Lily Olivia

CHRISTMAS CARD ART AND FILL-INS

Caturday Art

For those of you who did not receive one or more of our holiday cards via snail mail, we are sharing them here for today’s art submission. I do have a few more cards ready to mail, but please feel free to grab a card now.

The first card is the one from Kitties Blue. Astrid is the featured cat. This was actually created from Caturday Art that we posted last year.

 

Kitties Blue 2017 Christmas card.

 

This card is the one that Cat Scouts Mauricio and Cooper Murphy sent to their Cat Scout pals.

 

Cooper Murphy and Mauricio's Cat Scout Christmas card.

 

This final card is Lily Olivia’s Crotchety Cougar card.

 

Lily Olivia's Crotchety Cougars Christmas card.

 

We will be entering Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art Blog Hop with our first card. If you’d like to join or find links to art created by other bloggers, click on her badge.

Friendly Fill-Ins

As promised yesterday, we are doing our fill-ins today. Yesterday we reviewed a new product from PetSafe®. If you missed it, the link for that post is at the bottom of this one.

1. I can’t wait to see my friend of more than 30 years, Mary Jane, open my gift to her. Unfortunately I won’t, as she will open her gifts Christmas morning with her family. She is getting several gifts from me, and I know she is going to love all of them. Each was selected with love and care.

2. I have had the same house for 33-plus years.

3. I would not mind if Santa were to bring me a sunny day with the temperature in the 60s. I am going to get that wish for the next couple of days. Christmas Day, however, is predicted to be only 38 degrees.

4. On Christmas Eve, I always would celebrate my grandpa’s birthday with the rest of the family, until I moved away in 1972. The kitties’ dad and I really have no specific Christmas Eve tradition. Sometimes we will go out to dinner at a favorite restaurant. We haven’t planned that for this year.

Ellen at 15 And Meowing and Annie from McGuffy’s Reader create and host Friday Fill-Ins. It is a blog hop. To join in, click on the badge below.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we suspect most of you will be busy, but we are hoping you’ll still join us for Sunday Selfies. Our selfie will be Christmas-themed. Not only that, but it will be a doozy as well…one you don’t want to miss seeing. So, paste a smile on your face and hop on over tomorrow.

 

VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS MOUSIES

Caturday Art

We know that Christmas is just a bit more than two weeks away, but in our opinion, it’s a tad too soon for our Caturday Art to resemble a Christmas card. Obviously, our mom does not agree. What do you think…too soon?

 

Christmas Art

 

Dad discovered Cooper Murphy collapsed and deep in sleep in a living room chair yesterday afternoon. His morning had been totally chaotic with Sawyer constantly following close on his heels and trying to coerce him into playing. Cooper seemed fine with all the activity, but he needed a restorative nap midday (as did Sawyer).

To create today’s art, Mom used the Spectrum effect from the Painnt app and manipulated the hue to get the green and red colors. The gift boxes and frame were added with picMonkey.

Here’s the original photo of tuckered out Cooper Murphy.

The arty version is our entry in Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art blog hop. If you’d like to see a variety of other art entries and/or submit a creation of you own, click on Athena’s badge.

Christmas Cards

Since we mentioned that our art looks like a holiday card, we want to let you know that Mom is busily working on addressing Lily Olivia’s Crotchety Cougar card, Mau and Cooper Murphy’s Cat Scout card and our Kitties Blue card. She expects to have them all in the mail the first of the week. We will post them all here for Caturday Art on the 23rd.

Sunday Selfie Early Warning

Tomorrow is the day we look forward to all week, as it’s when we get to see the smiling faces of all our friends. So, we are reminding you to snap your selfie and join us tomorrow for our blog hop.

Purrs & paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

 

NO FROU-FROU SELFIE FOR LILY OLIVIA

Before I show you my selfie, I just want to say how much all the Kitties Blue and our mom have enjoyed seeing all the BlogBlast4Peace posts from yesterday. We still have more blogs to visit and will continue to do so today.

Sunday Selfies: Week #169

I asked Mom to keep things simple this week when she framed my selfie. I agreed to take only one, and I cut off my ear. I thought it better not to gussy up the photo, or I’d be lost in all the froufrou.

 

 

Total Cat Mojo Giveaway

Prior to giving you our usual blog hop tips, I have the honor of announcing the winner of our recent giveaway. Drumroll, please! The winners are Mr. Jack Freckles, Pipo and Dalton from Meezer’s Mews & Terrieristical Woofs.

Being a mixed woofie and kitty family, they may be interested in knowing that Jackson Galaxy, the author of Total Cat Mojo has a new T.V. series beginning at 10 p.m., November 11, on Animal Planet. In “Cat vs. Dog,” Galaxy will team up with a certified dog trainer to help families caught in the age-old war of CAT vs. DOG! Click here to see the trailer on Facebook.

Blog Hop

Alrighty then…it’s time to hop. I’ve shown you mine. It is time for you to show us your selfie. Of course, you don’t need to be a cat to join in the fun. All anipals are welcome and encouraged to join the hop.

If you are new to hopping, here are some guidelines:

  • The link to add your selfie to the hop is below.
  • You also will find below the code to use if you’d like the hop to appear on your blog.
  • You do not need to post on Sundays to join.
  • The hop remains open for entries through Thursday midnight.
  • Please be so kind as to display our badge and/or link to The Cat on My Head.

With purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia



REMEMBERING: A POEM FOR LILY OLIVIA

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

We seem to be cruising right through the alphabet again and are up to “R” as our prompt letter for this week’s poem. Poet extraordinaire and host of Thoroughly Poetic Thursday along with brother Teddy, Angel Sammy gave us some suggestions for poem subjects as well. They are: 1) Rain, 2) Run, 3) Ruin and 4) Rabbit. Hard…right? So, as often happens, we went our own way. This week we handed the task off to Mom and told her to write about whatever she wanted. Who knew she’d choose Lily Olivia. We can’t think of anything Lily’s done to deserve this honor…except for getting old. From the look of this poem, it appears that’s what Mom was thinking as well.

To read Sammy’s poem (transmitted each week from the Rainbow Bridge) or find links to other poems, click on his badge. You will be magically whisked away to Two Spoiled Cats.

But enough of our blathering. Take it away, Mom.

Remembering

Do you remember when you were a tiny cat?
You followed me home and that was that.
Brothers Sebastian, Parker and Winston came too,
But they didn’t stay…this home was only for you.
You joined a family different from today’s.
You were on the bottom with dues to pay.
Now you’re the top cat…have been so for some time.
Unfortunately, however, you’re no longer in your prime.
Where once you might have wanted to run and play,
Now you are content to snooze the day away.
But you still have plenty of spunk and catitude
And a huge appetite for nommy treats and food.

We almost lost you when you were just four.
I found you cowering outside the back door.
You were bloodied and broken and gave me a fright,
But to survive your injuries, you never gave up the fight.
Now you are a few months from turning nineteen
And rightly are considered the Kitties Blue queen.
Some days you drive me crazy with constant complaints,
Then I remind myself…you’re a calico, not a saint!
Whatever you do at your age is totally okay with me.
I just want more time with you in our kitty family.
I’ll always remember you following me home as a tiny cat.
You leapt into my heart and that was that!

© Janet Buickerood Blue 10/11/2017

If you don’t know Lily Olivia’s story, check out this post: “Lily Olivia is a Survivor.” And you can read another poem about her in the post, “Lily Olivia has Calico Catitude.”

 

Lily Olivia lounging in shark bed.

 

It is a miracle that Lily Olivia is with us today. She can drive me crazy with her constant caterwauling when it’s time to eat or when she stares at me while I sleep, but I am grateful everyday that she is here to keep me on my toes. And with that, we are joining Brian’s Thankful Thursday blog hop. To join, click on his badge.

REMEMBERING OUR FRIEND PHOEBE

Sunday Selfies: Week #164

It is with great sadness that I join you as host of Sunday Selfies, but I wanted to be here to honor our friend Phoebe. Before I do, Mom says that I need to share my selfie. I’m not smiling. This is my sad face.

 

Lily Olivua hosts Sunday Selfies.

 

I did have Mom add some hearts around my photo to show my love for Phoebe.

Phoebe was the main spokes cat for 15 And Meowing. She was the beautiful Purrincess to Purrince Siddhartha Henry at The Purrfect Pad. She loved treats, but most of all, Phoebe loved her grammie and her purrince. Phoebe was a member of the Crotchety Cougars Club, and her mom, Ellen, made the red hats for all the members. Phoebe had spunk and wit. She was loved by all who knew her. She was especially happy when she was told, “You are beautiful.” And she was!

Either Phoebe or one of her fursibs was always here for Sunday Selfies.

All the Kitties Blue are going to miss our sweet friend. So today, we honor and remember her.

 

Phoebe is remembered on the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop.

Rest in Peace our dear and beautiful friend, Phoebe. We love you.

 

Sadly we lost another friend a few days ago. The lovely (Erinn) Zuzu from Colehaus Cats. if you have not had the opportunity to stop by and offer your condolences, please do so. Her passing was sudden and totally unexpected.

Blog Hop

That’s right! Now it is time for you to share your magnificent selfie with all your friends on the hop. Here are a few guidelines for anyone new to the hop.

  • The link to add your selfie to the hop is below.
  • You also will find below the code to use if you’d like the hop to appear on your blog.
  • You do not need to post on Sundays to join.
  • The hop remains open for entries through Thursday midnight.
  • Please be so kind as to display our badge and/or link to The Cat on My Head.

Reunion

As most of you know, our mom has been working for about 1 1/2 years on the committee planning her 50th high school reunion. Well the time is finally here. She is writing this for us early on Saturday morning as she’ll be busy Saturday night hugging and reminiscing with old friends. We may not get around to visiting, so if everyone else would please hop over to a couple of blogs your normally don’t visit, that would be most excellent.

Tomorrow we will have a guest post you won’t want to miss.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia

 

 



YADA, YADA, MEOW!

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week 70

It’s Friday again, so we are joining our friends, Annie, McGuffy’s Reader, and Ellen, 15 And Meowing, for their Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop. Each week, they construct four partial sentences for participants to complete. This week Lily Olivia and Mauricio volunteered to help me out by completing sentences #1 and #2.

1. LILY OLIVA: September bucket list: 1) nap, 2) snooze, 3) nap!

 

Lily Olivia is doing her favorite thing for fill-ins blog hop.

 

2. MAU: If I came with a warning label, it would say, “talks too much.” In my defense, my mom’s label would say exactly the same thing!

 

Mauricio admits to being a motor mouth for fill-ins.

 

3. MOM JANET: Truth be told, I was never truly passionate about anything until I started blogging about Kitties Blue.

4. MOM JANET: I would rather eat potato chips than something healthy. They are the single food I absolutely cannot resist. Utz Ripples Original chips are my favorite.

To join in the fun, visit Annie’s blog by clicking the badge below. There you can find links to other blogs participating in the Fill-Ins. If you haven’t participated in the Fill-Ins hop, give it a try. It’s a great way to learn more about your fellow bloggers.

 

 

Prayers for Those in the Path of Hurricane Irma

 

Thank you to Ann of Zoolatry for this graphic.

 

EAZEE DOES IT!

Eazee Product Review

If you have been looking for a good way to eliminate shedding with both your long-haired and short-haired cat family, Eazee may be the tool for you. We have been testing the Eazee deshedding tool by Foolee®® for the past few weeks.

Cooper Murphy, along with Astrid, appears to have the shortest coat, but when I used the Eazee deshedding tool on Cooper, I could not believe how much fur the tool removed. He has a dense undercoat of which I wasn’t aware. I knew if it worked on him that it would be great for Lisbeth. With thick, medium-length fur, she is the worst of our “shedders.” Thankfully she loves being brushed. I quickly and easily removed handfuls of fur from her.

A small amount of Lily fur easily removed with the EAZEE deshedding tool.

Eazee comes with two easily interchangeable, comb-like tools—one for daily deshedding and one for intense deshedding. I used only the daily deshedding tool on our seven short-haired furries. It worked well, and I was quite pleased with the results.

I was not as pleased with the intense deshedding tool. I used it on Giulietta and found the teeth to be too short for her dense, fine, extra-long fur. And she didn’t care for it. That in itself would not be a reason for me to dislike the deshedder. Giulietta really does not like being combed or brushed and only tolerates short sessions. With this in mind, I need something a bit more heavy duty to use on her.

As far as ease of use for me, the Eazee deshedding tool is great. I have very weak hands with a lack of musculature, but found the contoured grip comfortable and easy to hold onto. And the mechanism for changing tools and releasing the collected fur also is simple to use. Six additional grooming heads can be purchased separately to attach to the universal handle, which is available in yellow, green, blue, purple, red and pink.

Eazee claims to be:

  • Safer with smooth, rounded, plastic teeth and no sharp edges;
  • Gentler as it does not pull out live hair but only removes shed fur;
  • Easier to use as fur slides off the anti-static, plastic comb and is ejected when the button atop the head is pulled back;
  • More effective in removing loose fur.

I used the Eazee on all eight cats, but for the purpose of this post, Dad Tom only photographed Lisbeth and Lily Olivia while I wielded the Eazee. They both were willing participants in the testing process.

 

 

I would estimate that we have a minimum off six different types of brushes/combs for Kitties Blue, but I think this will become my go-to for all but Giulietta. It was easy to use and did an exceptional job of removing lose fur. I would recommend the Eazee deshedding tool be added to your cat grooming arsenal.

The Eazee deshedding tool and Click & Brush grooming system are brought to you by Swees America, the U.S. division of a pet-focused product development company based in France. Marketed elsewhere under the Foolee® brand, these innovative products are available at finer pet stores. To find a retailer in your area, go to eazee.pet/find-a-store/.

Disclaimer: Kitties Blue received one Eazee deshedding tool from Matrix Partners Ltd. for the purpose of testing and review. We received no other compensation. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

 

 

 

DO YOU MAKE YOUR BED?

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #68

As we do each Friday, we are participating in the Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop hosted by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Kitties Blue have allowed me to complete all the fill-ins. My completions are in teal italics.

To join the hop, click on the badge below to go to Annie’s blog where you can add the link to your post. Both Annie and Ellen publish the Fill-Ins on Thursday, so if you haven’t joined in this fun hop, check out their posts next week so you can complete the Friendly Fill-Ins. It’s a fun way to learn a bit more about your fellow bloggers.

1.  Making the bed is a waste of time, But Dad Tom likes it made. He does it each day, usually having to work around Lily Olivia and Calista Jo.

 

Lily naps through Friendly-Fill-ins.

With 18 years of practice, Lily Olivia is the consummate napper.

 

2.  My favorite app is PhotoFaceFun.

3.  My first car was a lemon yellow 1966 Plymouth Valiant with black interior and bucket seats. I was 22 years old when I got it in 1971.

4.  The best car I ever owned was is my current car (a 2011 red Ford Fusion), because it has heated seats and a vanity plate that reads, PRRFCT!

Mau would like to add that he has owned three “cars.” His favorite is his Cat Scouts Hooligan Paddy Wagon. If you’ve never seen it, visit our post, “Cat Scouts: Start Your Engines.”

 

Friendly Fill-Ins

Prior to leaving for 2015 BlogPaws Conference

 

As this is a short post today, Kitties Blue and I would like to take the opportunity to ask for your continued prayers, purrs and POTP for the Friends Furever kitties, Allie (Mau’s wife) and Raz’s, Dad Bill. He remains hospitalized and on a ventilator. Thank you.

 

 

KITTY KISSES

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

As we do each Thursday, Kitties Blue is joining Angel Sammy and Teddy from TwoSpoiledCats for their poetry day. Today’s prompt letter is “K.” We decided to use one of the four prompt words for our poem this week. Those words are: 1) Kiss, 2) Key, 3) King and 4) Kindle.

 

Kitty Kisses

Kisses come in many shapes and sizes and
For a variety of reasons and intentions.
There are pecks on the cheek and
Smacks on the lips, French kisses and
Kisses on the head or the hand.
But the best kisses are kitty kisses. Cats
Normally kiss with their eyes, giving
The object of their affection a slow blink.
But like Lily Olivia and Misty May, they
Often give real kisses if one asks nicely.
I always ask, “May I have a kiss, please?”
Usually my reply is a wet, raspy
Tongue applied to my nose or face.
Sometimes I only get one quick kiss.
On other occasions I may get 20 or 30.
I don’t know how I “trained” these two
To give kisses when asked. If I did,
I would train all eight to do exactly the same.
Kitty kisses are the best…if you can get them.
Just always remember to ask nicely!

© Janet Buickerood Blue 08/23/2015

I tried repeatedly to get both Misty May and Lily Olivia to give me at least one kiss for a photo. But, of course, being cats, they refused to cooperate. So, you’ll just have to trust me that they actually do this.

To read Angel Sammy’s poem or find links to other poems, click on his badge.

 

Thankful Thursday

Today, we are thankful for receiving the Blogger Recognition Award. We haven’t received an award in forever, making this especially nice. Our award was given to us by the always entertaining TwoCatsViews’ Hemingway and Steinbeck. We send them our sincere thanks.

 

As with most awards, this one comes with a few rules.

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog √

  • Write a post to show your award √

  • Give a brief story of how your blog started:

Most of you know by now that I started this blog on a whim. I have been writing professionally and for my own pleasure most of my life. Unfortunately, I have a short attention span. Other than items I was assigned to write, this meant that I mostly stuck with poetry. Then one day it came to me that I could write a blog about our often amusing cats. I’d never read a blog, and I knew nothing about blogging. But here Kitties Blue and I are five-plus years later. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning.

  • Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

1) Have a plan and find your niche. Obviously, this is something I did not do prior to starting our blog. I had no plan other than to write about Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo. At this point, it has become obvious to me that I write this blog to entertain you. Though I do product and book reviews and some posts about cat health and behavior, my focus is on fun.

2) Proofread, proofread, proofread. No one wants to read a blog filled with typos, spelling mistakes and bad grammar. If this is not your strong suit, asks someone in your household to read your post before you publish or read it yourself out loud. Your eyes will skip over errors. Your mouth will not. Those of you who write in some form of “animal speak,” should not ignore this process. I’ll admit, I often have trouble understanding such posts. But if you have a compelling story, I most likely will continue to come back to your blog.

  • Select 15 other bloggers to whom you want to give this award.

At one time I was really good about following this rule, but I have seen this award on most blogs I read regularly. So, I am going to be a rule breaker this time, and suggest that if you do not have this and would like it, please award it to yourself.

  • Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

Guess I get to skip this one.

We are entering Brian’s Thankful Thursday blog hop. You can always find something in your life for which to be thankful, so consider joining the hop. To do so, click on Brian’s badge.