I had an AWESOME birthday!

Doods, I'm not sure I could have had a better birthday. I got breakfast on time, got to nap where I wanted to all day, and then I went into the kitchen and saw this:

Real live fresh dead shrimp and real live fresh dead steak. I counted the steaks, too. One for the Man, one for the Woman, and one for me to split with Buddah (which is okay because even I can't eat a whole steak.) And I thought that was awesome enough, but it got even awesomer when the Woman only ate half a steak, which meant not only did I get steak for my birthday, but she cut the second half of hers up into bite sized pieces and put them in a container that went into the fridge so that we could have steak treats for DAYS.

And I thought that was it, because I don't really ask for toys anymore because I only really play with one, but then she had a box and said it was from my friend Beth who lives way on the other side of the country, and doods. HOLY COW. Look.

She sent two toys that have a thingy underneath to chase, one for me and one for Buddah, and NIP BANANAS! I freaking LOVE nip bananas. That's the toy I play with!

I love nip bananas so much I had to do this:

I plopped down on the pile and rolled in it a little bit, inhaling all the awesome nip goodness, until I heard the Woman say something. Well, she had to say it a couple of times because I wasn't paying attention.

"You need to pick just one for now, Big Guy."

Well, I wasn't happy about that, but she did let me roll around on the pile for a few more minutes so that I could pick the perfect first banana.

I picked this one. That one you can see behind me, on the needs-to-be-vacuumed rug? That's a really old one that has one end chewed open. We always chew an end off so that we can pour the nip out, and no one even gets mad! The Woman always says, "It's fine. I own a vacuum." Well, yeah, she owns one but it would help if she actually used it once in a while.

Still...I had an awesome birthday. THANK YOU BETH!!! I love my toys!

And than you everyone for the happy birthday wishes!

Bonus: I made it to an age the Woman was pretty sure I'd never see.

I am going to go howl at the end of the hallway now, so that she'll open the linen closet for me so I can lounge in there. She does't seem to mind, so why the heck not?

Oh hey! It's Max's Birthday!

This is how much Max and I get along.

But since today is his birthday, I kind have to be nice to him and not just because it's the right thing to do but because he doesn't like toys very much so that means he's going to get real live fresh dead steak and real live fresh dead shrimp and if he gets some I get some unless I jump on his and bite him or something, so I don't want to do that because I do want to have steak and shrimp.

Now, this is what he wants to do when he's not eating because the Mom's lap is is favorite thing to be on and getting skritches is his favorite thing to do but a lot of the time she has a computer on her lap so he has to squeeze in there which is okay sometimes but maybe not on his birthday so I think while she's asleep tonight I'm chew on the power cord and kill it or something, and that will be my present to him, a whole day of her lap.

Anyway, today Max is 14 years old and on the first birthday he had when I was here the Mom wasn't sure he would make it even to 5 because he got so sick and she always said that if he lived as many years as the Cat Who Came Before Him, Dusty, and as many years as Hank the Dog I Never Met, 13 of them, that she would be happy but here he is 14 years old and even though he's slowing down he seems pretty happy.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX! I'll try to be nice to you all day.

I am not worried, not really...

A few days ago, when she should have been getting up to feed me, the Woman was playing with something on her phone, as if that was more important that my growling tummy.

I sat myself down on the end table by her chair and gave her the Why Are You Not Feeding Me look, because a person ignoring the needs of the kitty totally deserves to get that look.

So what did she do?

Well, she didn't get up to feed me. Instead she shoved that damned camera in my face and took my picture.

I know I'm a lovely model and all, but really...I just wanted food.

Then last night she was sitting there, again with the phone in her hand (and the computer on her lap...it's like she thinks she has important things to do even though I know all she's really doing is playing Trivia Crack and surfing Facebook) and I was lounging on the top of the short cat tree, looking out the front door which is all the way on the other side of the house.

She thinks I look worried.

No, I'm just looking at stuff outside. There were giant moths and stuff flittering around the light outside, and I was just watching them.

If one had gotten inside--and it's possible because the screen door has gaps at the top and bottom--it could have been very exciting.

Oh, and I might have also been contemplating the fact that the People had steak for dinner a couple of nights ago and the Woman only ate half of hers so she took the rest and cut it into tiny bite sized pieces and we've been getting those as treats, and what if they're all gone? That's been a freaking good treat--bites of steak AND chicken on one plate--and it will suck when it's gone.

I am trying to think of a way to get them to have steak more often.

I overheard the Woman talking about how her doctor said to have more protein before she works out...maybe that should be my angle. Technically any time after she works out is now the time before she works out, so she should totally eat steak as her protein.

Damn, I'm good. 

The Woman hijacks the blog: about the cost of the shirts...

Having been bitched up one wall and down another for the price of the t-shirts...look, I didn't set the price. Fifty bucks is about what it will cost me to order each shirt and ship it; it might be a little less but probably not more than $5 less.

I won't make a profit. I might even lose 50-75 cents after shipping. Not a big deal for a few shirts.

I put it out there because, when the picture of the one shirt was posted to FB, several people said they wanted one. If you don't want to pay fifty dollars for a shirt, that's fine; I can order 1 or 2 or 20 at a time, so those who do can still have one.

If you're offended by the price because you wanted one but can't afford it...I'm sorry. If I ever win the lottery there will be t-shirts for all (ok, don't hold me to that...t-shirts for the first 500, for sure. If I win over a million.) But the price is not up to me, I'm not trying to make anything off of them; it's just what they cost.

There's also no hurry. If you want one 6 months from now, I'll still be able to get it.

And really, when you drop a line to Max at his email address and tell him he should be ashamed of his Person...come on. Think before you hit Send. Really think about who actually gets that email.

~Thumper

It's a super soft version of me...

About a week ago the Woman posted this picture on Facebook...she had me put on a t-shirt--front and back--and it came out awesome.

A few people said they wanted one, too, so we're putting feelers out to see if people really want one or if it's just "oh hey, that's spiffy." Which is cool. But if you want one, we need to get an idea of how many people actually want one...because they're not cheap.

With having the shirt made, and then shipping, it's gonna cost about $50. That's a lot, I know. The upside is that the shirts are high quality and don't seem to fade at all--the Woman has like 60 shirts from this company and they're holding up really well. The downside to them is--and you can see it in the pits--is that because of the print process you get white lines in the armpits, but they don't show when you're wearing one.

Here are some possible shirts:
(ignore the arrows...it's a screen shot)

It takes about 6-7 weeks from the date of order to get the shirts in, and giving time for people to chime in and then order, you'd be looking at getting them toward the end of summer.

If you think there's a better than 50-50 chance you'll buy one, just leave a comment. Once we have a better idea how many people will want one, I'll get the Woman to create a way to order them, and she can do whatever she needs to.

Oh, and if you have an iPhone...you can custom order your own shirts with the SnapShirt app. It's pretty spiffy.

This is one the Woman made for herself using the artwork from one of her books. It came out way better than she hoped, and no one else in the world has one.

Clearly, the one with me on it is better...but I'm glad she got one she likes.

Hahahahaha lookit Max

The Mom had some chicken for lunch and Max sat there staring at it and at her and he waited and waited and waited until she was done and then she said "Ok" which means the kitties get a bite so he jumped down and went into the kitchen and we both got bites and all he really had to do was chill out like I did and he still would have gotten a bite and sometimes I think he works too hard to get the things he's gonna get anyway.