Zorro comes back from the vet

Are we finally home? Oh thank goodness!

Ugh...I'm not feeling so well...What did they give me at that place anyway?

Will you hold me mom? I still can't walk straight...

(Zorro had to have a rotten tooth extracted, poor thing)

Back on topic: Cute kitties

A friend of mine who's been living in Japan the last few years teaching english sent me a link to a silly little cat video that features two cats and a stuffed animal version of a popular Japanese animated figure, Domo-Kun. If you're in the mood for a bit of kitty fun, you can check it out here.

More reasons to love cats...

On the radio today (my favorite local independent radio station, incidentally, wfpk.org - they stream online and have great music for anyone looking) I heard the DJ talking with someone from the local animal shelter about all the ways cats can help improve your health. I'd already heard about how they reduce your risk of heart attacks and stress in general, but I hadn't heard that the vibrational frequency of a cat's purr can apparently help heal and strengthen bones--both theirs and yours. How cool is that?

Of course, when I first heard it on the radio I thought they were saying that a cat's fur can help strengthen your bones, and I thought hurray, now I can finally justify the fur tumbleweeds that seem to collect in the corners on an hourly basis. I was all prepped to rub that one in my neat-freak sister's face. Alas, my fantasies were dashed when I realized they said purr, not fur, but I'm still pretty jazzed about it.

Anyone else know other wonderful science-y things about why cats rock so much?

Kitties!

I discovered, much to my personal glee, that this month's featured EtsyBlogger is another kitty lover--and one with cute black and white shots of her kitties in her shop, like this one.

My husband immediately knew that something gleeful and cat related must have happened because he heard me exclaiming "Kitties!" after I opened the link to discover DonnaPool's etsy shop (she also has fun buttons and suchlike, but I am of course most smitten with the kittens).

(I know, I should have resisted the urge for the cheesy rhyme, but I couldn't. Seeing kitty pictures makes me too happy to be un-cheesy for at least a few minutes afterwards.)

She also has a nifty blog.

Oh, and in case you forgot: Kitties!

Cows, cats, and champagne

No, this isn't a Sesame Street special on words that begin with the letter "C" (can you imagine how many kids would be bewildered by that last word if it was? tee hee), it's a glance into the associative leaps my mind likes to make. Just a small glance, don't worry--I'd hate to scare anyone.

As you may have noticed from some of the photos on my blog, I have two white-with-black-spots cats. Since that's such a clunky way to describe their fur, I prefer to call them "cow-colored." Zorro is even kind enough to further this association by desperately loving chewing on grass (he tries to escape just so he can sit on the lawn and chomp away) and having a little pooch that looks remarkably like a slightly furry udder. (I tried to get a picture of it for this post, but Zorro glared at me with a "don't even think about embarrassing me like that where all the world could see" and was utterly undeterred by my reminder that hardly "all the world" reads my blog. Sigh.)

Consequently, when I found out that this month's featured etsy blogger was SpottedCowSoaps, I immediately thought of my cow-colored cats. And when I found her yummy-lishious looking bottle of champagne soap it left me desperately missing my old bathtub (the condo we currently live in has only a shower. So again with my sighing).

Now, about half the time I look at my lovely cow kitties I find myself suddenly drifting into a fantasy land with bubbles and bubbly. I think the cats are starting to get worried about the dreamy expression on my face when that happens--especially when it's while I'm, say, clipping their claws or holding their open-but-not-yet-dispensed food. They seem to prefer having my complete and speedy concentration in those moments. Gee, I wonder why...

;)

For those who don't know about Freekibble yet...

My cats have agreed not to be the center of attention for one more post, since it's for a good cause. I just read an article at another cool blog about Freekibble and Freekibblekat, two related places that donate kibble to dogs and cats in need when you answer trivia questions. And the whole thing was started by a 12 year old--how cool is that!

Anyway, I'm off to answer some trivia--sounds like a great way to put off reading these student reports I should be reading right now ;)

Cell phone charms, cat tags, key chains, and zipper pulls

Who was it that said "if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done"? Besides me, that is?

Anyway, after requests from a while back that I make cell phone charms, key chains and zipper pulls, I started doing some product testing. Now (at long last--whoo-hoo!) I've started to list them. Each of these shown here are hand-drawn, and can be attached to either a clip (for zipper pulls), a lanyard (for cell-phone charms) or a figure-8 style keychain. My current official listing is for the rainbow cat keychain, but you can get any of the ones shown here.

I'm still working out all the kinks on the cat tags as I wait to hear back from all my lovely product testers--the initial responses are favorable though (see Angus wearing his here, or Grr wearing her's here)--I'm simply working on figuring out the best way to attach them to cat collars so they don't dangle too low--so if you want one, feel free to ask and we can sort out the attachment that will work best for your cat's collar based on your individual needs.

Kitties thinking inside the box for Halloween

Zorro decided that he wanted to be a package for Halloween this year:

Allie Mae briefly tried to steal Zorro's idea, but she decided she didn't like the way the box blended with her brown furs:

So Zorro got to reclaim his costume (and, as an added bonus, give me a sulky look for letting the other cats near it in the first place--or perhaps for blinding him with the flash--or maybe both?):

Happy Halloween!

She really loves her nose: The winner of the first cat photo contest

Though the deadline for the first newsletter-subscribers-only cat photo contest was Sept. 15th, it took my husband a little while to choose a winner. (I make him choose because I can't stand choosing between kitty pics--neither can he, of course, because he adores cats as much as I do, so really I'm just a big selfish meanie I guess. Ah well.)

This month was for the funniest cat photo, but I must admit that most of the ones we received were more "awwwwww" than "ahahaha" -- so after spending a lot of "awww" time with all the adorable kitties the hubby finally picked "Tasha Tortie Tongue" (as named by the adorable kitty's mom) as this month's winner. So congrats Katie--you've now won a $20 gift certificate to PurrPrints on etsy. (She's got even more adorable kitty pics on her flickr page for anyone who, like me, can't get enough of adorable kitties pictures).

Don't forget to leave lots of comment love for Katie's adorable kitty! And if you'd like to participate in next month's contest, which will be Halloween themed, just sign up for my newsletter using the form in the upper left corner of this page.

I'd also like to include a pic of the adorable Porkchop, who disappeared from his parents home a few months ago; as his mom Amanda said, he's "the coolest, bestest, 3-legged cat ever... and is sadly missed."

You asked for it...

The beginnings of my first key chain, cell phone charm, & cat tag (in that order), each of which was hand-drawn on shrink plastic (isn't science fun?)

The picture doesn't quite do these justice because it was simply scanned, but I was too excited to wait...(me? impatient? why, I have no idea what you're talking about).

Exclusive contests for newsletter subscribers

As a thank you to my newsletter subscribers, I've decided that every month I'll be hosting a contest just for them. September's contest will be for the funniest original cat photo, and the winner will get a $20 gift certificate for whatever strikes their fancy in the PurrPrints shop, so sign up now to join in on the fun (the subscription box is in the upper left corner of this blog).

Oh, and in case you're subscription phobic (I know I am), here's the details: the newsletter won't go out more than once a month; it will include NO outside advertising, ever; and, besides the monthly contest, it will give you info about any new designs, giveaways, or sales that are going on that month. And I will never, ever, ever give your email address or name to anyone else. Oh -- and of course you can unsubscribe at any time via a handy link at the bottom of every newsletter (though, really, why would you? I mean, PurrPrints rocks! )

Review of ColoradoCatnipToys: Cats give it 4 paws up

So ColoradoCatnipToys and I arranged a trade on etsy (trades: one of the reasons to love etsy). She was interested in these cat cards and I was interested in her adorable catnip quilts. So she kindly suggested a trade and I eagerly agreed.

Tonight (after very fast shipping) the quilt arrived and I pulled it out. She'd also included one of her handmade catnip toys as an added goodie for the kitties, and boy were they happy about the whole package. Below is just a little of the fun that followed.

<--Allie Mae thought the blanket should be all hers.

Puma disagreed --->









& he wanted the toy to himself too...


but Zorro used a classic 10-yr-old-boy technique to lay claim to that:


This basically provided the Saturday night entertainment for my husband and I (and while part of me finds this so pitiful, another part knows I laughed a lot harder watching these kitties get messed up on catnip than I would have at the latest comedy in the theater--and this was much less expensive!)

Don't forget: my contest from the previous post is still going on! You could get freebies from me and then use those unspent funds to go get your cats some wonderful stuff from ColoradoCatnipToys :)

Note: Just in case anyone was wondering, this post was not at all sponsored or cajoled--it was purely inspired by how much my cats loved these items and the cute pictures that produced. Any time I do write a review that has been sponsored or arranged for through anything other than sheer delight I'll be sure to let my readers know--but I also won't ever write a review that's less than honest because without my integrity what good am I as a blogger and artist/crafter?