Happy Friday! And we're sorry we haven't been around.

Happy Friday, friends! We're sorry we haven't been around to post on other blogs much this week, but Mommy has been working A LOT! I said to her, I said, "Mommy, why don't you just stop working that poopy job and help me be a writer for real?" She said, "Lola, I'm trying.  But we need green papers to keep food in your bowls and litter in your box.  We're not famous writers yet." Sigh... she could work from home all day with me on her lap! Who wouldn't want that??!! We need to get famous FAST!

Anyhoo, please don't forget about our giveaway! We're giving away my signature The Lola Collar

made exclusively by Sweet Pickles Designs, along with a bow tie or a pretty corsage.  You can enter here .  We're very excited!

Lola

Rescue Stories: Lexy - My Sister's Story

I thought this week I would share Lexy's rescue story.  This is taken right from our book Lola: Diary of a Rescued Cat.  We hope you like it.

Mommy doesn't know a whole lot about Lexy, but I can tell you what I've heard. My human cousin Aaliyah got a puppy for Christmas in 2009 (that's my doggie cousin, Diesel). In April 2010, Mommy was in Petco with some of our family to buy puppy stuff for him, and while she was walking around the store looking for presents for Diesel she saw the adoption table. Mommy had always loved kitties, so she went to look at them.

                             

She was checking out all the kitties when she saw a beautiful black-and-white cat sitting calmly in her cage. This cat reminded her of one she had many years ago, Marvin, that was her baby. She called Auntie Ruthie over to look and said, “Who does this remind you of?” and of course Auntie Ruthie said she looked just like Marvin. The volunteer told Mommy her name was Lexy, and she was a great and friendly cat. Mommy was told Lexy had been there a year. “Why?” Mommy wanted to know. She was wondering if there was something wrong with her. The volunteer told her Lexy is very friendly and sweet, but she often got passed by for a kitten or a more exotic looking cat. (That makes me mad!)

Mommy opened the cage to pet her, and Lexy was so nice! Mommy was told that Lexy loves to play. He said whenever he walks passed her cage she sticks her paw out to touch him and play. (Lexy still does that - she sits on the kitchen chair and sticks her paw out to play with Mommy). The volunteer said she's affectionate and would definitely be a lap cat. A lap cat! Mommy hadn't had a cat in a while and would love a lap cat! Mommy felt bad because all she could picture in her mind was Lexy sitting in a cage on display every weekend for a whole year. How sad. She had to get her out!

There was also another woman there who was interested in Lexy and was going to let them know if she could take her. Well, Mommy wasn't having that. She had already fallen in love with Lexy and wanted to take her home.  Mommy talked about it to Auntie Ruthie and our cousins on the way home, and there was only one problem: her landlord. She had been told she was not allowed pets when she moved in six years earlier. All the way home to Queens, Mommy thought about Lexy and even told Will about her. She dug her lease out of the closet to see what it said, and there it was, stamped in big black letters: “NO PETS.” Oh no… Mommy just had to have Lexy. What was she going to do?

She knew a couple of people in the building had cats, but they had lived there before our landlord bought the building, so their cats were “grandfathered” in. Hmmm, what to do, what to do? Mommy decided to call the landlord and ask him if she could have a pet. She figured, what's the worst that could happen? All he could say was no. When Mommy called him, he told her she's a good tenant and he wants her to be happy, so yes, she could have a cat! Mommy was so happy she could have Lexy!

She immediately emailed the shelter and found out that Lexy was still available! She filled out the application and waited. And waited. The person in charge couldn't reach Mommy's references, so they wanted to contact the vet Mommy used 15 years ago in Rockland County--15 years ago! Mommy was getting nervous that they wouldn't give Lexy to her. After emails back and forth, Mommy sent this one: “I am very much a pet lover and Lexy will have a wonderful loving home. I've already gone to the pet store to buy everything she would need. She will definitely be well cared for with me, I can assure you.” And guess what the next email said? “OK, she's all yours then!” Yay! It seems since Lexy was such a favorite they wanted to make sure she went to a good home.

The very next day was Saturday, so Mommy went back to the pet store with Auntie Ruthie and my cousins (they all wanted to see Lexy). Lexy did very well on the ride home. She ended up being in the car for almost two hours! At first she was meowing, but Mommy put some nice jazz music on and she calmed down (Mommy always puts that music on now when Lexy is in the car).

As soon as they got home, Mommy showed Lexy her food and litter box. Lexy had to pee; good thing she made it to Queens! Here's a picture of Lexy when she got home:

She just knew she was going to be the Queen!

Our First Giveaway! Enter to win The Lola Collar by Sweet Pickles Designs

Oh boy, are we excited! We are having our first ever giveaway, and it's an extra special prize that one lucky kitty will win.

Lexy and I have a very good kitty friend named Pickles. She's one of our bestest besties and she's just adorable.

She's a rescue kitty just like us, and her story is in our book. (Here's a little spoiler about her story - she was found on the side of a busy highway! Imagine that! You'll have to read the rest for yourself!) She's not only cute, but she's the CEO of her own business, Sweet Pickles Designs! She's quite the fashionista and gives fashion advice to all the kitties on Facebook.  (You can follow Pickles on her purrsonal page here or on her business page here.)  All the best dressed kitties on Facebook wear Sweet Pickles collars!

Pickles gave me the biggest honor and gift she could ever give a kitty - she named a collar after me! It's called.... drum roll please.... The Lola!

Being Cute Is Hard Work

Mommy: Lola, what are you doing under there?
Lola: Thinking of ways to look cute!

Getting into position -

#WordlessWednesday - Patience

We had a little bit of a snafu and our #WordlessWednesday was posted on Monday.  Mommy is a very good Mommy and we couldn't ask for a better Mommy, but she's not a very good secretary.  But because we don't have thumbs we depend on her. Maybe she'll get better at internet stuff.. 

Anyhoo..... here's our #WordlessWednesday! 

Lola

It's National Old Stuff Day

Today is National Old Stuff Day.  Now, the idea behind this National Day is to think of different ways you can change up your day.  You know, instead of doing the same old stuff today, do something different! I decided to put my own spin on this day, and show you stuff that I used to do that I don't do anymore.  I changed up my routine a while ago and gave up some of the following stuff.

This is me on my second day at home in my new bed.

Cat beds are old stuff for me and I don't sleep in them anymore.  Ever since I came out of the bathroom after I got better and could meet Lexy, I gave them up.  I only sleep on furniture or Mommy's bed.

Sal - A Death Row Cat Who Touched My Heart

When I started following cats and other pets on Facebook in 2011 after adopting Lola, I had no idea that they, and their families, would come to mean so much to me.  I was amazed at how an animal I had never seen in person could find their way into my heart just by reading their story and seeing their photo on the computer.  I have laughed at their antics, liked their cute photos, and cried when they made their journeys to the Rainbow Bridge.  Real, heart wrenching, sob inducing tears. I have sincerely felt like they took a piece of my heart when they passed.  It’s not every animal I see on Facebook that makes me feel that way, but there are some, for reasons I still cannot wrap my entire mind around, that touch me in a profound way.  Sal was one of those beautiful little souls. 

I used to follow a page on Facebook that would spotlight animals who are on the euthanasia list in the city shelters.  Every night I would see those little faces, most of whom were terrified and barely holding on to life, staring at me through the computer screen and I would cry.  I felt completely helpless because there was nothing I could do to help them, nothing I could do to change their situation, and nothing I could do to alter the horrid shelter system they found themselves in.  Eventually I had to stop reading the page.  But one night in May, 2013 a friend tagged me in a photo of a cat named Sal.  Sal was on “the list” and desperately needed to be pulled. In his photo he looked sick, heartbroken - and defeated.

It was that same look I had seen so many times in the eyes of so many animals.  I immediately pledged money for his rescue and started to pray because I knew it would take a very special person to take this cat.  I checked over and over to see if he was saved, and by a miracle, he was.  A wonderful woman named Carolyn Albers had him pulled with the help of Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals and Hudson Valley Animal Rescue and Sanctuary.  Sal was safe.