Thank You Thursday

Fracas: I am just so full of thank you's today it's making my toes curl!

First, I want to thank all our wonderful, caring friends for your purrs & purrayers for our Grandpa Bob. We all know the magical, healing power of the purr, so we have faith that his bone scan tomorrow is going to bring only good news!

Next, I want to personally thank our new friend Sally who painted this magnificent portrait of me:Isn't it amazing? Sally saw my photo on our blog and emailed us for permission to paint me and mail my mom a print. She is a talented artist who loves cats and I encourage you all to visit her web site, Pastels by Sally to see her incredible work.

And I want to thank another new friend, Alice, who posted our blog picture of my mom's daughter Tiffany on her web site, Our Cats Pictures. This is a web site you simply can't miss! It's a cat community site, where you can join and share your pictures, thoughts, questions and experience. And there are active forums and a major blog where all members can post. You'll love it!

Next, I thank yet some more new friends, Colby & Cheddar and their mom Viv for their excellent review of Artsy Catsy and my mom's cat greeting cards on their kitty product review blog, The Cheezits, and coming up soon on Cool Moms Rule. If you want to stay on top of new products for kitties and moms, these sites are must-reads!

Thank you all so much!

200th Post Contest!

Our 200th Post is coming up -- no wonder my paws are so calloused and tired! So, I'm putting together some surprises for the kitty who comes closest to guessing the date and time (Eastern Daylight Savings Time). And the winning kitty's bean will get a $10 Artsy Catsy Gift Certificate! Just leave your guess in the comments of this post by Monday, March 31 -- one guess per blog, please.

And, speaking of March 31, that's the last day of our March Madness Fundraisers for Moki, Project H.A.M. and Lilly Lu. We still have some cell phone charms, necklaces & bookmarks left, along with cat greeting cards, flower greeting cards and Earthrights notecards & fine art prints.

We've raised only about $50 each for Moki and Lilly and $35 for Project H.A.M. :-( Thanks to our anonymous benefactor those amounts will be doubled, but we were so hoping to raise more. Moki's and Lilly's beans have already spent thousands of green papers, and they're still sick, so more bills are coming. And the anonymous benefactor is willing to match MUCH more - multiples of $100!

I know all our beans are short of green papers these days, and it's hard to buy a $15 or $40 item ... so I had an idea: What if all us kitties tell our beans that we're willing to give up just one bag of Temptations or a mousie toy they planned to buy, if they would make a small donation for Moki, Project H.A.M. and Lilly? Even if it's just a dollar or two, that adds up, especially since the anonymous benefactor will match your donation!

I'll start it off ... I'm donating the price of 5 bags of All Natural Temptations right now! (My mom says I need to lose some weight anyway.) If it's at all possible for your beans to make a small donation, they can use the PayPal button below.

Everyone, thank you so much for all everything you do to help all the kitties who need it so badly. Your purrs and purrayers are so precious, and would be all that was needed ... if only our vets didn't insist on being paid in green papers.

Important Announcement!!

Lilly Lu and Moki, the luck o' the Irish is upon you!

The most wonderful thing has happened! We were contacted by someone who wishes to remain an "anonymous benefactor" ... who is going to MATCH the funds we raise for Lilly Lu and Moki! That means that for every $40 Earthrights print sold, the $30 for Lilly Lu and Moki will become $60 ... every $100 raised in our Earthrights and Cat Greeting Card sale will become $200!! ... If we can raise $500, it will become $1,000!!

We know there have been many fundraisers recently and money is short for everyone these days. But if you could find it in your heart, and wallet, to make even a small purchase from our two fundraisers below, the impact it will have on Lilly and Moki's health will be doubled!

Let's make the most of this amazing offer ... let's all spread the word and make everyone we know aware of this ... maybe post it in your Catster groups and any other forums you can think of.

And, please ... won't you leave your thanks to this incredibly generous "anonymous benefactor" here in the comments? Such goodness, with no interest in recognition, is a rare and beautiful thing.

Earthrights Fundraiser

Cat Greeting Card Fundraiser

About Lilly Lu and Moki:
Lilly Lu is battling an undiagnosed condition. She needs surgery for bladder stones, but her vets believe they’re secondary to some unidentified condition and they don’t want to perform surgery until they diagnose the problem. Lilly Lu needs to see specialists and her mama has already spent $2,000, using most of her living expenses. Lilly's mama is expecting twins, so she desperately needs our help.

Moki has an undiagnosed "new" neurological disease that makes it nearly impossible for him to walk. His family has spent thousands of dollars so far, and the ongoing quest to find a way to treat Moki and to improve his quality of life is likely to involve thousands more.

CEO Mancat Monday - More Cat Greetings!

It's a good thing I'm a meticulous C.at E.xecutive O.fficer, because my human artist is so disorganized and daffy ... a real ditz, doofus, dunderhead! Despite her objections, I inventoried (sneaked into) her basement storage room, where I found more of her Cat Greeting Cards! So I insisted that we continue my Cat Greeting Card Sale so we can raise more funds for Lilly Lu's surgery and for the Cat Blogosphere's Cat Friends Helping Friends.

I even found the last few of this design -- my very favorite! -- which she didn't even include when we originally posted the sale:

Inside: "You're such a purrvert!"

If you missed the Cat Greeting Card clearance when we first posted it ... or we sold out of a design you wanted ... or even if you want to let your friends know about the sale ... now is your chance to help raise some green papers for kitties who don't have enough ... and to own some of my mom's simply pun-derful cat greeting cards! You can see all 10 designs here!

P.S. Stay tuned the next few days ... We're going to have a fundraiser for our new friend Moki ... with more of my mom's original art!

Carnival of the Cats #208

Welcome to the 208th Edition of
Carnival of the Cats!

(Graphic of Carnival Barker Rocky by Zoolatry)

My friends, before we begin, I would like to dedicate Carnival of the Cats # 208 to our beloved friends who recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge ...

Matata of Blog d’Elisson

"Blessed be the true judge."

A lovely tribute to Matata is posted on Erica's Blog

The Devine Miss Marilyn Monrex of Leslie's Omnibus
Please send purrs of peace, comfort and healing to the families and fur siblings of Matata and Miss Marilyn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rocky: It's my first time to host Carnival of the Cats and, now that I've finally squeezed onto my carousel, I'm ready to ride! Step right up, folks, the show is about to begin ....

- Up first ... animal communicators? Big deal, I say. Henry at Texas Oasis is a human communicator ... expressing himself via messages in his food. This is cat-oglyphics at its best!

- Houdini? Again, big deal. Sox puts the famous escapologist to shame with his door-opening, teleporting, shelf-walking tricks at This That & the Other Thing ... while Cosmo, Amber & Cubby show you how to deal with sleep deprivation and switching to Daylight Savings Time.

- Oh that Jimmy Joe! Neither wind nor rain nor sleet nor snow can keep him from his appointed rounds ... or from the resulting paws for maintenance. (Is this why his blog is named Jimmy Joe's PAD?) :
- Weather, weather everywhere! Rosie asks What is that white stuff? all over My Cats and Funny Stories.

- But there are breaks in the bad weather: Momma Grace is a formerly feral who has become a ray of sunshine in her furever home at Momma Grace & Company.

- Ye gods, it's horrible! Ted confronts a huge telly dog over at The Poor Mouth!

- Feast your eyes upon Gracie, a beautiful tiny girl with a big heart - and even bigger feet! - at Manx Mnews.

- Just look at these beauties! Leslie's Omnibus shares photos from the 2008 Lincoln State Cat Club Show.

- Ahh, the blessings of simple pleasures. Through all the recent ups and downs at Sleeping Mommy, Charles has discovered the joy of being a cat in a sink.

- Financial matters are simply too stressful for felines, especially when they're running for President! Cheysuli laments this terrible truth after suffering currency exchange problems at Chey's Place.

- Speaking of finances, Leela's human tells you how to make a litter box in 10 minutes for $5 at Nathan Bowers. Might come in handy, since the acceptable standard is one litter box per cat, plus one extra.

- Here's some more practical advice from KC at Missy Blue Eyes, who shares with everycat an easy way to back up your blog ... while Faith Boomerang waits for their "green around the gills" mommy to assemble their raffle prize - a Kitty Ham-Mick!

- "Paging Dr. Parker ... STAT!" Dr. Parker wrote prescriptions for her humans' stress ... and now those those humans are heading out and leaving her with no head to sleep on at Perfectly Parker :
- Another kitty practices the healing arts: Nosey 's bedside manner is superb as she helps her mom recover from the flu at anniemiz.

- In a different profession, KT the Mechanic Cat helps out in The Scratching Post garage.

- Luna has become a LOLcat at CatSynth ... and now she wants a cheezburger!

- Downunder at Crazy Meezer, Anastasia takes a break from meezer craziness to show just how sweet and beautiful she really is.

- Humans aren't the only ones who can play poker: It's Vegas, Baby at White Picket Fences.

- Are cats ticklish? Well, Natalie's expression at Snowball Journals may answer this question once and for all.

- Another question: What's behind the curtain? asks Mini at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats. Will she reveal all?

- After long consideration, Maus over at Composite Drawlings has decided whether or not she should kill Grammaw's carpet and furniture.

- Intruder Alert!! Denali and Isis at Nanashi-Inc have moved beyond carpet and furniture -- they're putting the bitey on a real live mouse intruder!

- With Samantha & Tigger on patrol, no mouse would dare to break into Life From A Cat's Perspective!

- No mouse left behind! In Two Erics and a Flynn, a grand outdoor adventure, Eric and Flynn drive their dad's tractor to Fat Eric's for a day of hunting mice - and rats!

- Meet Garfield, a beautiful bright orange ginger cat who has a loving new furever home at Last Conservative in Cleveland.

- There's more than one way to warm a cat in winter: Check out the happy tabbies worshiping the god of warmth at Logical Expressions.

- Meowza is on a roll at Mind of Mog ... but fussy Izzy refuses to stoop to such levels at iInfidel.

- While on a photo shoot, Diamond Emerald Eyes-O'Reilly, proprietor of the Black Cat Pub, issues an urgent warning: Digital scrapbooking may be addictive for humans! Diamond shares an inexpensive scrapbooking alternative to get your humans hooked on graphical fun:

- Did someone say birdies? JB has snapped to full small birdie alert at JB's Small World. And she'd like you to meet her big personal furriends Mr. Pony & Mr. Horse over at JB's Big World.

- I Scent You Not! It's all about smell at the House of Chaos ... and Frankette 'nose' all about it!

- Oh no! Here's another two scents worth! There are trials and tribulations at sisu ... Tiny got skunked! But, after dousings with a magic potion, Tiny is now in clover! Phew!

- Her Ladyship on a garden bench offers a respite from a world gone utterly mad at Elms in the Yard.

- Feline Friday finds comics and discovered hiding places for T.R.E.A.T.S. over at Dolphin's Dock.

- In true cat form, the little stinker Spectra the sneak is breaking the rules at Cascade Exposures ... but she gets caught on camera! Don't miss the full expose:
- Pretty Puddy at It's a Byootaful Life reveals the proper technique for getting pats & rubs, and giving headbumps in return, thank you very much.

- Forest is comfortably boxed in on Easy Like Sunday Morning over at Snow and Forest. While he snoozes, check out the three-day-old lion cubs on his mom's blog, Ailurophiles.

- Even though this post is about a German Shepherd, Allie's Answers would like to share with cat owners the concern that her dog's microchip may have given him cancer.

- Othello is taking Easy Like Sunday Morning wayyy too seriously at The Catboys Realm. Kashim needs your help in waking him so they can host Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos today!

- It's easy all over! Go gaze upon georgeous China Cat staying cozy in bed on China Cat's Blog.

- Happy Birthday, Aloysius! He's inviting everyone over to Catymology to help him celebrate ... and there's food!

- And now ... it's movie time! First, don't miss Let Me In, the long-awaited sequel to "The Wake Up Cat", now playing at Strange Ranger.

- Then dash over to enjoy Mycah Speaks, starring, of course, Mycah, now playing at TacJammer.

- Finally, all of us at Artsy Catsy would like to remind you that you still have a few hours left to help us raise funds for Lilly Lu's surgery, for Project H.A.M. and for the Cat Blogosphere's Cat Friends Helping Friends. Our Cat-Themed Jewelry Sale and Cat Greeting Card Sale to benefit these kitties in need will both end tonight at midnight Eastern Daylight Time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to everykitty for performing in Carnival of the Cats #208!
Don't miss next week's Carnival #209
when the blogosphere's cat acts will stage their show at
This That & The Other Thing

(Rocky: Now can I get off this merry-go-round? I'm dizzzy...)

Finally Friday

Whew! It's finally Friday! I've worked so hard this week I have goobers in my eyes and my mom says I need to wash my face. No time for that!

First, I want to thank all the kind and generous kitties and beans who helped us raise funds this week in our Cat Jewelry Fundraiser and our Cat Greeting Card Clearance. Thanks to you, we'll soon be sending some much-needed green papers to Project H.A.M., to Cat Friends Helping Friends, and to Lilly Lu to help pay for her surgery.

Both sales end Sunday, so it's not too late to help. We still have a few beaded items (cell phone charms, bracelets, necklaces & bookmarks) and some cat greeting cards available. So for this final weekend, we're reducing all prices a little bit more on the few remaining items to try to raise as much money as we can for our kitty friends!

I also want to thank Zoolatry for this beautiful graphic they made of me in honor of my friend Lilly Lu:

Lilly sent me the gizzy quilt as a gift, and pink is her favorite color, so Zoolatry did an absolutely perfect job on my graphic! Lilly will be having surgery soon, and I dedicate my graphic to her to let her know she's in my thoughts constantly and I have my whole staff purring for her.

Now I must turn to my work for the weekend. I'm hosting Carnival of the Cats this Sunday, and I need to prepare for the big event:

Fracas, do you think this is something we can use for the Carnival?

Hmm, let me give it a whirl ... Uh, maybe this one is the wrong size ....

Fracas: Um, Rocky, maybe you need to cut back on the Temptations!

Rocky: Shut up, Fracas. I can squeeze everybody in for Carnival of the Cats #208 ...

All they need to do is submit their post HERE!

Cat Greeting Cards - CLEARANCE!

We're having a Clearance Sale on original

Cat Greeting Cards

to raise funds to help pay for
Lilly Lu's surgery

and to benefit
Cat Friends Helping Friends!

The cards, designed by my mom Sharolyn, are professionally printed on recycled paper. When she created them several years ago, they caught the attention of the 2nd-largest greeting card company in the world, who wanted to buy her designs ... but my mom turned them down in order to market them herself. Crazy lady!

We have very limited quantities, so order yours now at the
Artsy Catsy Gallery!

Here's a sample:

Inside verse: "I long fur you."And don't miss our March Madness Clearance Sale ...
only 17 items remaining!

Tails & Toes Tuesday

The CEO (Cat Executive Officer) says:
"Callie, take a memo: All employees will get back to business, stop this Tuesday tails & toes & trivial nonsense and focus on the bottom line. Fracas, keep promoting your Cat Portrait Sale. Sharolyn, get your cat greeting cards printed. And Callie, make me an appointment with the V.E.T. ... there seems to be a tiny tail growing out of my head."

The Catankerous Catministrative Assistant says:
"Rocky, get off my tail and take your own #!*&#! memo. My toes are bigger than my head. My toes have claws. My toes will pull that tiny tail right out of your head."



Oscar the Maintenance Manx says:
Quit complainin', Rocky. At least you got a tail growin' out of somethin'! No matter how much I beat my head against this table leg, mine won't grow!