And the Winner Is...

Meows from Mudpie!

Well the Daytona 500 is over, and what a wild ride it was!

It started with a pawsome Presidential visit, then got delayed for 24 hours because of monsoon rains. Once racing finally got underway on Monday there were a bunch of scary wrecks that for once our guy Harvick managed to miss and wound up finishing 5th, and finally a horrifying crash that we feared Ryan Newman may not have survived. Mommy kept saying the whole atmosphere at the track looked just like when we lost Dale Earnhardt 19 years ago. Latest reports say Ryan has serious but non-life threatening injuries so we're praying for a positive outcome.

And now onto the winner of my Mudpie 500 Zoomies Event! The eventual winner of the race was Denny Hamlin, who no one chose. Second place was Ryan Blaney who also got no love. But third place, the #17 car driven by Chris Buescher was chosen by...

*drumroll please*

Concatulations to Miss Ellen and the lucky kitties of 15 and Meowing! Keep an eye on your inbox for a gift card from us.

Many thanks to everyone who participated with their predictions, and I'll be zooming along until next year's Mudpie 500!

Story Time #MewsicMovesMe

The theme of this week's Mewsic Moves Me blog hop is "songs that tell a story."

Conway often described country songs as little 3 minute soap operas, so there's no better genre of music for story songs. This week's picks are a bit more contemporary than we usually choose, but we think we found some great ones.

We hope you enjoyed our choices this week!

Let us know if you have a favorite!

February Sunshine #SundaySelfie

We're joining our friends at The Cat On My Head for the Sunday Selfies blog hop!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're entering our Valentine's Day art in Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs!

Mommy's answers:

1. I always carry Excedrin with me. I get headaches frequently so I always have some tucked away in my purse. I used to carry Goody's Headache Powders too until I realized little plastic sleeves of a white powdery substance didn't look very good (or legal).

2. I would love to know why our mail delivery has been so horrible lately? During the holiday season we seldom saw mail before 8PM. I figured it would get better once the holidays were over but it's only getting worse! This past week we had no mail delivery on Friday or Saturday, but then 2 deliveries on Sunday. Then no mail on Monday, but 2 deliveries on Tuesday. It's absolute insanity! The entire neighborhood is complaining but nothing changes.

Mudpie's answers:

3. I express my love in the form of purring. When Mommy first adopted me she remarked on how quiet my purr was, especially since otherwise I was a big mouth tortie! Now my motor really revs up when I'm in a lovey dovey mood.

4. Mommy's love makes me feel like the luckiest individual alive. She worships me and shows it every day. I only wish every kitty in the world could be as fortunate as me. 

Fun Feline Finds: Plum Pudding Cats

Meows from Mudpie!

Did you know today is National Plum Pudding Day? We're not sure why it's celebrated 6 weeks after Christmas, but since Mommy is a total anglophile and thinks plum puddings especially are super cute, we're joining the celebration!

This past holiday season we got the most purrfect pin EVER from an online shop called Innabox. It's a chubby little tortie masquerading as a plum pudding!

Photo: Innabox on Facebook

Unfortunately now that the holiday season is over this pin is no longer in stock, but we found a few more things around the interwebs that adorably blend plum puddings and cats. It's never too early to start shopping for next Christmas!

Cat with Plum Pudding Fridge Magnet

Christmas Plum Pudding Hat for Cats

Blank Christmas Note Cards

Blank New Year Note Cards

This post contains affiliate links.

February Retro Country Rewind #MewsicMovesMe

Last year we premiered our mewsic feature "Retro Country Rewind," a look back at favorite songs that hit #1 during that month from 30, 35, 40 plus years ago. In this new year we'll be delving into #1 hits from 1970, 1975, 1980, and so on. Let's take a look at February for this freebie week in the Mewsic Moves Me blog hop...

35 Years Ago - 1985, Ain't She Somethin' Else, Conway Twitty

Conway would frequently say he chose songs that said things women want to hear but men have a hard time saying. Then a man could put a quarter in the jukebox, ask his wife/girlfriend to dance, and give her a little squeeze at the point in the song that said what he wanted her to know. That's a formula that worked out pretty well for him, to say the least!

This song is classic Conway...

40 Years Ago - 1980, Years, Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Mandrell isn't an artist I typically choose for these posts, but this is a song that never fails to make me cry. It's about a break-up, but to me its words speak of losing someone in any capacity.

(Trivia time: Conway & Barbara Mandrell hosted a charity softball game for many years with proceeds going to the Sumner County Humane Society in Tennessee!)

45 Years Ago - 1975, Devil In the Bottle, T.G. Sheppard

We only chose 3 songs this month but they are all songs I absolutely ADORE!

Would love to know which one is your favorite!

5th Annual Mudpie 500 Zoomies Event

WOOHOO today I'm taking my Sunday Selfie

from behind the wheel of a moving race car!!!

(And the 2014 Sprint Cup Champion's car at that...just sayin'.)

It's no secret that Mommy is serious about her NASCAR. The Daytona 500 is next Sunday and she is ecstatic.

Since she always calls my zoomies the "running of the Mudpie 500" I decided to start hosting an annual giveaway to celebrate this national holiday in our house and to make it fun for me and my friends too!

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment predicting the winning driver by midnight eastern on Sunday, February 16th. Don't forget to leave your email address too! We'll be giving away a $10 PetSmart gift card so my pals of all species can purr-ticipate!

In the event that more than one of you pick the winning driver, we will draw a name from a hat. If no one picks the winning driver, we will move on to second place, etc., until a winner is chosen.

Here are your driver choices:
(click to enlarge)

Here's the thing about the Daytona 500: it's a total crap shoot so you don't need to know a thing about racing in order to predict a winner. It's known as a "restrictor plate race" which limits speed and increases safety, to provide an equal level of competition. The cars all run in crazy scary packs and winning is more a matter of luck than anything.

Back in 2007 our driver Kevin Harvick won the race. My grandpa's boss at the time stood to win $1,000 if Mark Martin won, and Martin was leading until the last turn of the last lap when Kevin came from 7th place to win by fractions of a second. It was a thrilling finish, but grandpa never told his boss that Kevin was our driver! Check it out:

Good luck, have fun, and may the best man Kevin Harvick win!!!