I got mail?

I did.  I did.  I really, really did.  I got some major mail over the holidays, for sure.

On Friday, there was a notice in the mailbox sayin' that I had to go to the post office to pick up a parcel. Well you know how I don't like goin' in the car, right? Right.  So I sent the peep.

There was a parcel to be picked up and the man at the post office said that I, Nerissa the Cat, had to sign for it but...  well...  I wasn't there so the peep signed for me.  Hope no one noticed our little switch-a-roo there.  Couldn't be helped.  Like I said, I don't like goin' in the car.

Anywho...  the peep picked up the parcel and when she came home, I checked it out.  It was a box.  It was a very interestin' box.  A very interestin' box, indeed.  I looked at it from all angles.  Being an extraordinarily inquisitive cat, I investigated that box as thoroughly as any box has ever been investigated in the history of catkind.

There was printin' on the box in foreign languages.  That's right...  languages.  Languages with an 's' as in plural.  On the box was printed, Die Post, La Poste, La Posta.  Hmmm...  now what could that mean, I thought to myself.  Of course, I knew, instinctively.  Must mean mail or somethin' like that. But why the three languages?  German, French and...  and...  and Italian?  Yes, definitely Italian.

"How do you know that La Posta is Italian?" the peep asked.

"I know stuff," I answered.  "I know stuff about other countries and the languages cats and peeps speak there.  Check out my badge from the FBI.  Like it says, I'm an international mancat of mystery.  International," I reiterated.

I was still checkin' out the foreign words when I spotted, Swiss Post.  I knew in an instant from where that parcel had come.  I knew right away that it must be from my pals Loupi and Zorro who write the amazin', Swiss Cat Blog.  I immediately deduced that they were my Secret Paws.  Yoo-hoo!  YOO-HOO!!!  My Secret Paws prezzie had arrived!

By this time, Seville had appeared on the scene.  He wanted to help me open my prezzie and in the spirit of Christmas, I let him.  Together, we checked out all the stuff inside the box. There were all sorts of prezzies and each one was carefully wrapped in pretty coloured tissue.  Lovely, I thought.

It didn't take long before Sivvers and I had ripped open those prettily wrapped prezzies.  What fun we had.  There was a wand toy with feathers and another toy that looked like a butterfly with feathers and nip.  There was this great toy that looked like a giraffe's head and neck.  I grabbed hold of it by its neck and played and played and played.  What fun.  What fun!  There was even a blanket.  It's super soft and I played on it with my new toys for ages yesterday afternoon and after I finished playin', I had a nap on it.  Very comfy blanket for nappin', for sure.  Oohhh..  and there were treats! There was a bag of treats for my fur family and me and a box of treats for the peep.  Chocolates, she said.  The peep likes chocolates so those should go down very well.

There was even a card.  Actually, there were two cards but one was for the peep.  The important one was for me, of course.  It was really nice.  It said, Dear Nerissa and siblings.  We wish you all a Meowy ChrissyMouse 2013! and was signed by my pals, Loupi and Zorro.  Neat, huh?  It even had their pictures.

I wanna thank Loupi and Zorro from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful Secret Paws prezzies they sent to me.  I love 'em!  Yup, I love each and every one of 'em.  My brother Seville really loves 'em, too.  Won't be long now before all my fur-sibs are loving 'em up.  They're pretty amazin', for sure.

But all this Secret Paws stuff got me to thinkin'.  Thinkin' about how maybe I should be lookin' for a new peep or two.  Loupi and Zorro's mum had put such care and effort into wrappin' my prezzies. What a wonderful job she did with them.

But I know for a fact that when Ol' Peepers wrapped up the prezzies I was sendin' to Kizzie over at the wonderful blog, Kizzie Cat, she didn't do nearly as well as Loupi and Zorro's mum.  MOUSES!  The peep said she had wrapped the prezzies in tissue and then sealed them in plastic bags so that none of the post office peeps would get high on the nip or anythin'.  Yeah...  right...  like that's gonna happen. Wait a minute...  it could happen.  If Canada Post employs cats, it could happen for sure.  You know us cats with the nip!

Then I asked the peep what kind of card she had enclosed for Kizzie.

"Card?" she replied.

MOUSES! Peepers.  You forgot to enclose a card?  What will Kizzie think of me?  Of course, Kizzie probably knows the reputation of my peep.  Doin' a million and one things the month before Christmas and not gettin' any of those things right.  Rest assured, Kizzie, had it been I who had packaged up your Secret Paws prezzie, there would have been a card.  Sorry 'bout that.  Sorry I didn't do a better job of supervising the peep.

Basically, Peep #1 got a major FAIL on the Secret Paws stuff.  She didn't wrap Kizzie's prezzies in pretty paper like Loupi and Zoro's mum wrapped mine.  She forgot the card.  Goodness knows what else she messed up.

Oh, that's right.  I happen to know exactly what else Peep #1 messed up.  Where do I begin...

Well, she sent out my BFF's prezzie late.  That's right, she mailed Herman's prezzie so late, I'm positive it didn't arrive in time for Christmas.  You all know Herman from the incredible blog, It's a Wonderpurr Life, right?  Right.  Anywho... Stuff takes longer than a week to get places when you're not usin' egg beater technology, Peepers.  She did manage to do up a card for my pal Herman but it had to be taped onto the outside of the parcel 'cause she forgot to put it inside before tapin' the parcel up.  MOUSES!

And then there were the Christmas cards that were never sent out.  I recieved amazin' cards from some of my twitter pals like Nancy Cake Face and Angel Phi and Dylan.  Beautiful Christmas cards, they sent me.  But what happened to the cards I was sendin' to them?  Good question.  Let me put it this way...  I think I'll be sendin' the peep out for Happy New Year cards to send to my pals 'cause the Christmas ones never got mailed!  Maybe I should skip New Years and send 'em for Valentines Day.  If she starts on Valentines Day cards now, surely they'll get to my pals in time for that.  Again I say...  MOUSES!

I will also be sendin' Ol' Peepers out for a thank you card for my pal, Savvy, who writes the fantastic blog, Savannah's Paw Tracks.  Savvy made a donation in my name to help save the wolves.  Wasn't that nice?  I like wolves.  I don't think I'd ever wanna meet one face to face or anythin' but I still like 'em and I wish peeps out there would stop persecuting them and doin' awful things to such beautiful creatures.  Wolves are people too, you know.


Now I think that's all the stuff the peep screwed up regarding my mail.  Hmmm...   How did this become a post about the peep screwin' stuff up?   I had planned on writing a post about all the wonderful mail I received this holiday season.  I guess Ol' Peepers just did one too many screw-ups and her messin' things up out-weighed my glorious receivin' of the mail.  Once more I must say...  MOUSES!

Oohhh...  and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR! to everybody.  My next post will be on New Year's Day but I wanna get in my greetings for everyone early just in case Ol' Peepers, here, screws that up, too. MOUSES!

home in time for Christmas

Nissy stood on his hind legs and reached for the door knob before him. He grabbed hold of it with both front paws.  The handle repeatedly slipped from under his grip but with unfettered determination, he managed to turn it just enough to do the trick.  Using all his weight, he pushed on the glass door.  It opened slightly and he quietly slipped inside the living room.

Nerissa studied his modified compass carefully.  Just as he thought, there was a radioactive anomaly in the room.  A reindeer had been here.

Of course, Nissy had expected a visit from the North Pole.  Santa was known for outsourcing certain nip mice work and once again, he had asked Peep #1 to help him out.  The peep had been busy knitting and sewing up nip toys all month long but he was pretty sure she had finished her elfin' work over the weekend.  Nissy knew from past experience that once the nip toys were made, Santa would send elves to Nova Scotia to pick them up so that they could be wrapped and delivered, by him, early Christmas morning.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Nerissa started to leave the living room but stopped short, realising something was out of place.  Turning around slowly, he noticed an unfamiliar gift under the tree.  All of a sudden, the top of the gift box moved and before he knew it, there was a little kitten staring out at him from inside the box.  "MOUSES!  Who are you?" asked Nerissa, "and what are you doin' in my living room?"

The kitten meowed and then answered, "Angel.  My name is Angel.  I live at the North Pole with Santa Claus."

Nissy checked his modified compass.  The dial was spinning in circles as he approached the little kitten.  Sure enough, Angel was from the North Pole.  She was covered in radioactive reindeer dust.

Angel immediately explained the situation at paw to Nissy.  "So you see, Santa asked me to ride along with these two new apprentice elves because they keep making mistakes with the pick-ups.  They've been messing up all of Santa's out-sourced orders.  Once I saw what they had done at your house, I knew I had to stay behind and let you know what had happened.  I knew you'd want to fix this debacle right away."

"They took all the peep's prezzies from us cats?  MOUSES!  I sure am glad you stayed behind to let me know. We'll have to head on up to the North Pole right away.  I know just what to do, Angel."

"SIVVERS!  PREPARE THE TELEPORTATION DEVICE," Nissy cried and moments later, his brother Seville appeared dragging a frying pan, a couple egg beaters and various other teleportation paraphernalia.  The three cats climbed into the frying pan.  Nissy and Seville each started revving up an egg beater.  "Hang on tight, Angel!  This isn't reindeer travel."

"Nerissa," began Angel, "I would be extremely grateful if you could drop me off on the pick-up sleigh on your way to the North Pole.  I really should check in on those two elves and make sure they don't make any more mistakes with today's pick-ups."

"No probs," interjected Seville.  "Nissy, you track that sleigh with your compass and give me directions.  I'll steer the teleportation device."

Nerissa tracked the sleigh's flight path, finding it somewhere over Newfoundland and Labrador.  Much to Nerissa's surprise, he and Seville were able to do a quick fly-by and safely transfer Angel to the sleigh, mid-air...  a delicate but successful manoeuvre.  Clearly, Seville's steering was improving. The boys then headed straight north-west and moments later, landed in a snowy winter wonderland.

It wasn't long before Nerissa and Seville met up with a snowman chatting to a family of polar bears. "You're from down south?" asked the snowman.  "How nice to meet you.  The workshop is about a mile that way, on the other side of that forest.  I doubt you'll be able to get in though.  The elves don't take well to strangers."

Nissy thanked the snowman for his directions and the two cats began their journey through the snowy forest. Should have brought snacks, thought Nissy to himself.  Bet those bears had snacks.  Should have asked 'em for a couple.

Before long, the two cats found themselves on the far side of the forest. Santa's Workshop was within sight but Nissy was so tired from trudging through the snow, he didn't know if he could go much further.  Snow was falling and with every passing moment, their path became deeper and deeper. The pads of his paws were so cold and all he could think of was how much he wanted a mug of hot nip cider.  "Should have brought some nip cider," he muttered to himself.  "That and some snacks."

"HALT!"  A precocious little elf stood in the path the two cats.  "Who are you and what is your business here?"

Nissy began to explain how the elves had mistaken his peep's prezzies for nip toys needing to be picked up before the night's deliveries but the elf interrupted.  "Not possible.  All elves are highly trained.  Such a thing could never happen."

"But Angel said..."

The elf cut Nissy off in mid-sentence.  "That cat?  Never you mind what that cat says.  She probably made the whole thing up.  Imagine Santa asking a kitten to keep an eye on elves.  Never heard such nonsense.  You just turn around right now and head back on down south."

Nissy was mortified.  They had travelled all this way only to be turned back by an elf?  And how would he and his fur family face the peep in the morning when she found not a single present for herself under the tree?

"Hey Nissy!" cried Seville.  "Look who I found...  it's Rudolf!  Rudy says he'll get us into the workshop.  He's a little miffed that Santa didn't take him on his practise run this afternoon.  Left him behind with all these elves, some of whom," and Seville looked pointedly at the elf who had refused the boys workshop access, "aren't overly friendly."

"That's great!" cried Nissy and he once again explained, but this time to Rudolf, what had happened earlier in the day.

"Oh yeah...  those two apprentice elves have been getting things wrong all season," agreed Rudolf.  "Don't know why Santa continues to allow them to do pick-ups.  But you're in luck," continued the reindeer.  "I know exactly where this morning's pick-ups were dumped...  I mean, carefully laid...  in the workshop.  I'll help you find your peep's presents.  It'll just take a minute or two.  You two stay right here and I'll be back in  the wink of an eye."

Nissy blinked.  Then he winked.  Then he winked again.  He looked around. No sign of Rudolf.  No sign of Seville, either.  Moments later, several gift boxes appeared before him along with a snowman whom Nissy had never met before.

"Rudolf wants to know if these are your peep's gifts," explained the snowman.

Nissy peered at the boxes.  Gingerly, he opened one and then another and finally, a third.  "These aren't the right gifts," he told the snowman.  These are not the prezzies we cats got for the peep.  Besides, we wrapped her prezzies in gold foil so that they'd sparkle under the tree."

Sleigh bells could be heard overheard and Nissy looked into the sky.  There was Santa, flying about without a care in the world.  "MOUSES!" Nissy muttered.  "He should be down here helpin' me sort out this mess caused by those apprentice elves of his."

As if by magic, Nerissa suddenly found himself inside Santa's workshop.  He spotted Rudolf and asked why he was suddenly being allowed access.

"I thought it might be easier for you to find the correct gifts, yourself."

Nissy padded around the workshop and before long, he found Peep #1's presents, still wrapped in foil just as he had wrapped them.  "Thank goodness!" he cried.  "Rudolf, you're the best."

Nissy caught a glimpse of his brother and spun around.  "Seville?  SEVILLE?  Get out of that snow globe this instant," he demanded.

"But I don't even know how I got in it!" his brother wailed.

"Just a little Christmas magic," whispered Rudolf, eyes sparkling with mischief.  "Come on you two. I need to get you both home and settled in for Christmas Eve with your family.  Hop on my back and I'll fly you over the forest to pick up your teleportation device."

"That would be wonderful," sighed Nissy with relief.  "The thought of trudging through that forest again was...  was...  well, it was unthinkable.  But how did you know...?

Nerissa and Seville found themselves in the snow on the far side of the forest, their teleportation device lying before them.

"MOUSES!" cried Nissy.  "That Christmas magic sure is strong stuff. Rudolf flew us over here and we didn't even... "  He stopped and peered at his brother.  "That a carrot in your fur?"

"Ummm.... yeah...  I think it belonged to that snowman in the snow globe.  I think it might have been his nose.  But speaking of noses...  I mean, carrots... we should leave some out on the mantle tonight.  You know, next to the cookies and milk for Santa."

"Good idea, Seville.  But first...  SIVVERS!  PREPARE THE TELEPORATION DEVICE.  Let's head on home.  It's that-a-way," and Nerissa pointed south.  "Home, Sivvers.  Take us home.  Take us home in time for Christmas."

bling, bling and more bling

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Just look at what Google+ did to the Christmas card Ol' Peepers made for me.  Isn't it amazin'?  I woke up one mornin' and found some of my pictures all blingafied by Google+ with twinklin' lights and fallin' snow.  It was like an early Christmas present, just for me. Lovely.

Anywho...  this blingafying of the pictures is called auto-awesome and although I haven't figured out everythin' about it, I will.

If you haven't yet received a Christmas card from me or, if you received the un-blingafied version but like this one with the twinklin' lights better, please feel free to grab it.  It's there for the taking.

Okay...  time to get down to business.  It seems that I have received a few awards, as of late, that I have not yet officially accepted.  Better get on with that accepting now 'cause if I don't, I'll end up accepting them in the New Year and then they'll be really late.  They'll be like a year late!  Mustn't have that.  Time to get on with the show.

Let's start with the Dragon's Loyalty Award.  My pal Tex over at Texas, a Cat in NY first gave me this super neat award and then, my pal Speedy, from Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny gave it to me, too.  Thank you Tex and thank you Speedy.  I hadn't yet received this award and it's such a nice one.  Quite an honour to receive it from both of you.

In acceptin' the Dragon's Loyalty Award, I must display the award on my blog.  Well, I've done that.  Then I have to announce the win and post a link to whomever gave it to me.  Doin' that now and you'll find that if you click on Tex and Speedy's blogs' names, you'll be whisked away to their amazin' blogs 'cause that's where I did the links.  Thirdly, I must present fifteen deserving blogs with the award and drop them a comment to tip 'em off about their win.  Hmmm... this could be a problem 'cause I bet everyone already has the award 'cause I am so late in acceptin' it.  Tell you what...  continue readin' my post and you'll see how I believe I have resolved the issue.

Lastly, I must post seven interestin' things about myself.  Okay, here goes...
- I have a bionic knee.
- I hate duck and trout food.  Won't touch either one.
- I live with nine other cats 'cause recently, my Auntie Snowdrop and my dad, Jacob, went to
  Heaven.
- Peep #1 depends upon me to supervise her in the garden.
- I actually enjoy grammar and find it a worthwhile subject to study.
- When it comes to grammar, I sometimes break the rules on purpose.
- I am addicted to the nip.

Okay...  onto award number two!  The girls over at Life with Ragdolls gave me the lovely Sunshine Award.  Before I knew it, Speedy from Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny had given it to me as well.

I had, in fact, received this one before but this must be a new, modernised version 'cause the graphics are different so I figured I should accept it again.

In acceptin' the Sunshine Award, I have to share eleven random facts about myself.  Hmmm...  Well, I shared seven up above with the first award so I'll just share four now.  Okay?  Okay.

- I live with a technologically impaired duffer of a peep.
- I enjoy inventing words.
- I get more e-mail than both my peeps combined.
- I don't like it when the peep calls me a nip-head.

I also must answer eleven questions.
1.  Have you ever owned a Ragdoll cat?
     - I have never lived with a Ragdoll cat.
2.  If you could have one wish (and it actually came true) what would it be?
     - Peace on Earth and good will to cats.
3.  If you ever won $1000, what would you do with it?
     - Buy a nip farm.
4.  What is your favourite state in North America?
     - I've never been to the US where they have states but the peeps
       have.  Peep #1 loves Washington DC so I'm gonna answer with
       that even though it's not an actual state.
5.  Would you ever be interested in breeding any animals?
     - Nope, I have been neutered.
6.  What's your favourite movie?
     - Anythin' I can watch at home while snuggling with the peeps.
7.  Where are you from?
     - Canada.  I'm a Canadian kitty!
8.  What's your favourite colour?
     - Hmmm...  Icy blue shows off my sterling silver - some say
       platinum - tabby coat.
9.  What's your favourite animal?
     - Guess I had better answer cats since I am one.
10.  For how long have you been blogging?
     -  Just a little over two years.
11.  Do you like cats more than dogs?
       - I should think so!

Now I'm supposed to present this award to eleven bloggers who deserve some recognition and a little bloggin' love.  Keep readin' and you'll find out how I'm gonna do that.  I'm also supposed to pose eleven questions for those bloggers but I think I'll use the questions the girls gave me 'cause they're really quite good questions.

That brings us to award number three...  the Because You're Fantabulous Award.  My dear friend Savvy over at Savannah's Paw Tracks had this on her blog one day and said that anyone who wanted it should take it so I did 'cause I liked it a lot.  It's a real beauty!

In acceptin' the Because You're Fantabulous Award I must do...   NOTHIN'.  There are no requirements for acceptin' this lovely award.  Thank you Savvy!

I sure was happy when I was awarded the Blog of the Year 2013 Award.  For a while, I was thinkin' I might be shut out of the Blog of the Year Award this year.  Then Savvy of Savannah's Paw Tracks came to my rescue and I had my first star.  Next thing I knew, Angel from angelswhisper2011 was givin' me star number two.  Yoo-hoo!  YOO-HOO!!!

In acceptin' the Blog of the Year award, there are some requirements and they may be found at the site of the award's creators, The Thought Palette.

You're probably all wonderin' to whom I will award stars for the Blog of the Year 2013 award.  Just hang in there for a little longer.  There isn't long to wait now.

I do want to mention that Cinco and Manna from Playful Kitty gave me the Super Sweet Blogger Award.  This award, I had received before with the very same graphics but I want thank Cinco and Manna, from the bottom of my heart, for thinkin' of me.  I really do appreciate it whenever someone gives me the bling.

Now for the moment you have all been waitin'.  You've been so patiently waitin' to find out just who would be the recipients of all these wonderful awards.  It was hard to pick just a few.  Gosh it was hard.  And then the thought of deciding who would get what was practically MIND BOGGLING.  So I thought about it and decided that I would award the followin' bloggers all of the above awards.  That's right!  If your name is listed you may take any one or all of the above awards.  You're all super-deserving, you all write amazin' blogs and I am honoured to say that I follow each and every one of you.

Drum roll please...
- Savvy at Savannah's Paw Tracks
- Speedy at Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny
- Angel at angelswhisper
- Cinco & Manna at Playful Kitty
- the girls at Life with Ragdolls
- Tex at Texas, a Cat in NY
- Layla at Cat Wisdom 101
- Jools at Jools in Cork
- Carlos at The Daily Cute
- Winchester Feline at Day to Day with Winchester Feline
- Annie at Lucy's Lounge
- Pickles Picasso at Purrfectly Pickles
- Cory at Cory Cat Blog
- Quinn at Catitude
- Mr Black at The Kittini Boys
- Sarge at Sarge Speaks Out
- Brian at Brian's Home
- Patchy Meow at The Five Cats Chronicles
- Felix & Jasper at Felix and Jasper Blogalot
- Sushi at Sushi's Diary
- Pasha at Pasha

Whew!  What a lot of awards.  Wish I could have picked everyone whose blogs I love but if I did that, I'd be typing 'til 2014.

One more thing.  Due to the scheduling of Christmas, my next post will be published one day early, on Tuesday December 24th.  Here's a sneak peak.  Look...  IT'S SNOWIN'!

judging a book by its cover

So Ol' Peepers decided she's gonna grow herself some strawberries next year.  Yeah, I know...  if she's gonna be growin' stuff, she should be growin' the nip but apparently, she has her heart set on strawberries and as long as nip growin' is still on the table, I'm gonna allow her to have her silly berry plants. My guess is that if the plants grow, they might just attract some new characters for my favourite channel, Bird TV.  Bird TV could do with some new characters. Been gettin' a little borin' with nothin' but The Crow Show, as of late.

The peep had already germinated the strawberry seeds in little plastic baggies and yesterday, she was planting 'em up in pots of soil.  I figured she would likely need my supervisory talents so I settled down beside her to watch.

First thing I noticed was that all the little plastic baggies had names.  There were nine baggies in all and each one had a different name written on it.  Most of the names were kind of silly soundin' but there were a couple I found intriguing.  Toscana and Milan were nice names, I thought and I told the peep so.  She agreed with me.  She said she thought she might like to start some more of those two, another year.  "You've grown them before, then?" I asked.  Her answer was no.

Why on earth would the peep think she would grow more of these Toscana and Milan strawberries just because she liked their names?  That didn't make much sense at all.  She has no idea if they'll grow well, if they'll produce lots of berries or even if those berries will taste good.  She has no idea at all.  Judging 'em by their names is a little like judgin' a book by its cover and everyone says you're not supposed to do that.   MOUSES!

I'm not overly happy when peeps out there judge me by my cover.  Granted, my cover is an irresistibly cute sterling silver - some say platinum - tabby cat, marked with a little smudge - some say beauty mark - on the chin.  But I'm way more than just a pretty face.  I'm an award-winning blogger, a hard-hittin' investigative news reporter and a scientist.  My gosh, I'm half of the world's foremost research team in egg beater-whisk time travelling-teleportation physics.  I'm even a member of the FBI.

Just 'cause I'm a cat doesn't mean I'm all about nappin' and nip.  Granted, I do enjoy nappin' and you all know how I feel about the nip but really, I'm so much more than that.  So very much more.  No, judgin' books by their covers is not the right thing to do at all.

Then I thought about it a bit more and realised that I, Nerissa the Cat, judge books by their covers all the time.  In fact, I've been doin' it all my life.  For as long as I can remember, I've had access to books and durin' all that time, I've been judgin' those books by yes, their covers.  MOUSES!

The peep is into what she calls cozy mysteries so we have a lot of those on the bookshelves in my office.  I've often noticed that many of the covers of those books include the picture of a cat.  Makes sense, really.  Add a cat to a book cover and you've got yourself a best-seller.  I mean...  who can resist a cat on the cover of a book?  Whatever else is on the cover will undoubtedly be improved with a cat and clearly, lots of writing peeps out there agree with this 'cause they keep on addin' pictures of cats to the covers of their books.  A very wise decision, indeed.

Ol' Peepers tries to keep her book covers lookin' good but sometimes a book or two ends up lookin' a little worse for wear.  Remember when I did that book review of my pal Dean James' book, Murder Past Due?  Well, that was the first book that I personally had ever read and to be honest, I found turnin' the pages a little difficult with my paws.  I did manage, however.  Well...  well let's just say that this might be one of those books whose cover looks a little worse for wear.  I tried to be ever-so-careful but it turns out that turnin' pages with paws is tricky business.  Stuff can get a bit damaged, here and there.  There might might be a few tooth marks on the cover of that book along with a scratch or two.  Those pages kept escapin' out from under my paws!  Wasn't my fault.

Anywho...  when you see a book with a worn-out cover like the peep's copy of Murder Past Due, that's a true sign of a book, thoroughly enjoyed.  Probably read from cover to cover more than once.  Might even have been enjoyed by multiple peeps or cats or both.  Clearly, one can judge that book as bein' pretty good by the state of its cover.

Sometimes however, book covers have other marks on them. None of the books in my house look like this but I've heard of books havin' circular stains on their covers.  Be very wary of books with circular stains on their covers.  This is a sure sign of a book that was not enjoyed by peeps at all.  The peep readin' that book must have set it down on a coffee table and left it there for so long that it was forgotten about, eventually becomin' one with the coffee table and it ended up bein' mistaken as a coaster or somethin'.  Any book forgotten for so long that it becomes a coaster is likely to be a very borin' book, indeed.  See what you can tell from the cover?

I should just clarify that coaster morphing books left on coffee tables are not coffee table books. Totally different breed of book.  Coffee table books very rarely morph into coasters.

Now if you happen to live with a brother who very occasionally has been known to spray...  you might find a book or two with a little stain on it, especially if said books were left within easy access to said brother.  This too, could be a reason to judge those books by their covers.  My brother Seville has been known to spray on somethin' every now and then, markin' whatever it is as his own.  If a book was sprayed upon, well...  well he wanted that book for himself.  If a set of encyclopedias were sprayed upon, well...  clearly my brother wanted to increase his knowledge of the world.  The peep did manage to clean the books up.  Had they had paper covers, it would have been more difficult but the whole situation just reeks of somethin' needin' to be judged.

And speakin' of covers...  currently, the world outside my office window is covered with a blanket of snow.  It was snowin' when I awoke this mornin' and it's still snowin' now. Looks really pretty out there.  Everything is all clean and sparkling white.  Looks really nice for now but just wait until the dog walkin' contingent appears on the horizon.  Soon after that, some of that cover of sparklin' white snow will be suspiciously stained yellow.  FYI...  NEVER EAT YELLOW SNOW.  Just sayin'...

in search of Peter

Previously on the Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny blog... "So time returned to normal as Santa left back through the Big closet.  I thought about the task of finding Peter.  I need some help and I know just the friend to help and as mummy left the room again I hopped into the closet and thought of my friend Nissy."

While busy digging through kitchen drawers looking for spare egg beater parts, Nissy heard a commotion coming from the front hall.  There was a squeal and a howl, followed by his sister Constance racing through the kitchen before darting into the family room and diving under the couch.  His sister Beatrice was close on her tail.  Dropping the wooden spoon in his paw, Nissy ventured into the hall to see what was going on.

The air in the room appeared hazy and some sort of waves were emanating from the closet.  Time appeared to be slowing down.  It was moving so slowly he could actually see the ebb and flow of the time waves.  "MOUSES!" he cried.  "The closet has never done that before."

Gingerly, Nissy used a paw to push open the door.  A blast of icy air poured out of the closet, filling the front hall with sparkling snowflakes...  the most beautiful snowflakes Nissy had ever seen.  He caught one on his tongue and as it melted, he could detect the faint taste of Arctic Char.  "Mmmm...  Wouldn't that be tasty garnished with a little nip?" he whispered to himself.  The snow subsided and out of the closet stepped Nissy's pal, Speedy...  Speedy, the cheeky house bunny.

"What?  How?  Oh yeah..." Nissy thought aloud.  "Speedy uses closet technology for teleportin'.  I had forgotten 'bout that."  Nissy peered into the closet which now appeared to be a perfectly ordinary closet, containing nothing but coats and jackets.  "Hmmm...  never knew our closet was hooked up to the network.  MOUSES!"

Knowing that Christmas was just around the corner and that time was of the essence, Speedy immediately told Nissy about his visit from Santa and how he had been asked to help find a wayward elf, Peter.  "Do you think you can help me find him?" he asked Nissy.

Nissy didn't have to be asked twice.  Being asked to help Santa was a great honour and privilege.  Of course he would help Speedy find the missing elf.  He would be thrilled to help.

"You're never gonna believe it Speedy but I think I know just where to look.  Wait right here." 

Moments later, Nissy returned with what appeared to be a compass in his paw.  "This may look like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill compass but I had it modified to track reindeer dust.  Did you know that reindeer dust is radioactive, Speedy?  Well, it is.  I have a theory 'bout the radioactivity causin' Rudolf's nose to glow but we can discuss that later.  Anywho...  the radioactive nature of the dust 'causes a slight change in magnetic fields.  That's why the compass can be used to track reindeer activity.  I monitor all reindeer activity in the province of Nova Scotia every December."

"But we're lookin' for an elf, Nissy.  Santa isn't missin' any reindeer," explained Speedy.

"Yes but the thing 'bout reindeer dust is that it's gets onto everythin'.  Those deer shed the dust like mad.  An elf who has been livin' up North with Santa's reindeer would be bound to have dust all over him.  As it turns out, around the time you say this Peter went missin', I was trackin' magnetic anomalies all over the place.  They were faint but they were definitely there.  Come on Speedy, I wrote down the co-ordinates of the last anomaly I detected."

Together, the boys headed back into the closet.  Nissy was holding the modified compass in one paw and the necessary co-ordinates in the other.  Speedy instructed him to think of where they were heading in order to initiate transport.  The closet filled with icy snowflakes once more and moments later, they were exiting another closet, a couple of miles away.

"Don't know why your closets fill up with snowflakes like this," Speedy told Nissy.

"Maybe 'cause they're Canadian?" theorised Nissy.  "Just be thankful they're not oozin' maple syrup or somethin'."

The boys immediately realised that this new closet was a very strange closet indeed.  It was more of a wardrobe than a closet and it wasn't in a house at all.  It was an old wardrobe being stored in a barn.  They ventured out of the wardrobe, walked through the almost empty barn and outside into the snow.

Speedy spied a snowman standing in a field and cried, "Come on Nissy.  Let's ask him if he has seen Peter." 

"Why, yes.  Yes, I have," the snowman told the boys.  "Little feller, dressed in some rather odd-looking clothes.  He came by here just a few days ago and I told him to head on over to that house to take shelter from the snow."

"Thanks so much, Mister Snowman," squealed Speedy with delight.

"You can call me Frosty," replied the snowman.  "Glad to be of service."

Nissy and Speedy scampered excitedly toward the house off in the distance.  As luck would have it, a man in his late thirties was bringing firewood in and had accidentally left open the door.  The boys slipped inside.

Christmas music could be heard in every room of the house and the air was filled with the smell of sugar cookies baking.  Two young children were laughing joyfully while decorating a beautiful tree.  It was a lovely sight and the boys stopped to take in the sight and sounds and smells. 

Nissy was the first to spot him and whispered to Speedy, "Look there.  Look up on top of the tree.  It's Peter!"

At the very top of the Christmas tree sat a little elf, trying to put on a brave face but stifling a sob, every now and then.  Seeing Speedy and Nissy, he climbed down the tree and walked over to the boys.

"They've been awfully kind to me," explained Peter.  "I couldn't have found a nicer family.  And the children really do love Christmas and they believe in Santa just like Santa said they did but..."  He started to sob uncontrollably.  "But I'm stranded here now.  I'm stranded here in Nova Scotia with no way to get back to the North Pole and I miss the other elves terribly."  He stopped to blow his nose.  "I want to go home!" Peter cried.

Having no handkerchief at his disposal, Nissy passed Peter some tissue wrapping paper.  Peter wiped his eyes and blew his nose again before handing the tissue back to the cat.  "Ummm...  that's okay.  Why don't you keep that," suggested Nissy.

Nissy looked at his pal Speedy and asked, "But we can help Peter, right?  We can get him back to Santa in time for Christmas?"

Stay tuned...  our story will conclude on the Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny blog, tomorrow.

a car and some coupons

It began like any typical day at my house.  Peep #1 started up the coffee pot before dishing out some breakfast for us cats.  Then she refilled our water dishes and topped up the bowls of dry food.  Grabbing a cup of freshly brewed coffee, she headed into my office to turn on the computer for me, allowing me to work on my blog.  I followed behind.

I was busy clickin' the keys with my claws when I heard her.  "Who did this?" she cried.  "Who got into this?"  I continued to work on the computer.  I had just started writing 'bout my next adventure and I didn't want to lose focus.  If I ignored the peep's questions, perhaps she would stop askin' them.  I had work to do and I didn't need a pestering peep slowin' me down.

"Nissy," demanded the first peep, "do you know anything about this?"

I briefly looked up from the keyboard.  There was Peep #1, holdin' the bag of nip from our dear nip-growin' friend a couple of communities away.  This particular friend grows the best nip in the world.  She grows it organically in her special nip-growin' soil and then harvests only the best parts of the nip plants before drying 'em ever so carefully.  Every fall this friend gives us cats a bag of her extra-special, super-duper, especially strong nip.  "Nope, never saw it before in my life," I replied.

"Nissy..."

"Never saw that baggy before, Peepers.  Now stop pesterin' me woman.  I have work to do."  I went back to typing, ignoring the noises emanating from Ol' Peepers.  I concentrated on the computer screen, afraid to look back at the peep in case she made eye contact with my rather guilty lookin' eyes.

Shortly afterwards, my sister Mason came trottin' into my office.  She sat down next to me and whispered in my ear.

MOUSES!  According to Mason, a cat-sized cell phone had been found next to the bag of nip in question.  She didn't know if there were any pictures of the nipped-up cat chewin' and clawing through the bag on that phone but the possibility existed.  Talk around the house was that one of my brothers or sisters had that phone.  Mason swore it wasn't her.  She was just actin' as a go-between.  What would I pay for the phone?

Now, I don't have a lot of money.  I have the money in my froggy bank.  Don't ask.  Long story short, Ol' Peepers doesn't know the difference between a pig and a frog.  Apparently, they don't teach that at peep school.  A kitty sends their peep out to buy 'em a piggy bank and they come back with a frog.  MOUSES!  But that is another story for another day.

But the money in my froggy was ear-marked for an investment in nip futures.  I couldn't use that.  What to do...  What to do...

I knew in an instant what must be done.  I dashed outside into the cold, icy snow.  In the garage, I found what I needed.  I knew it was there.  I found the little toy car I had discovered buried in the ground while helpin' the peep with her gardening last summer.  Every now and then we find stuff buried in the soil.  Usually it's just rocks and whatnot but quite often it's some broken glass, sometimes a not-so-broken glass bottle and once in a blue moon, we find a real treasure like this car.  The peep had tucked it away on a shelf in the garage but I had watched her puttin' it there so I knew exactly where to look.

Okay...  I had a car.  I knew from watchin' the news that when you wanna buy back a possibly incriminatin' phone, you offer the cat with the phone a car and some money but like I said, I didn't want to use the money in my froggy bank.  Hmmm...  COUPONS!  Aren't coupons the next best thing to money?  They have entire television shows 'bout how peeps use 'em in place of money. 

That's when I remembered how that ol' spammy spam-face spammer, Mr. Anonymous Spam had been tryin' to get me to put up a link up on my blog for his site about couponing.  I could go to his site and get some...  Nope.  That's wouldn't work.  I deleted that site address before it ever hit the presses.  MOUSES!

Then I had it.  Sometimes Ol' Peepers cuts out coupons from things and puts 'em up on the shelf in the kitchen.  A jump onto the counter and a swipe of the paw later, I had 'em.  Coupons for cat treats and a bag of oatmeal.  Oatmeal?  Whatever...

I immediately put out the word.  I told Mason I would buy back the phone left beside the half-chewed through bag of extra-special nip.  I had a car and some coupons.  I could offer a car and some coupons in exchange for the phone.  Who would accept my offer?

Mason left the office to tell the other cats.  She never returned.  She never again mentioned the phone.  I have this nagging feelin' that that phone is gonna come back to haunt me one day.  MOUSES!  A cat has just gotta be more careful with his phones.

a blog without readers...

...is nothin' but a diary!  It's true.  Blogs need cats to write 'em but they also need cats to read 'em.  Well...  cats or dogs or bunnies or even peeps.  But someone has to read 'em.  Someone has to 'cause like I said, a blog without readers is nothin' but a diary.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I love my readers.  Yup, it's true.  I love each and every one of them.  I even love Mr. Anonymous Spam.  I figure somebody has to love Spammy 'cause he must be ever-so-lonely, out there all by himself with nothin' better to do than spam us kitties.  Sendin' some love to the ol' spammer is a little bit like charity work but like I said, somebody has gotta do it and I'm up for the challenge.  MOUSES!

Anywho...  in honour of all my fantastically wonderful and special readers, Ol' Peepers promised to make me up a new award to introduce to the blogosphere once Nerissa's Life reached 75,000 hits.  That was a couple thousand hits ago so it's high time I introduce that award.  Don't you agree?  Of course you do!  So now it's time for me to get with the program and introduce the brand new FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS award.  Isn't it pretty?

And this is a super-duper, easy as peasy award to accept.  Just four things to do.  That's it.  Firstly, you need to post the award on your blog.  Secondly, you need to thank the blogger givin' it to you and, if you don't already, follow them.  You can follow by e-mail or feed or a reader or any other method available.  That even includes just checkin' in with them every day or so if they don't have any kind of followin' method set up.  Thirdly, you need to pass along the FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS award to a few readers whom you know already follow you.  To figure this out, I just went through my comments and picked out a paw full, or two...  or four.  And fourthly - which is also lastly - you need to let 'em know.  Let the bloggers to whom you've given the award know you did so.

Didn't I say this would be easy?  Would I ever lie?  NEVER.  Easy peasy, for sure.

So without any further ado, I'd like to award the FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS award to...

- Texas at Texas, a Cat in NY
- Spitty at Spitty Speaks
- Sammy at onespoiledcat
- Savvy at Savannah's Paw Tracks
- the staff at DashKitten
- Herman at It's a Wonderpurr Life
- Quinn at Catitude
- Cinco at Playful Kitty
- Purrla at Singapore Kitty
- Speedy at Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny
- Kitties Blue at The Cat on my Head
- Austin at Catachresis
- Timmy at Tomcat Commentary by Tim
- Mario at Mario's Meowsings
- the girls at Life with Ragdolls
- Redsetter at Pepsi Max Addict
- Sparkle at Sparkle the Designer Cat
- Coccolino at My Mini Pet Pig
- Angel at angelswhisper
- the crew at Colehaus Cats

Okay...  that's twenty of you.  Surely this should get the FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS award zoomin' around the blogosphere in no time.

And now, for a word from our sponsor...

Just kidding!  It's just a little message from me.  A message and an apology.

In the last couple of months, I was given two awards.  Tex, from Texas, a Cat in NY kindly gave me the Dragon's Loyalty Award and everyone at Life with Ragdolls and Speedy over at Speedy the Cheeky House Bunny gave me the Sunshine Award.  I have not yet officially accepted these awards and for that, I owe you all an apology.  I haven't forgotten you.  HONESTLY, I haven't.  I will accept these beautiful awards officially and hopefully, sooner rather than later.

I had fully intended to accept these awards along with the introduction of the FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS award however the post was already gettin' a little long and those awards both require me to write stuff about myself or answer questions or both.  I just thought I'd give my readers a bit of a break from the novels I've been postin', as of late.  I do hope you'll understand.  Really, I do.

And now, I must get workin' on my letter for the big guy in red.  Can't believe I haven't written that yet.  Where to start...  where to start...  Oh, I know!  Dear Santa...

nose to nose

Nose to nose, then paws to paws.  Teeth to teeth and jaws to jaws.  Oh no!  What are my marmalade brothers doin' this time?

I'll tell you what they're doin'.  They're havin' a discussion but with those two, discussions get a little heated.  Truth be told however, they very rarely ever get past the nose to nose phase although you can hear 'em a mile away...  LITERALLY.

The ten of us get along really very well.  Oh sure, there are minor disagreements now and then.  Just the other day, my Auntie Primrose shoved me off the pink chair in the family room.  She has decided that that is her spot these days and didn't want me sleepin' in it.  MOUSES!

And then there's Tess.  Tess, Tess, Tess...  What can I tell you about my sister Tess?  She's a growler, for sure.  She growls at air!  It's true.  She does it all the time.  Peep #1 says she's as foul as a chicken when she gets in one of her moods, which happens at least once every couple days if not more.

And my sister Mason is always tryin' to hone in on everyone else's dinner but that very rarely turns nasty.  Most of us just share with her.  We know that the peep will give us more and we all kind of feel sorry for Mason on account of the fact that she was starvin' to death when she first came to live with us.  It's true.  Poor Mason was nothin' but skin and bones.  She has plumped up, considerably, since then.

But back to those marmalades.  I don't know what it is with them but they just can't seem to get along.  It's weird 'cause they're both gingers and gingers are supposed to be good-natured and all and really, they are with the rest of us but with each other, it's a totally different story.

Seville has short hair and Rushton has long fluffy fur but other than that, they have a lot in common.  For starters, they're both marmalades.

Secondly, they're both huge.  And when I say huge, I actually mean HUGE!  I often joke that those two are twenty pounders which is a bit of an exaggeration but only a bit.  Those two brothers of mine are big boys for sure.  Rushton can stand up on his hind legs and place his front paws on my peep #1's waist.  It's true.  He's that big.  And my peep isn't that short.  Not really.  Oh sure...  she's too short to reach stuff up on the very top shelf at the grocery store and sometimes has to go climbin' to get that stuff down but no one of any normal height can reach the stuff up on those top shelves.  At least that's what I've been told.  And did you know that the peeps who run the grocery store frown upon customer peeps climbing their shelves?  Yup, that's what I hear.  Has nothin' to do with my blog post, really, but I thought you might find that little tidbit of information interesting.

Anywho...  back to my marmalade brothers.  Seville and Rushton have other stuff in common, too.  Stuff like how they both came to live with us.

The marmies - that's what I sometimes call 'em - both came to live with us in the month of December, almost exactly one year apart.  Seville appeared at our back door one cold December day, just a few days before Christmas and the very next year, Rushton appeared in the backyard one cold December night about a week before Christmas, tryin' to eat the bread Peep #2 had put out for the birds.

Seville once tried to convince me that he was a Christmas present left by Santa Claus but I know better.  I monitor all reindeer activity during the month of December - every year - and I know for a fact that there wasn't a flyin' deer within fifty miles of our house on the two days those two arrived.  I checked it twice and everything.

Here's another interestin' similarity between the marmies...  they both arrived, neutered.  MOUSES!

Plus, they both had ear stuff goin' on.  No...  they didn't have mites.

Seville has a tattoo in his ear but the peeps couldn't trace it.  Apparently, there's no national database for those ear tats so unless you can find the exact doctor who did it, it's pretty much useless.  The peeps think he might have ended up in a movin' van or somethin' from out west and managed to escape once here in Nova Scotia 'cause after all the phonin' she did about that tat, she was convinced he came from out of province.

Seville thinks his tattoo is cool.  Thinks he's a dude or somethin'.  And he very well might be a dude.  Peep #1 calls him Dude a lot and once, at the doctor's office, the nurse called him a dude and she had no idea that Ol' Peepers had already been callin' him that.  The only thing holding Seville back from bein' a real dude is his lack of a ranch.  Oh...  and a horse.  And a hat.

Rushton doesn't have an ear tattoo.  Instead, his ear was docked.  Yup, he's missin' part of one of his ears but it wasn't from fightin' or anything.  Rushy must have gone through a TNR program at some point but let me make this absolutely clear...   he was NOT a feral kitty.  Way too peep-friendly to have ever been feral.  The peeps think he might have been a barn cat or somethin' and the colony was gettin' out of control so they were all TNR'd.  He had obviously had a lot of peep contact before comin' to live with us so someone had been pretty nice to him.

The marmies also share a common enemy...  NOSEY NEIGHBOUR CAT.  When that nosey neighbour cat comes over, Rushton and Seville both howl and howl and growl until a peep comes along to separate 'em.  The growls can be heard from here to China, I am told.  Okay...  that's a bit of an exaggeration as China is pretty far away.  But I'm sure they can hear 'em all the way to England.  That's a more reasonable distance, I should think. 

The only times Rushton and Seville ever make more noise than they make when growlin' at nosey neighbour cat are the times when they're growlin' at each other.  They get right into each other's faces and start a-howling.  They're nose to nose, they are.  Nose to nose!

Then Ol' Peepers comes along and says, "Love one another.  Remember you're brothers," before she goes in and separates them.  That works for a bit.  Works 'til they find each other again.

But like I said, the marmalade discussions very rarely go any further than the growls and the howls.  There's just somethin' about those two.  Somethin' about them not wantin' to get along.  Of course these things take time and Rushton and Seville have only been living together for four years.  Yup, four years this month.  Four years isn't long at all.

let's ALL do our bit

Peeps like to complain.  Peeps like to complain a lot.  They do it all the time.  My peeps complain about all sorts of stuff.  I hear them mornin', noon and night.  I hear them in my sleep!  Okay, maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration but I bet that I could hear 'em complaining in my sleep if I was listening and not busy bein' asleep and all.

Sometimes they complain 'cause one of us - my Auntie Blossom - is yellin' at 'em.  Sometimes they complain 'cause one of us - not me - missed the litter box.  Sometimes they complain about the weather.  Actually, they complain about the weather a lot but then, I often complain about the weather myself so I can't really hold that one against them.  Oh, and sometimes they complain about other people complaining.  Interesting...

You see, my two personal peeps aren't the only peeps who complain.  Peeps all over the world complain about all sorts of things.  Sometimes I have to wonder how the peep population ever gets anything done.  I mean...  if they're so preoccupied with complaining, how do they ever have any energy left over to solve whatever the problem is about which they're complaining?  Perhaps that's part of the problem.

Have you ever noticed how a lot of peeps like to complain about homeless cats?  They complain and complain and complain.  They complain so much that you'd think, by now, this problem would have been solved.  There are so many peeps out there who spend so much time and energy complaining about homeless cats that you'd think, by now, all those complainin' peeps would have adopted a cat or two, had them spayed and neutered and really made a dent in the homeless cat population.  Or if they couldn't actually adopt a kitty themselves, they could have helped someone else do so or helped a rescue raise money for finding kitties homes or fostered kitties that needed fostering or volunteered with a local TNR program or...  or...  the list goes on and on.  There are so many ways in which these complainin' peeps could help but far too many of 'em would rather just complain. 

My gosh, some of these complaining peeps even complain about the peeps who are workin' hard to solve the problem!  They're just never happy, I guess but I can understand why.  If all the homeless kitties had homes, about what would these complaining peeps complain?  The weather?

I suspect these types of peeps are the same types of peep who are always tryin' to miss buses.  You've heard that sayin', haven't you?  That sayin' about the peep who was never happier than when she missed the bus?  I guess that for some peeps, complaining about missin' the bus is more fun that gettin' on that bus and going where they wanted to go.  MOUSES!

Anywho...  I know that peeps who read my blog are not the complainin' type.  At least not the complaining about homeless kitties type.  My readers are far more of the doin' type.  The type of peeps who direct their energies into doin' good and making things better for all the kitties out there who need our help.

And as luck would have it, I just happen to have a way for all my readers to help out in a really productive way and do a whole lot of good for a whole lot of kitties.

There's this group of peeps right here in Nova Scotia called Emily's Place Spay and Neuter Outreach Society.  I've never met 'em as they're in Amherst which is pretty far away but I've heard amazing things about 'em.  They help other peeps get their kitties spayed and neutered.  Sometimes peeps need help payin' for the operation.  Well, Emily's Place helps them do that.  Sometimes peeps need help gettin' their kitties to the doctor to have the operation.   Well, Emily's Place helps 'em do that, too.  They do whatever it takes to help the peeps in their community help the kitties.  It's WONDERFUL!

The peeps at Emily's Place Spay and Neuter Outreach Society created an amazin' video explaining exactly what their group does.  I'm so pleased that they said it would be okay for me to share it with everyone.  You have got to check it out.  I think it's gonna be an Oscar contender for sure.

Lately, I've been doin' my bit to help out at Emily's Place.  Once I found out that they were in the running for a grant from the AVIVA Fund, I started helpin' them right away 'cause that's what a civic-minded kitty such as myself does...  help.    And all I had to do was vote for them.  AND VOTE I DID.  I voted every single day and asked my pals to vote for 'em, too and before I knew it, Emily's Place Spay and Neuter had made it into the semi-finals.  Yoo-hoo!  YOO-HOO!!!

But now, Emily's Place has to make it through the next round which is the hardest round so far so they really need the help and support of all of us in the blogosphere.  The semi-finals begin tomorrow and they've gotta be in the top ten, vote-wise, to get into the finals.  They need our votes now more than they ever needed 'em before.

But it's so easy to help.  So very, very easy.  All you need do is vote!  How easy is that?

Starting tomorrow, December 2nd, you can VOTE DAILY for Emily's Place Spay and Neuter Outreach Society.  All it takes is a click or two.  A click or two, every day for ten days.  That's all.  That's it.  It's as easy as pie.  Just click on this here word, AVIVA to vote or go to the Emily's Place Spay and Neuter's FACEBOOK PAGE and link up from there.  Either way, you're gonna have to "register" to vote but don't worry, it's not hard.  Believe you me, if my peep could figure it out, ANYONE could figure it out.  You can register either through Facebook or your regular e-mail and Aviva will send you a confirmation e-mail back so you'll wanna check out your junk and spam folders 'cause stuff that sometimes gets put in those.  Don't know why.  It just does.

Anywho...  I'm asking, pleading and begging here.  I'm begging that all my pals vote for Emily's Place Spay and Neuter Outreach Society, DAILY for ten days, starting tomorrow.  Amherst, Nova Scotia is a small community in a small province so we really need help from peeps all over the world to make it to the finals.  Please-oh-please-oh-please...  Please vote for Emily's Place and get your pals to do so, too.  It's such a great cause.  Your votes will make a world of difference for the kitties of Amherst.  They really will.  Really and truly.  Your votes will make a difference, for sure.