Thursday, December 31, 2020

HAPPY MEW YEAR PARADE 2021



We are having our 2nd annual  MEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION on our Facebook Page TONITE where fearless cats agree to change their colors for the night.  White cats become pink, Grey cats become lavender or green, and if you are a striped cat, anything can happen!  Anyone who is a friend of our Peaches & Paprika page can purr-ticipate!  We limit the show to 30 cats and it will be published at 12Midnight!  If interested in YOUR cat being in the show, visit our Facebook Page & you'll see the details.  

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Celebrating All Year Long - Last Book Give-Away Weekend


 Christmas is behind us, but Peaches and Paprika keep on celebrating all year long.  We are offering CELEBRATING ALL YEAR LONG this weekend  free of charge for the last time, so if you haven't grabbed your free copy of the E-book we hope you'll take this opportunity.  A paperback book is also available!

To whet your appetite, here is a book description & some preview cartoons!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once the Christmas holidays are over, Peaches & Paprika, two funny sister calico cats have you covered! "National Hangover Day," on January 2 (too much catnip?) comes next, followed by Bubble Bath Day on January 8 and National Hugging Day on Jan 21, to name a few! Later in the year, on Hot Air Balloon Day, the two cats are transported against their will into the air and on


Popcorn Day are "attacked" by giant flying kernels. And haven't you always wanted to know what two cats might say to each Other? “Celebrating All Year Long” is written in Peaches & Paprika’s own voices and their sometimes dry, sarcastic conversations as well as their festive cat costumes, backgrounds & crazy postures will make you chuckle. Readers called this book "full of

joy and light," "couldn't stop smiling" and "endearing." Celebrating All Year Long combines all of the holidays featured in the cats' 4-book seasonal mini-series into a full year fun holiday book featuring 230 pages of photo color cartoons presented in a whimsical, light-hearted manner. It’s a must for all cat lovers with a sense of humor and makes a unique gift for your cat lover friends!

You can see a short book trailer of our book here, should you be hesitating! 


We are joining Athena and Marie's and The Cat on My Head's blog hope this weekend!

Friday, December 25, 2020

Happy Holidays from our Gingerbread House...Yes Again!


We fell so in love with this gingerbread house, we INSISTED our human use it agin for Catmas.  As usual, she gave us our own way.  Happy holidays to all of our friends.  We are wishing for you a peaceful holiday season!  As for us, we're going to consume this yummy house like really soon!

Thursday, December 24, 2020

6th Annual Bloggers Meowy Catmas Show



With a crazy storm bearing down on the Northeast, figured we better post our Bloggers Meowy Catmas show before the power goes out!  Just click on the link above and you'll see it!  Comments on youtube appreciated! Happy Holidays to all! 


Carol, Peaches and Paprika 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Tummy Tuesday Long-Cat Paprika

 


Good morning, Paprika here! One thing I love about CATMAS is I get to hang out on colorful blankets.  This is one our thoughtful human especially bought for me.  

Though I may not be as glamorous as my flamboyant sis-fur, Peaches, I can strrrrrretch with the best of them!   I try and try to get the best of her, and I think I've done pretty darn good here.  But all to no avail!


 

Happy Tummy Tuesday to ALL.  
Peaches is mistaken.  As usual.

-- Paprika




Sunday, December 20, 2020

Gotcha Day: Our Narrow Escape Eight Years Ago

From Mom Carol: 

On my top list of burning questions was and  is: What were Peaches and paprika like as kittens?  How could their humans give up such loving animals?  What happened between then & our meeting?  I got the answer to the third question when I did a Google search & found out ASTONISHING REVELATIONS about MY Cats on the internet.  But first, I want to (today only) offer you a FREE E-BOOK about the kitties journey entitled Our 1st Year in Connecticut. Just click the link, then select "purchased with 1 click" but it will really be FREE today.  After that, I will let Peaches & Paprika tell you in their own words about the rest. You're up, gurrrls!

From Peaches & Paprika:

It's our Gotcha Day! 


 We are celebrating our "Gotcha Day" with  The Cat On My Head's Sunday Blog hop... our eighth year with Carol in Connecticut.  We almost didn't make it out of New York City though...

Our Narrow Escape from NYACC in New York (Our Story)


We were "Peaches & Tigger"in the old days & we had a narrow escape in NYC before moving to Connecticut. We were even on  "death row" for a while. Our previous 
owners surrendered us to a shelter in NYC when they moved to Puerto Rico. I guess they thought we'd be adopted right away since we had such beautiful calico colorings with gorgeous stripes.

Our Narrow Escape from NYACC 

We were "Peaches & Tigger" in the old days & we had a narrow escape in New York City before moving to Connecticut. We were even on  "death row" for a while. Our previous owners surrendered us to a shelter in NYC when they moved to Puerto Rico. I guess they thought we'd be adopted right away since we had such beautiful calico colorings with gorgeous stripes

But NO ONE came to get us and day after day went by. We were besides ourselves with grief and terror. Finally the shelter put out a notice: we were now on "death row" - a place for cats no one comes to adopt!  We were due to be put to sleep the next day!



"
Death Row," Facebook & Loving Volunteers

The good part of the story starts now.  Hundreds of loving volunteers watch the "death row" item in Facebook. They share kitty stories, post loving words & make donations. We were lucky and captured the hearts of many. Here are some of the pleas posted by those who helped (you may need to enlarge)


After many of these posts, we were "pulled" (SAVED) by a wonderful foster organization in Staten Island. Paprika and I had caught sniffles in the shelter and this wonderful foster lady named Joann nursed us back to health.Then she brought us to Connecticut to Marys Kitty Korner, a no-kill shelter.


Connecticut


Firting & trying to attract adopters
For 6 more months 
we stayed in a large white house with 50 other cats while awaiting forever homes.  I, Peaches, was in charge of captivating humans. Of course I did antics daily in a sunny window where I could attract visitors and pick the best! MOL.


Then we met Carol. She had fallen in love with me the week before after seeing my picture on the internet.  Who wouldn't? And then she came to meet me and my sisfur Paprika (then named "Tigger") in that white house. Of course I could not leave without Paprika. So Carol took both of us home.

In Connecticut

Our explorations in the new home
Of course, being the lovable furries we are, Carol loves us both and we're awaiting our 8th Christmas here.  We have taken over the house, believe me!  We set the rules, although we still haven't come to an agreement on the quantity of tuna  being served here...

We are joining The Cat on My Head blog hop today & look forward to the holiday festivities!

In honor of this momentous occasion! we are also giving away a free ebook of our journey, entitled Peaches & Paprika: Our first Year in Connecticut which is now on Amazon.  Please click here for the free download, good until midnight tonight 12/20/20.




Sunday, December 13, 2020

Bloggers Holiday Slideshow Deadline Coming Soon



Reminder to dear blogging friends!  Three days more till Slideshow deadline!  We love it when everyone purr-ticipates!

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Happy National Gingerbread House Day


 Aren't the holidays wonderful?  What with Chanukah (Catukah) and Catmas, there is no end to the goodies in which we are privileged to partake.  So our human threw caution to the winds and got us this delectable house to inhabit.  Smells heavenly. Then she said she was going to consume it...what kind of unfairness if that? We were told if we were good and stay here long enough for a photo-op, catnip treats are in the offing.  But should we believe her?

Some cool facts about Gingerbread Houses & National Gingerbread House Day:

1) Gingerbread houses gained recognition after Hansel & Gretel, the famous fairy tale, was published by the Grimm Brothers!

2) There is a Swedish tradition in which people use gingerbread to make a wish.

3) The largest gingerbread house is 2520 square feet large, 21 feet high, 35 million calories & is located in Bryan, Texas, 90 Miles Northwest of Houston - According to the Guiness World Book of Records.


Now that you know all that we know...we are joining Athena & Marie' Cat-urday Hop today!




Tuesday, December 8, 2020

National Brownie Day - Brownie Fantasy

I WAS going to just sleep or celebrate Tummy Tuesday...
but then a delectable day was called to my attention.  BROWNIES!  How many of you do NOT like brownies?    Of course we cats cannot REALLY eat them, that's why my picture is called a "Brownie Fantasy."  But you peeps are allowed to bbuy, bake and  imbibe in as many brownies as possible today.  More about National Brownie Day HERE! - Peaches the cat

Sunday, December 6, 2020

2020 Cat Bloggers Holiday Show Announcement




 It's "That" time again!  Your cat(s) can be stars (and we hope they WILL be) again in our 2020 show which will be shown Christmas Eve!

Easy instructions:

1. Make Holiday Graphic (if you feel challenged in this regard, WE will do one FOR you.) Just let us know.  You can also use your holiday header if you like!

2. EMAIL to Carol, Mom of Peaches & Paprika at the address in the announcement

3. Include:  Blog name, Blog address and Your name

4  IMPORTANT:  Put the words "HOLIDAY SLIDESHOW" in your email title (or we may miss it)

5. Deadline:  December 16.


See you there!

Mom Carol, Peaches & Paprika, Calico cats of distinction

Friday, December 4, 2020

Peaches & Paprika's Book Give-Away

Okay, guess we misunderstood.  We thought Carol was playing a joke and trying to GET RID OF US!  We trembled in our boots! (well Peaches did)


No No She yelled at us, I'm just giving your NEW BOOK away!  CHILL!

Ohhh...we said.  Saved again!  We were fools to have such a negative mind-set.  Once re-assured, we calmed down and Mom Carol gave us our scripts to read so we could tell you how the contest works.

Peaches:  So SOMEONE WILL WIN our new paperback printed book, Peaches & Paprika Celebrating All  Year Long - 100 crazy holidays celebrated in color cartoons!  The paperback book is 156 pages & otherwise retails for $19.62,

Paprika: And here's how to win:
1) Download the E-Book version of this book either Friday Dec 4 or Saturday Dec 5. (12 M PST)  (Mom Carol is foolishly giving it to you FREE on those days only.)  Use this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N468TVZ


2) Post here, the name of your favorite holiday in the book, its date and why you picked it  (National Chaos Day?  Hot Air Balloon Day? Doughnut Day?  Pick One out of the 100 holidays.) (okay, you can pick two at the most!)

3) Winner of the paperback book will be picked from among the comments at random & announced Sunday evening, December 5.

4) Book will be mailed to winner by December 7.

Mom Carol:  You did a good job, gurrrls! 


That's all there is to it!  So at the very least you, our blogger friends will  get a free e-book, but you might also get lucky and win the free paperback which like we said above retails for $19.62 (yeah we know its costly, there's a lot of color pictures...but it's worth it! 

We are joining Friday Blogosphere's hop and also Athena & Marie's Cat-ur-day hop. Note: Free e-book download is only for 12/3 and 4, after that it will revert to its regular price of $5.99.  

 

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Gotcha Day Album - Your CATS as kittens!



Five fortunate fur-balls participated in our Gotcha parade from our bloggers group and we have posted their heartwarming below!  They are:  Pamela June Kimmel with Teddy, Kitties Blue with Cooper Murphy, Florida Furkids (Sharon) with Raz, and Timmy Tomcat  Cusack with Einstein and Heart-Cat Timmy.

Most of the  47 Gotcha Parade purr-ticipants were from our Facebook group. They are just adorable and we hope you'll visit them and read there stories HERE.

Meanwhile, here are the stories of our bloggers friends:

Sharon Keenan Spiegenhalter/Raz:


This is the first photo I took of Raz at the adoption event. Impurressive, right?

Pamela June Kimmel/Teddy


 Teddy was already 11 months old when we adopted him from the shelter but here he is an hour after seeing "his" very own toys and blanket in his new home.

Timmy Pete Cusack/Einstein

This is Baby Einstein.  A work friend called me and said she had  "dead" kitten.  After some discussion she was not sure so i said to bring him over. He was almost frozen and needed warming inside my shirt until he woke up.  It took a lot more to get him back to health and he is my "Bottle Baby."  He is sweet and loving but a little bad too  This photo shows how he got his name.

Kitties Blue


Here's Cooper Murphy on his Gotcha Day on January 7th, 2017.  He was about 15 moths old.  We rescued him from a snow storm!


Timmy tomcat Cusack/Timmy



Here is my dear Timmy, my Heart Cat.  when a rescue friend introduced us he hissed and ran YTC.  I had a 21 yo kitty at the time and I was worried a kitten would be too much for him.  Well Timmy and Inky became great friends. Timmy is the gentlest cat I have ever had and he let me know I was his special human the very first day with this Hello.  Love you, Timmy!

Thankful they are with me.


Here are Peaches & Paprika exploring their first morning with me.   They were surrendered in NYC by owners who obviously taught them love and affection (judging from their first night with me) then taken to the famous NYACC kill shelter.  Almost euthanized there, they were then taken to 2 more shelters...till I found them!  I saw flirty Peaches' internet photo  and fell in love instantly. Then I fell in love with her quiet littermate, Paprika. (Not so quiet any more)!  The first day they were with me, I almost cried, when I saw how loving and demonstrative they were! 
******************************************************************************************************************************

Thanks to those who participated and please visit the others on our page, too! Happy Thanksgiving to all! We are joining Brian's Thankful Thursday Hop Today!


Tuesday, November 24, 2020

National Sardine Day - Excellent for CATS




 Our human will absolutely kill us for this, because she wanted to celebrate the turkey today but I say Turkey, Shmurkey!  It's National SARDINE DAY and there's no good reason it shouldn't be immediately celebrated by CATS!  Sardines came into prominence in the 15th century having been discovered in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia!  You can read more about the holiday HERE!

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Furrriends Gotcha Day Thanksgiving Parade


Thanksgiving too quiet for you this year?  Peeps missing from your holiday?  Don't be lonely, if you're fur-fiends with us on Facebook, post your cutie's pic on our page in the comments under this announcement and he/she will be in our Gotcha parade!  If there's anything we're thankful for, it's our beloved fur-balls!



Thursday, November 19, 2020

Cats in Captivity Video - Thankful Thursday

 


We know our human posted our captivity experience in our blog, but we purr-sueded her she should commemorate the occasion in a video...

after all, how often do two cats and one human get locked into a tiny room together or six days!  Here is a picture of our best "How Could You"look (it's better if TWO cats do it) and our experiences set to motion & music.)

We're joining Brian's Thankful Thursday Hop, mainly cuz we're thankful we're "free" again!


Signed, former captives, Peaches & Paprika

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Happy Princess Day !

 

We were delighted to learn there was such a thing as "National Princess Day."  GURRRLS only!  This day was created by Disney to honor princesses everywhere.  Since our human has always considered us royalty, she encouraged us to let our fantasies run free today.  


In the old days, the princesses were awakened by a prince.  But in this day and age, we GURRLS go hunting for the prince and awaken HIM!


For those interested, you can read all about NATIONAL PRINCESS DAY here!

Sunday, November 15, 2020

Peaches & Paprika held captive against our will!

 








We have a secret! 

 A CRIME occurred last week.  We were captured by our human and held prisoners against our will. We were detained for six days with not even a "hearing" (meowing) allowed in a small 11 x 11 room.  - Peaches


In short, we became CAPTIVE CATS!


THE GORY DETAILS: HOW IT HAPPENED

We were sunning ourselves in the usual morning places when without warning we were herded into the dreaded "carriers" and dragged without the courtesy of an explanation into a DEN OF CAPTIVITY. 

I musta had a premonition about this.

Our human would only LATER explain the reason for her crime.  It turns out this "den" is actually our human's home office  We've been there before but we never HAD to be there!  

Here are the details of our 6 day "in-cat-eration!"


DAY 1 IN OUR DEN OF CAPTIVITY

Our "Prison Description"

Our new "prison" was described by our human as being a paradise for cats.  Not exactly, but it could have been worse.  Inside the room were 1) TWO boxes for hiding, including a new "haunted house" our human had made for us on Halloween. 2) A human bed  3) two windows 4) Our human's desk and computers  4) file cabinets on which to sit to look out the window  5) a half bath containing OUR litter box 6) Curtains (to claw?)
























WHAT WE DID FIRST

Well the first thing we did OF COURSE was to look out the window.  (more on what we SAW in a minute)...AND HIDE!

Paprika hid that is.  Our human had proactively" provided her with a long shallow box in which to hide and Scaredy Cat Paprika crawled right in.  (Our human must have been planning this for a long time!)



As we watched out the window we saw a strange black "monster."  
The black "monster"

Our human explained to us this was a "truck" which belonging to something or somebody called "contractor."  We had never heard of a contractor and didn't want one!  But our human said we had to have one here for six days because she had a flood in three rooms right after she moved in and he was "fixing it."

 There were very strange items in the front yard waiting for entry into OUR home, such as we had never SEEN before.  One of them was called "tub."  It was huge.


We indulged in a little fantasy called "Claw the Contractor" which our human told us was "inappropriate." We don't know how she knew what we were thinking. 



What happened the first day:  LOUD NOISE.  

Hello.  Paprika here.  There was horrendous thumping, banging and other scary noises the first day. Our human said it was the evil contractor making the noise. Peaches shoulda given him "the claw" but it was too late. When I wasn't hiding, I was hunched on the bed, transfixed, trembling at every noise  My oblivious sister, Peaches on the other hand, slept through it ALL!  

I was hunched on the bed, transfixed, while Peaches slept through it all!


DAY 2: TOYS & A HAUNTED HOUSE-TO TEMPT US!


Peaches here to continue our story. Our human directed our attention to the new 2-story  "Haunted House" she'd built us (Wasn't Halloween OVER?).

She also started bringing out boxes of all the toys we'd ever owned.  A different box every few hours.  You can't fool us, human.  We remember those toys, they're NOT new.  

Still, we DID play with them. For a while. A captive cat's got to pass the time somehow.  We even played together.  We don't do that as much anymore but Day 2 was an exception.



But on this occasion we slept together on the twin bed (when our human wasn't hogging it at night). You never knew what would happen next and we needed to present a united front.  Paprika suggested a breakfast boycott.  I voted against it.


Paprika was kind of a pain in the neck as during mealtimes, she insisted on BUTLER service inside the haunted house.  


She would alternate between the upper and lower deck.  Must be nice!  I just chowed down as I always did.  I DO credit our human with giving us TUNA the first two days. (But then she switched to salmon).
Food just tastes BETTER in here! -- Paprika


DAY 3: "THE LOOK" AND REJECTING THE TOYS

You can't fool US!  We KNOW it's a TRICK!

Ever heard of the old "Turn Your Cat-Back" routine?

Good morning, Paprika here. We decided to assert our independence by rejecting our human's attempt at bribery (the toys) and also practiced giving her "THE LOOK."  You know what we mean by that.

Do I LOOK interested in those toys?

The "saving grace" or this imprisonment is that our human stayed in the den with us the whole time!  I, Paprika was grateful.  Peaches however was skeptical. "that's just cuz her computer' is in here, TOO," she meowed at me.

At night, all three os us would huddle together in her small twin bed in the den.  We worked it out though.  Human in the middle, one cat at head and one cat at foot of bed.  Worked out good plus we all stayed warm.  We cats have been known to be called "miniature heaters."

DAY 4:  PAPRIKA FINDS AN ESCAPE ROUTE


On Day four, I, Paprika, thought I had found an escape route...a way OUT!  I ascended to the top of a tall cabinet next to a DOOR! With a strategic stretch which only a cat like I can do and using my nimble paw, I managed to get the door open!  





All that effort...to no avail!

Only to find...it was a closet door!  Curses!  Foiled after all that work and planning!

On day four we continued gave our human stronger doses of "the look."  She deserved it. 

How COULD you? -- Paprika


Ever heard of "the Evil Eye?" I've purr-felted it! -- Peaches

DAY 5: "LET US OUT!" WE PRESENT OUT PLEA


We crept closer to each other.  This is counter to our "keeping a distance" like we usually do.  We cast all our differences aside.  We HAD to present a united front now.  We gave the human "THE LOOK" simultaneously.  This is now cats gain power. A double "look" is so much more potent than just one cat doing it.

We render "the double look" toward the human

DAY 6: "TERRORIZED BY A HUGE SNAKE"

The evil contractor FINALLY left despite the fact we never got to use "the claw" on him.
However he was replaced by an even worse creature called "STEEMER" (First name Stanley).  We were told that now that "the work" was over, everything had to be "steam-cleaned."  What a joke.
I don't like it.

We've never had to hire outside help for cleaning!  Our human is being ripped off!   If she only would have asked US to clean!  The worst part of the "STEEMER" day is that "Stanley" brought a giant noisy SNAKE with him, that we could see from the window wriggling into the house and creating noise & mischief!


We were terrified about whether he would be "steaming" OUR little room." But fortunately we were spared. Peaches who kept guard at the window finally reported  he was leaving.  Phew!
And don't come back!


OUR RELEASE FROM CAPTIVITY


The door to our prison  creaked open.  We were so used to be imprisoned by then, we didn't notice at first. Then we did but weren't sure what to do.  So we CREPT out, slinking close to the ground as we crossed the living room.  



INVESTIGATING THE NEW SPACE


Then we discovered IT--the "new" bathroom. Peaches, the coward went in the room and shot out of it "like a bat outta H..." as if she'd been shot out of a cannon.  Coward.  It was left to me, Paprika, the explorer, to investigate and inspect the new space to

make sure it was "satisfactory."  Well it did smell odd. But I explored

all corners and tried out every surface.  There was a new white sink plus a strange white huge monster (tub) and more. The medicine cabinet tops are always inviting don't you think?  I was about to try that place out too, when the human came in.  I made so many strange sounds, jumps and meows that our human photographed me doing a welcome dance in the new

room.  Finally she dragged me out of it before (she said) I got "wet" by being given a bath.  That was an idle threat, though.  She wouldn't do that, would she? -- Paprika

 OUR TAKE ON OUR 6 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY:

In summary, it wasn't so bad, being captive cats, as we thought. We bonded with our human in the enclosed space and learned to be sister-friends again, which was highly advisory given the uncertain conditions! We still feel, however, somewhat miffed & even mildly outraged at being "shuffled about" in a high-handed manner without getting our "purr-mission."  so for several days afterwards, we continued to give our human "the Look."  However, by mutual agreement we inflicted no other punishment upon her.  However if we ever got ahold of the "evil contractor" or "Mr. Steemer and his snake," it could be a different story.

Signed, Peaches & Paprika, former cats in captivity.


Mom Carol's comment:    Worrying about my kitties' stress level was the worst part. But I actually enjoyed  the cozier than usual "bonding" with my fur-balls 24/7.  Once they gave up trying to escape & became accustomed to the den's boundaries, they were even more affectionate thanusual.  I loved the way we found a way to hang out together on that tiny bed.  But I'm SO glad the renovation is over.  Over & Out!

-- signed Mom Carol

Free at last! -- Peaches the cat



Ditto! - Paprika the cat