Taco Tuesday - the spoiled rotten edition

Taco gets all the toys, this year.

I tallied up all the toys we are giving to him, and do you want to know that number?

I'll give you a hint.

It's completely ridiculous.

Taco is getting 156 toys.

A gross of ping pong balls, and a dozen plush monsters.

By the way, a ping pong ball is the perfect cat toy. He can't eat it, it's impossible to break, so the only thing he can do is hide it. 

But with 144 of them, his hiding spots are going to get pretty full.

Here are the crazy cat-people thoughts that we have: if we buy a few more sets of 144 table tennis balls, we could have a legit kitty ball pit in a box.

It's only a couple hundred more balls, really.

Alas, Taco showed no interest in the pit. I tossed some other toys in there for him to fetch them, and he was shy about diving in. He just fished around for it with his paw, instead.

So, if you want to treat your cat to a good time, I recommend a ping pong ball in the bathtub. Close the curtain, and let your feline wear himself out chasing a ball that won't quit bouncing.

Taco has been doing this for about an hour every night.

Happy winter solstice! Merry Christmas Eve eve! Happy holidays! And happy new year! (Just in case I'm too busy partying to blog until 2015!)

A mail art call from uncustomary art

Go here to learn the details.

www.uncustomaryart.org

They're asking for mail on the theme "what's your view?"

And now it is time for a gratuitous cat picture.

nails and mail

Philippe, who you all know from his Anthropomorphic Mail Art submissions, has sent me a very funny piece of mail celebrating my many shades of nail polish.

As you can see, we match.

hordes of gourds

Way back in October, to celebrate my birthday we went to a corn maze (which we got totally lost in) and since that maze was at a farm, there were great piles of beautiful things for me to take photos of.
Namely, great big piles of gourds.

I thought I'd share them before winter "really" hits.
(Although ten inches of snow seems to indicate the arrival of winter, I'm just going to pretend that was a fluke until the Winter Solstice.)

On a completely different subject, if you like to write letters (or anything) on blank paper, but have some trouble keeping your lines of text straight, hop on over to The Well Appointed Desk because she's got some awesome (and free) downloadable/printable line guides.  My favorite one is the 10 mm line, because my handwriting is huge and only gets bigger if I don't try to keep it on a line.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for this crazy pile of cuteness.

Taco Tuesday - the beast within

For just five minutes a day, Taco reveals his inner beast.

It's the five minutes before I go to bed.

He stalks me.

The scariest part is when I turn out the light. 

He can see me, but it can't see him well enough to know if he is about to pounce.

I think I need night vision goggles so I can improve my evasive maneuvers. 

Taco Tuesday - butt grabber

It turns out Taco is as big a fan of my husband's butt as I am.

Look how happy that little butt-cuddler is.

lion model by Philippe Charron

 Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 We've got another good one from Philippe!

 Look at all that careful shading and line work - you guys! That's not easy!

 She is very serious about her painting.

 So, my question is - did the lion just murder that bison and sit on it?
Maybe the bison is taking a nap.

 The bison continues on to the back!

Thank you Philippe - your art work is lovely. :)

Taco Tuesday

Now that I'm looking at this again, I think the goat needs glasses.

happy bday wolf

Check out those Muppet stickers!

My friend Jen knows how to tickle my heart strings. 

She sent me a birthday postcard ... with Anthropomorphic Mail Art, of course!

And she says she broke out her finest purple ink for me.

I believe her!

internet dog from Eric Bruth

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

"On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
It's so true!
Thanks Eric!
You can go visit Eric at his blog - My Mail Art World - and keep up with his mail art!

monkey yogi by Philippe Charron

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 Umm...ouch!

 Pretty awesome galaxy postage!

 Still...ouch!

And, of course, a primate postage stamp on the back. :)

Thanks, Philippe!

baseball wolf by Philippe Charron

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 The stamps are the balls!

 A slight uniform modification to accommodate a giant, fluffy tail.

 The tiny little hat - so cute!

Of course there is a baseball stamp on the back.

Thanks, Philippe!

matchy matchy Monday - "fresh new kicks...

And pants. Grab a fly girl cuz you know you wanna dance."

Ok, that's enough MC Hammer. Just kidding, there's NEVER enough MC Hammer.

Anyway, I just wanted to say...here I am, matching all my things to my shoes. I like lime green and neon yellow together.

It's like a citrus slap in the face.

Pretty much the same reason why I eat grapefruit for breakfast.

In other news, my birthday present to myself came a bit early...surprise!...

it's this beautiful, shiny, bright pen.

wolf farmer by Philippe Charron

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 I don't know if I'd let a wolf shave a sheep. Maybe he is just preparing dinner.

 Lamb postage!

 Sheep postage that blends into the background, tree line, and horizon line.

 The look on the sheep's face gets me every time. And the skinny little legs.

A thousand thank-yous to Philippe!

ink and ice cream ... the zine

I started a new zine and it's about how much I love fountain pens and ink.
Probably no one will read it, except maybe my fountain pen pals, and that's okay.
How much of an intersection between the worlds of fountain pen lovers and zine lovers could there be?
(It might be just me.)

Here's a picture of part of the first issue. I decided on a letter size flat zine format, with a stapled-in sample of some scribbles done with the featured ink. Each issue will feature a different ink, and I'll have to stop making them when I run out of different inks to showcase. Hah. As if that would ever happen!

Assuming that I (someday) buy all the bottles of ink I plan to acquire, I can always buy or swap ink samples to continue featuring new inks. So, yeah, I have a plan for that, even though it will be years before I actually have to deal with it.
Anyway -HOORAY - I made a thing!
Happy October!

owl body by Philippe Charron

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 Just a transparent owl dude taking his tiny polar bear for a walk...

I really like weird scientific illustrations of anatomy, so it was nice to see the circulatory system in all its glory here.

Many thanks, Philippe!

mounted heads by Philippe Charron

Anthropomorphic Mail Art Project!

 I imagine that these are the finest silk purple pajamas. I'm a little jealous.

 With matching slippers, of course.

 The dog has a dream!

 I love how Philippe integrated his signature.

 This is quite a collection of mounted heads.

 A helpful hint.

And postage with creatures that sport antlers!

Another awesome piece from Philippe - merci beaucoup, Philippe!

Taco Tuesday - rainbow caterpillar

As cat-parents, we did a terrible thing.
We bought Taco a new toy.

 What we didn't know, however, was that Taco would find his new toy to be terrifying.
He ran from the room last night, whenever we'd pick up this innocuous-looking beast.
Usually, a toy on a string on a stick is a winning combination for Taco. But not this time.
{I think it looks a little bit too much like a snake - obviously not in color - but in shape.  Maybe his little kitty brain is being fooled the same way ours is hardwired to recognize perceived threats faster than usual. Did you know that if you see something that sort of resembles a snake (like a stick on the ground), your brain throws that signal on a fast track, and you react faster? If you've ever jumped at something that you saw out of the corner of your eye before you could really see what it was, then you've felt it.}

 So, this afternoon, I tried to make this toy a little less scary for him.

 Left it alone on a chair.

 And presented just the enticing antennae.

I think it worked. 
:)