fabric again.

She's just crazy to start with.


Update Thursday night:

Mom finished those blocks Thursday night, but was "too tired" to post them before she went to bed. Sheesh!

W-W-Wordless

Family Tree Tuesday

I would like to introduce you to my Mom's family. They are my family too.

This is Mom. She is the oldest of four.This is Mr Photographer. He is next in line, lives near the Columbia River in Oregon, with his wife and their daughter (photos below).
This is Mr Cabinetmaker, he and his wife (sorry, no picture) live in the high desert in Colorado. He is the one who took Mim-may on a 1,000 mile motorcyle trip through Utah last year.This is the Karate Lady. She is 8 years younger than Mom. She is the Boy's mom.This is Mr Big, the Karate Lady's husband, and the Boy's father. He is VERY funny!This is the Boy, Mom's nephew. He will be 11 in March.This is Mim-may (Mom' s Mom) and Pip-pay.This the Boy and Mr Karate, Mom's son, (as you know).This is Mr Photographer's wife and daughter (the Pretty Girls)This is Mim-may and her three grandkids.So now you know who everybody is.

Musical Monday

Mom made four more of those blocks. Now she has 11. She will need at least 30.

To find out why this is Musical Monday, you will have to go check out The Devil Dog, where the Karate Lady has posted about Mr Karate & the Boy and their cello recital yesterday. There is even video.

The Boy (Mom's nephew); Mr Karate (Mom's son)

(You guys know, of course, that Mom and the Karate Lady are sisters, right? So that makes Mr Karate and the Boy cousins. They are 17 years apart in age, but they love each other like brothers.)

Crazy Lady Sunday

You know your Mom is crazy when she gets up at 3:30 in the morning to watch a sports match on TV.

No, it wasn't my guys named Pat; they play in the Super Bowl next week. She watched Novak Djokovic play in the final of the Australian Open. He won. Mom rooted for him, so she was very happy.

Did she watch the match sitting down? Nope. She cut up leftover fabrics and made these blocks:She says she's going to make a squillion more, and get this, when they are all finished, she's gonna cut them up and then sew them back together.

Go figure!

What will it look like, and when will she let us all in on the secret?

She says not to "hold your collective breath."

Whatever that means.

I told you she's crazy.

Is it Spring yet?

How come I can't smell these tulips?

Friday Facts

"I know there's a Temp-tay-tion treat around here somewhere...."

Mom is always happy when Fridays come around. Except she will have to go day hunting on Saturday, for which she is seriously bummed. Anyway, here are some random facts I have been collecting this week:

1. The broken kitchen window has been replaced. Turns out it was a custom size and had to be made special. That's why it took so long.

2. Mom went to the dentist for her crown. I don't understand what a dentist has to do with a crown, and I didn't see her wearing a crown. I was really looking forward to playing with it. She says she has a "temporary crown" and she will get the real one in a month.

3. She says the dentist looked and found another place where she would need a crown. But he fixed it so she can get this other crown next year. Dunno why, she has only one head, why does she need more than one crown?

4. Last year at this time she was getting ready to go to Texas. The shindig this year is in SanDiego, home of Daisy Mae Maus and the Feline Americans, but Mom is staying home this year. She's seriously bummed out about that too.

5. Mr Karate & the Boy will play their cellos together in a recital on Sunday. Mr Karate told Mom to bring her earplugs. Huh?

6. Mom was quite surprised when Tsonga beat Nadal in straight sets at the Australian Open. She was also surprised when Djokovic beat Federer.

7. She was really saddened to learn that Heath Ledger died.

8. I am not sleeping on Mom's bed at night. Been there, done that.

9. Of course, I had to sleep there last night because, well, you know.

10. Marty is settling in at his new home at the top of Mount Washington.
As you can see.

What would you do Meme?

The rules are: you have to post who tagged you and link back to them and then to the kitty who tagge you (Tesla tagged me).

Then you have to tag 3 other kitties, beans, woofies, or any other assorted animal.

What three things would you do that you have never done before, if you knew you wouldn't get caught, get in trouble, or suffer any consequences?

If Jasmine was still around, I'd whap her good. But now I know she was probably sick, so I can't do that.

SO... What would -I- do if I wouldn't get caught, get in trouble or suffer the consequences?

1. I'd run around outside, climb the trees, jump on the cars, chase the squirrels and hunt some birds.

2. I'd jump up onto the top of the coldbox and the tall bookcases and knock the stuff off.

3. I'd knock all the thread off the thread rack in the sewing room, and get into the closet and pull all the fabric strips off the hangers and make a nest in the great big pile and take a nap there.

I'm gonna tag my fur cousin Lucky (because Roxy does whatever she wants anyway), my sweetie pie Monty Q, and my kiwicat pal, Poppy Q.

Wordless Wednesday

Tigmuthep's Meme

It's nice and simple, all you need to do is tell everyone 3 things that are new with you! Link it back to www.tigmuthep.blogspot.com and the purrson who gave it to you (which was Hunter!) and pass it on to 3 more kitties you'd like to know more about! :)


So here goes, the 3 things that are new with me are:

1. I have been cuddling with Mom, and liking it.

2. Mom has been walking on the inside moving sidewalk, and I DON'T like that! It's noisy and scary.

3. Mom has mentioned two things lately that I do not like. She used the words "V-E-T", and "shot."

I have to tag three cats, so I will tag some of our newer blogging cat friends:

Pixel the Kitty

Chance

and Meerkat of The Furry Bambinos

Awards Day

My sweetheart Monty Q, gave me this lovely award:
I am flattered that I make his day. He makes mine every day! I know I have to award another cat, but I can't just select a few. Every cat who is happy with the Gizzy Quilt that Mom has made for them makes my day. Like Rocky, who was given a Gizzy Quilt by Lilly Lu & Mu Shue, and Miss Peach, who was given a Gizzy by Junior.


Mickey and Skeeter & LC gave me this award:

Thanks so much!

Here are the rules for the Thinking Blogger award:
1. You must write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Acknowledge this post.
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.
4. Go tell your humans to fork over the treats!

I tag:
1. Faz, who has a very interesting story on her blog.
2. Samantha & Tigger, who always give me something to think about.
3. Poppy Q, my pal from New Zealand, is one of the most thoughtful cats on the blogosphere.
4. Diva Kitty, who shows pictures of weird (i think) bean foods.
5. Dragonheart & Merlin, because I would be totally ignorant about Sphynx cats were it not for them.

Going to the Super Bowl!!

We (the Guys Named Pat) are going to the Super Bowl!
We're going to the Super Bowl!
We're going to the Super Bowl!
We're going to the Super Bowl!
We're going to the Super Bowl!

The Guys Named Pat, my beloved New England Patriots, have won the AFC Championship and are going to the Super Bowl!



Yippee! One more game to win to cap a PERFECT season!


Oh, so much excitement, I have to go take a nap!

Easy Sunday, (for now...)

The house is clean.

The picture box room is clean. (Mom did those two drawings. Mim-may did the painting of the lily)
The bathroom is clean (so are the litterboxes)
The kitchen is clean.
The computer room is clean. The dining room table is cleared of stuff. Mom's bed has been made. The books have been kept (whatever THAT means). The rug sucking monster has made an appearance. The laundry is being done.

The Gizzy quilts that will fly out of here the day after tomorrow (thanks, Pixel!) are almost finished.

Everything is ready for The Game today at 3 PM Eastern Time, between my beloved Guys Named Pat and the lightning bolt guys for the AFC Championship.

I'm gettin' ready too...

Snuggling Saturday

If you were sitting on the back of the recliner, and looked down over Mom's head last night, you would have seen this.

You all know Mom loves watching Tennis. She has been watching the Australian Open on TV, and I have taken the oppportunity to get in some good snuggling time. I make sure she gets comfy, then wriggle my way into the space next to her. She pets me and gives me scritches. I purr.

Now don't you all get all goopy over this turn of events. Like all cats, I like getting petted and scritched, and what the heck, if I can get somebody else to do all the work, all's the better.

Yeah, I know said I'd never ask to be petted. I loved cuddling next to Gizzy, but he is gone and Jasmine was never interested in being my friend.

That leaves Mom.

Get over it.

A cat does what a cat has to do.

NH's New Top Cat Gets to Work

You all remember the vote for Mount Washington Observatory's Top Cat last week. Marty won. This past Wednesday, he moved from the shelter to his new job. To get to the top of Mount Washington in the middle of winter, you have to go up in a snow tractor. So, this picture is of Marty getting handed over to his new beans, ready for his trip up to his new forever home.

He did pretty well on the trip up, and when he was let out of his PTU, he was a little freaked out. But after a little while, he started adapting to his new home. You can read about it here.

How lucky can you get? Marty is not only Formerly Feral, but now he's gonna be Famous!

I have received several awards over the last few days, and over the weekend I hope to catch up showing them off, and figuring out to whom I should pass them out.

Thursday Thirteen - 13 Happy Endings

Mom is hijacking my blog to show 13 of her favorite movies. They all have happy endings. As do most of the movies she buys.

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

1. A Room with a View
2. Bull Durham
3. How To Steal a Million (with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Mom says you GOTTA watch this one!)
4. The Illusionist
5. Monsoon Wedding
6. Mostly Martha
7. The Natural (actually, Mom is NOT a baseball fan)
8. Persuasion
9. Pride & Prejudice (she LOVES Jane Austen)
10. Sliding Doors
11. Shakespeare in Love (well, OK, maybe this one isn't quite a happy ending)
12. The Shawshank Redemption
13. Strictly Ballroom
Of course, there are others, but this is a Thursday 13.


And DMM... perhaps a wager on The Game this weekend? Between my Guys Named Pat and your Bolts?

Wordy Wednesday

These strips represent bindings for one, two... fourteen quilts. Five (not telling you which five) have already been sewn up onto quilts and are in the process of flying out to their new homes.

Mom's kinda PO'd at the PO. She has a laser printer. It's a lot more economical than a color inkjet printer, since she only replaces the toner cartridge about every other year or so, but when she finally runs out, it's pricey (like $65.00) to replace. So she has been printing the USPS labels at her day hunting gig.

Except last week there was a printer problem and one of her labels didn't print. Finally she got it to print, and sent the package off. Now the USPS says she owes money for that label. Except, of course, she already paid for it. So they won't let her print any others until she pays for the label she didn't print (or use.)

So she called them today and after spending some time on "ignore" she got a real person who told her that to fix it she would have to pay for the label, and they would issue a credit. Get this, the credit will take almost 2 weeks to appear on her magic plastic card account! Mom is not best pleased.

The toner cartridge is on order.



In other news, I spent an entire -hour- sitting next to her in the comfy green recliner last night, while we watched Nova. I let her know I wanted attention by sitting on the table, directly in front of her while she ate her dinner (a disgusting mess of grape tomatoes, onions, cauliflower, and green rabbit junk (sorry Fiona) on a turkey cutlet). What did I say to her?

"Meow."

What else would I say?

Teaching Tuesday

It's been four months since I have been Top Cat. I've finally got Mom to understand when I want some serious attention. She actually sits down in the green recliner and I sit next to her and she pets me. She finally understands that she has to STAY SITTING until I have had enough, and then she can go do something else.

You would think that having two cats before me would make it easier to train Mom to understand me. Not so. It's like we're speaking two different languages.

When I say "Meow," I'm saying Hello.

When I say "Meow, " I want treats.

When I say "Meow, " I want some pets and scritches.

When I say "Meow," I want her to play with me.

When I say "Meow, " I want 'Nip.

When I say "Meow," I want her to feed me.

When I say "Meow," I mean it's time for bed.

I mean, is that so hard?

Monday Madness

These letters are sewn together from fabric, free-form, without patterns. This is sorta practice. Mom doesn't like the Z's (too fat top and bottom) the Y's (too skinny). She thinks the B needs some work. She really likes the G, O and S.

I told you Mom's been lurking in the Quilting blogs. She really likes Tonya's Lazy Gal Quilting. (Tonya has cats too!) Anyway, Mom found Tonya's tutorial about free-piecing letters and decided to experiment.

She definitely has a plan for these letters, when she gets them right. You'll get to see. Mom says not to hold your breath.

(You can click the picture to biggify)

What We Have to Look Forward To

We are between Concord and Nashua.
(sigh)

The Guys Named Pat Win Again!

You all know that I am a fan of the Guys Named Pat, the New England Patriots.

They won again last night, and are still undefeated.

Go Patriots!

Live Like a Cat Day!

Today is Live Like a Cat Day!

You think I'm joking? Here's the link: Live Like a Cat Day. Here are the FAQ's, and in case anybody needs instructions, here is the How-To (surely not anycat, because we already know)

Here are a couple of things from their How-To guide. (Yes, I copied them. I'm a cat, it's in my DNA.)

1. - The most important thing to remember is that Live Like a Cat Day is YOUR day. If you want to sleep all day, then sleep. If the phone rings and you don’t want to answer it, then don’t. You can even ignore your wife or husband if they try to tell you to do something. THINK and LIVE like a cat.
(Well, like Duh!)

Here's another one:
5 - Sleep in. Turn off the alarm clock and sleep in. Don’t get up until you feel like it.

This picture of Gizzy shows he really knew how to do #5!

9 - Take a bath and groom yourself. When was the last time you took a nice, warm, relaxing bath? Showers are for busy people. Do you have nose or ear hairs that need grooming? Cats spend plenty of time grooming and perhaps you should spend some time catching up in this area if you’ve been slacking lately.

I do that.

Here is another one of my favorites:
13 - Get nutty and REALLY live like a cat. If you want to go the extra mile consider batting some toys around on the floor or chasing the light from a laser pointer. Lay down on the floor in a random location in your house. Take a nap in the bathtub. If you live with someone, annoy them until they bring you a snack. Try sitting on top of your refrigerator. Get creative and explore what it is like to be a cat.

I wanna see Mom do this!

Mao, Come Home Nao! Annie too!

Mao, Please come home! Everybody is worried about you!
Annie! You too! Please come home!

Mao Go Home!

Have You Seen This Cat?
SEND HIM HOME!

MAO GO HOME
Skeezix misses you!

Heck, I miss you! Go Home!