Give Thanks (burp!)

Happy Friday! Happy weekend! Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! Now that we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving the holiday season has officially begun. Fun, food and hats – right up my alley!





My grandparents were coming over for dinner, so there was much to be done to prepare! Mom and Dad did the cooking (mostly Dad, because Mom isn’t much of a cook and Dad is a fabulous cook!) so I helped with setting the table.





I had trouble folding the napkins just so to fit in the napkin rings, but after a little practice I got it right. I was very careful to put the silverware in its proper order. I am a sophisticated kitty after all!
The aroma of the cooking food was making me hungry. It seemed like it was taking forever for our guests to arrive so we could eat. Finally they started to arrive and the time for dinner was drawing nigh!
We sat in the living room and visited for a while. We chatted while sipping on beverages and snacking on chips, dip and nuts. I didn’t want to ruin my appetite for dinner, so I didn’t snack much. At last it was time to eat and we headed for the dining room.
Everyone insisted that I sit at the head of the table with Dad at the other end. Before we began to eat, the family raised their glasses and toasted my literary success. I was very flattered and I raised my glass of milk and thanked them for their good wishes. I offered my own toast… to family, friends and felines!





Once all the pleasantries were done, it was time to eat. I piled my plate high with food and dug in. I cleaned my plate and moved on to seconds. Before I could finish my second plate, talk of dessert started and I realized I had better stop eating and save room for some sweets!
Since I finished first, I went to the kitchen to get ready to serve the dessert. My Grandma had made a delicious pumpkin pie. I cut a slice for every member of the family and waited patiently for everyone to finish their dinner.






When everyone was ready I served the pie and coffee. I did not have coffee….I don’t think kitties and caffeine are a good combination! The pie was delicious!! I especially liked the whipped cream on top!
After dinner we all retired to the living room and sat around complaining about how full we were. I excused myself and went to the kitchen to collect some leftovers to share with my feral friends. They were all very appreciative and I sat with them a while. Then it was time to help with the cleanup. I helped as much as I could, but I was so sleepy! As soon as we were done, I headed to my bed and immediately fell asleep.
Now it’s time to gear up for Christmas, which will be here before you know it. I won’t be hitting the store tomorrow on Black Friday, but I will get going on my Christmas shopping very soon. Good luck with your Christmas shopping – and don’t forget to buy something special for your special critter!!

Love & licks,

Josie

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaarty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Friday! Happy weekend! Happy birthday to me! Yes, this week I turned 3 years old. My friends tell me I don’t look a day over 1 and ½! I have great friends. Speaking of great friends, I would like to thank all my wonderful Facebook friends who popped in to say happy birthday. It was so much fun having so many posts to read. But that was only part of my birthday fun…
My Mom and Dad had to work, so they gave me lots of birthday hugs and kisses in the morning before they had to leave. They promised they would treat me to a special birthday dinner that evening. Oh boy!! I was hoping it would be a big pile of tuna on a Ritz, my favorite meal.
My brother, Tristan, didn’t have to work, so I figured I would get to hang out with him and have him do my birthday bidding. But for some reason he was up early and said he had to leave for a while. Oh no! Everyone was leaving me on my birthday! He promised he wouldn’t be too long, but he ended up being gone over 2 hours!!!
When he returned he didn’t have any large packages wrapped in birthday paper, nor did he have any large sacks of food. So what was he doing for the last couple of hours? He didn’t say much as he passed me to head to his room.
I hopped onto the den couch to pout when I noticed movement in the backyard. I had a feeling something was up when Corny had stopped by when passing through the yard earlier in the morning. He had landed on the deck rail and opened his mouth to say something - all of a sudden he stopped, mouth open wide and just stared at me. Finally he screamed that he wasn’t allowed to talk to me and he abruptly flew off. I had suspected that my friends were going to throw me a surprise birthday party and Corny is not very good at keeping a secret. Now the activity in the yard proved me right. I ran to the mirror in the downstairs bathroom and started practicing my surprised look. I didn’t want to disappoint my friends – I wanted them to think I was really surprised.
I sat patiently on the den couch watching TV and trying not to look at the shadows passing by behind the drapes. After sitting through several Jerry Springer shows (where do they get these people!?!?!?!?), there finally came a knock on the back door. This was it! I collected myself and headed to the door. When I swung open the door, I was genuinely surprised!



I squealed with delight when I saw how many friends had gathered to help me celebrate my birthday. Neighborhood dogs and cats, Facebook friends, squirrels and ferrets. Wow! What a wonderful collection of critters!





And best of all, right smack in the middle of all my friends was a big, beautiful fish birthday cake. I don’t know who baked it, but it sure was beautiful. Everyone sang a round of Happy Birthday to Josie and then the party began!
I found out why Tristan had been gone so long. When I saw the backyard, I knew he must have helped my friends set up the activities. Even thought there was food and milk, I couldn’t wait to play, so I deferred eating until after I had some fun. Some of the party goers headed for the food and some scurried down the deck steps to have some fun!




I headed straight for the slide, while Lucy and Anthony headed for the seesaw. The biggest crowd was at the bounce castle. My squirrel friends had gotten there first - Bobbi, Skippy and Hammy were just chirping with glee as they bounced off each other. The others decided to wait for them to finish which caused a line to form outside the castle. After a while we all switched and my friends who had eaten, started playing and all of us who had been playing headed to the deck to get something to eat. I was relieved to see there were plenty tuna on a Ritz left on which to gorge myself.
Corny showed up again and apologized for being so rude earlier. He said he didn’t want to ruin the surprise and he knew he couldn’t have kept himself from telling me. He brought a whole bunch of noisemakers for us to… well … make noise! Now that was fun!!



We all made this funny honking kind of noise. We took turns to see who could make the loudest noise and at one point we were all honking at once. We started laughing so hard none of us could make a sound. We figured we had better cut that out before the neighbors started to complain!
My friends starting calling for me to cut the cake so I gladly obliged. It was delicious! We all had our fill of cake and milk and agreed that it was time for a long nap. I gave everyone a noisemaker as a party favor - I’m sure their families were thrilled!
I hugged each of my friends as they filed out of the yard. I thanked them for making my birthday so special. It was fun not being the one to plan the activities! When Mom and Dad finally arrived home from work I excitedly told them about my party. I thanked Tristan for helping my friends with the slide, seesaw and bounce castle. I gave them each a kiss on the nose and promptly fell asleep.
Now that my birthday is over, I can start looking forward to Thanksgiving! The holiday season of food and hats is upon us and I am excited!! Have a great week!!

Love & licks,
Josie

Josie's Book Tour

Happy Friday! Happy weekend! First, I must apologize for totally dropping the catnip ball! I feel badly that I did not offer anything new on my website last week. Shame on me! But when you read today’s recount of the week, you will understand why!
I was very busy all week doing some heavy duty self-promotion, and I didn’t get to see my friends at all. But I did make lots of new friends and may even have found a new romantic interest! I have a very interesting story about that, but that’s a whole other blog!
First came the Holly Day Fair. A four day selling/shopping frenzy that was evidently attended by every human being in Fayetteville and a few other places too. I promised myself I was going to give one of my Josie Tales bookmarks to everyone that passed my table, but that proved impossible. I did my best, using the slower times to jump out from behind my table to present a lucky shopper with a free bookmark. Who doesn’t love free stuff?




I was lucky to have a great setup. My friends at 123Christmastree.com brought in several of their beautiful trees to encourage people to preorder their Christmas trees. Great idea! It smelled and looked like Christmas. I sat with my back to the trees so I wouldn’t have to fight the urge to run and swat at a dangling branch!





Many people stopped to smell the trees and when they did I pitched my book to them. It was a lot of fun meeting so many nice people and even more fun selling some books and mugs. I asked people to send me pictures of their cats, and I have received some! I hope some other folks send me pictures too.
The best thing of all was that some very generous people stopped at my table to donate money to FAPS – the shelter I lived in before I was adopted. I ended up collecting a nice little amount which made me proud! I called my friends at FAPS and asked them if I could stop by and present them with a check for the donations. Miss Kittie, the shelter director, told me they would love to meet me. She also agreed to sell my book at the shelter – how kind!
My brother, Tristan, was working, so Mom agreed to give me a ride to the shelter. She also wrote a check to the shelter for the donation funds. It was kind of weird seeing the shelter again. I could hear the dogs barking as soon as we got out of the car. I was nervous about seeing some of my old friends – that is if any of them were still there.
Miss Kittie and Miss Janice greeted Mom and I as we walked through the door. They were very excited to be working with me, as was I to be working with them. You know I never want to miss a photo opportunity, so I brought along the camera. I asked Ashley to take a picture of all of us as I presented Miss Kittie with the donation check.






I couldn’t stay long because I had reserved a table at the E Melvin Honeycutt Elementary School’s craft fair, so I took a quick trot through the shelter and said hello to a few cats and dogs who still had not found homes. It reminded me how lucky I am to have found a family.
I barely made it to EMHE on time, so I had to hurry to get set up. Mom helped me carry some of the boxes, but I still had to do my decorating. I somehow managed to get everything settled before the fair opened to the parents and students.





I made many children smile with my bookmarks, and managed to sell a book or two. All the children were very nice and we had fun looking at the pictures in my book and giggling. I was seated right next to a very nice lady selling caramels. Oooooh, yummy! She offered me a sample of her wares and I couldn’t resist. It was delicious, though I did have some stuck on my fang for a while. I don’t think cat’s teeth are made for eating candy!
My friend Isaiah stopped by to say hello. Isaiah attends EMHE and his Mom was the one who suggested I get a table at the fair. Isaiah picked up one of my books and started singing the 12 Days of Josie’s Christmas. I jumped in and we proceeded to sing it aloud all the way through. We had so much fun singing, I wish we could have added a few more days. How about the 20 days of Josie’s Christmas??!?!?!
Isaiah and his family graciously agreed to help me take my books and decorations back to Mom’s car when the fair was over. I waved goodbye to my new friends and thanked Isaiah, Faith and Miss Pam for their help.
I was exhausted from all my socializing and I couldn’t wait to crawl in to my bed and get some beauty rest. I started dozing on the way home, and Mom had to carry me in the house. She said I was snoring, but I don’t believe that!
I think I’m going to take a break from book selling this week and get the records in order. There’s something called sales tax that has to be paid by 11/20…maybe Mom can help with that.
Have a great weekend…read a book!

Love and Licks,
Josie