Computer Woes

Hi, this is Zoey's mom. She can't blog right now because I broke the computer. It wasn't intentional. I was trying to install an external harddrive that I could use to backup the computer so we wouldn't lose any of the precious pictures we've taken of the family. Apparently it wasn't totally compatible with Vista and now the computer gets stuck in an endless cycle when we try to start it. We've taken it into a qualified technician to repair but it may be some time before we get the computer back. I'm sorry for disturbing Zoey's precious computer time and we'll have her back to visiting all of you as soon as we can.

Friday's Feast #152

Mommy's bored so she's agreed to help me with today's post again. Well as long as I don't mention food. So I thought answering the Friday's Feast would be perfect.

Mommy: Zoey you have a cruel streak at times and you forget that I control your Temptations. This isn't Auntie Michele's where Perla will just get them for you...

Zoey: Okay, I'll be good.

Appetizer - On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?

Zoey: I don't watch sports so I guess that makes it a 1. I do however like the lap time I get when Mommy and Daddy watch them.

Mommy: Depends on the sport. Probably around a 8 for hockey and NASCAR and then down rapidly after that.

Soup - If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?

Zoey: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. First I love rhymes and second well what isn't there to love about a cat that's into everything?

Mommy: Hmmm... That's a tough one. There's some really great books out there. My first instinct was Charles Dicken's a Tale of Two Cities. From "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." through "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known," I think it is certainly one of the most special books I have ever read.

Salad - What is your favorite breakfast food?

Zoey: Beef Temptations of course!

Mommy: Hmmm... I'm not big on breakfast and right now thinking about food isn't so good so let's move on.

Main Course - Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

Zoey: Nap!

Mommy: Hmmm... Well Matt and I drove up into the hills to get away from the city lights and watched the Perseid Meteor shower (for those in the Northern Hemisphere, it'll be back on August 13) and that was lots of fun. Of course with the price of gas nowadays, it's close to the wire whether that is less than $10 now.

Dessert - How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?
Zoey: zzzz.....zzzz.....zzzz

Mommy: (whispering) Far too long.

Now that Zoey is napping, I'll finish out this post by announcing that Cha-Ching has happily settled in with the rest of the family. Although he was never ruffled by the hissing and growling front that the furballs and Zoey sometimes put up, he has truly become a furball in the past five days since he was released from his quarantine. The furballs don't hiss at him anymore, unless they are trying to hoard food or a feather toy, and have even started playing with him. He's a little frustrated that they are physically capable of going some places that he can't get to yet, like on top of the bookcases and the plantshelf, but it won't take him long to figure it out and gain the size and strength necessary to keep up. Over the last couple of days we've even caught the first signs of their friendship, like this one with Chewie.

Then today I was able to capture this one of Smoke and Cha-Ching when they came to visit me.

And I snapped this one of them playing on the floor with a shared toy.

Then I caught the the most growly furball, Gandalf, cuddling up to Cha-Ching for a nap on the bed this afternoon.

I haven't got any pictures of Cha-Ching with Zoey yet, but I'll keep my camera on and my fingers crossed. Now I'm tired so I'm going to go nap with Zoey. Have a lovely Friday and weekend. Oh and happy belated birthday to Dragonheart. I meant to post a card on Wednesday, but I was a little under the weather. Zoey wanted to add a picture of Dragonheart but I wouldn't let her because I noticed that the pictures are copyrighted and I never got around to asking for permission. So it's my fault is a little blah for such an lively little mancat!

Mom's Sick

Just a quick note before I go curl up with Mommy and Daddy to watch a movie. I haven't been posting and probably won't for a bit because Mom's home sick. She thinks she has food poisoning (no it wasn't Daddy's cooking). She think it was the Mexican they had on Tuesday. Daddy thinks it was from Saturday maybe since they both felt so bad on Sunday. Anyhow, Mom's been in bed for two days and is getting a bad temper about being locked up. She's bored now that she can stay awake for longer than an hour at a time so I'm off to keep her company. I'll be back to visit everyone's blogs as soon as Mommy's feeling better.

A surprise pack from Samantha and Tigger!

We are very lucky kitties! Fiona and Ali and us won Samantha and Tigger's 100th Post contest. Today Mommy gave us our prize. First, Smoke and Chewie had to check out the box. Then Mommy opened the box and they had to look inside

Mommy pulled out this great kitty bag!

After Smoke and Chewie gave their sniff of approval, Cha-Ching came over to check it out too! (He's becoming a real honorary furball!)

Cha-Ching checked out all the great goodies: Balls, balls with feathers (whoohoo!), kitty milk, Morris the Cat, catnip (double whoohoo!), a great pad and some fabulous post cards (Daddy confiscated the Daytona one - he's been hinting that he wants to go there in February to watch the great Mark Martin race!), plus my favorite Beef Temptations (triple whoohoo!)

Chewie checked out the kitty which Mommy promptly confiscated and put on top of the kitchen cabinets to avoid a repeat of the cow fiasco (that's a story for another day).

Plus we got a great magnet of Samantha and Tigger that we put on the refrigerator to remind us of the great friends we have. We also put a picture of it in our sidebar. What a great prize pack! Thank you so much Tigger and Samantha, you are awesome!

We're back...

This weekend we didn't get to blog at all. Mommy was going to let us blog on Friday but after battling all five of us into PTUs for the vet, she was busy cleaning the house. Then Daddy took her on a date. They went out to dinner and to see Harry Potter and didn't get home until late. Then on Saturday morning they got a call that Grandma A. was sick (food poisoning she says - ick!) and Uncle Jason and Aunt Janette needed some help. So Mommy and Daddy hurried up and finished up some chores around the house then headed down to J&J's for the day. They got home really late so no blogging that day either! (By the way, we continue to ask for your purrs and prayers for J&J and their son Asa as Uncle Jason battles his brain tumor. Also please purr and pray for our Mommy's Uncle Jim - DaisyMae Maus' grandpa who is having surgery this week.) I thought for sure I would get to blog on Sunday. Mommy got up for a while and was wrapping glass in tape but before she finished she went to bed because she didn't feel good. Daddy said he didn't feel good either and they didn't do anything on Sunday. So no blogging either! Man, I don't know what to do about these beans. I've got friends I've got to keep up with!

All of us were nominated to the Schmooze Award by Forty Paws and we are sooooo excited!

Here is the definition of schmooze and an explanation of the award:

"As it goes, schmoozing is the natural ability 'to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.' Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship."

Here are the rules: Each award winner is to display the badge on the sidebar of his blog with a link to the post which contains the explanation of the award, then nominate five bloggers to receive the award. Now comes the really hard part. It's not hard at all thinking of bloggers who schmooze, it's finding ones who haven't been nominated yet. Here are our picks:

1. Chase, because that cat has a harem! He charms them all!

2 and 3. Millie and Jasmine, because they make all the cats feel welcome and provide an excellent education on the making of a Gizzy quilt.

4. Derby, because he's good at making a bed and is ready in a snap to entertain (particularly the Big Piney Woods girls).

5. Poppy Q, because she's adorable and loves everyone!

Hey and don't forget about me, Cha-Ching! I was nominated for the meme by Peach the cat!

What were you doing 10 years ago? I wasn’t born yet. I'm not sure where I was but I'm pretty sure I was causing trouble!

What were you doing a year ago? Again, not born yet, but I was thinking about it.

5 Snacks I enjoy: What's a snack? Am I missing out on something? All I get it Science Diet crunchies and a little stinky goodness. Mommy! Are the furballs getting a snack? Is that why you feed me in a separate room? I protest. I want this thing called a snack or I'll talk all night long so you can't sleep and you know I can too!

5 songs to which I know all the lyrics: I know the Meow Mix song: meow, meow, meow, meow... well I'm sure you get the meow, but I'm young yet. I'm sure I'll learn more. I've heard something about songs to get lap time, snuggles, etc. I'm definitely going to learn those.

5 things you would do if you were a millionaire:
I would go buy all my siblings and give them good forever homes (at least a few with me so that we could gang up on the furballs - they're a handful. So far only Smoke is really willing to play with me but sometimes he acts like he's not sure). After that, I'm not sure. I've heard that Mommy and Daddy have to work to pay something called a mortgage. Perhaps if I paid that off they would stay home with me all day. I would like that.

5 bad habits
I don't have any bad habits. I'm a perfectly sweet kitten (or at least I have convinced Mommy and Daddy of that so I'm not saying anything here that might change their mind. Mommy calls that "pleading the fifth" (whatever that is) although Daddy is the one that told me all about it. Apparently he uses that with Mommy all the time.

5 things I enjoy doing
1. Playing with the fleece wand thingy.

2. Playing with the track ball.

3. Playing with the feather wand.

4. Terrorizing the furballs by my very presence.

5. Hiding under things and then pouncing.

5 things I would never wear again
The only thing I've ever worn was my collar which was so big my paw kept getting stuck in it even though it was as small as the beans could make it. Oh, I guess techincally I wear my microchip too, but I want to wear that. They say that it will help me get back to Mommy and Daddy if I ever get lost.

5 favorite toys
1. The fleece wand thingy

2. The track ball

3. The feather wand

4. The milk ring

5. The furballs

I think pretty much everyone has answered this one, but if you haven't been tagged, consider yourself "it."

Oh yeah, and we can't forget to say "Way to Go!" to our driver and Smoke's namesake, Tony Stewart, on your awesome win at Chicagoland. Mommy says there's nothing better to beat the sicky-ickies than watching Tony climb the fence!

Thursday Thirteen #8

This week we present the thirteen naughty things the furballs did this week (I, of course, was an angel):

1. Smoke jumped on top of Mommy's grandfather clock.
2. Gandalf went over the fence into the neighbor's yard and Mommy had to go rescue him.
3. Chewie scared Mommy by hiding then crying like she was trapped in the neighbor's yard too (but she really was still in our back yard).
4. Smoke tried to steal popcorn out of Daddy's bowl (Daddy gave him some anyway).
5. Gandalf made biscuits on Daddy's face at O'dark'thirty.
6. All the furballs ate my special diet crunchies.
7. The furballs stood outside the door to Cha-Ching nursery and hissed and growed at him.
8. The furballs got on the kitchen counters at least a gazillion times.
9. Smoke chewed his way into my food bag in the pantry.
10. Gandalf got closed in the pantry and tried to pass my food out to Smoke under the door.
11. Smoke tried to climb in Mommy's cereal box when there was still cereal in it!
12. One of them (not sure who) stole garbage from the garbage can and made a mess in the dining room.
13. One of them (not sure who) took the door off the litter box and got litter all over the floor.
14. Chewie got in the litter box and tried to "play" with Mommy while she was cleaning it.
15. All of the furballs played with the tape backing when Mommy was trying to tape the glass.
16. Chewie ate my stinky-goodness! (Okay so I was done but that's beside the point!)
17. All the furballs slept on the clean laundry in the basket.

Oh my, I guess that's more than 13 and I'm not done yet. As you can see, they are not angels.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh bother, blogger is not letting us do a title today....

We got tagged by Ben Fuzz (oohh hooo hoo, he's such a cutie-pie) for this way cool meme.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was living at Grandma and Grandpa's with Mommy. She was studying for the bar exam (she passed on the first time even though she couldn't remember much about the Takings Clause and it was one whole essay question!) I was spoiled there. I got lots of love and scritches and got to run around their acreage and chase a wild turkey!

What were you doing 1 year ago?

I was watching Mommy and Daddy put in a small pond in the backyard. Our old house had one but the new house didn't. So they built a small above-ground pond off the deck so we could watch the fishies, have a place to drink from (even though Mommy doesn't like it when I do that), and have lovely background sound when I nap in the sun.

Five snacks you enjoy:

Beef Temptations, salmon, crab, chicken and ham (I got some tonight even though the vet said it's too salty)

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:

Hmmm.... I don't know. Occasionally something will get stuck in Mommy's head so she sings them to me. Today she was singing the Lion's song from Wizard of Oz - "If I were king of the forest!" Ha ha (she can't sing, trust me)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

Is that just one million or is it the squillions from Powerball? It makes a difference you know...

If it's just one million:

1. Pay off the mortgage and Mommy's student loans

2. Buy an RV and boat so the beans can camp and fish

3. Send Liz some money to invest

(and that after taxes would pretty much take up all the money - and Mommy's not just saying that because she's friends with an IRS agent, she really would pay the taxes)

If it's squillions:

1. Pay off the mortgage and Mommy' student loans

2. Pay off the family members' mortgages or buy them a house

3. Buy an RV (and go to all the races one year all over the country) and boat

4. Endow a wing at the local humane society in McKenzie's name

5. Send the rest to Liz to invest so Mommy and Daddy can live off the interest and stay home to be our full-time slaves.

Five bad habits:

I don't have bad habits, but the furballs do:

1. Gandalf: Making biscuits on Daddy's face at o'dark'thirty.

2. Gandalf: Waking Daddy up at 5 a.m. every day (Mommy sleeps through our racket)

3. Smoke: Using the jet tub as a giant litter box (they close the door now so we can't go in there)

4. Smoke: Climbing onto the plant shelf beam separating the dining room and the living room (Daddy got video!) and climbing onto Mommy's "biological" grandfather clock (ha ha - Grandma and Auntie Michele will get that one!)

5. Gandalf: Climbing over the fence into the neighbor's backyard (the empty house for sale next door) and getting "stuck" requiring Mommy to break into the backyard to "rescue" me. Chewbacca: Then standing behind the house where no one can see me and crying like I'm lost too!

Five things you like doing:

1. Gandalf: Making biscuits on Daddy's face at o'dark'thirty.

2. Smoke: Sleeping with my head on Mommy's "I love Tony Stewart" Build-a-Bear that she got at the California Speedway this spring.

3. Zoey: Sleeping on my chair.

4. Chewbacca: Hiding in the "family size" Honeycomb cereal box.

5. Furballs: Playing with our pink Barbie boa!

Five things you would never wear again:

All: The I love Tony Stewart shirt and 20 hat!

Five favorite toys:

Pink Barbie feather boa

Whirly-bird

Family-size Honeycomb box

Catnip carrot

Track ball

Oh my that was fun. Hmmm, so who should we tag?

Sammy and Miles from Meezer Tails

Smeagol and Strider from Tails of Two Kitties

Rosie and Cheeto from Rosie and Cheeto's Blog

Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Wowie, I was nominated as a Rockin' Girl Blogger by China Cat, DaisyMae Maus, Kaze, and PoppyQ and Willow nominated Chewbacca! How cool is that? Thank you all so much for your nominations. Geez, everyone we wanted to nominate has already been nominated, including Bathsheba, Daisy the Curly Cat, Parker, Princess and Samantha Black.

Also, we won, along with Fiona and Ali, the 100th Post contest on Samantha Black and Tigger's blog Life From a Cat's Perspective!

Mommy took the weekend off and I didn't get to blog. She and Daddy watched cars go left, finished the first rolling gate for the RV pad, watched movies (lap time!) and went to the movies. She also made us a pad to go in our PTU. Now normally, we don't like the PTU but Mommy put 'nip in the PTU with the new pad and we've been hanging out in it and the pad was all cattywompuss when she got home tonight.

Mommy also finished cutting all the pieces for her stained glass this weekend. She said she hates the pattern and will remember not to do a pattern unless there's a picture showing that someone else has ACTUALLY MADE the pattern in glass. She said that several of the cuts of glass were very difficult using only a glass cutter and grinder and it didn't help that Chewie and Smoke were micro-managing in their snoopervising.

She started wrapping all the pieces in the copper foil tape. She'll finish up that tonight probably (unless she runs out of tape).

Several people have asked Mommy about Cha-Ching (Mommy uses my blog to keep friends and family up-to-date on our lives), so I'm posting pictures from Cha-Ching's first visit to the vet on Thursday last week.

He did a really good job at the vet and is being very good about letting Mommy put the medicine in his eyes. Anyhow, I'm really happy that Mommy's back to letting me blog again.

No Friday's Feast

Friday's Feast is on vacation. Last week I took a break and this week it's on vacation. I'm always one week behind, or is that ahead?? Ahh, oh well. It's a lazy day here. I'm lounging around in the house, the furballs are napping, and Cha-Ching is banned to his nursery until he feels better (he's got a little bit of a fever and the vet suggested that we quarantine him while he recovers), so all is quiet in the house. It's probably going to be a quiet weekend too, which is not a bad thing.

Thursday Thirteen #7

Today's Thursday Thirteen is a tribute the to the thirteen things we, Zoey and the Furballs, did yesterday during the family Fourth of July:




1. Zoey: I hid all day long until everyone left!




2. Cha-Ching: I hid under the couch and in a blanket on Grandpa's lap (he was nice).

3. and, of course, the furballs: We stole food off the table when no one was looking. Hotdog... Yumm-o!

4. We hid under the couch from cousins Rayna and Hallie.

5. We got lots of loving and scritches from all the family.

6. Mommy put a replacement bird on our Whirly-bird.

7. We had an endless supply of beans willing to play Whirly-bird, Barbie boa, feather stick, track ball, 'nip carrot and other kitty games with us.

8. Rayna carried us everywhere.

9. In addition to playing with us, Hallie played with our cousin, baby Asa.

10. We napped with Grandpa!

11. Smoke: But I napped with Daddy while he played with Asa.

12. We let Asa pull on our furs and didn't even complain! (I guess this means we're kid-friendly).

and 13. We got to stay up and run around all night because Mommy didn't have to work today! Oh and hehe, Cha-Ching has to go to the V-E-T today to get a checkup, microchip and vaccines.

Oh, and Mommy's been so busy that I never even got the chance to share the good news. On Saturday when I went to the V-E-T, she did my bloodwork again. She called on Monday to report that all my tests were normal! Okay, they were in the high end of normal, but Mommy's very happy (and I am too!) with that.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day all you kitties from the U.S of A! Thank you to all the service men and women, past and present, for all you have done for your country!

This is a picture of my Auntie Kim and Uncle Mike when they were in the service. Thank you for your service to your country.

May you all have a safe and happy 4th!

Psst.... Wanna Know a Secret?

There's going to be a party tomorrow! We're going to have lots of family here. So put on your best cute face and you'll get lots of love and attention!