Quick Holiday Card Update...

I just finished getting 6 general holiday cards up!  Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas cards will be up later [are up now! See Winter Holiday Section!] and don't forget Halloween!!  (I know that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde would appreciate the Christmas money... well... unless we have to buy a new dryer first!)

one of my personal favorites and then Halloween...

another favorite!  muahahahahahahaha!

Hard Time Choosing...

"We've put up five sections under clothing for Winter Holidays.  The problem is that we don't have any more space.  So we're definitely going to have to take down more so that we can get up all of the Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, & Winter Holiday clothing, cards, & other stuff into the shop!  Mom's mom got the "What? What??" design in the two different card stock types last year while

mom got it as an ornament and it looked really great!"

Gray Cat has been... behaving... like Gray Cat!!

Merry Christmas!!!

[clothes in the shop]

So yesterday we all went to my mom's house for Christmas.  Our family tradition is to have Christmas Breakfast.  We usually manage to get started some time between 12:30 and 1:00 pm.  Well, first everyone has to do "Santa" (that's us and Christie & Garrett** right now... the ones with kids... okay, mine are teenagers but we all still hang stockings) and everyone else just has to wake up or start cooking for a gazillion people.  Well, it may not be a gazillion... it just feels like it with all of us gathered around the three card tables in the living room pigging out (no, really we do) on (skip down to the next paragraph if you're vegan!) scrambled eggs, hash browns mmmmm, bacon, sausage, country ham, and the only reason for Christmas Breakfast... biscuits.

"Biscuits?", you say, "why biscuits??"  Because, all through the year, anyone who travels must (yes, it is indeed imperative) collect a jam or jelly or other fruit product which may be spread upon biscuits (yes, biscuits!), hot steamy luscious biscuits, fresh from the oven (or microwave where they've been reheated... we eat a LOT of biscuits!) and spread with a heart-healthy margerine... mmmmmmm and then topped with jam or jelly or other fruit product (or just topped... depending on what you want, we're not picky here).

Then it's off to present opening.  My mother and father have been writing Interesting Labels™ back and forth to each other for as long as they've been married now (goodness... 37 years now!).  Things like "To Mrs. Lincoln From: Mr. Booth, with apologies for spoiling the play" (my dad's a historian)  This year my mother was given two of her own books.  Inside each was a typed note and a gift card.  One note was from an environmental group praising her for saving trees and the other was from Al Gore.  My family has a wicked sense of humor.

My mother's cat (actually my brother's cat but she lives at my mother's house) Miss Kitty, did not make an appearance.  She is Very Shy and is, indeed, the cat upon which my Shy Cat was modeled.

Miss Kitty normally hangs out on a pillow behind a comfy chair in the living room in front of a wall heater.  Alas and Alack!!  Yesterday, the comfy chair was back against the heater and the pillow was gone!!  But all was well for Miss Kitty!  She has a good retreat for when there are ::shudder:: Strangers in the house.  In the basement is a gas fireplace where Miss Kitty can hang out on a pillow.

Now Miss Kitty has always been shy.  A mother cat was living in the basement of a school where my mother was teaching.  There have been generations of cats living there.  Miss Kitty was born in June and came to live with my parents & my brother David in August.  She has health issues now so has to endure more vet visits than most cats must.  But at the age of 17 that isn't too bad.  Miss Kitty is a beautiful black and white long-hair.

So children the moral of the story is

Rescue, if you can, in some way; but Always remember to neuter & spay!!

(No, really, not trying to push anything but if you do get a cat or dog, it's the most important thing you can do.  We once had a cat of ours get out of the house, because he didn't like the roommate's new cat I think, and he never came home.  One of the first things I said when I realized he wasn't coming home was, "Gee, I'm glad he's neutered!")

                                                                                     

**This site contains adult language!  Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson!!

PS we're running a sale through the end of the year!!  Grab up stuff for next year or things for birthdays!! pass it on...

Cafepress is extending it through the weekend...

which makes me wish I had $75!!!  If you're going to be buying gifts, cards, etc (it doesn't have to be from one store is my understanding... just total $75 in your cart before taxes if applicable... use 75WKND and they'll take off  the shipping, which is a Good Thing™!!  I've been busy trying to put the gym bags and the other new bag into all of the shops.  ::floor:crash::  I've also fixed one of the sections which has a mistake which my 13 yo son pointed out to me ::head:palm::  It's now fixed and it's time for me to eat lunch and maybe take a nap.  Later!!

Black Friday on Cafepress???

Well, sort of... if you were planning on spending $75 or more TODAY, FRIDAY 27TH ONLY on CafePress, then you can get free shipping by using the gift code TGIF75.  I don't know about you, but hey!  The shipping on $75 worth of merch can save me a lot of money!  More later, probably, but I've got to go get dressed, sneak turkey to cats, and start making Christmas presents for my family!

I was a sleeping Kat...

but it's not my fault!  No, really!  The kitten made me do it!  On the other hand, I did manage to get up a few more items in the Winter Holiday section.  (I know I know, but these were actually already made!).  At any rate... I couldn't help myself... first of all, I made some changes to one of the sleeping cats... here are the old version and the new version side by side...

Or as side by side as I can make them, not being the world's best blogger (hey!  I've not been doing it that long, give me a break!  ummmm, take that back... breaks hurt).  Anyway, I managed to get that up without... toooo... many problems.  Then I threw up (no not that kind, altlhough I was a bit quesy last night but that might just have been the cookies from the cookie dough drive at my son's school having arrived ::innocently staring at the ceiling::) this one:

but evidently only got it put up into the clothing section because my mom called me about a horrendously critical error in the card section.  You see, she's been looking at the cards because she'd actually been thinking about getting  What? What?? cat for her holiday cards.  Hey, if I had the money I'd get him in a shirt!  (I don't do cards... I've only managed it about three Christmases... bad me!  no biscuit!).  So it turned out that the product description of D didn't match the interior... ooops!  I need to go check something... brb!  ::sigh::  I was right.  You see, I changed one of the inside greetings on one of the cats I added this morning so I needed to fix the product description.  What was the cat??  Oh.... yeah... here you go...

                                                                 

 While the link in the graphic is to the gift section, just so you know, the interior greetings of the cards are in the same green font.  The one that I haven't put up yet is this one...

                                                                  

 Now I just need to find out if there is a slow page load problem and how to best fix that.  ::sigh::  And there the problem is finding guinea pigs... ummm... I mean volunteers to assist me in the project.  ::rocks back and forth whilst humming tunelessly::  I wonder if I can manage to get cafepress to let me break these down into color & b/w sections.  Part of my problem right now is that making sections is a FITB because you can only have so many.  meh.

Picking Out a Holiday Shirt... oh the agony!! Star! come help!

Now you see, I have a very limited budget.  Make that a very limited budget.  So if I'm going to get myself one of my own holiday shirt designs I really should only get one.  Here in lies my dilemma.

Dilemma the first... do I get a long sleeve shirt or a sweatshirt?

Dilemma the second... which one do I pick????  I mean, after all, I made these.  They're my babies!  I created them for several reasons.  One, some of them were designed because I had never seen anything out and about for that holiday.  Two, you just don't see a lot of cat holiday designs... well, you can find some, but I've had a hard time finding ones I really like.  Yes, I admit it... they came out of sheer selfishness.  Third, having had friends drag me into CafePress in the first place... and it's all their fault... ::sigh::  Hi!  My name is Kat and I'm addicted to creating cat designs for a CafePress shop!

Anyway... the agony of the choice, which honestly could be helped by Star.  He's been trying to get up on the computer desk again.  I'm not sure if it's because he wants to contact someone on Facebook or wanting me to get off and go lay down so he can have a better lap.  Where were we?  Oh yeah!  Which design to pick.  These are the ones that I like... the hard part is deciding what to get... ::sigh:: 

and then I also like...

What's a woman to do??  I mean really!  Heaven knows that I need new holiday shirts... but... there's no money in the budget.  ::sigh::  ::big deep sigh::  There must be a way... ::narrows eyes::  Let's see... penny and penny saved up shall make many... hmmmmmmm.....  Oh!  And I even had other designs put back that I didn't put into the store!!!  Yes, it's true... I keep coming up with cats.  ::lowers head::  Put on the cuffs occifer... I'm guilty.

One down, seventeen to go....

I have a Star cat on my lap, which generally means I should go lay down (he's quite strict with me, you see).  Howsoever, I have managed to get in a new cat into Winter Holiday... here's the pic

and you'll find him in Winter Holiday Gifts, Winter Holiday Clothing, & Winter Holiday Cards.   I've got 17 more to go... yes, you heard me right... now for two teasers...

heh heh heh... just wait until you see the letters to Santa... and of course, we have standard Hannukah & Kwanzaa & Christmas & ...

Ummmm, I got distracted...

I've gotten in all of the inside/cat cards but I've got to actually make some more Winter Holiday Cat things.  OTOH I really really really (no, really!) need to do some sewing while I've got a break from my day job (where I actually had 6 things to do... whoot!).  So I'm going to sew for a bit, rest for a bit, then make more Holiday Cats.  Then I'll fall over and curl into a little ball.  No, really.

Thomas is the cat in charge of the Office/Sewing Room at the moment.  I expect more cats to come in as soon as fabric begins to be handled.

Oh my, this takes time!

I've managed to get six more cards into More Holiday Cards!.  That's the section where you can pick the inside saying and then choose which cat you want on the outside.  It's taken three & a half hours just to put in six.  I want to put in at least six more.  That gives a total of 18, which run the gamut from serious general to funny to Christmas to Hanukkah to Kwanzza to Festivas to Winter Solstice.  ::thud::  Then I need to build some more Winter Holiday cats that I have on the drawing board.  ::sigh::  I've got the ideas written down but not made yet.  Wheeee!

I'd also like to get some sewing in there somewhere.  Thomas has crawled up in the very corner of the guest bed in here.  I'm not quite sure why.  At any rate, I'm going to take a lunch break and then come back to this...

and see if I can find a pair of armwarmers while I'm at it!!

Busy... sort of... Day

I'm almost done with Blessings of the Season, I'm working on a Kufi Hat Cat to go in there and then I'll be done.  I went to go order new cards and ended up having to go twice.  ::head:desk::  By the time I was done, it was time to pick up the teenageboy from Select Singers.  Then we went off to the grocery, where surprise of all surprises, he stayed in the van reading a book.  No, this child is not related to me.  ::snicker::

Now I'm getting ready to take down the computer while he does the trash and his sister works on dinner.  In the meantime Zaphy is ensconced on the scratching post in the hall looking back and forth wondering what in Hades we're doing!  Occasionally he mews at us, hoping that someone will explain everything to him.  "Mah-wow!"  Uh-oh!  My son just opened up a trash bag and it was all over!  Zaphy sprang off of the scratching post and into my office onto the guest bed.  Ah!  Safety!!  Or is it?....

Now, let's see....

Two sections down... because I managed to actually finish up Season's Greetings and I already had חנוכה שמח done.  ::whewsh!::  So, next I'm planning on Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Cats.  But because you can't just copy a section, it will take some time.  I have to create each new section separately and then and then and then.  I also need to see if I can't track down someone more savvy in html than I to fix some stuff on the site.  I've got a fairly wide screen and I'd really like to make it work so that it would fill the screen correctly no matter what someone's screen size is; but that's a bit over my head!!  Sorry!  No speak computer!  ::rueful grin::

Which is rather odd really, since I can only draw on the computer.  You don't even want to look at what my hand drawings look like!!  At any rate, once I get through Wednesday or get in enough cards in the More Holiday Cards! section then I'm going to put up a Breast Cancer items in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I come from a family with a history of post-menopausal breast cancer.  As I say, my great-grandmother died, my grandmother had a radical mastectomy (and lived for years thereafter in remission!), my mother had a lumpectomy.  Oh yeah, I've been getting a yearly mammogram since I weaned my son.  I already have these graphics made, it's just a matter of putting them up... ergo, I give you a preview...

Peace on Earth - Couples v1 and Star... duh

Because Star is the computer kitty!  He came in this morning and jumped up on the back of my chair.  He started clawing on it, which I discouraged, as always.  Then he went weaving around to the arm and around my arm and began licking my left hand (my right being busy with the mouse).  The funny thing was that he started licking my armwarmer as well!  ::shakes head::  Eventually he went over to 'his' chair and curled up and he's asleep there right now.

As for me, I ended up switched armwarmers (I have a plethora of them, most of them from SockDreams which is my favorite place to get them.  My love just got me two new pairs for my birthday.  Whoot!  They have the very best customer service I have ever run into, seriously, they kick butt and take names.  I've never been disappointed with anything I've gotten from them.

Anyway, I've now managed to get another graphic up into Winter Holidays! and I had an epiphany.  So I'm going to make a section that has cats with no words on the front and a set of blanks & inscriptions in a separate section.  It shouldn't be too hard.  Other than the fact that it take a gazillion years to put stuff into cafepress.  Iiiiieeeeeeee!  Run away!  Run away!

More Holiday to go in...

I've got to see if I can get in the other five Winter Holidays graphics today and get started on Hanukkah.  Once those are in, I'll start on Christmas and then Kwanzaa.  Wheeeee!  I just talked to the test write I work with for my day job... I'll probably get a couple of graphics today.  ::crossing fingers::  Oh cool!  He just said I'd have one in five minutes!  Navy shower!!