Caturday Art

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers (all answered by Mommy this week) for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. Adapt is my focus word for 2023.

2. 2022 was a year of monumental change, and none for the better.

3. Appreciate what you have before it's gone is the most important lesson I learned over the past year.

4. I hope 2023 is the year that I can celebrate Christmas again. The last 2 years have been a bust.

Secret Paws Blooper Reel #PetPhotoFails

Meows from Mudpie!

Can you believe it's time for the final Pet Photo Fails blog hop of the year?

This month's edition is a photo dump of bloopers from Christmas morning when we opened our Secret Paws package. They feature a hodge podge of my usual embarrassingly short attention span to "Mommy, why did you shoot that?" to dark and blurry photos of me having fun with my new toys.

Those are my bloopers...let's see yours!

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Secret Paws 2022 Revealed

Meows from Mudpie!

I'm super excited to tell you about my Secret Paws package from the handsome Spike William and his mom Teri! 

Check out all the adorable kitty and puppy wrapping paper! 

The first package we opened was the big one at the bottom of the box. It contained this absolutely gorgeous, handmade crocheted blankie! We were speechless. I LOVE blankies!!! It's SO soft and warm.

The Merry Christmas tissue paper I'm partly on was wrapped around one of Mommy's Christmas gifts from the night before and I had commandeered it, but I immediately nuzzled up to my new blankie to give it a test drive while opening the rest of my prezzies.

The package I opened contained this cute little mouse. True story: we always have a have-a-heart mouse trap set up in our basement because every now and then we have some little visitors, and when I made a beeline for the basement the morning I opened my gifts Mommy knew something was up. Sure enough, we had a mouse! Mommy said I couldn't have him and took him outside, so I was happy to receive a mouse that was all mine!

I've been having loads of fun with these spring toys. 

I've already been tossing them around so much Mommy fears I'm going to lose one!

Yummy! Mommy got chocolate bars, and this cutie pie avacado cat toy looks good enough to eat too! (She's wondering if she could make some guac out of it...) 

Another mousie Mommy can't take away from me!!! 

It cracks her up how obsessed I've been with gnawing at the poor little guy's tail.

They got me SQUEEZIES!!!

And FEATHERS!!!

Peeking at Mommy through the mesh...

Phew! All the prezzie opening excitement was pooping me out! 

I was ready for a nap on my new blankie.

On top of everything I got, Mommy also got a pawsome new cat book for her collection. 

We just love our loot!

In our greeting card Teri wrote that Spike William loves to make biscuits and nap on his own crocheted blankie, and she hoped I would love mine just as much. After we opened all our gifts Mommy sat on the couch and put the blankie on her lap. I hopped right up and started purring up a storm while making biscuits. Then I settled in for a long winter's nap.

Mommy and I both want to thank Spike William and mom Teri so very much for their thoughtful, generous, and purr-fectly wonderful gifts. We couldn't have asked for a better Secret Paws!

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Many thanks as well to BJ Bangs for organizing this wonderful event that makes many blogging kitties very, very happy. Following the tragic death of Paula Gregg earlier this year we were afraid this wonderful tradition would fall by the wayside, so we're very thankful BJ stepped up to the plate.

Now I have a very important question...how many days until Secret Paws 2023???

Meowy Christmas from Melissa & Mudpie!

We'd like to wish each and every one of our dear friends the happiest of holidays. You make our days so much brighter with your kind comments and support. Thank you for being a part of our online family...we cherish your friendship more than we could ever express.

Kitty Christmas Decor 2022

Meows from Mudpie!

We want to start by thanking everyone for all the purrs and prayers for my grandpa. He's having good days and bad days, so right now we're just hoping for more good than bad, and I'm asking Santa for a Christmas miracle. I've been a super good kitty so I know he's listening. I would even give up some of my squeezies to bring grandpa home.

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Today we wanted to show you a couple of this year's kitty Christmas vignettes, starting with our annual Angel Truffles table. We didn't change it too much from last year, sticking with a "winter wonderland" theme with various trees and cat glasses filled with Christmas balls. Our favorite new addition to this table is the black cat vase from CatLadyBox filled with some glistening silver branches.

We also put together this cute sleigh filled with cats and mice from Target...

Thankfully, in spite of all the chaos at our house, Mommy put my Secret Paws package in the mail early last week! I hope our recipient(s) enjoy their goodies!!!

And now our weekly answers (all answered by Mommy this week) for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. My favorite holiday tradition is shopping for and decorating with kitty Christmas decor.

2. On Christmas I plan to fill up on peppermint hot chocolate.

3. 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house we're hopefully sound asleep.

4. Giving is the best way to spread holiday cheer.

Empty Chair #SundaySelfie

Meows from Mudpie!

Do you see the chair behind me? That's my grandpa's chair, but he's not in it.

Grandpa has been in the hospital since a week ago Friday, and he's very sick, but the doctors can't find anything in particular wrong with him. It's the kind of sick you get when your body is old and tired of fighting. It's the kind of sick you don't recover from.

There's been a lot of tears and difficult discussions at our house this week because we just don't know what the future holds, and we're scared.

This is the second year in a row he's been in the hospital over Christmas, but at least last year we had a treatment plan. This year all we can do is ask for purrs and prayers.

We're joining our friends at The Cat On My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!

The Purrfect Ornament #CaturdayArt

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers (all answered by Mommy this week) for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. This time of year, rude shoppers put me in a Grinch like mood.

2. My favorite kind of Christmas cookie is peppermint mocha.

3. Wrapping gifts is my least favorite thing on my holiday to-do list.

4. Others might be surprised to know that I don't do a countdown for Christmas. I love Christmas so much that I always want it to be in the future, not right on my doorstep. There's nothing more depressing than when it's over!

Fun Feline Finds: Trader Joe's Turkey and Cranberry Recipe Cat Treats

Meows from Mudpie!

Earlier this holiday season Summer reviewed some new cat treats available at Trader Joe's. Summer didn't give them a glowing review, but Mommy still had to pick some up because there are TORTIES on the package!

Not only torties, but can you see the little initials on their collars? One has an "M" on it, and the other a "P"! 

MP as in Mudpie!!! We could hardly believe our eyes.

I haven't tried the treats yet so I can't give you my verdict, but even if I don't like them we're sure our neighbor friend Mo will. We'll be keeping the empty package though!

2022 Holiday Gift Guide for Tortie Lovers

For the past several years I've created gift guides for tortie lovers which have ended up being some of our most viewed posts ever! Seems there are lots of tortie fanatics out there like me upset by the lack of our favorite cats on wearables, jewelry and home decor.

Since I'm always on the hunt for anything tortie-related I decided to make a holiday gift guide exclusively for tortie lovers an annual tradition to help make your shopping a little easier. I hope you find something that will make that special tortie-holic in your life purr (or to treat yourself with!)

Compact Mirror

Earrings

Starry Night Art Magnet

Tortie Says...Mini Notepad

Tortie Treats Storage Jar

All You Need Is Love Print

Do you have any tortie lovers on your shopping list this year?

This post contains affiliate links.

Bah Humbug #SundaySelfie

 

We're joining our friends at The Cat On My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!

Christmas Stitching #CaturdayArt

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers (all answered by Mommy this week) for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

1. I have a tough time choosing a gift for my dad. He's so hard to buy for because he always says he doesn't need anything. 

2. I can’t wait to see mom open the Gone with the Wind collectibles from me.

3. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Living in Vermont you would think snow for Christmas would be a given, but that's not the case at all.

4. If my holiday season were a book or movie, it would be titled The Nightmare Before Christmas. As I type this dad is in the hospital again, and after he spent the entire holiday season in the hospital last year with very similar symptoms, I've been having some scary flashbacks. Plus the plumbing issues I was hoping to wait and deal with after the holidays reared their ugly head again this week.

Unboxing November's CatLadyBox

  The theme of November's CatLadyBox was Happy Home...here's what was inside!

Featured Cat Lady Artist: Natsa

Home is Where the Cat Is Tee: And there's no place like home because of it! Love the pretty purrple.

Black Cat Vase: One of my favorite CLB items ever. Mine looks so pretty with silver branches in it on my Angel Truffles memorial table.

Cat Chip Clips: I don't know how many chip clips I've bought in the past, and they never fail to disappear on me. I will not let that happen with these!

Chef Kitties Dish Towel: Super cute graphics of kitties dressed as chefs and slurping from bowls. A few look like they're making faces at the dishes being prepared in the kitchen!

Live Laugh Loaf Sign & Purrfect Pumpkin Catnip Toys: Mudpie loves resting her little head on the sign, and the pumpkin has feathers!

Not a subscriber yet? Visit CatLadyBox today!

Interested in purchasing individual items from past boxes? You can do that too!

Disclosure: I receive a discount on my CatLadyBox subscription as a thank you for my monthly review. Regardless of compensation received, we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers.

2022 Holiday Gift Guide for Cats & Cat Ladies from Etsy

Meows from Mudpie!

Can you believe Christmas is less than 3 weeks away??? While browsing Etsy for the purrfect gift for Mommy, I found several things that any cat mom (and the cats that love them) would love to find under the tree on Christmas morning...or to treat yourself with and make sure you get exactly what you want! I also included some cute kitty Christmas decor to my list because they make pawsome gift ideas too! 

Wool Gloves

Custom Cat Photo Lamp

Hand Carved Opalite Sleeping Cat

Wooden Coasters

Stained Glass Suncatcher

Gingerbread Catnip Cats

Neighborhood Watch Cat Window Cling

Cat Knocking Over Christmas Tree Door Topper

Christmas Cats & Coffee Sweatshirt

Fairy Light Wine Bottle

Personalized Velvet Stockings

Christmas Cats Blanket

Pencil Holder

Christmas Cat Garland

Merry Christmas Wood Sign

Mouse Toy

Looking for more ideas? Check out a few of our collections!

Cat Mom Gifts

Cats & Books

Cats & Coffee

We hope you enjoy our picks, and don't forget, if you find something here you like and make a purchase using our affiliate links, I get a little money for my piggy bank so I can buy something special for Mommy for Christmas!