Today's Special: I Ate the Word Day Right Off It!

What an amazing Gotcha Day I had! And I have my wonderful peeps and friends to thank for it. If you look to the left, you can see what my great friend Bizbee gave me as a present. He's my brotha from another motha! Haha! I think it suits me!  And it's low maintenance. I just shake my head in the morning and...voila!

The highlights of my Gotcha Day are as follows: a hug from a dear friend, BeaverWonderCat's HerbiePawty, all the wonderful gotcha day wishes from everyone, cake, my new blog and roast chicken. Anyone that knows me is thinking - how is it possible that cake is 4th on the list and roast chicken is last? Well, although I can't even believe it myself, I've learned that there are just some things more important to me than cake and food! 

That Webster guy defines friendship as the act of being a friend. And a friend is defined as a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. While that is true, let's face it...there's a lot more to friendship.  To me, a friend is someone who makes you laugh when you didn't think you could, listens to you whine when you need to, trusts you with their deepest secrets (because you will never betray them) and is there for you all the time, no matter what.

Being as I'm a housecat and don't get out much (unless I fall out a window, but that's a story for another time), most of my friends are also my family. When my peeps asked "Hey Herbie...do you think you want to have an account on Twitter and Facebook?" I thought it would be fun, but I never thought that I'd meet such wonderful people...such true friends. I think what I'm trying to say here is that I love all the fun I have and all the cake I eat (never enough tho sadly), but sometimes I think it's important to step back and just say thank you...and that's what I'm doing right now.

But listen, I can't make this whole post lolly or I'll never hear the end of it.  There's cake and roast chicken to discuss for god's sake!  And everything you've heard is true! Peeps bought me a roast chicken and a cake for my Gotcha Day.  The cake even had my name on it! My peeps said it took quite awhile to explain "gotcha day" to the woman in the bakery! Two thoughts on this: 1) Oh if only I could've been there to hear that conversation! 2) Can you imagine being lucky enough to work in a bakery?

*stares off into space for several minutes*

Ooops...sorry about that! Bakery thoughts got the best of me I'm afraid! So where was I? Oh yes, my cake and roast chicken. Both were delightful. I did have to share with my siblings. My peeps' idea...not mine I can assure you! I kept them away from MY roast chicken as long as I could, but alas...peeps finally stepped in and divided it up between the 8 of us.  It was delicious! Then, after the chicken came the cake! Before peeps could stop me I ate the word day right off it. Haha! As you can see tho, my sister Bellatrix was trying to get all up in my cake! After the picture was snapped, I slapped her into next week, but, sadly, she's a tough broad and gives as good as she gets. It behooved me to allow her to have a bit...if you know what I mean. Pfftt...

So that's basically how my big day went. Thanks again to everyone who shared the day with me and truly made it extra special. It was a million times better than even my wildest dreams (and some of my dreams are pretty wild!)  I am truly one happy cat. 

xoxo

Today's Special: My Gotcha Day

Oh boy! Peeps gave me my very own blog as my Gotcha Day present! Just goes to show what one little housecat and alot of loud meowing can do!

So today is my Gotcha Day. 4 years ago, in a little shelter in Maryland, I met my peeps for the first time. I was just relaxing...paw stretched thru the bars of the cage...trying to look cool. On the inside I was really hoping that someone would come along soon and want me to become part of their family. I was 2 yrs old and up to that point, had spent my life on the streets...

One day in 2006 I was picked up and taken to a place I call the "bad place." There I was given a little cage to live in, in a room filled with lots of other cats. I was terrified. Some would be snatched from their cages never to return. From what I heard, they went to sleep forever. I didn't know what that meant, but I just knew I really didn't want that to happen to me. Then one day, different people came. They looked at all of us and picked a few to go with them. I was one of the chosen ones! At first I was scared b/c I didn't know what was happening, but after a few minutes I realized I was being taken to a place that didn't believe in making animals sleep forever. Don't get me wrong...I love naps just as much as the next cat, but this forever sleep thing just didn't sound like a good idea to me! So off I went to the shelter that would become my home for the next few months. I was treated really well and I liked it much more than the "bad place." I was even given a blue collar and my very own number! It seemed that most of the other cats were also given names, but for some reason, I just got a number. Anyway...sometimes visitors would turn up to look at me and the other kitties that were there. And sometimes we'd get held and played with by the visitors. And if they laughed alot and made happy sounds then usually one of us would leave the shelter for what I learned was called a Forever Home. And this Forever Home was definitely what I wanted...

So on 21 April 2006, in walked some visitors. They came over to my cage, played with me thru the bars and scratched my head. Then they walked away. I'll admit I felt a little glum. But then they came back! With the shelter lady! And the magic key! The cage door was opened, I was picked up and cuddled. Oh it felt so nice...I started purring right away. The visitors started making those happy sounds that I told you about earlier and I thought "Oh boy!! Could it be?" The visitors put me down on the floor and...as they discovered that day...when I get excited and happy, my tail shakes, falls forward and lays on my head! Apparently this was a good thing because they started laughing and I heard them say "he is just the cutest cat I've ever seen. Look at his tail. It's like it's on backwards." As far as I was concerned, my tail could be on forwards, backwards or sideways as long as these visitors kept making those happy sounds! And they did. And then it happened. I heard it. "We want to adopt this one. He definitely needs a Forever Home."

And the rest, as they say, is history. Herbie history. I was brought home that very day and my life as a pampered housecat began. And those very nice visitors became my very special peeps. They decided to name me Herbie because, as they said, "he really is such a lovebug." As I write this today, 4 yrs later, I know I really lucked out. I have a wonderful home, great brothers and sisters (to boss around), fantastic peeps, every toy imaginable and a food dish to call my very own. There's always a hand to pet me, arms to hug me, lips to kiss me and a soft voice to say "I love you Herbie." What more could one little street cat want?

xoxo