Revenge???

Hello All, Chani here. So, Mom has been saying that she has finally figured out what 9 and I had been plotting in revenge for dressing us up. As if we would ever consider taking revenge on her!!! It was more putting the idea in her head and watching her trying to figure out what we were going to do. Honestly, humans beans trying to decipher cat logic, it's so amusing when beans try that.

Aren't I so pretty by the lamplight?

At any rate, Mom has been saying that we have been trying to push her off of our bed because she's been waking up in the morning, lying on her side on the outer fourth of the bed with very few covers. This is so far from the truth!

I think she's posted this picture before, but it's worth posting again!

When we were living in the apartment, we had a full size bed, so there was a lot of space for us and we didn't have to worry about Mom falling out of bed. But now, at Grandma and Grandpa's, we sleep on a twin size bed. It's small, but it means we get to snuggle tighter together. Still, we worry about Mom's safety. You know how clutzy humans are! Every night, I snuggle into Mom's arms and use her shoulder as a pillow. 9 snuggles between her legs. We make sure that she cannot move at all, but somehow, she does move! I'm not sure how she does it, but she wiggles out of our protective pinning and turns over. If only she wouldn't do that, she'd be perfectly warm and safe in our snuggles.

Sigh... humans...

Oh and to get a little bit of a head start, here's a Frootbat offering of me. Happy Frootbat Friday and Happy Halloween everyone. I'll try to make Mom post more this weekend!

Celebrating Tocktober on Tuesday

And there you go. 9 tocks and Chani tocks. Cute :D

Bunnies!

This past weekend, I was in Manhattan Beach going to a cousin's Bar Mitzvah (we're related by marriage). For his project, he decided to work on the tenet of kindness and wanted to focus on animals (Yes, he's a boy after my own heart.) He was sort of denied the opportunity to volunteer at local animal shelters because they have an age requirement of 16... Being only 13, he had to find another place.

So, he found Linda Baley of Too Many Rabbits. Linda lives in Redondo Beach and does her best to help educate the public about bunnies as well as rescue abandoned bunnies. My cousin helped her out by cleaning the cages (yay for rabbit poop!) and such. He plans to continue to help Linda out and hopes to convince his parents that he is responsible enough to help foster a few bunnies himself. 

For more information about Linda, please check out her other website:  http://www.toomanybunnies.com/

I thought I'd try to spread the word out amongst us all since I know how much we all love animals (feline, canine, lapine, bovine, equine... to name just a few).

Hope you all have had a great weekend. I don't get to see my beloved kitties until tomorrow. I miss them so much!!! Here's to hoping that they haven't planned more 'revenge' against me while visiting the Kitty Hotel.

Off to LA I go

Well, I'm off to LA tomorrow morning with my parents for a family function. So, my darlings are staying at a lovely little place called The Kitty Hotel. The owner, Tammy, is a godsend for people who have to leave their pets somewhere aside from home while they travel. She really loves cats and as a wonderful plus, was adored by Q and she herself adored him. My parents took them to the hotel while I was at work.

Apparently, 9 made a few little mews as they drove over there while Chani complained loudly. At the hotel itself, Grandpa had a hard time getting both kitties out of their carriers, but succeeded. 9 hissed once he got into the cage and hissed again when Chani was placed in there. Chani retreated toward the back by the litter box.

I feel bad that I have to leave them behind, but it's only until Monday morning. Sigh... I miss them already.

Here are a few pics to tide you over...


And me as well.

See you on Monday!

Princess needs help!

Hi All. I found out from a friend about a dear little rescue girl named Princess, pictured above... Here's her info:

Name: Princess
Description: Siamese Mix Med-Hair Female Kitten
DOB: 3/28/09

Princess is in need of surgery and we are currently in the process of raising funds. Princess has a problem with ear polyps and will need the lower part of her bone surrounding the ear removed so the polyps won't grow back. She can still be adopted while we are raising the funds and her surgery will be scheduled as soon as we have the funds. Her surgery will cost over $2000.

We are holding a fundraiser for Princess. Please come join us for a yummy breakfast at
Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar
51 Curtner Ave, San Jose, CA 95125
Saturday, Nov 7th, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Biography: I'm relaxed and sweet, as well as loving to snuggle. I have medium-long fur, blue eyes, and an adorable face. I'm used to a dog and other kitties which I love to play with. I like to have lots of toys around to keep me busy!
-------------

Here's the website where you can learn more about the Organization and make a donation if you're able... if anything, please just spread the word about her! Thanks!

http://www.safehavenanimalsanctuary.org/index.php

Anything you can do to help would be appreciated!

9 and Chani plotting

While I was taking pictures of Chani in her kimono, 9 would come up and try to play with her. However, in looking back at this picture, I think there's something more 'diabolical' going on...



9: Chani! pssss... mrrrr... pssss... shhhh!
Chani: ok! mrrrr... shh! hehe hehe

And we've been Stamped by Brian! Here are the rules:


1. Publish the Selinho(stamp) along with the Rules.
2. Post a link to the site that gave you the award.
3. Nominate 10 blogs to earn the seal.
4. Tell the nominees you've stamped them.

I shall have to figure out who to nominate and will get back to you on that!

Manly Mancat Monday

9: Good Morning! Do I not look very manly in this picture?


I love to sprawl out on the back of Grandpa's chair. It's so comfy. And when Mom sits in the chair I can look over her shoulder and see what she is doing.

Mom is thinking about making the above picture a giant poster that she can hang up one day. What do you think?

Happy Monday all.

And hooray for Mom! She finally got the timing right and posted these shots on Manly Monday!

Chani in a Kimono

Today was the Crafty Foxes Boutique. It's a Japanese-American craft festival where you can buy all sorts of goodies. One item was a kimono for the American Girls doll series. Of course, I thought of Chani instantly.

A full on back view
Chani: Bit freaked out here wearing this thing... every little noise causes me to jump and run away!

Chani: I'm a little calmer here. Not happy wearing bean clothing, but I'm impressing Mom with how well I can run in it.
Chani: and I'm not like 9. I don't try to bite it off to get rid of it.

Chani: Mom, if you are quite done with the flashy box thing, could you please take this off of me and give me treats!

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My beloved Mac is somewhat resurrected in the form of an external hard drive plugged into my laptop. Apparently, there's an issue with the power supply. This particular model had recalls on it back in the day, but I missed it. AND the best part is that the power supply is no longer available from Apple. If Apple tries to order it, it may take up to 3 weeks and cost about $500...

My monitor is fixed, thank goodness, so I can hook up my laptop to my monitor and the mouse and keyboard and work off of the external hard drive. Depending on how it all pans out, I'll make my decision on fixing the tower and ordering that power supply...

Yoga Kitty

More shots from my camera phone. 9 was in my lap and decided to clean himself, displaying such flexibility that I was quite impressed.

My beloved Mac tower is in the shop. The monitor is working, and I have faith that my tower will be fixed too.  Happy Friday everyone!

Tama-chan revised

Tama-chan gave me some critique on the previous version of her. And I looked at her blog for some reference photos (what I should have done in the first place!), so here's a revised version of her.

Hope I get her approval. And Misha, I know that Tama-chan only has eyes for you, so please don't be offended when I call her flirtatious ;)

Enjoy!

New Marker Kitty

So, Tama-chan sort of inspired the sketch for this particular one. Tama-chan seems to have a flirtatious quality that just sort of came out in this sketch. I had to use my camera phone to take the picture, so the color isn't quite right.

I will have to take a better picture of this and repost one day. HOWEVER! my beloved Mac tower has sort of died. I had to unplug it, and tomorrow morning, I will take it over to get fixed. Keep your fingers crossed that it will be revived and back to it's normal self soon!

I do have to figure out how to draw long hair cats in this style one day.

9 and Chani in my lap

Although I said that they can't really share my lap, they still did their best. Chani lay on top of 9 for a while, and then they sort of pushed and rearranged themselves like so. Notice how 9 is actually resting his head on the table top.

Am I complaining? Heck no! I loved this so much. If only my knee didn't start to ache and my foot fall asleep...

Rainy days and Tuesdays...

It's a rainy day in San Jose. The first of many to come, no doubt...

While it pours on my car, cleaning the dust and the dirt,

I look through my windshield and wish I didn't have to go out.

While the cats are inside playing,
Taking a few breaks for some self-cleaning...




A sweet dog with a collar but no tags has lost her home.

I couldn't leave her in the wet and the cold.
So, to the Animal Care Center I took her, and now I pray that her owners will find her...
Or perhaps someone new who can love her as she deserves.

Bit of a wreck after leaving that sweet dog at the Center. I know it was the best thing to do for her as I really couldn't bring her into the house nor take care of her as she needs. 9 and Chani were freaked out enough just seeing her nose. And she was limping and not really putting any weight on one of her back legs, not that that stopped her from running around as much as she did. Still, it worries me and the rain doesn't help.

At any rate, here is a photo to leave you with something a bit more uplifting.

My two babies really can't share my lap anymore.

The Green Fort

I've mentioned that Chani is a bit cunning. She will get attacked by 9, see 9 get chastised and then try to entice him into attacking her again so he can get in trouble again.

Yesterday, Chani saw 9 getting ready to climb up onto the green tower over which I had draped the green fort roof blanket. Using her superior speed and agility, she made it to the top of the tower first. And defended her tower...
This didn't stop 9 from trying to get up to the top and such, but he did get pulled off of the tower and placed on the tan tower. Sometimes I feel bad that I encourage Chani to "get" 9 and make 9 give up what he wants. Still, he does tend to steal Chani's toys and try to sleep on her tower. Someday, I might be able to resolve this crisis of conscience.

Below is a piece of artwork that I'm working on. It needs some color for the background. It all started when Emma and I were at a Japanese bookstore and we saw a book about Big Eye Art. Both of us are artists, so we looked through and I thought, "Why am I not doing this?" So, I sketched out a kitty based on Chani, scanned her into Photoshop, lightened up the sketch a bit and reprinted her on watercolor paper. Not the best choice as I was going to use marker to ink and color her and H2O paper tends to bleed. Still, this was just practice and I can reprint and re-ink and color her again.

Happy Sunday all!

Blankies of Doooooom!

Here's Chani in her new 'fort'. It's not really much of a fort as she just sort of lets the blanket be there. It's not a roof as much as a cushion.

Isn't she cute??? She was having a bit of a playful spazzy attack when I took these shots.

Here's the pink blankie goodness right before I started cutting it up. There are two parts, the dark pink and then the moon and star patterned piece. Yes, it's a lot of pink, but Chani is my girly girl even though she's not always ladylike.

Here she is as I'm trying to measure out the corners. She divebombed the fabric quite a few times as I was tying off the ends.

Now, I bought a longer length of fabric with these aqua butterflies. I thought I would make a blanket for myself. Somehow, it now is in my head that it should be 9's blanket even though he's not much for snuggling under blankets as Chani.

And of course, if all Towers must be 9's Towers, then all Blankies must be Chani's Blankies.

And there you have it... two new Blankies of Doom!

Hopefully as the weather gets colder, I'll have blankie snuggling picture opportunities. Keep your fingers crossed!

Stay tuned...

So, I've demonstrated my ability (or lack of ability) to knit. Now, I'm trying my hand and something crafty with fabric. It's not bad, but really, I should probably stick to photography and pottery...

I did dig out an old throw blanket that became Chani's fort ceiling at the top of the tan tower. She doesn't seem to care if it's more cushioning or a roof, but...

Some of you may remember the hideous Flaming Blanket of Doom. Since we've moved to my parents', Chani has been without her favorite blanket. So far, it's been fairly warm in the Bay Area, so a new blanket was not needed. However, in the past week, the weather has turned surprisingly cold (no Indian summer for us it seems). Therefore, I decided that Chani needed a new blanket.

I went to one fabric store last night, but didn't like any of the patterns. This led to a search online which led me to a second store... I managed to buy 3 swatches of polar fleece (2 pink and 1 aqua) at that store, and had to return to the original store to find the 4th that would match the aqua. The blanket had to be double sided after all and since one was pink, I thought it best to get a less girly color for me... er... 9.  Yeah! 9 needs a blanket too, right?

Sigh... the only question I have for you all is this: does an 8-9 lb cat really need a blanket that is 2.25 yards long?

Well, Chani now has a brand new Pink Blanket of Doom! And hopefully, Chani will deign to rest on it. She certainly had fun zipping around on it as I spread it out to tie off the ends.

Tomorrow, I shall post photos of the pre-tie off fabric as well as Chani rolling around on it. I might also show off pics of 9's aqua blanket... pre-tie off.

Toesday and more

Since we've moved back to my parents' house, there's been a little bit of an adjustment to where everything goes. When I moved out, my old bedroom became my mom's computer room and my closet became my dad's. I'm not complaining at all (except for the fact that it's taking forever for my condo purchase to go through. Darn short sales!). At any rate, my computer set up is now in the dining room. Being Japanese, my mom wanted a Japanese style dining room, so the table is low to the ground, and guests sit on the floor (we do have these sort of chairs with backs so it's not completely traditional). One day, when I clean up the area a bit, I'll take a photo to show you.

At any rate, 9 decided to show off his toesies and sleep in my lap. His head is under the table cloth and I'm sitting cross legged... that's why I gave the explanation above. I love his little toesies!

This past weekend, a few friends and I went to the Renaissance Faire. It's a fun place for people to dress up in costume (mostly not historically accurate), eat a lot of food, speak with really bad English accents (my apologies), drink cider or mead or beer, and watch the acts. One act was a joust (TO THE DEATH!... well, the knights fell down and were apparently sliced open by their opponent's swords and then carried off the field by their squires). After the act, the knights ride their horses to the fences so that the public can ask questions or mainly, pet the horses. They have such velvety smooth noses! I took photos of the horses' eyes because the fencing prevented full on head shots.

This was my favorite photo. You can almost see my reflection there.

This guy did not want to stand still or get a photo of his right eye taken. So, I had to settle for this between the fence shot.


And now, I leave you with Chani. It's been getting colder, so I think I'm going to have to find her a blanket to transform her tower into a new fort. Hooray! This means I get to go to the fabric store and look for some polar fleece for her.

Happy 100th Post!

Hello everyone! It's our 100th post. I cannot tell you all how blessed I feel to have my beloveds, 9 and Chani, in my life. They have brought light to me in a way I never could have imagined.

Now, I hope in this blog, I have conveyed how much I love my pair of kitties. And I know that I've occasionally mentioned how much I loved dressing up Q and hoped to get 9 and Chani ready for Halloween. After all, I do try to limit how often during the year that I dress up my 'babies'. But sometimes, I just can't resist. Anywho...

First up is a photo of Q from 2006 as Batcat.

He was such a good kitty model for most of his life. There were only a few costumes where I got the "Death Look". Q was a pirate kitty in 2007. And by this time, he wasn't as cooperative as he was in the past, so I didn't dress him up in 2008.

Arrrr... Dey call me Dead-eye McQ and I'm leaving sumethin' "special" for ye in yuir bed!

Ok, now, onto 9 and Chani. When October hit, I went to Petco and bought 9 this devil hat. As I've mentioned, he's quite the naughty boy and the devil hat seemed to fit him very well. Here's Emma helping me with the photo shoot.

And then I saw Cori's post with her darling Albert in a jester hat. I had to get that for 9 since his original name was Joker AND because even though he's naughty, he just so entertaining! I asked her where to buy that hat and the answer was Target. Little did I know (or 9 or Chani) that there would be some great costumes for my kitties there!

First up... The Banana
My friend Emma was over and she said that the Banana made 9 look like a cone head. He was not a happy model and when I first put on the costume he walked away and then came straight back to me as if to say: Get this off of me! He sat still for a little bit for these photos.

This costume was a little too small for him, so I'll have to remember that for next year hehe.

Next up, the Jester hat which Albert made so famous.

9: A Jester's hat? Seriously? My name was Joker, not Jester! and I'm no Fool! Grrrrr

9: So not happy here

The colors look so good on him!

9: Get this $%^&$*! thing off of me!

Now you know that Chani needed to be dressed up too... Not sure about the need, but you know, both kitties have to be treated equally.

Chani: Ok, so the pumpkin outfit does work well with my coloring,
but honestly, how undiginified for a ladylike cat such as I

Chani: A chicken hat! What are you trying to say here, Mom???

Doesn't this picture of Chani as the Banana just scream out: Wendy! Make a LoL out of us!

Finally, Chani the Banana does her impression of Monorail Cat. Dear Emma took the photos of my kitties and me. So, thank you Emma!

Thank you all for reading our blog so far! Here's to the next 100 posts =^.^=

purrs and hugs,
Marlene, 9 and Chani

P.S. Yes, both kitties got lots of treats afterwards. 9 received double the amount as he was went first in the costume parade.