An award/meme & call for pictures!

Abby: We received this award/meme from Tama-Chan and Tom of The Poupounette! Thank you, friends.

The "rules" for this award and meme are as follows:

"When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on! "

So, keeping in the tradition of Tama-Chan and Tom, I shall first post an "honest" picture of myself before telling you some more about myself:

1. I really like tissue paper. I like the way it sounds, the way it crackles. I love it when Mr. R brings out the cat toys and dangles them around, because I will make sure I dive under the paper as loudly as possible before staging my attack on the toy.
2. I do NOT like having my tail touched. I do NOT like being scratched above the tail. Don't do it. Just don't go there.
3. I don't like treats of any flavor anymore. Not even Temptations. I used to gobble them up when I saw Styggie getting some, but I'm older and more selective now about what I eat.
4. I will not sit in anyone's lap.
5. I'm really a coward. Even though I may end up initiating play and wrestling with Stygia, I am usually the one who is on the run by the end of the game.
6. I get really concerned for Ms. C when she is doing that thing she calls "singing." I show this by getting close to her face and trying to touch it. The louder she sings, the faster this happens.
7. I do not like being brushed.
8. My purr is frequent but so quiet, you'd have to touch my throat to know that I am doing it.
9. I am allowed to sniff anyone, anywhere, anytime. However, you are not welcome to sniff me.
10. Ms. C is my favorite.

Stygia: Now it's my turn! Here's a picture of me:

1. I am not completely a black cat. I have a very few white furs on my chest, like a tuxie, and a little white spot on my lower belly. Shhh!
2. I want to eat whatever food Abby eats except for that gross moist tuna stuff she gets at 4pm every day. After she gets that, I follow either Ms. C or Mr. R and get 5 chicken Temptations instead! Yum!
3. I weigh 11.1 pounds according to the vet, who weighed me yesterday.
4. I only weighed 7 pounds when I first came to live at my new forever home.
5. It's a good thing I have gained this weight, because I need to hold my own against Abby, who weighs about a pound less than I do. You see, I don't have front claws. Ms. C and Mr. R would never declaw a kitty, my previous owners did, but I need the weight to intimidate Abby.
6. When my tail fluffs up, it looks like a pipe-cleaner.
7. Sometimes I like to sit right behind the tower of Ms. C's computer because the fans blow out that nice warm air, and it feels so good.
8. I get more hairballs than Abby even thogh her hair is longer than mine, because I refuse to consume that malt hairball solution they offer to me. Yuck.
9. I roll repeatedly to show my love for Ms. C and Mr. R.
10. I love butt-scratchings and brushings!

Now we must nominate 7 blogs. This is always the tough part! Today we are going to nominate:

Tristan of Tabbylicious
Siena and Chilli of Cat with a Garden
Poppy Q
Angus Mhor
Mr. Black and Elvis of The Kittini Boys
Rosie of Louche Tabby
Gandalf and Grayson's Mom

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Ms. C: I am attempting to build my portfolio of pet portraits. And I could use your help. Here are two I've done:

This is a watercolor portrait I did of IKKYU, who has since passed over the bridge.


This is a pen and ink drawing I did of Abby:
I am trying to build my portfolio of pet-portraits so that in the future, I can someday create them professionally. What I am hoping is that some of you will be generous enough to allow me to draw or paint your pets. I work in a variety of media, including those you see above, acrylic, and digital work.

What I need from you is a clear picture or pictures of your pet that you took yourself. I cannot work with professionally taken or otherwise copyrighted works unless you own that copyright yourself. You must give me permission to use your photo as part of a portfolio that I can share with prospective clients. I agree not to use your photo and resulting artwork for anything other than advertising my services.

I will be accepting photos for this project until March 1st, 2009. I cannot guarantee I'll use every photo I receive; I will be selecting the ones I feel the most comfortable with for the artwork.

Please email your photos to tabbynormal at gmail.com ... If you do not have a digital copy, please contact me at that email address to make other arrangements.

In return, if I select your picture, I will provide you free of charge with a fine digital copy of the artwork that you may use however you wish as long as I get credit for the creation of the original artwork. You can use it on your blog, print out cards or posters with it, alter it, and so forth. No one else is allowed to use the artwork without the permission of both of us. I will also send you the original drawing/painting if it's done in physical (non-digital) media such as watercolor or acrylic, provided that you pay the postage.

I don't know how long it will take me to complete this project, and I don't know how many pictures I will be able to select. I estimate that it is a project that I will continue work on throughout the rest of 2009. Part of the idea of this project is for me to get some practice, so if you submit a picture to me, please have some patience with me! =)

Thanks so much in advance for your support, and I look forward to working with you.

PS. ANY kind of pet is welcome: cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, ferrets, snakes, and so forth (no pet rocks!) If you are not sure about it, just send me an email and ask. Unlike Abby, I don't bite.

Clear Evidence . . . and Awards!

Stygia: First of all, we'd like to thank our friends at The Poupounette and Ramses Meowings for our first award of the new year! How beautiful it is to have friends. We love making new friends, and sometimes friends are lost for one reason or another, but friends are always in the heart!

We are going to pass this award on to Niko and Cloud of Cats in Maryland and to Whicky Whuddler and his family at Everycat. By the way, Ms. C is ashamed to admit that when she tried to remodel the blog, she lost track of last year's awards. She is still hoping at some point she can discover a way to resurrect them, but if not we shall start afresh with the friends award!

And now I have something far more serious to report. You can see that I am very serious, yes?

She . . . I mean Abby Normal, has finally been captured wet-pawed doing that thing she thinks she is doing secretly!!! She does it in her water-bowl, and now she has even started doing it in Ms. C's water-cup, as you can see here! In case you cannot tell what she is doing, she dips her paw repeatedly in her bowl or the glass and licks it off. I just can't understand this behavior, so I can understand why she wanted to keep it a secret, and why she stops when she thinks Ms. C or anyone else is looking. But now we have PROOF.

Nevertheless, we still love her even if she is a sneaky little adolescent type of girl, because she is just so cute. And I appreciate that she bathes my head and ears for me. I have only just started giving her a tentative lick from time to time. Maybe when she calms down a bit in a year or so, I will be able to return the favor.

At least we can calmly share the couch together. We like it that our humans cover it with all kinds of comfy blankets for us to snuggle around.

Sixth Photo Meme + Award!

Abby: The awesome cats over at The Cat Street Boyz tagged us for a meme! The directions are as such:

Go to your picture folder on your computer, or wherever you store your pictures. Go to the sixth folder and then pick the sixth picture. Post it on your Bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture . . .

We made Ms. C do the work of finding the picture. Coincidentally, a detail of this picture is currently our blogger icon!

There are a lot of "out takes" in the folders we selected from, but in another coincidence, the 6th photo in the 6th folder was one that has made it on to this blog before! You see, I am a very helpful cat, and when Ms. C's parents visited, I assisted her dad in putting together some new catcases, I mean bookcases, that they got for Mr. R and her. As you can tell from my expression, putting together catcases is very exciting work:

We are tagging the gorgeous Tristan of Tabbylicious, our friends at The Poupounette, and the losers (weight! weight losers!) at Smudge & Zoe's blog!

We received this lovely award from Samantha & Mr. Tigger! Thank you so much, friends. We are nominating all the wonderful friends we have already mentioned in this post for this award.

Blurry Activities

Abby: Good evening, friends! Ms. C meant to post our pictures yesterday, but obviously she did not. She said the pictures are blurry, but she still likes them -- and they are of us, so what's not to like, right?

I have told you about how I have my own personal chair next to hers. In this picture, I had been relaxing on her desk, but the chair is a great stepping-stone towards the floor. I am a very busy cat, and I have many things to do, inspect, and know about each day:

Sen-Chan and Tama-Chan posted lovelt pictures of their whiskers this past week. Here is one of Ms. C's favorite kinds of whisker-views: whiskers in the sun. It's much easier to catch my whiskers in the sunlight than Stygia's, because mine are mostly white and reflect in the light nice and brightly, but Styggie's are black and seem to blend in with almost anything. It will take some lucky lighting to get a picture of hers!

Stygia: Ms. C was wrapping some presents up, but she considerately offered us a piece of tissue paper to have for our very own! It was so much fun, Abby and I played with a mouse in it. We love the crackling!

Also, we would like to thank Grrreta, who originally gave us this award, and we are ashamed to say we know we received it from a couple of others but cannot recall whom. We are very sorry, and next time we get anything like it we are going to harass Ms. C and makes sure she writes about it right away!

What are friends for?

Stygia: What are friends for? Well, first of all, this morning I was friends with Mr. R. He picked me up and put me in his lap, and I stayed there for quite awhile, receiving lots of love. I love to be loved!!!

Friends are also for roughhousing with. I like to keep Ms. C on the go, she can hardly get a picture of us sometimes because we are moving so fast. You can tell by the 'quality' of her pictures. Can you see who is the chaser and who is the chasee in this next picture? Hee hee!

Here I am demonstrating the "flying squirrel" attack position. Yeah, yeah, maybe we do get a few neck-licks in, but we have to put our ears back anyway. It's part of the fun!

Chance has given us a lovely award! Thank you so much Chance, we love you too!!! If you just come over, maybe we can all practice "flying squirrel" and so much more, all together!

Texas's Honor, and progress

Abby: First of all, we would like to thank Texas for honoring us with this:

Speaking of Texas, he is a terrific tabby just like me. We are really going to miss him when he goes over the bridge soon. Please stop by his blog to let him know what a terrific cat he is and what a terrific family he has, too!

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Stygia: We can't leave without letting you see a couple of new pictures of us. First, here I am in my safe spot. Abby does not follow me here, so it's where I go when I need a break.

Although, I must admit I do not like her much yet (look at the way she is approaching me!), I also must admit that I am getting more tolerant and curious. We still whap each other though. She used to try to sneak up on me and sniff my tail all of the time. Now I am finally ready to try to sniff her tail. Ms. C says she doesn't hiss anymore at her hands if she has been patting me, so that is progress.

An Award!

It was quite a few days ago that the beautiful Parker honored me with this award. It was before I had my new sister, too. We are very excited and flattered!

Here are the rules:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

All right, now for my nominations:

I'd like to nominate my soul-sister, Abby and her family of Manx Mnews. Their blog was one of the first ones Ms. C began to read when she lost her previous cat, and it helped her through many a sad and catless day.

Stygia insists on nominating Angus Mohr because he gave her such a friendly welcome when she came home, but I'm nominating him because he's a tabby.

We must nominate the adorable trio of Kaze, Latte, and Chase, who helpfully instructed us in what a frootbat is.

We want to nominate the wonderful family of Cats - Goats - Quotes because not only do they have a totally wonderful family, but they are also fostering a tuxie kitty!

Another kitty that got Ms. C through her catless times was Rascal, so she wants to nominate him for that, but Stygia wants to nominate him because he reminds her of herself!

We want to nominate Grrreta and Ambrose because Grrreta is a beautiful sweetie, and I wish I could visit Ambrose and play herd of thundering elephants with him and he is a tabby like me!

Last but not least, we'd like to nominate Jake. His blog is exceptionally thought-provoking!

Finally today, I would like you to understand that there's no cat in this picture. Nope, no cat here!

A Passing, Awards, and more

A good friend of Ms. C's lost her friend Katie yesterday. She was two months away from her 16th birthday. Katie shared her home with two other doggie pups and three kitties, but she was unquestionably the Queen of the whole caboodle:

Katie was a dog with attitude and knew that her place was in the lap of her humans. One of her favorite things was when her mom had a job at a nursing home, where she adopted a woman resident's lap as her own. She and the resident would squabble joyfully all day. In return for nosing the woman's book out of her hand, she received a lot of pats and treats!

Here she is in that favorite spot (you can see how happy they all are!!) along with her mom Ms. A:

Katie had a great life, a great mom, but now she goes on free of pain. She will be missed.

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Next, I'd like to thank the beautiful Grrreta and her family for honoring me with The Cool Cat Award! I am tickled pink! In fact, I am so excited I just have to go play herd of thundering elephants right away! *thunders*

I'm going to pass this award on to Adan and Lego, Parker, Sen-Chan, and the Cat Street Boyz! I think that's 9 cats in all. Thanks for making me and Ms. C smile every day!

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Finally, I would like to share some cuddly pictures of myself. If one of my humans is napping on the couch, I love joining them there. I expect to make my nest in the safe, warm spot between their knees. I'll arrive smiling, and knead the cat-blankie softly before settling down. Here I am with Mr. R:

I hope you were not looking at my belly!

I also like to cuddle this fleecy scarf. I like to lay on it too, but sometimes I just want to put my paws on something nice like this, if Ms. C's foot is not available or I just feel like sleeping in my own chair.

Caturday Award & Catnip

First of all, I would like to thank both the awesome cats of The catsp and Sen-Chan of The Poupounette for honoring me with this Arte & Pico award!

About the award:

This award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium. When you receive this award it is considered a special honor. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to 5 others.

Rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, regardless of language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules.

Thank you so much for this honor! In return, I would like to tag Catzee, Texas, Nixon, Jake, and Jojo!

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And now, on to the Caturday activities. What should I do first--play or sleep? Well, you may know (or not) that Ms. C was a little bit disappointed that I had no interest in catnip. Some cats don't, but today I discovered its joys!

I wrestled with my mouse, clasping it and rubbing it all over my face. I rolled. I even made my little furrymouse go airborne:


It was exhausting, and blissfully I discover a new and comfy way to rest my ears during my nap. We are going to be lazy today, and I hope you shall too!