everything's coming up peonies...

Okay, I know the song talks about roses but here in my garden, the roses are just starting while the peonies are beginning to fade.  Plus, there's not a doubt in my mind that as soon as they're in full bloom, it's gonna rain.  Rain cats and dogs, if you know what I mean.  If I don't talk about the peonies soon, there won't be any left to talk about so...  peonies it is!

Yes, the peonies are blooming.  Have been for a couple of weeks now.  They're kind of pretty, I think.  In fact, too pretty to let the peep take a picture of me with them.  Don't like the competition, as you can imagine.  I will however add a couple of pictures of them to this post strictly for your enjoyment, of course.  But they're not gonna be placed next to any picture of me.  I can assure you of that.

Writing this post and giving it this name has got me purring that song, Everything's Coming up Roses.  Problem is, the word peonies has three syllables and roses has only two.  Bet you didn't realize we cats knew about syllables and whatnot, did you?  Well we do.  We cats are smart.  Way smarter than most people realize.  Sometimes we keep our smartness to ourselves so as not to intimidate the peeps too much.  Also, when we do officially take over the world...  we don't want any peeps to see it coming.

Anywho...  back to the business of syllables.  Here's the thing...  to make the word peonies work in the song, you have got to somehow shorten it so that it sounds like there are only two syllables.  It's a pretty easy thing to do.  Instead of saying pee-oh-nees you say, pee-uh-nees but you make the 'uh' super-duper short.  So short you can barely hear it.  Almost like it doesn't exist.  Placing a really strong emphasis on the first syllable 'pee' helps, too.  Bet you didn't know we cats knew about placing emphases on stuff, either.  Well we do.  Like I said, we cats are super smart.  Super duper smart, I think.


Thing is, when you sing it like that, you really only hear the pee and the nees.  One might even think you're singing about peeing on knees.  And that can happen.  I remember, way back...  must have been a good four, four and a half months ago now...  when my brother Seville had his pee-pee problems.  When he was feeling all better, he wrote a poem and after presenting the peep with his poem for Valentine's Day, he got down from her lap and peed on her.  Yup, that's right.  He peed on the peep.  Now, if I remember correctly, he peed on her leg but you know, the peep's knees are right in the middle of her legs so...  he might have peed on her knees.  Hmmm...  it's like this song was written just for him.  Interesting...

The peeps are just loving the peonies right now.  Have been since they started blooming but peep #1 has one complaint.  She's always looking for sweet smelling things and she says, not all the peonies smell sweet.  Personally I don't pay a whole lot of attention to those kinds of smells.  But the peep is complaining and it's hurting my ears so I'm gonna do a little complaining myself.  I'm gonna complain about her complaining, I think.

The peep says, a couple of these peonies like Red Magic and Festiva Maxima smell just like roses.  Roses?  I thought I had changed the name of this song already.  MOUSES!  She's not complaining about how those ones smell.  She's complaining that some of the others that are supposed to be fragrant have some kind of funny not-so-nice smell.  Hmmm...  I wonder if they smell like our litter boxes if the peep is an hour or two late in the changing of them.  So, maybe...  peeing on the knees is sounding a little more realistic here.  At the least the peeing part, if you get my drift.  Curiouser and curiouser...  Hmmm...

So anyway...  that's it for my little rant on the naming of songs and the smelling of peonies.  I'll just finish up with a couple of pictures.  Like I said, the pictures are purely for your enjoyment.  Certainly not for mine.  And certainly not for the peeps'!   They're all for you.

awarded in triplicate!

It seems like only yesterday when I was given the honour of receiving my last two awards but I guess it was more than just yesterday.  Time flies, as they say and yes, time did fly.  It flew right over to me with not one, not two but three...  yes, three new awards.  I'm surprised...  I'm shocked...  I'm dumbfounded!  I laughed...  I cried...  it was better than Cats!  How or why my friends in the blogosphere are giving me all these awards just bamboozles me to no end but do you know what?  I'm taking 'em!  'Cause I love 'em!  Every single one of these awards is so beautiful and an honour to receive.  Thank you...  thank you very much.

It all started a little while ago when my dear friend Savannah from Savannah's Paw Tracks awarded me twice.  She so thoughtfully gave me both the One Lovely Blog and the Very Inspiring Blogger awards.  Aren't they pretty?  I'm so touched that Savannah considers Nerissa's Life to be both lovely and inspiring.  Yes, very touched indeed.  In both cases, I'm supposed to link back to the one who gave me the award.  Well, like I said, that would be Savannah and you can check out her blog just by clicking on its name above.  It's a pretty neat blog so I would highly recommend giving it a good read.  I'm also supposed to share seven things about myself and, I need to nominate fifteen more deserving blogs.  I think I'm supposed to share seven things and nominate fifteen blogs for each award but we'll talk more 'bout that in a bit.

A couple days after that, to my great surprise, my wonderful friend Herman from It's a Wonderpurr Life presented me with the Kreativ Blogger award.  I don't know if I deserve this one.  I'm not all that creative.  I just write about stuff I see and hear.   I'm sort of an historian, actually.  I write the history of tomorrow.  But it doesn't matter if I deserve it or not 'cause you know what?  It's a pretty award and I'm taking that one too!  Ooh...   it's gonna look so lovely on my blog.  Again, in accepting this award, I must link back to Herman's blog 'cause he gave me the award.  You'll find that link if you click on Herman's blog's name, above.  Then I need to share ten things about myself others might not know and pass the award along to six other blogs.

Okay, as I'm accepting three awards at once, I've got to do a little fancified arithmetic here.  I asked my sister Mason to help me with this as she has those double paws.  Those thumbs of hers sure do come in handy at times like these.  So we took all the numbers and put 'em in one of the peep's purses.  Then all twelve of us cats sat on the purse - not all at once, of course, 'cause we wouldn't all fit - and rolled around and about to crunch them up really well.  Then we pulled those crunched up numbers out of her purse and here is what we came with...

Instead of sharing twenty-four things about myself, I'm gonna just do ten, okay?  Ten total.  I mean, I'm just not interesting enough to come up with twenty-four things all at once.  But ten I can handle, I think.

 1.  I'm a boy cat even if the peep did happen to give me a girls' name!  Has to be said.
 2.  Even though I give her a hard time sometimes, peep #1 really is my favourite person in the whole
      wide world.  I love her lots.
 3.  I have a garden and enjoy a little digging, now and then, but mostly I just supervise the peep.
 4.  Tobias is my little sister but sometimes I think she thinks I'm her mama.  She's always asking
      me to licka-da-top-o-her-head. 
 5.  I was feral...  born in a neighbours' wood pile.
 6.  Even tho' I love her, I never sleep with peep #1.  Sure, I'll nap next to her on the couch but when
      it comes to bedtime, I sleep on a chair, on my own. 
 7.  I'm named after a character in a Shakespearean play.  So were my litter mates Constance,
      Beatrice and Desdemona.
 8.  I love Fancy Feast Grilled Chicken and will pretty much do anything for it...  except for tricks.
      No tricks for this cat.  I'm way too sophisticated for that.
 9.  I jump up onto the kitchen island.  I used to do it only when the peeps weren't watching but now I
      do it all the time.
10. I'm incredibly good about coming in at night...  unlike some of my brothers and sisters.  But I
      won't name any names...  today.

Wasn't that fun?


Now, instead of passing along the awards to thirty-six blogs, I'm gonna pass along each award to six, okay?  There are so many amazing blogs out there that coming up with thirty-six would be pretty easy but...  it really cuts into my nap time.  Gotta keep up with the naps, you know.  That's how I maintain my beauty...  'cause I'm a cat...  and that's what we do.


So...  drum roll please...

The One Lovely Blog award goes to...
- Toby & Leia at the Whiskeratti
- Mario at Mario's Meowsings
- the fuzzy lion at Growl Tiger & Company
- Cathrine at Cathrine Garnell's Blog
- Speedy at Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny
- Kim at Kept by Cats

The Very Inspiring Blogger award goes to...
- the peeps at The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee
- the peep at Random Felines
- the peeps at Sundays at the Shelter
- Selina at ONE EYE ON THE FUTURE
- the peep at God's Little People
- Pernille at My Little Cat World

And, the Kreativ Blogger award goes to...
- the boys at The Cat Street Boyz
- Bert at Four Legged Views
- HRM Spitty at Spitty Speaks
- Katie at GLOGIRLY
- Savannah at Savannah's Paw Tracks
- the peeps at Adventures of Space Paws

So, there you have it folks.  If you've been awarded one of these beautiful, lovely, fantastic and amazing awards, just grab the appropriate one for your blog and tell us all some stuff about yourself and pass it along to a few more blogs.  Easy peasy as they say.  Yes, easy peasy... 

...and you're out!

So peep #1 comes back from getting the mail Monday toting a parcel.  But I have to tell you, I'm not sure how I feel about this particular parcel.

Firstly, the parcel was NOT a box.  Boxes are good.  Almost all boxes are good.  Very rarely does one ever come across a box that isn't good.  Sure, it can happen but it doesn't happen very often.  Boxes are just made to be good, I think.  Yup...  just made good.  But as I said, this parcel was not a box.  Strike number one.

Secondly, on the front of the parcel, was a name...  and it wasn't Nerissa!  Could you believe it?  You'd think that with my having this blog and all, once in a while, someone might send a parcel to me!  But oh no...  this parcel - as usual - was for the peep.  Had her name on the front of it and everything.  Strike number two.
 
Thirdly, when the peep opened up her parcel...  her padded envelope - yeah, envelope as in not a box - out came a book.  The peep was all excited and whatnot.  She didn't jump up in the air and do a three-sixty before landing, like I do when I'm really excited, but I could tell she was pretty pleased to receive this particular book.  You might even say she was pleased as punch.  Nip punch, perhaps.

Anywho...  I took a closer look at this book and said to myself, "Oh no!  Not another cookbook!  Not another one of those Gooseberry Patch cookbooks!"  You see, the peep just loves her Gooseberry Patch cookbooks.  I'm not allowed to sit on them or anything.  Other books, I'm allowed to sit upon, lie upon, pretty much do anything I want upon but Gooseberry Patch cookbooks?  If I should happen to breath upon one of them, the peep will freak.  I'm not a cat who appreciates such limitations being placed upon me.  Nope, I don't appreciate limitations one bit.  And I could just tell that with this book being a Gooseberry Patch cookbook, there would be limitations coming my way.  Strike number three.

Okay, I have to admit.  It's a really pretty cookbook and all.  It's called The Christmas Table, or something like that.  I'm all for Christmas so at least it has a good theme.  I've got to give credit where credit is due, you know.  But I've got bigger issues than this weighing upon my pretty little sterling silver tabby shoulders.  Do cats have shoulders?  Hmmm....  don't know the answer to that one.

Anywho, the next thing is that I'm hearing all about how in this The Christmas Table cookbook there is not one, but two of the peep's recipes.  For crying out loud!  I'm probably gonna be hearing about this for a mouse's age.  Life isn't fair, you know?  It really isn't.  And just to add insult to injury - and I'm pretty sure the peep did this on purpose, the recipes are for veggies!  That's right, not an ounce of meat in either one.  Nothing to interest a cat whatsoever.  One recipe is for Mushroom Pizza and the other is for some kind of Mediterranean Soup.  No chicken, no beef, no fish...  no nothing...  I bet they both have onions in them, though.  Yeah, the peep just loves cooking with those onions.  CATS CAN'T EAT ONIONS!  They would make me sick!  Does the peep never think about me in these matters?  Apparently not.

Oh, and one final little issue...  no, it's a big issue, I think.  Just who in the mouses does this peep o' mine think she is?  I'm the author in this family!  I'm the one with the award-winning blog and all.  Sure, she's published a few short stories and whatnot but she still hasn't finished that stupid old mystery of hers.  Haven't seen it published or anything...  unlike my blog which I manage to publish twice a week...  EVERY WEEK!  Hmmph!  She's trying to hone in on my territory, I think.  And you know how we cats feel about our territories.  I'm gonna have to do something about this.  Gonna have to do something mighty quick.

Peep #1, you're on notice...  three strikes and you're out!

dad's day

As most of you out there know, today is Father's Day.  The day when we celebrate our dads.

I'm a pretty lucky cat 'cause I actually know who my biological dad is.  Lots of cats out there have never even met their biological fathers.  I've not only met mine but I live with him.  That's right...  I do!  I live with my dad, Jacob, along with the rest of my family. 

This fact is especially surprising since I was a feral kitty...  born in the neighbours' wood pile.  But you see, my peeps had seen my dad wandering around the subdivision before I was born.  They suspected he had been abandoned but weren't sure at first.  Eventually, they clued in.  Not before he knocked up my mama though.  Although...  I suppose that's kind of a good thing 'cause...  the result of the whole affair was me!

Once my peeps came to their senses, they invited my dad to come live inside.  He doesn't talk much about those days but the peeps say he couldn't have been a feral kitty as he was pretty easy to get in...  unlike me!  Imagine his surprise that first day when he was popped in a carrier and taken to the doctor for you-know-what.  Yup, he's lucky to have me as a son 'cause there's no more of that of behaviour going on now, if you know what I mean.

Some of you might be wondering how the peeps know for sure that Jacob is my dad.  Well, they're pretty sure he was the only older boy cat wandering around the neighbourhood at that time.  Also, there's the family resemblance.  Personally, I take after my mama with my heart shaped face, but my sister Constance looks a lot like our dad.  They've got the same nose.  Lots of people have said so...  not just my personal peeps.  And although my brother Desdemona was a sterling silver tabby like me, and my dad is orange and white, my sisters are both calico.  I'm pretty sure they get their orange from our dad.  And I do have to admit that around the eyes, my dad and I look a little alike.  So you see, it's pretty much a certainty that we're 'family' family...  if you know what I mean.

But my luck with dads doesn't end there.  Growing up, I sort of had a second dad too.  You see, I had an older brother, Callista.  Yes, yes...  another boy with a girls' name.  Those peeps of mine.  When will they ever learn?  Same old story...  gave him his name before getting close enough to see the important details.  They said, he was a long-legged beauty like a runway model and so they thought he must be a girl.  But you know my peeps...  wrong again!

Anywho...  Callista was a year older than my sibs and me but he was still hanging around with our mama.  They were really close.  He was a mama's boy, all right.  But he was way more than just a pretty face.  He was super nice, too.  Good to us kittens, and everything.  In fact, he helped our mama raise us.  Good thing too, 'cause our real dad was...  I kind of have to say it...  a bit of a dead-beat as far as dads go.  Never lifted a paw to help out our mama.  I remember all this stuff, you know.

When we were younger, there were two really comfy chairs on the veranda.  At first, when we were really little, all four of us babies would cuddle up on those chairs with our mama.  I'm not quite sure how she got us all up there, but she managed.  Probably the ol' scruff of the neck routine.

Then, as we got bigger, we couldn't all fit on one chair with our mama so...  two of us would sleep with our mama on one chair and the other two would sleep with our older brother Callista in the other.  The peeps say it was one of the most adorable things ever.  We did it all the time and they would watch us from inside the living room, oohing and ahhing about the whole pretty picture.

Unfortunately, my brother was even more feral than me.  He never managed to learn to really trust the peeps.  Eventually, he would come into the house to eat and even sleep on a chair or even a bed!  But the peeps were never able to touch him.  If he had the slightest notion someone was gonna touch him he would freak out like you've never seen a cat freak before.  And believe me...  my peeps have seen cats freak.  You remember my Auntie Primrose?  If my brother was sitting on a chair and a peep wanted to get past him, they would have to walk with their back to him so that Kisty knew they weren't gonna try anything funny.  Kisty was very wary of peeps and their ulterior motives and whatnot.

This went on for many years until two years ago, my brother went to Heaven.  The life of a feral kitty is a pretty rough one, you know.  My peeps did their best but Kisty was just never gonna accept being an indoor kitty like me.  But he had food in his tummy and a warm place to sleep at night of which he often did take advantage.  And I'm pretty sure that he knew...  deep down...  that the peeps really loved him...  even if they were peeps!  He was just born to be free, I guess.  Free and a little bit wild...  and one heck of a second dad to my sibs and me.

HAPPY DAD'S DAY, JACOB & CALLISTA!!!

they were doing her a favour!

The weather here hasn't been all that great.  Not great at all.  Well, today is looking pretty decent and yesterday and the day before were kind of nice but on the weekend?  Well, let's just say that the weekend was pretty icky.

I didn't find a single sun puddle last weekend.  Nope, not a single one.  I looked and looked and looked but all my looking was in vain.  The sun was shy or something 'cause he was refusing to show his face, here, in these parts.  I don't know about you, but I find this to be pretty unacceptable behaviour on the the part of the sun.

The peep on the other hand was complaining 'cause it wasn't raining.  Complaining 'cause it wasn't raining?  That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  Who wants it to rain?  MOUSES!  Only a peep could come up with that one.  There was my peep wandering around, head up in some weird position as she stared at the sky, saying stuff like, "it looks like it's going to rain" and "it feels like it's going to rain" and my personal favourite, "didn't the weatherman say it was going to rain?"  Hehehe...  believing what the weatherman on television says.  When will peeps ever learn?

The peep did have a point though.  It did kind of look like rain.  It was cloudy all weekend.  And a little bit of the wet stuff did fall from the sky but not enough to call it rain.  Not enough to give the garden a drink.  I imagine the wet stuff pretty much just evaporated on contact with the ground.  Oh well, time for the garden hose.  Luckily, I don't have to deal with that sort of thing.  I didn't even have to supervise.  No, just pushed the peep out the door and said, "go water my garden!"  She dealt with dragging the hose around and whatnot.

So that was my weekend weather update:  lots of clouds,  no rain and most importantly and most upsetting...  NO SUN PUDDLES!

But then on Monday, it cleared up and the sun decided to show his face...  FINALLY!  It wasn't very hot but we cats had been pretty much cooped up in the house for the whole weekend - due to the threat of wet stuff - so we decided to take advantage of the situation.

That evening, when it was time for the sun to head off to bed, we cats didn't feel much like coming inside.  By midnight, the peep had managed to entice everyone in but my sister Beatrice and my brother Rushton.  There was no sign of either of them so out the peep headed in her nightgown, carrying a flashlight.  It was a pretty funny sight.  Oh, who am I kidding?  It was hilarious!  I have to wonder what the neighbours think 'bout my peep's nightly constitutionals.  Yes, constitutionals as in plural.  This has happened before.  This was the first time this year but you've gotta start somewhere.  It's still early in the summer.  By mid-summer, she'll be having these little outings in her nightgown two, maybe three times a week.  I wonder if the neighbours stay up late just to see the sight.  Could be...  like I said...  it's pretty funny.

Of course, the peep doesn't consider this stuff to be funny.  She gets all huffy and annoyed 'bout the whole situation.  I really don't know why 'cause it gives her a chance to get out and get some fresh air and stuff and that's a good thing, if you ask me. 

And the best part is this.  The other night...  when the peep headed out into the great dark unknown...  she smelled the most delightful scent.  As she walked along the path leading from my front door, the scent of superb pinks hit her like a tonne of bricks.  But it was the good kind of tonne of bricks.  The kind that you want to have hit you right smack dab in the middle of your nose.  Right where you have all those olfactory sense thingies.  Superb pinks smell delightful.  Even us cats think so.  And I know the peep loves the scent 'cause that's why she grows the things in the first place.  I also know that they smell best at night.  So, if the peep hadn't been wandering about aimlessly in her nightie in the middle of the night looking for Beatrice and Rushton, she would never have experienced the wonderful scent of the pinks.  In a way..  you could say...  they were doing her a favour!

she doesn't do pills

My sister Constance doesn't do pills.  She just doesn't.  Not ever.

Oh sure...  the peep might get one in when Connie is totally unsuspecting.  Like, if my peep were to hide a pill in the palm of her hand and speak all innocent to her.  Say things like, "Oh hi there, Constance" or "Whatcha looking at out that window there, Connie?"  Then, when the peep got close enough, she could grab my sister and pop that pill right down her throat.  If she did all that, she might get a pill in.  A pill...  as in singular...  as in one.

It is possible she might even manage a second one if she can catch her.  You see, after all the trickery and deceit of the first pilling episode, it's not likely Connie is gonna fall for that again.  But if the peep were to sneak up on her while she was sleeping or something, she might stand a chance.  Might...  as in maybe...  as in once in a blue moon that happens to coincide with a full lunar eclipse.  You see, my sister Connie has ESP.  That stands for the skill called Evading Sneaking Peeps.  It's a real skill and my sister has it in spades.

My sister Constance can hide under peep #2's big old writing desk.  No one has ever figured out how she does this.  There's just this teeny-tiny opening at the bottom but Connie manages to wriggle & squiggle her way underneath.  She's not a small girl but the peep says she must be very malleable, or something like that.  I say, she must be magic!  Point is, once Connie gets herself under that desk, she's not coming out from there until she's good and ready.  And usually, she's not good and ready until all danger of any pills are past.

We once had a doctor who couldn't - or wouldn't - believe Connie had ESP.  You should have seen the looks she gave my peeps when they told her Constance wouldn't take pills.  They got the looks, the raised eyebrows, the whole works.  I know, 'cause peep #1 told me all about it.  This doctor just simply would not believe that a cat couldn't be pilled.  Obviously, this doctor didn't know my sister Constance.

The doctor we have now has a totally different attitude.  When the peeps told her about Connie's ESP, she simply said, "Good to know."  Now that's a good attitude, don't you think?  There were no raised eyebrows, no rolling of the eyes into the back of the doctor's skull, or anything like that.  I really like this doctor a lot...  well...  as much as a cat can like a doctor...  if you know what I mean.

Now when Connie has to take pills, the peep plans ahead.

If it's a one-shot deal, like a deworming pill, the peep might try to sneak it into her food.  It has to be Fancy Feast - straight up - in order for this to work.  But to be honest, Connie is really too smart to fall for that...  you know...  with her ESP and all.  The peep has tried more than once and Connie is way ahead on that score.  The peep is better off with her trickery and deceit ploys for the deworming pills.  Of course, if Constance happens to be at her annual check-up or something, the peep with get the doctor to do the pill.  For some strange reason, Connie takes them for her.  Don't know why.  Probably that long plastic pill giver thingy the doctor has.  Or maybe it's the immobilising fear instilled upon Connie simply for being in the doctor's office...

If Constance ever needs multiple pills like antibiotics or something, they go the needle route now.  One shot and she's good for ten days.  Way easier than trying to get ten pills down her throat.  Did I mention that Connie does not take pills?

You know, the peeps take pills every day.  Yup.  They call them vitamins or something silly like that.  I call them pills...  which is what they are.  No need to sugar-coat this stuff.  And the weirdest part is that the peeps take these pills willingly.  Crazy, crazy stuff...  They just pop 'em in their mouths and swig 'em down with some juice or something.  Nuts, I tell you!  Never seen anything like it.  But then, peeps are a little nuts, aren't they?  Yup... crazy like a squirrel making nut pies.  Oh yeah...  and I've seen the peep do that, too.  She calls it Pecan Pie.  I call it nuts!  But I'm willing to take a little of the whipped cream off her hands for her, if you know what I mean.  Least I can do for my crazy peep, I think.  Yup, the least I can do.

beam me up, Scotty

HOLD THE PRESSES!

Okay, so I had my post for today all ready for publication.  Well, almost...  there were a few last minute touches to do, here and there.  I'm sure you all know how it is.  But then yesterday, I was reading my friend Selina's blog...  you know her blog, right?  It's called ONE EYE ON THE FUTURE and is really quite special.  Anyway, Selina was showing off some of her jumping skills in her post yesterday and I called over to the peep to take a look.  Peep #1 was quite impressed at how Selina could jump straight from the counter onto the top of the kitchen cabinets.  That's when the peep told me about what my aunties used to do...

The following is a true story told to me by the peep.  My aunties Snowdrop and Blossom have confirmed all the facts.  My auntie Primrose has taken the fifth!

This happened long, long ago...  in a place far, far away.  Okay, it wasn't that far away...  maybe about a ten minute drive...  where my peeps used to live, in the house where my three aunties were born.  But it was a long time ago.  Long before I was born.  In fact, it was in the last century!  That's right...  the late 1990's.

In the peeps' old house, the kitchen was kind of small.  There were counters on the two longer (we're talking relative here...  they weren't actually long) sides of the room and along one of the shorter sides.  Let me try to paint you a picture with my words.  If the peep was better with the computer, I'd have her draw you an actual picture but you know my peep...  the woman is a technologically impaired duffer!  I know I've said this before but it's as true today as it was yesterday...  and will likely still hold true tomorrow!

Anywho...  if you stood by the inside short wall of the room and looked towards the outer wall, you would see a long counter on your left, starting right after the refrigerator.  Above that counter there were cabinets.  They didn't reach right up to the ceiling or anything.  They just kind of hung there in space.  Straight ahead was the shorter counter and in the middle of that was the kitchen sink.  Above the sink was a window and to the right of that was another hanging-in-space cabinet.  All along the right hand wall, was a counter extending from the short wall with the sink all the way to the oven.  Above that whole counter were more hanging-in-space cabinets which connected with the one on the short wall, forming an L.  Right in the corner, where the counters of the long and short walls met, sat a bread bin, at an angle, says the peep.

Okay, got the picture now?

When my aunties were younger, they got into EVERYTHING!  At least that's what I've been told.  They also managed to get themselves just about everywhere.  For quite some time, they had been jumping up onto those hanging-in-space cabinets on the left hand side of the kitchen.  Peep says they would hop up onto the counter and then up onto the fridge and then, up onto the cabinets.  Peep says she'd walk into the kitchen and never know what she might find up there...  maybe one cat...  maybe two cats...  maybe all three cats up on those cabinets.

But one day, the peep walked in to find a cat lying on the hanging-in-space cabinets on the right hand side of the room.  Now, this was a real mystery for the peep.  You see, in order to get up there, my aunties would have to jump straight from the floor onto the cabinets and the peep just couldn't see them managing that.  Those cabinets where deep...  as deep as the counters...   so a jump from the counter would be next to impossible to manoeuvre.  The peep didn't know what was going on.

Over time, the peeps quite often found either my auntie Blossom or my auntie Snowdrop up on those cabinets.  They never found auntie Primrose there, though.  And they still hadn't figured out how the other two were managing it!

Then one day, peep #1 walked into the kitchen to find my auntie Primrose sitting on top of the bread bin.  It was kind of weird though, 'cause she couldn't see my auntie's head...  just her body, sitting there on the bin.  Her head had sort of disappeared into the hanging-in-space cabinets...  like magic!  Auntie Primrose sat there for at least a minute or so and then she lowered her head, making it visible and all, and looked around.  The peep said she knew exactly what my auntie was thinking...  "Didn't work.  Still here..."

Have you figured it out yet?

After my auntie Primrose climbed down - rather dejectedly, I might add - from the bread bid, the peep did some investigating.  Where the hanging-in-space cabinets met, there was a secret passage.  The peeps had never noticed it before but the cabinets didn't open up into one another in that corner.  The cabinet along the shorter wall wasn't as deep as the other and part of it went behind the one on the long wall but not all the way.  This left a small opening between the cabinets and wall.  Too small for peeps but big enough for a cat...

So my aunties Snowdrop and Blossom had figured out that if they sat on the bread bin, they could jump straight up into the air and land on the hanging-in-space cabinets.  Actually, there was also some climbing and hauling up with claws involved.  Eventually the peeps caught Snowdrop in the act and heard the scrambling noises coming from within the cabinets.  My poor auntie Primrose though, never figured it out.  She thought that if she just sat there on the bread bin, she would be magically transported up onto the cabinets.  She never realised she needed to actually put in a little effort and jump.  Had my peeps not moved from that house many years ago, Primrose might still be sitting there, waiting for Scotty to beam her up.  Sad...  but true.

I'm so flabbergasted!

That's right...  I'm flabbergasted!  In fact, I am so very flabbergasted, I had to take a little nap.  Hehehe...

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks.  For starters, I won two awards!  Yes, TWO OF THEM!  Yoo-hoo!!!  I could hardly believe it when I was given the first one but then, to be awarded a second just a few days later...  well...  what can I say?  I'M SO FLABBERGASTED!!!

My good friend Savannah at Savannah's Paw Tracks gave me the Sunshine Award.  I was so pleased.  This is such a beautiful award...  all sunny and bright and whatnot.  Well, you can see for yourself.  Isn't it pretty?  When accepting this award, I have to provide a link to Savannah's blog.  Well, you just click on the name of her blog up there and you can visit it as much as you like.  It's a great blog so I think you'll have lots of fun there.

Secondly, I have to tell you some stuff about myself.  There are seven questions in all but they weren't difficult to answer.  Actually, it was kind of fun.

-  My favourite number is...  well...  until now, I didn't really have one.  I thought about it and decided that since I love my peep #1 and all, I would do a little peep arithmetic.  The peep's birthday is September 27th so, if you take 9 for September and then add 2 + 7 from the 27th, you get another 9 and if you add those two 9s together you get 18 and if you add 1 + 8 you get ANOTHER 9.  Well...  I think we all know where this is going.  My favourite number is 9.

- My favourite non-alcoholic drink is cream.  I never get enough of it at any one time but if I give the peep just the right look, she'll give me a tablespoon or so.  Yummy!

- Do I prefer Facebook or twitter?  Well, I'm pretty new to Facebook but I'm liking it a lot.  But I have to say...  no one parties like the anipals on twitter...  so I'm gonna go with twitter.  Oh, I should just mention that my Facebook page is called Nerissa's Life...  just like my blog.   And on twitter, I'm known as @nerissathecat!

- My passion is my peeps!  I love lots of stuff like my friends, my fur family and my blog but I really, really love my peeps.  I'm pretty sure they love me, too.


- My favourite pattern is - this is just too easy - it's the spots and stripes on my sterling silver tabby coat.  What else would it be?

- My favourite day of the week is Sunday.  I love Sundays.  Usually my peeps are home with me on Sunday and that's good.  It's a publishing day for my blog and that's always fun.  And just recently, I went to my first BBQ party on twitter and I had a blast.  Like I said earlier, no one knows how to party better than the anipals on twitter!

- My favourite flowers are pansies.  The peep would probably say lilies or primroses or peonies or something silly like that but I'm the one who won this award so I'm gonna go with pansies.  They're both pretty and cute - kind of like me.  They come in lots of nice colours, many of which look lovely with that sterling silver tabby coat of mine.  And, they're edible!  Most plants I'm not allowed to eat 'cause they'd make me sick but if I want to nibble on a pansy or two, the peep says that's okay.  I've even seen the peep eat 'em!  But please note, only eat pansies that have been grown organically, just like the ones my peep grows for me.

Now, I get to give the Sunshine Award to ten other bloggers.  Isn't this fun?  So...  drum roll please...  the winners are....

- Herman at It's a Wonderpurr Life
- Katie at GLOGIRLY
- Laila & Minchie at Cat-a-holic with Laila & Minchie
- The Ryker's Boyz at A Tonk's Tail (err...  Tale...)
- Iza, Ayla & Marley at Mark's Mews
- Cody at CAT CHAT with Caren & Cody
- Everybody at Mewsings of Garden Cottage Cats
- Everybody at Pikku Punapippuri
- Penelope at The Cat from Hell
- The Crafty Gardener at Crafty Gardener

Okay now...  onto award number two!  Yesterday, I received more great news.  My good friend Sammy...  you know Sammy, don't you?  He does those great Tuesday Teasers and all sorts of other fun stuff on his blog, onespoiledcat.  You have got to visit!  Well, Sammy gave me the Illuminating Blogger Award.  I had never heard of this one before but oh, is it ever pretty, too.

To accept this award, I must tell you one illuminating fact about myself.  I thought about reminding everyone that I was a boy cat... not a girl...  but I think everybody knows that by now.  I also thought about reminding everyone how my peep is a technologically impaired duffer.  But I think we all know that by now, too.  So, my illuminating fact is...  another roll please...

...  my avi on twitter is really a picture of my sister Tobias!  That's right!  She's a sterling silver tabby just like me but she is a girl...  and she's my sister...  not me.  You see, the peep couldn't get the picture of me, she was trying to use, to centre properly so she used a picture of Toby.  I did mention that she was a technologically impaired duffer, right? 

Now, let's get back to business.  Just like with the first award, I get to pass along the Illuminating Blogger Award to my fellow bloggers.  I get to pick five!  Here they are...

- Tinker, Anastasia & Mitty at Whisker Messages from a Church Cat
- Brandi at Catitude
- Spitty at Spitty Speaks
- Derby & Ducky at Derby and Ducky
- Mario at Mario's Meowsings

Guess what!  The fun isn't over!  Two other things happened to me recently....

The first, I mentioned earlier.  I've got a Facebook page now!  Come on over and visit me there!  It's lots of fun, I think.  You can find me on Facebook at Nerissa's Life.

Lastly, just this past week, I went on a train ride!  Well, not really.  I've never been on a real train before.  Never even seen one in real life but the other day, I hopped on the Blog-Train and it's a lot of fun.  I'm allowed to give 'tickets' to all my friends so...  if you've got a blog...   and you'd like a ticket...  here you are.  Just take one of these and you'll be riding the Blog Train right over to Blog Ville!  Hey, it's fun!!!!  And maybe, if you ask really nicely, the conductor will even let you blow the whistle or ride on the caboose!  Hehehe...