A Pair of Fun Feline Finds

Today we're super excited to tell you about two pawsome projects that we're supporting and hope you will too!

The first is CatLadyBox's new shirt campaign... Neuter is Cuter! For every one of these shirts purchased, CatLadyBox will make a $5 donation to help spay/neuter a cat!

The shirts are only $15 and they come in gray and pink. You get an adorable shirt and help a cat at the same time!

BUY A SHIRT, HELP A CAT

With kitten season officially here, CatLadyBox is launching a special "Neuter is Cuter" shirt campaign to raise money for spay and neuter programs. When you buy this shirt, you're not only getting an adorable shirt... but they'll also donate $5 from each shirt to help spay or neuter a cat!

You can get the shirts here: https://catladybox.com/shop/product/1458121651

YOUR PURR-CHASE HELPS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Spaying and neutering animals is the most humane and effective way of controlling cat overpopulation. For every cat that you can help get fixed, we're preventing hundreds of kittens from being born, and helping community cat colonies to stay under control.

An unaltered female cat can have several litters of kittens a year. This leads to more cats having more cats, and also to more cats ending up in shelters. With shelter overcrowding, this sadly also leads to more cats being killed in shelters. The best way to help stop this is to stop the reproductive cycle by spaying and neutering! Each of these organizations does amazing work to educate the public about TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), provide assistance when possible, and/or offer spay and neuter services and surgeries for community cats. With kitten season in full swing, shelters and rescues are inundated with orphan, homeless, and needy kittens. We hope you'll join us in supporting their very important efforts by purchasing a "Neuter is Cuter" shirt!

Proceeds from this shirt campaign will benefit:

Operation Catnip - Gainesville, FL
Fix Our Ferals - San Francisco, CA
TrapKing Humane Cat Solutions - Atlanta, GA

I got my shirt yesterday and I thinks it's going to draw lots of attention whenever I wears it!

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The second thing we wanted to tell you about today is a Kickstarter campaign we recently pledged on. 

A Cat Never Tells by Laura Seeley is a gift book for cat lovers of all ages, celebrating the love a woman has for her cat as we witness events of the life they share. Then one day the cat goes missing and in her profound sadness the distraught woman wonders where her beloved pet could be.

The full color illustrations are stunning, and the lyrical story takes readers on a whimsical journey of fond recollections and magical imaginings. I don't pledge on many crowdsourcing projects, but when I saw this one I acted immediately. I'm so excited to see the finished product.

Visit Kickstarter to pre-order A Cat Never Tells and support the project. It's getting super close to reaching it's goal!

Have you come across any fun feline finds lately that we need to know about? 

Tell us in the comments!

National Truffle Day

According to the National Day Calendar, today is National Truffle Day.

Who doesn't love those tasty little nuggets of chocolate perfection? Legend states that the first chocolate truffle was made on Christmas Eve 1895 in Chambray France by French patisserie Louis DuFour. Looking to create something new in addition to the usual Christmas chocolate treats, he made a delectable chocolate ganache, shaped it into small spheres and then rolled them in cocoa powder to make them easier to handle and not as likely to melt in a person's hands.

Today the main types produced are American, French, Belgian and Swiss. Each type of truffle has a slightly different twist, but they all include a creamy ganache filling and a topping like cocoa, coconut, nuts or drizzled chocolate.

While reading up on the history of the chocolate truffle for this post, imagine my delight to see this ad asking readers what they think of when they hear the word truffles! After voting I learned that 54% chose the chocolate, 33% chose the fungus, and 13% chose the cat name.

I guess it goes without saying that while I could nosh on truffles all day long, my favorite will always be my sweet, beautiful, missed beyond words angel Truffles...

Unboxing April's CatLadyBox

The theme of April's CatLadyBox was "Feline Groovy"...here's what was inside!

Featured Cat Lady Artist: "Peace Love Cats" by April Murphy

"Live Love Meow" Tank: I don't typically wear tank tops but this one is super cute. I'm looking forward to layering it with a regular tee underneath this summer.

Cat Tie-Dye Duffel Bag: I almost wish this bag was more purse-sized than a duffel bag so I could use it on a daily basis. The vibrant colors and design are just incredible.

"Live Love Meow" Car Magnet: This magnet never made it to my car. I would be afraid of it getting stolen! It's on the fridge with the rest of my cat magnet collection.

Groovy Guitar & Cat Peace Sign Catnip Toys: As soon as I opened the box Mudpie was desperate to climb inside. I pulled out my loot not realized the catnip toys were still in the wrapping paper, but she laid right down on top of them. "Step away from the toys" is written all over her face in this picture!

Not a subscriber yet? Visit CatLadyBox today!

Interested in purchasing individual items from past boxes? You can do that too!

Disclosure: I receive a discount on my CatLadyBox subscription as a thank you for my monthly review. Regardless of compensation received, we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers.

Book Review: Better Off Read: A Bookmobile Mystery by Nora Page

Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins won’t be shushed when an upstart young mayor threatens to permanently shelve her tiny town’s storm-damaged library. She takes to her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to collect allies and rally library support throughout Catalpa Springs, Georgia.

However, Cleo soon rolls into trouble. A major benefactor known for his eccentric DIY projects requests all available books on getting away with murder. He’s no Georgia peach, and Cleo wonders if she should worry about his plans. She knows she should when she discovers him bludgeoned and evidence points to her best friend, Mary-Rose Garland.

Sure of Mary-Rose’s innocence, Cleo applies her librarian’s sleuthing skills to the case, assisted by friends, family, and the dapper antiquarian bookseller everyone keeps calling her boyfriend. Evidence stacks up, but a killer is overdue to strike again. With lives and her library on the line, Cleo must shift into high gear to close the book on murder.

It always seems like I'm always drawn to the feisty older ladies in the cozies I read, so one with a 75 year old bookmobile-driving protagonist is a real treat. Cleo Watkins is busy drumming up support to save her beloved storm-damaged library when she delivers a stack of true crime books to the eccentric Buford Krandall. She questions why he's reading so much about how to commit murder and unsolved mysteries in their area, and then Buford becomes a murder victim himself! Cleo's best friend Mary-Jane, owner of a pancakes and pie shop, is the main suspect since she had been feuding with Buford over his contaminating the fresh spring water that runs between their properties. There's no shortage of suspects however, and Cleo aims to use her book smarts and southern charm to catch a killer.

I enjoyed this book, although it did take me some time to get into the story and connect with its characters. Two of my favorites were the bank manager's crotchety mother (the scene where she takes the bookmobile for a joy ride is hysterical), and true crime author Priscilla Pawpaw whose books seem to be the catalyst for the murder. The star of the show though is Cleo's beloved orange Persian, Rhett Butler. Poor Rhett isn't looking his best when we first meet him, having recently tangled with burdock necessitating a shave from Cleo's hairdresser. It didn't go well. In spite of questioning looks from the people around him he is Cleo's constant companion on the bookmobile and off. He even manages to save the day (with the help from a few of his friends) when she's confronted by the killer!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. As members of the Amazon Associates affiliate program, if you click on our links and buy something Mudpie gets a little money for her piggy bank!

Mommy's Purrfect Princess #SundaySelfie

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

Glamming It Up #CaturdayArt

Meows from Mudpie!

Today I took an unusable, blurry picture, applied a Photo Lab filter, and ended up with art that looks like I'm glamming it up with my fur blowing in the breeze! I think I should be riding shotgun in a convertible, don't you?

Visit more artsy kitties at Athena's Caturday Art blog hop!

And now our weekly answers for the Friendly Fill-Ins challenge, hosted by 15andmeowing and McGuffy's Reader...

Mudpie's answers:

1. I could really use a nice, big cat tree in the living room. Would you believe there has never been a cat tree in this house? Full sunlight gives Mommy bad headaches and our shades are mostly drawn, so even if I had one it wouldn't be able to be in front of a sunny window. I'm working on her, though. All she needs to do is wear her sunglasses in the house! (Before you feel too sorry for me, I do have a bathroom window to lounge in and a tall bookcase with a cat bed on it in front of an open window in the bedroom!)

2. Any charity that benefits cats is a charity that I like to support.

Mommy's answers:

3. One time, I broke my mom's Rhett Butler statue, and I saw my life flash before my eyes. She collects GWTW memorabilia, and this particular piece from Avon was impossible to find but a friend who works for Avon was able to get one for her. I was a kid, and she told me not to touch it. I did, it tipped over, and his hat broke off.  That's the angriest she's ever been with me, and she still reminds me about it every now and then.

 
4. I wish that I had pursued a career as a vet tech, when I was younger.

Mewsical Mudpie

Growing up there was always country music playing in my home. From The Nashville Network (TNN) to Hee Haw to the Grand Ole Opry, I loved it all even though it wasn't "cool" among my peers, and it's still the music I listen to today. Not 21st century country - the junk coming out of Nashville now makes me cringe - my favorite is classic country music mainly from the '60s through the '80s.

I was incredibly lucky that my parents took me to tons of concerts, and thanks to my friendship with a local DJ I even got to go backstage to meet several of them! Alabama, Clint Black, Ricky Van Shelton, Lorrie Morgan, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, Toby Keith...I could go on and on.

My all-time favorite has always been Conway Twitty, and in the spring of 1993 it was announced that he would be performing at the Vermont State Fair in September on the weekend of my 16th birthday. Needless to say, tickets were purchased immediately, but on June 5th he tragically and suddenly passed away. Tammy Wynette was announced as his replacement at the fair, and I adored her too, but my heart was still broken that I'd never get to see Conway in concert. It's hard to believe that was 25 years ago.

So what does this have to do with a cat blog? Our friends at Stunning Keisha challenged us to another "getting to know you" meme with a musical twist...answer the questions provided using only song titles from one artist or band. It's tough, especially when you have your heart set on using your favorite singer! I knew Mudpie was up to the task though, and I think she ended up doing a pawsome job interpreting the prompts...she even picked some of my favorites!

Artist/Band: Conway Twitty

What is your gender: Three Times A Lady

How do you feel: The Rose

If you could go anywhere: House on Old Lonesome Road

Favorite mode of transportation: Slow Hand

Your best friend: Hello Darlin'

Favorite time of day: I Wish I Was Still In Your Dreams

If your life was a TV show: Ain't She Somethin' Else

Relationship status: Crazy In Love

Your fear: Goodbye Time



Who else is ready to give this challenge a shot? 
We'd love to hear what you come up with!