Tuxie Tummy Tuesday

Here's the closest thing to a tummy shot of me. I don't often pose like this, but the Lady had made some nip toys for my Secret Paw and I had to test them. As you can see I am a svelte kitty.

The Lady says sometime she is going to post pictures of me walking from behind. She claims I wiggle my derriere like a starlet. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Missy's Monday

When the Lady's Mom comes over, her little Shih Tzu, Missy, comes with her. In fact, when the Lady and her Mom got me from Dan and Maggie back in August, Missy was with them. Missy likes cats, and always wants to play with me. I'm still kinda scared of a lot of things, so when Missy comes looking for me, I run away. She's okay as long as she stays at least two Gizzys away.Here's Missy dressed up for the Holiday, with bells on her front feet and her collar. I'm not so sure she's crazy about this outfit. She's pretty for a woofie, and this isn't the best picture of her.

On the other paw, although I have let lots of visitors see me, today was the first time I let somebody other than the Lady touch me. I let her Mom give me head scritches.

And yes, I have been asking the Lady to pet me every day. I don't think I'll be sitting in her lap any time soon. I'd say I'm never gonna sit in her lap, but I said I'd never let her pet me, or ask her to pet me, and now I do both of those things, so... I'm just gonna go take a nap under the Christymas tree.

Making Cookies?

The Lady will be baking cookies in the hot-as-hell box again today (yawn). She did that yesterday too. Except today her mommy and her little woofie, Missy will be here too.

THEY can make cookies. What will I be making?

I'll be making mischief!

A reader asked the Lady to post the Chocolate Coconut Biscotti recipe. The Lady has three other recipes she will post over the next few days. They will be found here with the other Biscotti recipes. These will be: Cinnamon-Mocha Biscotti; Apricot-Macadamia Biscotti; and Candied Orange Pecan Biscotti.

Looky! Looky! Looky!

This really should be a Formerly Feral post, but it happened today, Saturday, and it just can't wait. What happened? The Lady gots pictures of her petting me!


I was napping, and she came over and started petting me. And giving me head scritches,
and neck scritches,


and I didn't mind.
In fact, it felt nice, and I purred.

9 days until Christymas

The Lady knows where my Secret Paws packages are! The Lady found out where "brown" has them. They haven't been delivered to Opie and ..... yet.

That will happen on Monday. I wish I could be there when my Secret Paws open their packages. I hope they like the stuff inside. I hope I get to find out if they liked the stuff I picked for them.

The Lady hasn't put any presents under our Christymas Tree yet. Of course I keep playing in and under the tree. I keep knocking stuff off the tree. The Lady keeps putting the stuff back on. I have to say I admire her persistence.

Formerly Feral Friday

Are you gonna watch?



Suit yourself.

Thursday Thirteen!

This is my first Thursday Thirteen. I thought about doing 13 things you don't know about me, but since I'm an internet celebrity, you already know everything. So I decided to list 13 ornaments on our tree that you don't usually find on a Christymas tree. Those who commented wanted pictures, so here they are.

1. a small stuffed moose
2. a Carnival mask
3. a brass bell
4. some small chinese food take-out boxes tied with ribbon
5. an embroidered felt fish
6. a glittery gold dragonfly
7. a red cardinal. bird, not priest.
8. a picture of Mr Karate (when he was a Little Sticky Person) in the middle of a snowflake
9. a gold-colored giraffe
10. a clip-on ladybug
11. a paper mache elephant
12. a golden crab
13. a silver measuring cup

Not Quite So Wacky this WenZday

First of all, I don't do any wacky long enough for the Lady to get a picture, so you're just gonna have to use your imagination. But the Lady did have these two sorta funny pictures of the big cats. That bowl is pretty big, but obviously not big enough for my two big cat pals. Gizzy and Jasmine weighed about 15 pounds each when these were taken. (as always, you can click to biggify)

I didn't knock as many ornaments off the tree yesterday as I did the day before. The Lady has been kinda crafty about how she hung them up. I can climb the tree from the back, and the whole thing wiggles. There's a bell in the tree, and if I wiggle it too much, it rings and the Lady knows where I am. If I'm really sneaky, I can get up in the tree without it ringing. I'm practicing.

Now, a little business.

1. We switched to Blogger Beta. It had been pestering us for a couple of weeks. It took a little while but not that long. This is my 150th post and I know it isn't a very big blog.

2. Our Secret Paws packages went out Monday. Both are going west of the Mississippi, so they should arrive at their destinations on Friday for our pal Opie in Utah and this coming Monday for... ! They are being shipped UPS, so if you are a Secret Paw and you live out West, look for "brown" on Monday.

Toesday!

It's TOES-day.

Gizzy has white feet and pink pads. And white toes.

Jasmine has white feet and black pads.

I have white feet. What color are MY pads?
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Look closely.

Mine are White (pink) and Black.
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Total ornaments knocked off the Christymas tree yesterday: 8.
Total branches knocked out: zero
Ability to run up and down the tree and not break anything or get squirted: priceless

How Big am I?

The Lady wanted to know how big I am. But I won't let her get that measuring thing close to me. So she measured Jasmine, and she's the same size as Gizzy. As best she can figure I am almost 15", so I am three-quarters of a Gizzy.

In this picture, Jasmine and I are at least two Gizzys apart.

Remember, a Gizzy is a relative unit of measurement. It's the distance in a straight line from his head to the bottom of his tail when he's standing up looking straight. He could be bigger. When you count his tail, the Lady says he's about three feet. Since cats have four feet, this is where I get really confused.

Christymas Tree

The Lady fixed up the tree. She took off the lights and the strings of little red balls. She took off the sparkly stuff. Then she straightend and fluffed up all the branches. When she was happy with that, she started putting new things on it. There are teddy bears, hearts, angels, birds, bugs, stars and boxes. There are snowflakes, and Santas and snowmen. There's a giraffe, a crab, a fish, an elephant and at least one mousie. There's an egg, strawberries and a candy candy cane. There's a moon. There are pictures of Mr Karate when he was a Little Sticky Person. And even something that looks like a vishus deer, but the Gizzy says it's one of Santa's reindeer. This Christymas tree even has a mask, socks and a skirt!

Kaze's 4,000 visitor

As one of Kaze's 4,000th visitors to her blog, I got a nice package of goodies. I got some nice nip filled toys, a noisy ball, some nifty fleece knot toys, a mousie and this really cool feather toy. Kaze even sent a very nice note. Here's Gizzy and I checking everything out.

Christymas Secret Paws Update

Our Secret Paws package is ready to go. The Lady will either bring it to the post office tomorrow or have it shipped out from her work on Monday.

The Lady also signed us cats up for a Shelter Cat Secret Paw. Our Shelter Cat lives in Utah and was a very unlucky fellow. He is a black cat and is name is Opie. He has diabetes, and got stuck in a drain and was starving when a woofie discovered him. Because he was so sick his back legs don't move very well. So the Lady didn't think giving him toys to chase was a good idea. She thought she would make him a nice comfy warm quilt. She makes lots of stuff, and last year she made herself a scrappy quilt of fabrics with black backgrounds. She had a lot left over, and put together this quilt for Opie. It is lined with two layers of fleece, and has a fuzzy extra warm curly fleece on the back. It is quilted, and it is about one and a half by almost two Gizzys. So he can strech out, or curl up and have enough room. Also, if his people fold it in half, it is very soft and cushy. Since one side is cotton, it will be cool in summer, and the fleece side will make it nice and cozy for when the weather is cold. We will also add a couple of small cat mousies and some special stinky goodness to the package for Opie. Here is another picture of Opie's Quilt.

At first I was jealous that the Lady would make such a nice quilt for a cat we've never met and lives over two thousand miles away, but when I think of Opie, I realize that I could have ended up like him. I hope Opie likes his quilt.

(click the pictures to biggify)

How Big Izz a Gizzy?

Cecilia, the meowmom of Bubbles, Mrs B & LT thinks that a "Gizzy" should be a unit of measurement in the cat blogosphere. (If this is news to you, read the comments of my blog yesterday.) Naturally, I think this is a good idea, because I use it, but it's up to you.

Anyway, I know how big Gizzy is, but you don't, so I had the Lady measure him. When I think of a "Gizzy" as a unit of measurement, I think of him from his head to his butt. That's about 18 inches. So two Gizzys is about equal to about three feet. And a half a Gizzy is about nine inches. So Jasmine will leave me alone if I'm two Gizzys away, she starts to growl if I get within one and a half Gizzys and goes positively berserk if I get within one Gizzy of her.

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Yeah, I know it's "Formerly Feral Friday" but after my regular destruction of the Christymas tree this past week, the Lady isn't so sure about the "Formerly" part.

Half a Gizzy Away

The Lady has one of those skinny flat computer monitors. So there's room behind it on the desk. I was investigating back there when she sat down to read the cat blogs tonight. Jasmine jumped up and lay down against her body, resting her head on the Lady's arm. I was curious, so I peeked underneath the monitor, and Jasmine saw me and started to growl. I couldn't escape easily, so I stayed where I was. Wrong. I was about half a Gizzy away. Too close.

Suddenly Jasmine jumped up and tried to crawl under the monitor to get me, growling and snarling. The Lady grabbed her, and dropped her to the floor. I came out from my spot and jumped off the desk. Then Jasmine and I had a chase around the house.

She ended up sitting next to the Lady and I ended up watching from the table in the table room.

I think she won this round.

There's always next time.

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The Lady says that for us to have done this week's Toesday or WacKy wENzdAy, she would have had to know about it by 6PM Eastern time the day before. Because 6:30 AM the day of is WAY TOO LATE to post the special topic of the day and still make it to work on time. That's why you didn't see any Toesdays or Wacky Wenzdays from us. Not 'cause we didn't want to. But if you want Wacky, there's always this old shot of Gizzy. He got in the Lady's oil paint. It isn't toxic or anything, just a very strong staining color.

-- added late Thursday night....
Y'know what's really funny about this picture of Gizzy? That was the third time he got paint all over himself. That's the second time he got the same green all over him. The first time he just got it on his mouth and cheeks and nose. The second time he got yellow and orange paint on his face. An' you wouldn't believe the things the Lady did with her paints to keep him away from them. But hey, she was painting, her palette was out, and he is, after all, Mr Curiosity.

A Disheveled Tree, a Naughty Me

I've been playing in the tree during the day. Sometimes I bend the branches. Sometimes they get loose. Sometimes they fall out. I've been having fun. When the Lady comes home from hunting, she fixes it all back up.

Gizzy likes to nap under the tree. He doesn't like it when I come jumping off the tree near him. He doesn't like sharing his spot under the tree either.

Jasmine sometimes likes to nap under the tree too. She REALLY doesn't like it when I do pretty much anything within say, one and a half Gizzys. So if I am in the tree, or if I wanna go near the tree or if I try to get outta the tree, she has a hissy fit. As usual.

This morning the Lady came walking by and she saw me. I was in the tree, about eye level with her. Which means I was about four and a half feet up in the tree (she's only five feet tall). Since my belly, front paws and half of my face are white, she saw me right away. She wasn't exactly pleased.

I think she is putting off decorating the tree because she hopes I will get bored playing in it. Yeah right. As soon as she puts cool stuff on, I have a lot more reasons to climb it and knock stuff off. It's gonna be so much fun. About thirty-eight kinds of fun, like Max is always talking about.

The Lady has decided that she is not going to put any breakable ornaments on the tree. So that means it won't sparkle quite so much. But she LOVES Christmas and has a ginormous box of ornaments that I can't break. I think that's quite considerate of her.

Considering I plan to play in the tree each and every day until New Year's, when she takes it down.

4 Month Gotcha Day

Oh my goodness, it's been four months since I moved in here. So I'm about nine months old and I've lived here -almost- half my life.

Life is good here. The big things that happened in the last month were:

1. The Lady puts my food on the counter and I eat up there.
2. I let her pet me more and more, and even when I am not eating.
3. I actually stay put sometimes when she is walking by. I let her step over me.
4. I follow her around when she gets home from hunting.
5. I -demand- she feed me at meal times. I am rather vocal about it. I'm kinda squeaky, but I make enough noise to get her attention.
6. I will now allow visitors to see me when other people or woofies come over. They can't touch me, but they can look. I don't hide so much.
7. I helped the Lady with the Secret Paws package. I helped her choose and organize the items. I tested them to make sure my Secret Paw would like them. I helped her with the packing. She put the stuff in, and I took it out and told her how to put it in again.
8. I have perfected the art of jumping over Gizzy's head when he is sitting upright. He is so mellow he doesn't even flinch.
9. I learned to climb trees.

I'm so glad I'm a cat. I like it here.

My Christmas Wish List

Lux posted his Christmas Wish List, and I thought it was a good idea. So I tried to make a list of what I wanted for Christmas.

1. I want to get stinky goodness every day.
2. I want to be able to sleep wherever I want.
3. I want to be friends with Jasmine.
4. Or I want to be able to win a fight with her.
5. I want a year's worth of Beef Temptations.
6. I want some of that awesome Cosmic Catnip for my mink mousie.
7. I'd love to have a safe place to be outside and climb real trees and hunt real birds without having to worry about getting beat up by other cats, attacked by mean kids, or hit by (shudder)... Sorry, can't finish that thought.
8. I'd like Gizzy to have enough energy to run around the house with me.
9. I see the Lady has hung Christmas stockings for herself and Mr Karate. I want one.
10. I'd like not to be afraid of everything I don't know.
11. I wish nobody would trim my claws.
12. I wish all V-e-t-s could fix all the kitty problems ever so all kitties would be healthy.
13. I wish they'd all be free, so people wouldn't have to worry about money to fix their kitties.
14. I wish all kitties could have a nice forever home where they are safe and have enough to eat.
15. I'd like to see this Santy Claus everyone is talking about.

Well, I guess I owe Luxor an apology. It's hard not to wish for "virtuous" things when you think about all the other kitties and people in the world who don't have a safe place to live, or enough food to eat.

WAIT A MINUTE...
I just read read Sammy Meezer's wish list. You have to be GOOD for Santy Claws to bring you the stuff on your Christmas Wish List?

Now I know I'm in trouble.

The Tree is up...

Well the Tree is Up.

And I think I know what to do with it.

A tree is for climbing.

I knew that.

And for hiding in.

I think I knew that too.

I don't understand why it's got all this funny stuff on it.

I've never seen an outside tree that had those sparkly things on it.

And I would never have thought that a little bitty kitty like me could break the branches on a tree.

But who would have thought that it would make the Lady so angry to see me in the tree?

I can't figure out where the water that squirts at me comes from.

Can you see me in the tree?

And can you see the branches I broke?

My pal Mattingly told me about this really funny site where Cats show you how to decorate a Christmas Tree.

It's really funny.

Well, -I- thought it was funny.

(you can click the pictures to biggify)

More Biscotti and a funny "tree"

The Lady had all kinds of plans to do stuff to "the Tree" yesterday, but she didn't get far. She did do all her Washing Machine Shuffle with her clothes, and she changed the sheets on her bed, and she went hunting for food and stuff...

She made that biscotti I told you about yesterday, and finished it later, so it looks like this:She's going biscotti crazy and I gotta get her to stop. Chocolate Coconut Biscotti, Cinnamon-Mocha Biscotti, Chocolate Citrus Biscotti, Apricot Macadamia Biscotti, Cardamom Cornmeal Biscotti, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscotti. White Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti, Black Pepper Biscotti, Chocolate Pecan Mandelbrot, Lemon Pistachio Biscotti.... argh!

The Tree! The tree, what's going on with the tree?

She did a little bit on the funny tree. There are more branches and there are some lights. Not that you could tell from this picture, but...