Finally Friday

We are so glad that it's Finally Friday here at the Black Furrball. It's been a very long week for us - our Daddy has been sick all week so he went to the V-E-T yesterday to get med-a-suns for his coughs and sniffles (he did stay home with us one whole day so that was nice!) and Mommy is all busy and stressed out from day hunting. Daddy will be working this weekend making cheezburgers and stuffs again (Daddy better bring some home too!!!!) but Mommy says she is going to try to take it easy and hang out with us. We're also going to start planning Fagin's 1st Birthday Celebration that we have scheduled for next Friday, Feb 6th!! Can you kitties believe the little demon is almost 1 year old???

In other news, we are pleased to annouce that we has a new cousin kitty!! Aunt Susan and Uncle Dave have adopted a very special kitty - a 10-11 week old gingersnap that they are going to name LaRoux (yeah, they are from New Orleans and it shows!!). Mommy met him and said the minute she picked him up he started purring and making biscuits on her, and then he attacked her hair (just like Fagin does)! She said she will try to get some pictures of him to show everyone but until then we wanted to tell Cousin LaRoux "Welcome Home"!!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Mini Mancat Monday

For this week's Mini Mancat Monday, FAGIN thought FAGIN would show you how FAGIN PLAYS with a really super cool toy. YAY!! PLAYPLAYPLAY!!!

And it was a great toy too!! Mommy attached it to the cold box and I could WHAP PLAY WHAP PLAY all day long!! YAY!!! It was PAWESOME but then something odd happened.....

Are those laser eye beams behind FAGIN?? Uh oh, it looks like FAGIN's big brofurr Dante wants to PLAYPLAYPLAY too. Uh oh kitties, ME thinks this could be BAD. But NAH!! One brofur with laser eyebeams is not so scary - Dante is a great big brofurr - so FAGIN can still PLAYPLAYPLAY!! WHAP PLAY WHAP PLAY!!!

Then suddenly, FAGIN felt something weird - what is it? TWO brofurrs with LASER EYE BEAMS pointed at FAGIN?? Uh oh kitties, is that Captain Jack? *gulp* Maybe FAGIN should take MY TOY and hide!!!!! RUN!!!

Thankful Thursday

We are thankful that us kitties already know how to stop and smell the roses; how to sleep in a sunbeam; how to truly enjoy life's myriad pleasures. We wish that our humans knew how to do this as instictively as we kitties do but they could use some help. Just read this email Mommy got this morning as proof:

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.

He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

A few minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar tip. A woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tugged him along, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time.

This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. Another 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.

When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston where the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: In a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing? That's something worth thinking about.

Click here if you would like to watch some footage of Mr. Bell playing his 300 year old Stradivarius violin in the subway station.

We hope that all of our beans remember that sometimes it's life's little pleasures that count the most. Have a Thankful and Wonderful Thursday everyone!!

Wordless Wednesday

Mini Mancat Monday

Hey kitties! Fagin here. For today's Mini Mancat Monday, Fagin is going to talk to you about the importance of finding warm places to snooze. Especially when its BRRRRRRR! COLD outside. It's been very COLD here (Mommy says it was only 9 degres on Friday morning when she went dayhunting) and that is weird because usually its warm here in Georgia. Did you kitties know that if it gets COLD enough, that ICE will fall out of the sky? YEP!! ICE!! It did that Saturday!! Brrrrrr!!

Anyway, it's very important to find WARM, SNUGGLY places to sleep when it's cold and just look kitties! ME, the Fagin, has found the bestest, warmest place!!

When the beans turn on the dish cleaner, it makes the counter WARM and SNUGGY and ME loves it!!! SNOOZE SNOOZE SNOOZE!!! AH!!!! Mommy laughed at me because she said only FAGIN would use a coffee maker for a pillow but ME did not care cause FAGIN was warm!! AH!!! Warm sleepy places are the bestest!!! Have a good Monday everyone!!

PS: Mommy says I will not be doing Mini Mancat Mondays much anymore because FAGIN will be ONE YEAR OLD the first week of February!! ME gonna be big mancat!! YAY!! Mommy says ME can has a PARTY too!! To celeybrate!! And that I can has a girlfriend like Captain Jack has Boo or like Dante has Pearl. ME nervous about that. What if girl kitties do not like ME? Oh wow - being a big mancat may be harder than FAGIN thought!!

Tabby Tuesday

Heya kitties (and woofies and buns and beans). It's Tuesday again and this week Tuesday means it's Tabby Tuesday and that means that I, Dante Barbossa, took over the bloggie to give you an update. As you may remember from last week, I was suffering from the sniffles and coughs due to a nasty cold....
Well kitties, I did get better by sleeping and relaxing a lot and even taking med-a-shun so I thought I was cured. I felt so much better that I ran around with Fagin and attacked things. Well, last night Mommy came home and AH-CHOOOOOOOO! Yep, my cold is back. Mommy sighed and loved on me and told me I needed more med-a-shun. The only problem was Daddy was off night hunting and cooking FOODs and would not be home until almost midnight! So Mommy was brave and she pilled me herself without any help. And I was a very good mancat and let her pill me without fighting at all!!

After that I went to sleep because my cold tablets make me very tired. I dreamed of the lovely Pearl and only got up when Daddy came home about 11pm because he smelled like cheezburgers. Sadly he did not bring us anything home (grrrrr, bad Daddy) but it was nice to get Daddy cuddles any way. I hope that I feel better soon. I am tired of sneezing and snorting and coughing and sniffling and such. Have a good Tuesday every kitty!!

Our New Job

Hey kitties! How was everyone's weekend? Ours was very busy because, can you believe it, we kitties has a new weekend job and it's all Daddy's fault!!

You see, our Daddy loves to cook FOODs. Yep. Well, he has been out of the resturant biz for a long time (he works in puters right now as his full time job) and was looking to get back into FOODs again at a top rated resturant. To do this, Daddy went to a resturant that just opened here that is run by a "Top Chef" guy (Daddy says that we used to watch this guy on the picture box with him at nights) and told them to hire him. Well, they did and now Daddy is night hunting weekends (as well as day hunting) and abandoning Mommy. He says our new job is to make sure Mommy does not get lonely on Friday nights and Saturdays while he goes to work and cooks FOODs. We are now on Mommy Entertainment Duty on weekends. It's okay though kitties, cause Daddy's new job, look what they make!!Yep, this means that we can has cheezburger as our payment for Mommy Entertainment Duty!! YAY!!! Daddy brought home Mommy a turkey burger from the resturant Friday so she could try the food and she shared with us!! YAY!! We may like our new job after all!!

Thursday Thirteen

Hi kitties, Dante here *AHHH-CHOOO.* In honor of my cold *sniff, sniff* I am going to do this week's Thursday Thirteen. I am going to call it *sniff*

Dante's 13 Good Things About Having a Cold!!

1. You get checked on a lot so you get a lot of attention.
2. Mommy gives you snuggles and asks if you are feeling better.
3. Daddy pets you lots and even snorkels your tummy.
4. You can sneeze on the dogs and hope to contaminate them with your cold germs.
5. You get extra treats when you sneeze and look pitiful at your beans.
6. You can take lots of extra naps.
7. You can lay claim to the warm sleep spots.
8. You do not have to play with the kitten if you do not want to.
9. You can snorkel at the dogs and hope to contaminate them with your cold germs.
10. Cold med-a-shun means sleepy Dante means lots more naps.
11. Since your are sick, your beans will carry you everywhere so you do not have to walk unless you want to.
12. The lovely Pearl comes and brings you chick-hen soup and nip tea.
13. The lovely Pearl comes and visits you and snuggles with you until you feel better.

Sneezing on Wednesday

We were going to do a Santa Paws Wordless Wednesday post today but instead we have a sick kitty that Mommy had to attend to. Sadly, Dante's AHH-CHOOOs are back and the poor ginger boy is sneezing and snuffling!!

When Mommy got home from day hunting last night she was giving us some of our special nom nom nom treats (aka Pounce) and Dante sneezed right at her! AAHHH-CHOOOO!!! And then he snuffled and snorted too. The next thing he knew Mommy was calling for Daddy to "come and hold Dante so I can pill him, please." Now Dante is a bit strange in that as long as he is in Daddy's arms, he will pretty much let you do anything, including shoving a nasty cold tablet down his throat! Ick!! Dante is WEIRD!!

After that, Dante spent most of the evening looking happily sleepy and drugged from the AHH-CHOOOO med-a-shun. Mommy thinks he will be better soon but Fagin is sad because Dante is just not up to playing with him. Please send good thoughts that Dante gets better soon, that Fagin does not go insane (more insane) from not having anyone to play with and no way to get the kitten energy out, and that Captain Jack does not maim Fagin when he tries to get the Captain to play by jumping on him and biting him. It's going to be very interesting around the Black Furrball until the First Mate is in tip top shape again, that is for sure!!!

Fagin's New Nickname

Hello everyone! We were going to post some of our Santa Paws pictures today, but after last night we decided that we must tell you about Fagin's new nickname. You see, its been raining cats and dogs here lately (or Beauxs and Dantes as Mommy told Daddy last night) so Mommy thinks that is what led to Fagin's new nickname. We'll start from the beginning.

Us kitties were hanging out on the screened porch last night when Mommy came out onto the porch to get the woofies their dinner (our dry crunchies are kept in waterproof, sealed containers out on the porch). Anyway, crawling near the food containers was a slug. Mommy groaned and blamed the rain for driving the creatures inside where it's not totally wet (just damp). Anyway, she decided to feed the woofies and then come out with something to move the slug back outside. Well, it could not have been 2 minutes later when she came back out with a dustpan to move said slug and noticed that the slug had vanished but that Fagin was standing right where the slug has been.

Yep, we think Fagin ate the slug! EWWWWW!!! Doesn't he know that slugs are nasty?? The kitten has no sense, none at all! YUCK!! So in honor of this occasion, Fagin's new nickname is SLUGBOY!!

We're Back!

Hey everykitty!! We wanted to let everyone know that we are finally back to blogging after our extended vacation. Mommy has been home with us for the last 12 days and we decided to lay on her and cuddle with her so we kinda let blogging go by the wayside for the last couple of weeks. Now though, we are back and we have missed all of you very much!! We hope everyone had a great holiday season and that Santa Paws was kind to everyone (YES! He did bring FAGIN presents - YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!). We'll have some pictures showing you just how we spent our holidays tommorow but until then, as Fagin would say - YAY!! We are back!!!!