Carnival of the Cats

Welcome to the 235th Edition of

Carnival of the Cats

Rocky: Since my humans are so busy with other things, I'm doing the Carnival all by myself ... so please forgive any typoCatical errors I might make!

I want to dedicate this week's Carnival to:

- Our good friend Daisy the Curly Cat and her family, whose beloved Pixie went to the Rainbow Bridge this morning after a long, brave struggle with advanced cardiomyopathy. Farewell, sweet Pixie.

- And to all our friends in Texas and Louisiana whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Ike. The entire Cat Blogosphere is purring that you're safe and that your lives will soon be back to normal.

..............................................................

First up, at Om Shanti Handcrafts, Loiosh meets some orange, occasionally polydactyl kittens … then, wearing wings, takes a very interesting nap ...
Next, I think I agree with Lenny and Carl's dad over at MoneyGrubbingLawyer, who says, "Forget pet insurance; buy catnip and kibble instead!"

Whoa, hop on board! The Scratching Post's Maximum Leader is going tuna shopping!

At Nanashi, Inc., Denali and Isis are herding grasshoppers in their freshly mowed lawn.

Eric and Flynn are are also hunting in the green, green grass of their home in the UK.

At The Poor Mouth, Bebe is peering over a Robyn barricade.

What's this? Blog D'Elisson reports that Hakuna has been assimilated into the Borg Collective!

Perfectly Parker takes some new Breeze litter box systems for a trial run ... but runs into some woofie problems!

Don't miss the three faces of the beautiful Miss Abba Dabba (aka Abby) at Manx Mnews!

At Elms in the Yard, Missy exhibits the perfect technique for attracting belly rubs ...
Now, let's all go wish a Happy 17th Purrthday to Henry over at Texas Oasis!

Then rush over to My Cats and Funny Stories and watch the video of Arthur and Rosie taking over the bathtub.

You'll think you're seeing double at Sleeping Mommy -- but those look-alikes are Mo and Tommy.

At Catymology, handsome Aloysius celebrates his Gotcha Day.

Maus at Composite Drawlings wisely explains why there's no need for Chee-Tos when you have plenty of Mom-Toes!

Another great video! Watch Kismet show you just how to deal with a bug on the ceiling at Russ. Just Russ.

Oh no! Moi has a problem over at Bloggg! "Dey tuk mi feets!"

Yum! Babe and Tiny are sampling the Spring Chicken Delight at sisu.

At iInfidel, Cece the cow kitty perfects the art of wall lounging ...

... while some serious yard skulking is going on at iMeowza ...

... then it's back up on the wall again at Mind of Mog.

Jiminy Cricket! Victor Tabbycat and Nina the Torbie have a new toy - a Jug O'Bug!!

China Cat checks out some bunnies on the lawn from her cozy ham-mick ... well, that is, when Willow isn't in it!

The CatSynth kitties are exhausted and catching up on some rest … and some pats, too.

Ahh, yes. Psychic Cottage celebrates the joy of caring for grandkitties - especially when they're Bengals.

Hot(M)BC's Boni Maroni discovers that cardboard boxes don't taste like chick-hen - but they're perfect for packing up purrs to send to all our friends in Texas and Louisiana that they've stayed safe from Ike.

Finally, check out what we cats do on a hot day at Idyllic Dreams.

Don't miss next week's Carnival of the Cats
hosted by those gorgeous kitties at
Friends Furever!

Mr. Milky makes Cat Ceiling Fan Pulls

Mr. Milky: Wow, helping the human artists is a hard job! The scritch benefits are pretty good, though ... But I wanted to help pay my own way, so I showed them how to make something new - ceiling fan pulls/lamp chains! I even inspired them to make some of them with a Mr. Milky theme, like this one ... Rocky yowled through the living room door, though, and ordered them to make some that didn't look like me, such as this one ... I sat on the artists until they made 25 sets, which you can use on your ceiling fans or on your lamps, and you can see them all now at the ...

Artsy Catsy Gallery

IDEA: If you don't have a ceiling fan or lamps with pull chains, these can easily serve as pulls for your mini-blinds or any other kind of blind! Just tie a knot into the very end of your blind cord and insert it into the metal ball chain connector!

I hope you like them - they'll let you shine a light on your love for kitties!! (And it's never too soon to start your Christmas shopping.)

And don't forget, you can win a great prize at the raffle Deb & ML's Auctions is having for me:

Our First Blogiversary!

A Thank You from the Human Artists

This is an important week for Artsy Catsy ... Christmas, then December 28 is our First Blogiversary, then Tuesday we begin a New Year. As we look back over this past year, Rocky has given me permission to share some of my reflections with you, and to open our hearts about how and why Artsy Catsy was begun.

Most of our lives, my sister Suzanne and I have worked in advertising and marketing, using our art and writing skills to promote others' businesses. And all our lives we have loved animals, particularly cats, and have opened our homes to hundreds over the years.

The last few years have been difficult for us. We lost our mother, our grandmother, and our aunt, and my daughter lost her father. At the same time, a series of unfortunate circumstances left us floundering financially. All this led to serious consideration about what we wanted, and needed, to do with the rest of our lives. We both came to the conclusion that it was long past time for each of us to "follow your passion."

It was so obvious! Since we were children, our passions have always been writing, art, and cats. So we set out to find a way to combine those passions with two goals in mind: 1) To make a living doing what we love; and 2) To expand our ability to care for cats in need by sharing that living with organizations that help cats. We decided to devote ourselves to creating artistic products for fellow cat lovers and to donate a generous portion of our proceeds to cat rescue organizations.

While doing online research about cat products, I stumbled across the first cat blog I'd ever seen, The Psychokitty Speaks Out, and on Max's blog I discovered links to a whole world of blogging kitties that I never knew existed. It was one of the most exciting days of my life - I'd found a whole world of people out there who were as crazy about cats as my sis and I!

Though I would never have thought it possible, this first year of blogging has made us love our own precious cats even more! And we have made more friends, all across the world, than in any other year of our lives. You, our wonderful friends, have not only made it possible for us to follow our passions and achieve our dream, you are helping us help cats in need by providing funds to Cat Friends Helping Friends at the Cat Blogosphere, to the Rescue Farm, to animal welfare societies such as Best Friends - and to individual kitties in emergency situations.

Kahlil Gibran, in his book "The Prophet" describes what you've given us much better than I ever could and, for this, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

~~ Sharolyn & Suzanne

From "The Prophet":

When you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching

... Work is love made visible."

Artsy Catsy has gone Artsy Coltsy!

Rocky here. You'll remember that a few weeks ago a colt arrived at our house after our human artist Suzanne was selected to paint it for Horsing Around In Terre Haute , a city-wide event celebrating our city as host of the Indianapolis Colts' training camp. Union Hospital sponsored Suzanne to paint the colt wearing surgical scrubs and a stethoscope.

Yesterday both our artists attended the champagne reception at Swope Art Museum for the unveiling of the all the colts. Here they are with Suzanne's colt, titled "Scrubs":

More than 30 artists participated, and their colts will be placed in public locations throughout the city. Here are some samples of their magnificent work:

Well, all this horsing around has given me an idea! Cowpainters, the company that manufactures the fiberglass colts, also makes cats! ...

So .... I think when we launch our web site, we should have a similar promotion to raise awareness of the serious stray/feral cat problem in our city and donate the funds to the organizations who are helping to address it! What do you think?

Snoopervising Saturday

Okay, I'm starting to get into all the activity around here -- parties, receptions, people in & out that I can sit on, headbutt and bite. I especially like snoopervising putting everything away after grocery shopping!On Thursday, my mom left again to take Tiffany to Indianapolis to audition for the Indianapolis Opera. I'm told they were very impressed with her audition. Then they stayed there overnight to pick up Tiffany's piano accompanist, Dr. Karol Sue Reddington, at the Indianapolis airport when she flew in from Chicago. Karol Sue was Tiffany's childhood piano instructor, and she debuted in Carnegie Hall in 2002. Tiffany is so excited that Karol Sue will be accompanying her at her opera performance this Sunday! And I'm excited that she's staying with us, because she loves cats!

Tomorrow my mom's dad and stepmother are coming in from Louisville to also stay with us and go to Tiffany's concert. And they love cats, too, so I'll have even more laps to sit on!! Then we'll have a houseful of people after the concert. But early Monday morning my mom & Tiffany are taking Karol Sue back to Indianapolis for her flight back to Chicago and staying overnight for Tiffany to catch her flight back to Italy on Tuesday morning. I think I should be allowed to go with them on these airport trips -- I like air!! In fact, I think I should be allowed to go EVERYWHERE my mom goes. It would be easy if she'd just get me one of these:This would be ideal, don't you think? It would be just like velcro-ing me to my mom, which is my favorite position in the world!!

Cat Cell Phone Charms

Rocky here. After long hours of paws-on micromanagement, I’m happy to show you our newest kitty glitter – cell phone charms (I like to call them Cell Phone Leashes) … featuring, as all things should ... CATS!
If you don’t have a cell phone, you can use them as jeans charms, handbag charms, rear view mirror dangles … the possibilities are endless!
If you’d like our artists to create a cell phone charm as a memorial or tribute to your special kitty, they will create one for you with a photo of your kitty in a frame. (We can make them with people photos, too!)

10% of all cell phone charm proceeds will go to the Rescue Farm to provide direct care to stray and feral cats and kittens, and another 10% will go to Cat Friends Helping Friends

Cell Phone Charms: $14
Photo Frame Cell Phone Charms: $16
(Plus $3.50USD domestic shipping, $4.50 USD international - FREE SHIPPING on 4+ charms)

To place your order, Email Artsy Catsy and tell us:

1. How many cell phone charms you’d like to order;
2. If you prefer a specific bead color scheme, just let us know. Cat charms are silver only.
3. Your mailing address;
4. Whether you’ll use PayPal or send a check or money order;
5. For photo frame cell phone charms, attach a photo or tell us where to find it online.

We’ll reply to your email with PayPal or mailing instructions, and the artists will get to work. Each one-of-a-kind cell phone charm will be custom created just for you, but will be similar to those shown here.

Don't forget, our artists can also create dog cell phone charms in honor of your favorite woofie! And be sure to check out our dog and cat bookmarks -- these and/or cell phone charms make wonderful Christmas gifts or stocking stuffers for the pet lovers in your life!

CATestimonials:

-- "We got our bookmarks and cell phone leashes today and the people LOVE them! ... Thank you so much - they're beautiful!" ~~Grr, Midnight & Cocoa

-- "I got the charm yesterday..and I love, love, love it! Thank you!" ~~Diana

“Good morning, ArtsyCatsy, this is Callie, how may I help you ….

… blah, blah, blah.” Yeah, that’s how Mr. fancypants CEO says I have to answer the phone. What a load of catcrap. I’ve got seniority around here, I'm the original Golden Girl, see ... but nnnoo, who gives a hiss about the elderly anymore? They bring in this Rocky cocky fleabag whippersnapper – who I could knock clear into next week if I had a mind to – they make him the boss of me, and I get demoted to Administrative Assistant. What, me type? With these arthritic old claws?

And “CEO, MFA” my geriatric hind end. He ain’t nothin’ but a vagrant they picked up out at the lake where his streetwalkin’ mother left him. He was only a day old, and I watched Mr. Know-It-All get bottle-fed and burped for months by these three rattlebrained artsyfartsy humans we got here. And, you didn’t hear it from me, but Mr. CEO still likes to hit the bottle when there ain’t nobody in his office. He’d better not push me too far with this “take a letter, pick up my dry kibble, get me a cup of Friskies” nonsense or I’ll let all his nasty little secrets out of the bag.

“I’m happy to have been of service, thank you for calling, have a wonderful day…” Oh, my aching psoriatic haunches, this job will be the death of my ninth life!

Welcome message from the CEO (Cat Executive Officer)

Ahem. Attention please. My name is Rocky and I'm the CEO of ArtsyCatsy. And I'm not just caterwauling here ... this is serious business. This household consists of fifteen artsy cats against four artsy humans, and the majority decided it's time those four got to work. So we're training them to start an online business, and we named it after us ...

ArtsyCatsy.com: Artistic Creations by Cat Lovers for Cat Lovers

Don't even think we don't know what we're doing. Me, for instance - Head Honcho Alpha Male Numero Uno ArtsyCat. Because I have an MFA (Master of Feline Arts) and because I'm the biggest and the baddest, I have long experience as the boss of everything. I'm The Decider, no matter what you might hear on TV ... and right now I've decided to take a nap. But I'll be back when I feel like it. When I'm good and ready, I'll introduce you to my cat staff and our three human peons. Then you can watch what happens when cats get down to business.