Why I'm not putting up a tree this year....

If this is what happens with a table top tree can you imagine the havoc with a full sized tree?

Perhaps it was an act of revenge after I tried to put a little santa hat on Sticky.

Blogging by Mail - Indulge Me Package Shipped

A teaser but hopefully not a spoiler. I shipped my package today and it's on its way to someone who, like me, has a cat, or maybe two. Come on now - you didn't really think I'd spill all the beans did you?

Here's another clue or at the very least another adorable picture of my girls.

Blogging By Mail - Indulge Me

The wonderful Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness has gone a little nuts and organised another round of Blogging by Mail. Yes, I KNOW, at this time of year - what IS she thinking! I couldn't be more delighted. I love these events because they are a great way to meet new bloggers and of course you get good mail. Because I lived in the US for 3 years and I feel that I have a special connection with the place, I always ask Stephanie, very nicely of course, if she will match me up with someone in the US. That's all I'm sayin' - y'all 34 other participants will just have to wait and see who I am sending to.

The hard part about sending stuff overseas is that all the really cool things like candy and books are expensive to send. My BFF lives in the US and our birthday and Christmas packages to each other usually put us back about $35-$50 for postage alone. For once or twice a year we just suck it up. So, dear BBM partner, if you are reading this, keep things light and small - please.

Oh and just so I don't have a photo-less post and this blog isn't called Food Art and Random Thoughts for nothing, I thought I'd share some photos of Smudge and Sticky.

How cute and adorable am I?


It wasn't me who did this


No really it wasn't.


OK so maybe it was but look at what my sister is up to...

Announcing the Arrival of...

....well that's the thing really, they don't have names and I need help.

We went to visit a breeder in Levin on Sunday intending to come home with a couple of Burmilla kittens. I love the look of their silver coats and little round faces. However, we had decided that we would let the kittens pick us and each Burmilla we approached would put her ears down and pull away from us. We ended up coming home with two Burmese kittens.


Barinka Shine is an 11 month old Blue Silver burmese and her half sister, Tabitha is a five month old chocolate silver. You can check out their parents here if you are interested. Billy Boy is their daddy and Barinka's mum is Paris, a blue Burmese; while Tabitha's mum is Kelli, a Chocolate Tortie Burmese.

Husband and I are disagreeing about their names because I want pretty sounding names like Phoebe or Lucy (apparently cats like names that end in an "ee" sound although how a person can know that I don't understand). When we were first talking about getting a pair of kittens we thought we'd call them Guido and Luigi after the characters in the movie Cars but those names don't fit our girls. Husband is not a fan of people names unless they are a bit "out there" hence our last cat being called Scooter and the one before that Allie which was actually short for Alligator and not a person's name at all.

I quite like the idea of finding a pair of names However, Lucy and Ramona (from that song by Michael Nesmith), Patty and Selma, Phoebe and Ursula, Patsy and Eddy; and Thelma and Louise were all turned down.

I've even toyed with a foodie names like Cookie, Coco, Bailey or Lindy (short for Lindauer, a bubbly NZ wine). As a kid we had a pair of Siamese cats which were named Sausage and Mash.

Let's get those suggestions rolling in.

Update 09/10/08: Husband has come up with Smudge for the grey kitty which suits her personality because she smooches and smudges all over you and, well, she's smudge coloured. As for the young one, someone suggest Sticky since she sticks to her sister like glue. I'm not sure I can live with that but I'm thinking about it.