The Kitten Bowl Is Almost Here! (UPDATED Sunday Night)

Spunky Doodle and Manny Boy

Manny Boy:  Hey Spunky, you going to watch the Kitty Bowl?  (Spunky does not usually watch TV with us)

Spunky Doodle:  I might, but then again, maybe not.

Manny Boy:  I think it will be very fun to see 70 shelter cats displaying their many talents.

Spunky Doodle:  Yes, I'm sure it will help get some of them adopted once people see how cute kittens are.

Manny Boy:  I will definitely be cheering for the Tabbys!  There are four teams and they are having a playoff:  the oranges, the greys, the black and whites like you and the Tabbys like me!

Spunky Doodle:  Yes, I know.  I'm sure the black and whites will win it!

Manny Boy:  How can you be so sure?

Spunky Doodle:  Well, Manny, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but us black and whites are the cutest of all!

Manny Boy:  But Spunky, I'm not so sure everyone thinks so.  Besides, even if that is true, there is more to winning this than just being cute.  If you check out www.HallmarkChannel.com/kittenbowl, you will see that "the competition will consist of two preliminary playoffs and a championship match. Along with basic obstacle courses of hurdles, tunnels, hoops, jumps, weave poles, lasers, lures and toys on strings, “Kitten Bowl” will feature clever locker room strategies, player profiles and “interviews,” and camera work and audio recordings from the athletes as they play the game!" 

Spunky Doodle:  Hmpf.  You may be right, guess I will watch to see what happens.  I would have loved to be in that when I was a kitten!

Manny Boy:  This is the first year they are having it, Spunky.  I can't wait to watch with mom!  You can actually see previews of the competitors with lots of videos at the Hallmark Channel link.  

Spunky Doodle:  When is it on?

Manny Boy:  This Sunday on the Hallmark Channel at noon for us!  (11 c)

Joining in with Feline Friday today.

UPDATED SUNDAY NIGHT:

Manny Boy:  Congrats to the Bengals who won the championship.  Sorry to say both our teams lost.  My Lions were so close but right at the end when they had a good chance to score, they went the wrong way!  At least they didn't get clobbered like your team, Spunky.

Spunky Doodle:  I know.  The Black and White felines were more interested in napping and playing with each other.  At one point none of them were even on the field!  Maybe we should play a game of over own, Manny.    

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Aww Mondays: BRRRR!

It's so cold outside, even I have to wear a coat!

Joining Aww Mondays.

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6 Friday Fragments (Kindle, TV, Moon, Life, Brain)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. I have a few this week:

Big News

Over at the Conscious Cat I learned about the Kitten Bowl that will be shown Feb. 2 on the Hallmark Channel. I am definitely going to watch this! It is part of Hallmark's pet project to help get more shelter cats adopted. We will be rooting for the Tabby Lions (Manny's favorite) and the Home and Family Felines (Spunky Doodle's favorite). There will be 70 kittens in this event!

Wi Fi Spot

Last week I was excited to discover that practically right across from where I work is a wi-fi spot where I can get my Kindle updated! I found it when the one farther down the street wasn't working one morning so I decided to give the other Arcade a try that is on the south side of Euclid Avenue and it worked!

Moon Names

I just learned last week that the full moons of the months have names! I posted about it earlier this week: Bus Stop Chit Chat Can Be Informative.

One More Hall Made a Difference

Last week at the nursing home, we were ready to leave but the lady that walks around with us wanted to show us the hummingbird puzzle she finished. Abby and Gerard stayed up by the nurses station but I went down the other hall with her and near the end of the hall we saw a woman lying on the floor calling for help. Good thing we went down that way! I went back to the nurses station told them about her falling and they came right away.

Brain Games

I got two DVDs of BRAIN GAMES by National Geographic for Christmas and really found them very interesting about how our brains work. I am very excited to find that this is an actual TV show and a new season is just beginning on the National Geographic Channel. Fascinating stuff!

 

 

Brain Exercises

I gave in and re-subscribed to Lumosity.com for individualized brain training--just 15 minutes a day for just $5 per month. I decided to use some of my Christmas gift money on this because it does help sharpen up my brain and some of the games are actually fun! I also like seeing how I compare with other age groups. I compare well with my own age group but very low to the 30 yr. olds. I do way better than the teen group which made me feel good. Check it out at lumosity.com. I think you can even play some of the games to try it without paying anything. It keeps track of your history so you are challenged to try to beat your previous high scores. Share this:

Relocating the Litter Boxes

When mom was off work on Monday, she decided to take down the cardboard fences around our litter boxes and relocate them.  One is on a low shelf farther away from my eating desk; the other one is still in the upstairs bathroom but in the tub that is never used.  She got that idea from Daisy, the Curly cat's mom.

Gerard thought the cardboard was up for months but actually it's been up for YEARS.  Mom first put the cardboard fences up in 2009 to keep Abby (the dog) from eating our poop.  She thinks the dog won't be able to get to the one in the tub, but the other one is open in plain sight and low.

She must think Abby won't come upstairs but once in a while she does.  Mom may have to close the door to that room when she's gone to make sure the dog doesn't come in.  I must admit, the rooms look better with the fences gone.   I think Gerard will be happy about that.

We would love to know how other cats keep their dogs from eating the cat poop.

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Bus Stop Chit Chat Can Be Informative

Picture is from my sweatshirt--Didn't think to get a picture of the moon I saw (forgot I had my camera with me)

While chatting with a guy at the bus stop last week, I mentioned that the moon was still out.  It was a bright, full moon and I was admiring it.  He said it was called a "wolf" moon.  I didn't know what he was talking about and told him I didn't know that.  He said every month there is a different name for the moon.  He went on to mention some of them but couldn't remember them all.

I thought it was very interesting so googled it and sure enough, I found a list of moon names which apparently date back to Native Americans of the northern and eastern United States.  Here is the Farmers Almanac's list of the full Moon names:

January - Wolf Moon (He was right!)
February - Snow Moon
March - Worm Moon, or Crow Moon or Sap Moon
April - Pink Moon or Grass Moon
May - Flower Moon
June - Strawberry Moon
July - Buck Moon or Thunder Moon or Hay Moon
August - Sturgeon or Red Moon
September - Harvest or Corn Moon (I have heard of the Harvest Moon before)
October - Hunter's Moon or Harvest Moon
November - Beaver Moon
December - Cold Moon or Long Nights Moon

I found this information at www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names

Did you know all these different moon names before?

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Friday Fragments (life, books, commercial)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. I have a few this week:

Mailboxes

The two mailboxes closest to our home that we walked to when having something to mail are now gone. I wonder, are they soon going to be a thing of the past too?

Christian Fiction Author

I found a great new author by taking advantage of a free Kindle book offer on Amazon: Angels Watching Over Me by Michael Phillips. I loved this book (click the link to read my review). It's about a slave girl and a daughter of a plantation owner during the Civil War era who become friends. Turns out, Michael Phillips wrote a LOT of books. I already loaded the sequel to this one and ordered the third in the series from Paperback Swap. There are four in this particular series and I plan to read them all!

Commercial

It's time to vote for your favorite Doritoes Super Bowl commercial. I voted for the Kid Cowboy one with the big dog because I thought it was funny! Time to go to work, maybe I'll add more later. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!
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It's a Car Duster!

WOW--it really works!

 Since my husband likes a clean car and has to wash it or get it washed EVERY week, I just had to get him this car duster for Christmas hoping it actually works.  Living in Parma, a suburb of Cleveland, it gets cold here, too cold to wash the car in the driveway.  Supposedly, this mop brush will attract the dirt and clean it off without water!  I figured if it works, we would save some money by not having to go to the car wash so often.  I found this great little gadget in the Herrington's catalog.  (I checked their online catalog but couldn't find this exact one but did find some similar.)

After

Before

I am disappointed in my before and after shots because it shows my reflection and is hard to see the car, but hopefully you can see some difference.  I really does work well!  Gerard used in on cold snowy days too, but I just didn't want to go out to get the picture when it was so cold.  This day, the temperature was around 40 degrees.

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Spunky Doodle's Vet Visit a Success!

I had to go to the vet for my routine checkup Saturday but got a very nice lady named Dr. Walker.  She did not give me any shots, congratulated me on losing one pound since our last visit and pet me a lot!  Then they cleaned a lot of gunk out of my ears.  She even said they should take a video of me to use as a promo to encourage people to take their cats to the vet too because I was so good!  

 Because me mom told them about my vomiting problem and everyone agreed it was just because I eat so fast because I am hungry, I got this new feeding toy.  The food goes inside and then as I bat it around, some drops out the holes in the side a little at a time.  It slows me down quite a bit, but it's kind of fun to play with.  I found if I just knock it off the table, a whole bunch tends to fall out that way.

The next day though, mom made it even tighter which made it too challenging for even me so I gave up and went to lay by the heater.  My mom actually brought the food toy down to me and made it a bit easier.  My sisfur, Abby Dabby Doo came over and watched me very closely the whole time I was eating.  I hissed at her when she came too close though because she is sneaky and I do not trust her not to take me food.  Then mom made her back up.

Spunky was taking so long, I just wanted to help her out.  I am very good at food puzzles.  Woof!  Woof!

Mom explained to Abby that the whole idea of this toy was to slow me down so it is okay for me to take it slow.  It took me about 20 minutes to get the food out, but this way I got more to eat than usual so that's a good thing.

Does anyone else have to work for their food?  I recommend this toy for any cat who eats too fast like I do.

What do you think, would I have taken Spunky's food?  Woof!  Woof!

Joining Aww Mondays and Monday Mischief.

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6 Things I Learned This Week

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. I have a few this week:

Bones

I was shocked when I read ". . . Women who spend more than nine hours a day sitting down are 50% more likely to fracture a hip than women who sit for six hours or less in the course of one day."  (See Changes for my Bone Health that I posted this week).

Countries

From playing my "Around the World" game, I learned that Spain has a king and chocolate originated in Mexico.

Conservation Lunch

When I went to a conservation lunch yesterday, I learned that:
1 - gardeners should use native plants to the area;
2 - Butterflies don't produce caterpillars on just any plants, only certain plants will do because certain caterpillars can only survive on certain ones that they can tell with their feet (didn't even realize butterflies had feet). For monarch butterflies, it has to be milkweed;
3 - raccoons will eat pretty much anything, including turtle egg;
4 - earthworms in our area leave a chemical in the soil that keeps plants from growing and different species live in different layers of soil;

Pioneers

When reading Words From a Fearless Heart by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I learned that back in the pioneer days they thought sugar was nutritious for you and necessary for children's growth.

Forgetting

I got a couple DVDs for Christmas by National Geographic called Brain Games that are fascinating. I will be doing a post one these but for now just wanted to share one tidbit about short term memory. Our short-term memory is good for about 20 seconds before we start forgetting if we do not connect the new data to something we know.

Screwdriver

Screwdrivers can hurt you just by using them! When I was trying to screw in some wood screws to put my new lectern together, it actually tore some skin from the middle of my palm. I did a post about this: I thought It Would Be Easy!

Check out our book giveaway for Holding onto your Faith even when God Doesn't Make Sense by James Dobson. 
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I Thought It Would Be Easy!

In keeping with my efforts to consciously move more and sit less, I used my Amazon gift card to buy a lectern so I can read and do paperwork standing up at home.  I figured I would have to assemble it but how hard can screwing in some screws be?  Well, it turns out that it IS hard!  I checked for all the pieces and it was nice that the instructions had pictures of the different parts so I could tell what screws went where.

My first question was why do they have 8 holes to attach the platform to the stand but tell me to use just four wood screws?  I picked four of the eight holes and started putting them in.  I noticed my Phillips screwdriver had a prong broken off but fortunately, I found another one.  These things went in very hard and I couldn't get them all the way in.  Then I noticed my hand was hurting and sure enough, some skin had torn off right in the middle of my palm.  Seriously, who gets hurt using a screwdriver?  I couldn't believe it!  So, this is how far I got on assembling my lectern until my hand heals or until someone volunteers to do this for me.

My cats were sad they couldn't be of more help.  My husband said, they're in good enough but he knows I like to do things right and want things perfect.  My friend Sue who owns "Helping Hands" may be getting a call to put this together for me, but I hate to admit I am so screwy challenged.   Does anyone else have problems with screws?

Success a week later--no more trouble with the flat head screws and posts!

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Around The World

When I saw this world geography toy in a catalog, I thought it would be a fun way to learn more about the other countries so mentioned to my husband that I'd like it.  It runs on batteries and you just touch the country that you want to learn about.  Then there are buttons across the bottom for various things to learn such as the capital, continent, area, population, government, language, temperature, landmarks, general facts.  The last button is for questions so you can quiz yourself.  I play with this at breakfast and try to see how many questions I can answer right in a row.  It's harder than you may think!  The highest I got to so far is 13 setting a new record on Sunday.

Here is a video of me playing the game.  You can play along and see if you can beat me on the quiz.


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Aww Mondays: Computer Time

I LOVE it when my Manny Boy comes on my lap, even if it does interrupt my blogging sometimes.  (Spunky hasn't done this yet but will jump on top of the computer desk and look down on me.

I'm watching you!

Joining in with the AWW Mondays blog hop.

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Changes For My Bone Health

Having decided not to take prescription drugs Fosomax, Actonel and Prolia because of the side effects, I am trying to follow the Save Our Bones Program (click the link to see my review) that Vivian Goldschmidt, MA has put together after much scientific research that prevents and reverses bone loss naturally.  This book has a wealth of information related to building strong bones and has inspired me to make the following changes:

1. Don't take more than 500 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D-3 at one time because the body can't absorb it.  I used to take 3 of the GNC be-balanced bone strengthening calcium chews at one time (600 mg of bone-building calcium each) but now only take one a day and the Citrical Gummies--two at breakfast and two at supper (500 mg calcium, 500 IU Vitamin D-3 at each meal with food which helps absorb it better).


2. If the sun is shining, I try to get out in it for at least 20 minutes no matter how cold it is.  


3. I switched from drinking tap water to distilled water which is free of a lot of added chemicals.  Sometimes I'll add a tiny bit of lemon juice too.  


4. I discovered from reading her book that there are two categories of foods:  alkalizing and acidifying.  She recommends the optimal balance of eating 80% alkalizing and 20% acidifying.  I liked that she specifically lists where certain foods fall.  For the most part, generally fruits and vegetables are alkalizing but also almonds, Whey Protein Powder, cinnamon, honey, and Almond Milk (I had already switched to Almond milk last year) to name some things that I actually like.


5. Started drinking the Whey protein drink again.  I mix it in my new blender and it tastes good that way.
   


6. Now I buy and eat more fruit.


7. Snack on almonds and celery instead of trail mix.


8. Try not to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time.  This is hard since I am a secretary and have a sit-down job, but I was shocked when I read ". . . Women who spend more than nine hours a day sitting down are 50% more likely to fracture a hip than women who sit for six hours or less in the course of one day."  That's the wake up call I needed to move more and also who inspired me to buy a lectern with some of my Christmas money so I can stand to read more easily when at home.


9. I also have begun exercising daily according to her Densercise e-book which gives specific bone strengthen weight bearing exercises.  She recommends doing fewer reps but for five minutes with 10-20 seconds of rest between sets.

Only time will tell as to if this will strengthen my bones but there are many people who say it worked for them. There are some more things recommended as well, some of which I already do and some that I am not going to worry about. If you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis, I suggest you check out www.saveourbones.com too!


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Starting Off The New Year Right

We got lots of snow yesterday but the temperature got up to 40 degrees so I got to go to West Creek Park. As you can see from the video, I like the snow. It is great fun to walk in the deep snow and I like to dig into it with my snout. Sometimes I get snow on my face and head which makes my humans laugh. Since my mom's New Year's Resolution this year is to move more, I'm hoping I will get to move more too. I will try my best to get her to come along on my walks this year. Do you think she will?

P.S.  Our Favorite Reads for 2013 are up on our book blog if interested.

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