National Pet Memorial Day #SundaySelfie

In honor of National Pet Memorial Day, Angel Truffles is joining the Sunday Selfies blog hop this week.

The famous Dr. Seuss quote that I added to her picture is one of my favorites, yet in all honesty I'm just not there yet. I still can't accept that she's gone and don't think I will for a very long time.

About a month ago I entered a contest by two of my favorite authors, Joyce and Jim Lavene, to name the pet characters in their upcoming book A Dickens of a Murder. Not only was Truffles chosen as the tortie in the book, her character is on the cover that was just revealed this week, and I've been told that she's very special to the story as well. As a Christmas and Dickens fanatic, I just can't even begin to express how special this book is going to be to me.

A Dickens of a Murder will be released on November 3rd, but you can pre-order today!

Caturday Art: Waiting for Fall

Meows from Mudpie!

Mommy and I could not be happier that fall is right around the corner. It's our favorite time of year and living in Vermont we couldn't live in a more beautiful place to enjoy it.

Mommy says one of the (many) reasons she loves torties so much is because we are the colors of autumn...we are called the "ladies of autumn," after all.

For our Caturday Art this week we used PhotoFaceFun again to insert my picture into a pile of fallen leaves. Our leaves aren't changing color quite yet, but when they do we have two big maple trees in our backyard right outside my favorite window perches, so I'll be watching!

More artsy kitties can be found at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop.

9/11: We Remember

Mudpie: Mommy, why does everybody seem so sad today?

Melissa: Sweetie, you weren't born yet, but 14 years ago today 19 terrorists hijacked 4 planes and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people.

Mudpie: Why did they do that???

Melissa: Sadly, there are truly evil people out there who despise our wonderful country and everything we stand for. They are mass murderers who need to be rooted out and destroyed.

Mudpie: Mommy, were any kitties killed?

Melissa: I don't think so, but many kitties lost their Mommy or Daddy that day. They left for work and never made it home.

Mudpie: It's not going to happen again, is it?

Melissa: Absolutely it could, especially if we allow ourselves to forget the lessons we learned on that awful day.

Mudpie: Can we do anything else?

Melissa: We can pray for peace, and also thank God for all of the brave men and women who wear our country's uniform and risk their lives everyday to defend our freedom and keep us safe.

Mudpie: You'll keep me safe too, right Mommy?

Melissa: I will always keep you safe, precious.

Book Review/Giveaway: Booked for Trouble by Eva Gates

From the publisher: Lucy has finally found her bliss as a librarian and resident of the Bodie Island Lighthouse. She loves walking on the beach, passing her evenings with the local book club, bonding with the library cat, Charles, and enjoying the attention of not one, but TWO eligible men. But then her socialite mother, Suzanne, unexpectedly drops in, determined to move Lucy back to Boston—and reunite her with her ex-fiancé.

To make matters worse, Suzanne picks a very public fight at the local hotel with her former classmate Karen Kivas. So, when Karen turns up dead outside the library the next morning, Suzanne is immediately at the top of the suspect list. Now Lucy must hunt down a dangerous killer—before the authorities throw the book at her poor mother…

A lighthouse library and a gorgeous Himalayan cat...if you think that sounds like the making of a purr-fect cozy mystery, you would be 100% right.

This second book in Eva Gates' Lighthouse Library mystery series finds Lucy making herself right at home as librarian at Bodie Island Lighthouse. Then her mother Suzanne arrives and she's determined to bring Lucy back home to Boston with her! But something else is going on with Suzanne...Lucy just knows it. Then Suzanne picks a fight with her former high school nemesis Karen Kivas, who ends up dead outside the library. Suzanne was last seen leaving book club with Karen, and Lucy is the only one who knows that they made up and put the past behind them. 

Suzanne is a hoot and I love her addition to an already stellar cast of characters. Her scenes with Louise Jane, who is determined to take Lucy's job and is obsessed with the ghostly history of the lighthouse, are especially fun. The local legend of a lighthouse ghost called "The Lady" is deliciously creepy.

I enjoyed spending time once again with the Lucy and the family she has built at her amazing job, and look forward to seeing where her love life is headed as well! She just needs to finish clearing her mother's name first...

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Wednesday, September 16th for your chance to win a copy of Booked for Trouble. (US entries only, please.)

Natural Balance's Variety is the Spice of Life #PetSmartStory

This post is sponsored by PetSmart®, and the BlogPaws Professional Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word the word about the launch of Natural Balance® products at PetSmart, but Mochas, Mysteries and Meows only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. PetSmart is not responsible for the content of this article.

Miss Mudpie has been with me exactly one month today, and I'm so proud of how my little girl's tastes have expanded in such a short time. You might remember that in the very beginning I wasn't exactly thrilled with her not-so-healthy food choices, and I was on a mission to find her healthier foods that she would enjoy and I would be happy feeding her.

This made the arrival of Natural Balance® pet products in PetSmart® stores such an exciting time. One of the things I've always loved about Natural Balance is the huge variety of premium pet foods they offer. Variety is the spice of life, right? Our cats don't want to eat the same thing meal after meal, day after day, any more than we do. They need different textures, flavors and formulas to keep boredom at bay and most importantly to ensure they're receiving optimum nutrition through every life stage.

Thanks to Natural Balance's formulas: Original Ultra®, Wild Pursuit™, L.I.D.®, Weight Management, Pouches, and Stews, your cat has a wide variety dry and canned foods, stews, and treats to choose from.

Now PetSmart is your one-stop shop for all of the exciting lines Natural Balance has to offer...here are a few of our favorites!

* When I opened a cup of Delectable Delights® Cat Stew Formulas for the very first time, I could't help but think that it looked like an appetizer for humans! Hand crafted and cooked to savory perfection and with fun flavors like Catatouille, O'Fishally Scampi, and Sea Brûlée, these stews will definitely tempt your cat's taste buds!

* L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets® is designed with a limited number of protein and carbohydrate sources for cats with sensitivities to common ingredients. They are designed to support healthy digestion and to maintain skin and coat health while providing complete, balanced nutrition for all life stages.

* Original Ultra® Whole Body Health nourishes your cat's complete well-being by taking an entire body approach. Truffles and I blogged about this line of food back in October and she continued to eat it on a daily basis. Now it's a regular part of Mudpie's diet!

* Wild Pursuit™ features high protein, grain-free nutrition from diverse and balanced sources, and is developed to meet the fundamental needs of cats by closely resembling the diet they would have eaten in the wild. Freeze dried raw pieces are actually mixed in with the kibble!

Mudpie wasn't happy that I came home from my PetSmart shopping trip without a package (or three) of Natural Balance treats for her to try out. I had to break the news to her that our store didn't have those in stock yet. (You can find contact information for your store with the PetSmart Store Locator to ensure they have what you're looking for in stock.)

Their Perfect Bites® treats come flavored in chicken, rabbit, and salmon, and the L.I.T. Limited Ingredient treats are oven-baked and come in chicken & potato, rabbit & potato, and salmon & potato. Mudpie can't wait to try them all!

PetSmart already has an unparalleled selection of quality pet products, so the ability to pick up our favorite Natural Balance items during my regular shopping trips is just icing (er...catnip) on the cake!

Does your pet already have a favorite Natural Balance food? Anything you're still looking forward to trying?

It's Mommy's Birthday!!!

Meows from Mudpie!

Please join me in wishing my Mommy a purr-fect birthday today!

Book Review/Giveaway: Basket Case by Nancy Haddock

From the publisher: There isn’t much crime in Lilyvale, Arkansas, but local authorities have their hands full with Ms. Sherry Mae Stanton Cutler and her housemates—a crafty group of retirees who’ve dubbed themselves the Silver Six. But when Sherry Mae’s niece, Nixy, arrives to keep them in line, Lilyvale also plays host to a killer.

When Leslee Stanton “Nixy” Nix gets the latest call from Lilyvale detective Eric Shoar, she knows it means trouble. There’s been another kitchen explosion at her Aunt Sherry’s farmhouse, and the dreamy-voiced detective has had enough. If Nixy doesn’t check on her aunt in person, the Silver Six could become wards of the court. But the trouble Nixy finds in Lilyvale is not at all what she expects.

The seniors are hosting a folk art festival at the farmhouse, featuring Sherry’s hand-woven baskets, when land developer Jill Elsman arrives to bully Nixy’s aunt into selling the property. When Jill is later found dead in the cemetery, Sherry is suspected of weaving a murder plot, and it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to untangle the truth.

This is another one of those cozy series that's a bit different for me because it's not pet-centric, but the story sounded so good and the cover was so charming that I moved it to the top of my TBR mountain.

At the beginning of Basket Case Leslee Stanton, nicknamed Nixy, receives a call from Lilyvale, Arkansas detective Eric Shoar, warning her that her Aunt Sherry and her housemates have gotten themselves in trouble once again, and if something isn't done about it they will become wards of the court. Nixy is forced to take a break from her job at a fine arts gallery and arrives in Lilyvale to find a folk art festival taking place at the Silver Six's farmhouse. She's met by an altercation between Aunt Sherry and land developer Jill Elsman, who she from then on refers to as Hellspawn. Not long after (well, 120 pages in, so actually quite late in the book for a murder to take place) Nixy finds Hellspawn dead in the family cemetery on the farmhouse property. Litter around the body appears to have come from Sherry's hand-woven baskets, leading her to become the prime suspect.

I'm always drawn to cozies with senior citizens as lead characters, so this Silver Six mystery series really is a perfect fit for me. My favorite character has to be Fix-It Fred, a walking hardware store who strings an overflowing tool belt across the front of his walker. He's grumpy and distrustful and I just loved him. I also adored their 93 year old neighbor Mrs. Gilroy, who appears to be a hermit yet has an iPhone and a flat-screen TV.

Towards the end of this book, while trying to figure out whether to return to her old life or remain with her new friends, Nixy reflects on the Silver Six and says they'd "created a family of the heart." That statement perfectly describes this special group of characters who I look forward to spending time with again very soon.

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Friday, September 11th for your chance to win a copy of Basket Case. (US entries only, please.)