Adopt-A-Cat Month®

As you know, June is Adopt-A-Cat Month®. In honor of Adopt-A-Cat Month® I've added a new page to my blog - I Need a Home Please! On it is a widget that features cats from my favorite shelter, Duncan's Place, a Cat Sanctuary. If you click on it, it takes you to Petfinder.com and you can look up pets everywhere. It looks like this:



I hope you'll visit Petfinder.com. You can get a widget like this one for you own blog. Or, you may just find your new best furriend there!

It's Saturday and that means bloghop! Join the fun.

Hill's Science Diet Giveaway Results

It's time to announce the winners of the 15 bags of Hill's^® Science Diet^® Hairball Control cat food. There were only 16 entries, so everybody wins! Concatulations everyone! 15 of you will get your bags direct from Hill's and someone local to me will get their food from me because I have some extra here at the house. Unfortunately, as wonderful as this food is, one of us in the household has an extremely sensitive tummy and didn't react well to it (glares at offending sisfur). EK and I think this is wonderful food. If it were up to us, Mom would switch us to this. Unfortunately, the kitty with the sensitive tummy outvotes the rest of us. :(

Please email where you want your food shipped to pumpkinpuddy@gmail.com. I'll forward all the addresses on to the wonderful people at Hill's. Thanks everyone for participating in my giveaway. I know you're gonna like this food. I sure did.


That's it for this Sunday. Lippe had a big weekend and we gotta get all the pictures on the computer and get them labeled so we can post them, so I gotta say bye for now.  *runs off to get camera*

My First Blogiversary

Today is my first blogiversary. I can’t believe a year has gone by so quickly. And what a year it’s been! Better get comfy because this blog’s gonna be a little on the long side. MOL!

Here’s a partial list:

My sweetie Curzon

1. Joined Twitter, Fursbook, and Facebook and started blogging.
2. Gained over 1,000 Twitter followers, 246 Facebook friends, and almost 100 regular blog readers.
3. Wrote 97 blogs here and a couple over at Anipals Read.
4. Tweeted over 13,5000 tweets. (I’m a real chatterbox, aren’t I?)
5. Met tweeters from all over the world and made tons of amazing friends.
6. Sadly, had a bunch of friends go OTRB.
7. Wrote (well, edited) a book. More about that later.
8. Adopted a shelter to help support (still working on how to do that effectively).
9. Went to Blogpaws West 2010.
10. Stayed in a hotel!
11. Went lots of cool places in my stroller.
12. Met some of my twitter friends live and in person.
13. Went out to dinner at a restaurant. How many kitties can say they’ve been to a restaurant?
14. Been interviewed for Cats Who Twitter and Anipal Times.
15. Adopted two fursibs, Candy & EK.
16. Joined #pinkangels and got a cool Hello Kitty motorcycle.
17. Became a barktender for #nipclub & #pawpawties.
18. Got an even cooler vehicle - a Lamborghini Gallardo.
19. Had a hareem for a while, but now I got a sweetie - Curzon from @UsCoons.
20. Was bridesmaid in a wedding and am going to be in another one.
21. Attended lots of pawties.
22. Won mountains of super cool prizes.
23. Got Toki Poki cards and traded them with my friends.
24. Got to wear lots of cool costumes.
25. Was nominated for an Anipal Academy Award (but didn’t win).



Candy & EK

26. Entered the 2011 Teddy Olympics.

And that’s just what I can think of right now. I know there’s stuff I’m forgetting.

Most of my blogs have been about fun stuff and exciting adventures, but there have been a few serious ones, too. And I’m gonna get serious now for a little bit. As you all know, I keep trying to raise funds to help out Duncan’s Place (http://duncansplace.org/), which is where Candy and EK came from . I’ve put up a chip-in to raise some money for them. They do so much for the cats in their care and for the community and I really want to do whatever I can to help them. If you can see your way clear to donate, even just $1, please do so. 

Another way you can donate is by getting a copy of ‘Summer at the Lake with Petie’. My good pal @BlindMaximus was kind enough to write a blog about it and to put a link to my chip-in on his site. How amazing is that? @Rumblepurr is also helping. He has a link to my book on his blog. If I’ve missed anyone who still has a link up, please let me know. I want to make sure everyone who’s helping me gets mentioned. 

I’m gonna really push the book here for a minute, because of the way the website where I sell the books works. There has to be $25 in my account before they’ll cut a check. What goes in the account is the difference between the cost of the book and how much extra I added on to have to donate to Duncan’s Place. I’m short by about 4 books worth in order to get paid. It was 6 books worth, but @BlindMaximus bought a copy in addition to blogging about it, and @iamDaisyDoo bought a copy to donate for a prize for the next #pawpawty. Anipals really are the best pals. So I’m really hoping that at least 4 of you will order books so I can get one last check to donate.

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for - the Giveaway! A while back I won a wonderful prize package from the folks at Nutro. It was very similar to this one:

It took a while until we actually got to eat the Nutro Natural Choice food that was in the prize because of Candy’s tummy problems, but we finally got to try it a couple weeks ago. We loved it!

Even more important, it doesn’t upset Candy’s tummy. We think the food is soooo good and you know how we love Greenies, so I wanted someone else to have a chance at the same wonderful prize package. I asked @EdnaAtNutro and the wonderful folks at Nutro if it would be possible to arrange one for my blogiversary. The answer was yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So it is my pleasure to offer you a chance at this package full of fun and yum. Here’s the particulars:

1. Anyone is welcome to enter for the drawing, but the prize is a cat prize.
2. Apologies to my pals outside the U.S.A., but the winner has to be in the U.S.A.

Here’s how you enter.

1. Go to the Nutro (www.Nutro.com) site and pick which formula of Nutro Natural Choice you’d like.
2. Go to the Greenies (www.greenies.com) site and pick which flavor of Feline Greenies Dental Treats you’d like
3. Leave a comment saying you want to be in the drawing and telling me which flavors you’d like.

The last step is the most important. I know lots of pals who are not entering will also leave comments, so make sure to tell me you're entering the drawing.

Comments left by April 30th will qualify for the drawing. After the 30th, I’ll throw all the names in a magic internet hat and pull out the winner. The winner be announced May 8th. Good luck!

Adopt the Internet Day

Today is Adopt the Internet Day and Petfinder.com's 15th birthday!

You all know that I was rescued from a trailer park by my mom's friend and given to mom, but not all kitties (or dogs for that matter) are as lucky as I am. Some pets need help finding new homes like EK and Candy. They're both from Duncan's Place.  Duncan's Place lists their available cats on Petfinder.com. Mom looked at lots of cats on Petfinder.com before deciding on EK and Candy.

Did you know that Petfinder.com has other pets besides cats and dogs? They have rabbits, horses, fish, birds, and all kinds of wonderful fuzzy furriends waiting for someone to love them. If your home needs a new addition, Petfinder.com is the place to start.

If you're full up, please join the blog hop and help spread the word.

Sunday Musings

Happy Sunday everyone! Yesterday was Mom's birthday, so we've been giving her extra cuddles this weekend.

Good news! Okey's Promise passed it's funding goal and @BZTAT can go forward with her project. Congratulations @BZTAT and Okey's Promise!

Pals been asking about my Turbo Track cuz we got two of them arranged together. So here's what it looks like. We love it! We all gather around it with Mom and play with it. We roll the balls to Mom and she rolls them back to us. It's just so much fun.

Speaking of fun, here's a picture of my favorite ball. It's just about an inch or so big and it's my favorite ball for playing fetch. Problem is, because it's little it gets misplaced a lot and I'd like to have more of them. But Mom can't find any in the stores and doesn't remember where she bought this one. So if you see this ball anywhere, DM me on twitter (@pumpkinpuddy) and tell me where so Mom can buy it. EK likes it too, so we need lots of them for sharing.

We recently got a wonderful present from @Staffpurrson. It's one of the Harry & David boxes that @Mulder_cat and @Scully_cat are so fond of. It came with all kinds of surprises in it.

Just look at all the fun in there! We got Temptations treats, and some Luna Tuna, some great toys, a nice fleecy pad and something we've never had before - crinkley paper! We're just loving everything in this box. Or I should say EK & Candy are loving the box and everything in it. I can't get near any of it cuz they're toy hogs. At least I get treats & Luna Tuna. Nommy!

Look how funny EK is. There's not room for both of them in the box so he just climbed right on top of Candy. But she doesn't mind. They bonded at Duncan's Place and just love each other so much that they climb on each other like this all the time.

Here's more pictures of them cuddling. In fact, it's hard to get pictures of them not together.

And here I am in all my floofyliciousness!

Aren't I gorgeous?

Gotta go watch football with Mom now. She's rooting for Green Bay and the Steelers today, but especially the Steelers. Happy Sunday everyone!

Sunday Musings

We must be the luckiest kitties in the whole world! We got wonderful stuff for Yule. Take a look!



A couple of these are videos so you may need to go to Picasa to see them.

Our pal Sweet Praline is pawticipating in Paw it Forward. We told her we wanted to pawticipate, too. So for our Paw it Forward we're gonna give some of our toys to the local shelter. We were gonna take them today, but we were talking to @BabyPatches at the #catmasweve pawty and found out her mama put lots of stuff on sale for after Catmas. So Mom ordered some more stuff from Nip and Bones to add to it. When that stuff gets here, Mom's gonna take it to the local shelter. I think we'll send Evie to snoopervise and report back on the visit.

This has been an interesting year. It started out kind of iffy. As some of you remember, we almost didn't get to keep our pretty house. But the bank people finally saw sense and fixed things so we could afford to keep paying.

Then in the summer, Mom went to Massychewsits. She was gone a long time and I was very lonely without her even though I had a kittysitter. So when Mom came home, I got antsy every day when she went to work. I was always afraid she'd leave me alone again for many days. Mom decided I needed fursibs so I'd never be lonely again. At first I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but as usual, Mom's right. Now that the squirts have been here a while I really like them. And I love having playmates. Even though I like them I'm still gonna call them squirts. MOL

We made some wonderful new furriends this year, but lost some of them before we even really got to know them. I miss Inigo very much. I'm glad Ryker decided to tweet from OTRB because otherwise I'd miss him something terrible. And there were Sniffie, Mookie, Hollie, and so many others. It's been a very sad fall. I wish we didn't ever have to be sad, but just the fact that we're here, blogging, tweeting, and making and losing furriends just shows how lucky we are. Every time I lose a furriend, I think of all the poor animals that don't have homes or furriends at all. Or worse, homes where they're abused. The fact that we're all loved the way we are truly does make us the luckiest animals in the world.

'Summer at the Lake with Petie' did fairly well. 43 copies sold, allowing me to donate over $160 to Duncan's Place. My goal was 100 copies, but I guess that wasn't a realistic goal and I'm pretty happy with how the book did.

Mom's coming up on a very busy time at work, so I'm not gonna get much computer time the next couple of months. Please forgive me if I don't comment on your blogs. I am coming by to visit even when I don't let you know I've been there. I do want to keep up on what's going on with my pals.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope the coming year brings peace and love to everyone, especially those that don't have it right now. I wish everyone in the world had as much love in their lives as we have in ours.

The Zen of Max

One of the anipals I talk to regularly and whose blog I never miss is @maxthequiltcat. I love Max's Mousey cartoons and couldn't wait for each new chapter of his mystery story. When I found out his mom, Lou Belcher, wrote a book about him, 'The Zen of Max' I couldn't wait to get it. I was so excited that I was lucky enough to win a copy of 'The Zen of Max' at the last pawpawty.

'The Zen of Max' is a very heartwarming book. It's about Lou and Max, how they found each, learned from each other, and shared their lives. But all books about pets and their people have that same basic plot. What makes each book unique are the personalities of the people and pets involved, and how the writer tells their story. Well Max and Lou definitely have interesting personalites and Lou really knows how to tell a story.

I enjoyed learning things I didn't know about Max. For example, I did not know that Max was tweeting and blogging from over the Rainbow Bridge. Max had already crossed the bridge when I met him, and I don't think it was ever talked about when we tweeted or in his blog. At least not that I had noticed. I didn't know that Max had moved from one state to another. I don't even like the short ride to the park. I can't imagine driving from one state to another. I also loved learning about Max's idiosyncrasies.

This book is a must read. I give it a definite paws up!

Thankful Thursday

So far I've sold 34 copies of Summer at the Lake with Petie. Today I received my first payment in the amount of $119. I haven't been paid for all the copies yet so there's more money coming (but not until next month)! I took great joy in going to Duncan's Place and clicking on their donate button and donating that money. As both Blurb.com and Duncan's Place both use Paypal, it was very easy.

Ordering is very easy, too. Just click on the picture below and it will take you to the order page!

The deadline for ordering in time for Christmas in the U.S. is December 12. Blurb.com delivers all over the world, so don't think you can't order if you live outside the U.S.

Thank you to everyone who has or is going to order Summer at the Lake with Petie. And Happy Holidays to all!

A Book About Love

We've spent a lot of time in #pawcircles and porchsitting lately. We've seen too many furriends cross the Rainbow Bridge in a very short time. When our furriends cross the bridge, the circles are for love and comfort. But sometimes, the #pawcircles and porchsitting result in a furriend getting better. This book is about a success story. This book is about the miracles that love can work.

As we all know, our pal Petie (@Petethecat) had a difficult summer. When we heard our furriend was sick, we all did what anipals do in times of trouble - we banded together to help Petie get better. And Petie did get better! In fact, he's getting married very soon to the wonderful Pandora (@Pandafur).

@toughteddybear with his copy of
'Summer at the Lake with Petie'

It was just an amazing summer, and I wanted something to remember it by. I thought others might like to have something, too. So I put together a book: 'Summer at the Lake with Petie'. I gathered together stories, poems, pictures, memories, and whatever else pals wanted to submit to the book. There is a link in the sidebar to order the book and you can see sample pages there. The book is getting rave reviews from everyone who has already gotten a copy.

This book is special not just because it's about our love for Petie and the miracles that love can work. The proceeds of this book benefit the cat sanctuary that Candy and EK came from  - Duncan's Place. It's a wonderful group of people who foster cats in their homes, help them find furever homes, and help families down on their luck keep their pets with them. I wrote about them in an earlier blog - Blog the Change - Duncan's Place.

One thing we've all said over and over the last several weeks is how lucky our now lost pals were to have had loving homes. I want all the kitties at Duncan's Place to have that, too. Selling 'Summer at the Lake with Petie' is one of the projects I have going on trying to raise money to help them take care of and find homes for the cats in their care. My goal is to sell 100 copies of the book. So far, 30 copies have been sold, so there's still a long way to go.

I want to thank some pals who have been helping to spread the word about Summer at the Lake with Petie:

Rumblepurr put a link up on his blog: Rumblebum.

Whskr And Dash wrote a blog article about it on their blog and plan on writing another: Dash Kitten's Musings.

Blind Maximus wrote a blog entry and put up a widget for ordering Summer at the Lake with Petie on his blog, Adventures of a Blind Dog in a Big World.

I do have the best furriends! If anyone else is interested in putting a link or a widget on your blog, let me know. I'll send you the code.

I also have a chip-in on my blog for pals who want to donate. Or you can go to Duncan's Place web site and donate there. Whether you order Summer at the Lake with Petie or donate through my chip in or directly on their site, I hope you'll choose to do something, no matter how small, to help Duncan's Place. I want every cat to be as lucky as I've been.

Much love to my furriends,
Pumpkin (@Pumpkinpuddy)

Thankful Thursday

We been losing a lot of pals. The lastest was our pal @Ryker_Tyker. @MaggieTKat wrote a lovely blog about him and you can read it here: Remembering @Ryker_Tyker.

This may seem like an odd way to start a Thankful Thursday post, but all these losses  lately reminded me how grateful I am for all the wonderful friends I've made since I started twittering, blogging, and being on Facebook. Anipals and their humans are amazingly loving, giving, and so supportive of one another. Everyone I've met here works in some way to make life better for anipals and their humans, even if it's just by giving an animal a home.

I'm especially thankful for @Mulder_cat & Scully_Cat and @Staffpurrson. Mom knows @Staffpurrson from a different online community and he introduced Mom & me this wonderful community that we otherwise would never have known existed.

I also want to thank @Rumblepurr. He was the first one to find my blog the very first day I posted it. I don't know how, but he did. And then he wrote a blog introducing me and my new blog, and the rest is history!

So I just want to make sure you all know how much I care about you all and how glad I am I found you all. We sometimes forget to say that and just sort of take each other for granted. I wanted to make sure that my online friends know that I never take you for granted even when I forget to say it. Now I have to make sure I let my offline friends know it, too.

Hugs, purrs, smoochies and lots of love to all of you.

Candy & EK Have Arrived!

My new fursibs have arrived. Mom picked them up on Friday from Duncan's Place.They are very little, and I guess they're cute. But boy have they taken over! They're constantly climbing on Mom and rubbing and purring on her, the little suck-ups. EK's climbing all over her right now while she's trying to type for me. They climb all over my cat tree and have usurped my little red tent. So far they haven't gotten in my stroller, but I bet that's just a matter of time. They haven't slept in Mom's bed yet, either, so that's still all mine, too.

 EK (short for Evel Knievel. And he's definitely evil.)

Candy. She's ok. She's quieter and doesn't bug me as much.










So far they don't seem very interested in toys, so my toys are still all mine! I did get Mom all to myself yesterday for #PPPawty so Mom could type and upload pictures for me. Mom's also been trying to give me special treats just for me, but I didn't eat them. Not sure which squirt wound up with my shrimps.

Speaking of toys, most of my favorite little toys have been missing for a long time. Mom looked all over for them. She even got a friend's kid to help her look under the furniture. She even looked under the fridge. No luck. Well yesterday, we heard all this squeaking and EK wasn't playing with my squeaky mouse on a stick toy. So Mom goes to see what he found and he was reaching under the little wine fridge. Mom moved it and there were all my toys! Over a dozen of them. I was so happy to see all my toys again. I guess squirts are good for something.

Anyway, Mom went crazy with the flashy box. There's lots of pictures and even some video. I'm in some of the pictures, too. Because of the video, I did a link this time to the album. Click on the picture below to see more pictures. Enjoy!

New Kitties

So far we've sold 25 copies of 'Summer at the Lake with Petie'. I'm not sure how much money I've raised because the website keeps some and Paypal takes some, but its around $70 and probably more. Copies are starting to arrive at pals homes. @LilyLuWhoT has gotten her copy. Mine should arrive tomorrow. As you know, my goal is 100 copies sold. If anyone has ideas how to sell more books, please DM me. The kitties at Duncan's Place and the humans caring for them really deserve the help. I did look into Amazon, but that would just make the books more expensive. I guess I need ideas how to publicize it better without being annoying about it.

Speaking of help, my wonderful friends, @whsker and @dashkitten, are not only getting a copy of Summer at the Lake with Petie, but they wrote about it in their blog: Dash Kitten's Mewsings, I was so surprised!. I think that was such a nice thing for them to do. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. Dash and his human are always writing about others and are always looking for ways to help everyone. They are some of the most thoughtful pals out there in the Anipal Twitterverse and the Cat Blogoshpere.

The other excitement this last week was Petie and Pandy's shower. The guys went hiking and the girls went shopping, and all kinds of interesting happened while we were out. Everyone had a wonderful time, and a few pals wound up in Twitter jail! That's all I'm gonna tell you. What happens in Twitter stays in Twitter!

*purrs and pawhugs*

News!

All kinds of news this week. The first item is that the book about #lakewithpetie is finished and ready to order. It's called Summer at the Lake with Petie and is available here: Summer at the Lake with Petie. You can see a preview at the right. I was thrilled at how many pals sent stuff for me to put in the book! There are poems, stories, pictures, memories, and even original artwork. We have some very talented anipals in our community. Not only is this a wonderful way to remember the amazing summer we had, but the proceeds are going to Duncan's Place cat sanctuary. It will make a great Crispmouse present for your humans, so buy lots of copies!

Duncan's Place cat sanctuary is also where my brofurs are coming from. Cathy at Duncan's Place cat sanctuary sent me more pictures of them.

I finally have names for them. The cream colored one is gonna be Evel Kneivel and just EK for short. We've been told he's a bit of a daredevil. The grey and white one is gonna be Bandit because he looks like he's wearing a mask. Mom's picking them up Friday night!


Edit: Just found out from Cathy at Duncan's Place - turns out the grey & white one is a girl. So instead of 2 brofurs I'm gonna have a sisfur and a brofur. Cathy called her Babette and I think I'm just gonna call her that and not change her name again. Bad enough everyone thought she was a boy and called her Bob all these weeks. I'm not gonna change her name yet again.

So that's the good news. Now the sad news. We lost our good friend, Gunner, this week. He crossed the bridge on Thursday. PepiSmartDog escorted him across the bridge and arranged a wonderful welcome banquet for him. The banquet was held at Nipclub so that all the anipals could see Gunner off and wish him a good crossing. It was a wonderful banquet for a wonderful pal.

That's if for this week. Next week I'll have lots of news after the brofurs get here. Wish me luck! Smoochies!

Anipal Photo Hunt #12: All Souls' Day

You've heard me talk about the cats Mom had before I came along. If you read my interview on Cat's Who Twitter you know their story. Well now you get to see their faces.

 This is Beastie. Look at that face and you can tell where the name came from. MOL. She was Mom's first kitty. Mom got her from a neighbor as a kitten and she lived to be 16 1/2. Mom said she actually wasn't a beastie, but was very sweet. Her daddy was a Persian kitty and Beastie inherited her beautiful fluff from him.

This is Sheena. She passed last Thanksgiving at 18 years old! She lived the longest of any cat Mom's had. She came to Mom as a kitten from a coworker. I got to meet this kitty before she went to the bridge. She and Pixie were best friends and she was very lonely when Pixie passed. Mom got me as a playmate for Sheena, but Sheena didn't live very long after I was adopted. I guess I came to Mom just in time to keep her from being lonely without Sheena.

This is Pixie. Someone threw her out of a van. Mom tried to find her that night and couldn't. Six weeks later after a snowstorm, she showed up on Mom's porch. She was all wet, cold, matted, and starving. Mom took her in and it was love at first sight. She lived with Mom for 12 1/2 years before she passed. I look a lot like her except I have a nice floofy tail and Pixie didn't have a tail. Mom thinks she was part Manx.


I'm lucky to have had them as sisfurs, even if I didn't get to meet them. They were the cats that taught Mom how to open her heart and home to kitties. They also taught Mom that cats were meant to be loved and spoiled. And boy am I spoiled!

Please join this week's photo blog hop and tell us about the ones in your life that came before you that you want to honor.

My Gotcha Day!

Happy Sunday everyone! Today's a very special day. It's my Gotcha Day! One year ago today I came to live with Mom, and it's been a fantastic year. I won't go into details 'cause you guys hear me brag on my Mom all the time, so you already know how spoiled and lucky I am.

I only got a small present, but good things come in small packages. And this package had my favorite treats - freeze dried shrimps! I may be getting something else. Mom was looking at the Petco website today. I wonder if she ordered anything?

It's also 3 weeks until the brofurs arrive. I guess I'm sort of looking forward to that. Mom's gone so much that it will be nice to have company and someone to play with.

The Lake with Petie book is half done, and looking pretty good if I do say so myself. I've heard from some pals that you want to add stuff to the book. Well get busy and get that stuff in to me or the book will be done. I'm hoping to finish it up next weekend. I'm gonna have a few pals look it over before printing to see if I left out anything important. I really want to have it done soon, so please get stuff to me this week. I think this book will not just be a great memory book of the fun we had at the lake, but also a good present for our humans for the holidays coming up. They can see what we do when they're not looking! MOL! And don't forget, the proceeds go to Duncan's Place, so it's for a good cause, too.

I have to apologize to @joeybeancat. I said I'd write about his howloween costume contest and then forgot and now the contest is over. I'm very sorry. *hangs head in shame* Please forgive me.

That's it for this Sunday. Love to all my pals!

Brofurs!

Cathy at Duncan's Place sent me pictures of the squirts that Mom's forcing on me. I guess they're kind of cute. I'll give them a chance. Do I have a choice?

The butterscotch one is named Peanut and the grey and white is Bob. I don't like those names, so I'm taking suggestions. Cathy said Peanut is a real daredevil and climbs everywhere already, so I'm thinking of calling him Evel Knievel, or EK for short. What do you guys think?