Straw Hat Day in the Blogosphere

Hi Pals,

It's Straw Hat Day in the Blogosphere.   Don't you just love hats?  I sure do and have a closet full of them.

Sorry we've been missing from blogging and most of all reading your blogs.  M got behind again, but hopes she can get back on track now.   We might not blog every day or get around to visit every day, but we'll try to make it every other day anyway.

Have a great day pals, and I'll see you again in a couple of days.  Oh wait a minute, tomorrow is Thankful Thursday Blog Hop - I'll have to work on M to get something going for that.   See you tomorrow!

Mario

Caturday Art Blog Hop with Athena - 2

Hi Pals,

It's time for the  Caturday Art Blog Hop with Athena again.   M was playing around again with another effect in Photoshop Elements - it's call the Difference Cloud.   Hmmmm. Doesn't look like a cloud to me, but it is different!   M likes the effect, but not so well for a cat!   So now she has some ideas for creating a header for her own bloggy at some point.

The colors are rather pretty - just not for a cat.  I don't look anything like that.  Here's the original she worked from.

It's kind of interesting to see the art project and wonder why it turned out blue?   What - Where did that come from!   

Join our blog hop:

Caturday Art Blog Shop With Athena

Hi Pals,

I'm joining Athena Catgoddess' Caturday Art Blog Hop.    It's fun to check out some of the free photo editing programs, or perhaps even use your own photo editing program.   M has PhotoShop  Elements 10 that she's still trying to learn, so we try to use that one each week.   The piece above that she came up with was done as a  "Pencil drawing" - all she did was click on the effect for Pencil Drawing and this was the result.   She could have played around with it more, but thought this was kinda cool.  She likes the soft colors.   Here is the original:

This is one of her  favorite pictures of me.  When I first came here, I would sit in the bathroom sink until they saw me and finally guessed that I wanted water in the bowl - even tho I had a couple of bowls of water sitting elsewhere.   If didn't take me long to train them either -  just a couple of days.

Just click on the beautiful square above and join in.

One Of The 88% #HillsPet

This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic Food, but Mario's Meowsings only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article. 

Hi Pals,

About a year ago we had a scare.   M had taken me to our lady vet because I was sneezing and she thought I was coughing a couple of times.   The lady vet listened to my chest and said it was clear, so they ruled out a URL.   They then decided it would be good to take an X-ray just to make sure.   

About a half hour later, the lady vet came in and said she had consulted with the other vet at the clinic.     She then showed M the X-rays.   The lady vet said either my heart was enlarged or that was fat around my heart!  YIKES!  Scary. But she and her partner really felt it was fat around my heart and I was 3 pounds overweight.    (We did get a HIPPA Filter on our furnace, which took away the sneezing.)   I did not feel sick or look sick, but I was overweight and less active than I was when I came to live with them 4 years ago.   M tried cutting back on my food, but we didn't have success with that because we were not real sure what amount to give me.   

When our vet called in November and said they had received word about a new weight loss program for cats and dogs:  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution.    M jumped at the chance to check into it.  She put me in the PTU and off we went to the vet.  The vet lady gave us a sheet of paper that showed exactly how much wet food and how much dry food to give me each day.  We liked having something written to follow.

It's a program that has helped me lose some weight and still keep me satisfied. "88% of pets lost weight with this diet in just 2 months" and I'm one of those 88% YAY.  I still have more weight to lose, but I'm getting there. You can read all about the food and program here.   

M has been very satisfied with this program.   If you stick to the measured amount of food, you will lose weight.   Yes, we have slid backwards a couple of times by .2, but each time M learned from the experience and said it was her fault that it happened.   She got me right back on the program again.  

You'll enjoy this video about a doggie named Bear.   I was a lot like Bear, and now we are both doing something about it.  I have more energy now and can zoom around the house 2 or 3 times a day.  Bear is my hero, and if he can do it, I can do it too.  

If you are a little pudgy, why not join Bear and me and get on the program. Simply call your vet and ask if he/she carries  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic Advanced Weight Solution.   Keep watching now for a picture of the "new me" when I reach goal!    

Mario

Easing Sunday into Monday

Hi Pals,

I had such a good Easy Sunday that I thought I'd stretch it into Monday.    Why not, I say.

Many Sundays M will go downstairs and sit in her recliner and read the paper. If  I'm already on D's lap, he will help he get over to M's lap cuz she doesn't get lap time with me very much.    Well yesterday I  was on D's lap just getting ready to get nice and comfy when M came downstairs.   I waited for her to get settled (come on lady, get comfy so I can get comfy!)   Finally she did and I hopped right on over to her lap and settled down, nice and comfy like.  D didn't even have to give me a little shove to get me going.   WOW, I made M's day - the whole day!   She was so happy!   She said it was the best lap time she's had in a long time!

Did you have a good Easy yesterday?   I'm going around now to read blogs, so will check in on some of you just to make sure your Easy was a good one.

Mario

Caturday Art Blog Hop with Athena

Hi Pals,

M was having fun again with Photo Shop Elements.   This time she used the special effects to create sort of a "shrink wrap" effect.   Then she was able to frame it in Photo Shop too.   But before she could do the special effects, she cut my picture out using Play With Pictures.  A very inexpensive program she bought about 4 years ago to do the cut out work.   She still hasn't learned how to do that in Photo Shop.   She says she just doesn't have time to study videos or look something up.  (Lame excuse if you ask me).  She's wishing she would have left my face and body like they were because she says this doesn't do me justice cuz I'm not handsome here.   She thinks this effect would be better suited for an non-living subject instead of a live subject - like maybe a vase of flowers or a statue!

Thanks to Athena CatGoddess for hosting this event again.



Mario

Thankful Thursday - It's M's Fault

Hi Pals,

Whew, I'm glad that's over for a month.   I got carted to the vet on Monday to get weighed because of the Hills Metabolic Advanced Weight Loss diet I'm on.   Well, guess what - I GAINED .2.  Yup! It wasn't my fault either because M is the one who puts the food on my plate. It's supposed to be her job to keep track of what she feeds me, and she's slipping on her job.   She admits it too.

Sadly, I'm going to be the one who pays for it.   Now she's watching me like some Hawk!   I don't know why you have to watch hawks, and I certainly don't know why she has to watch me!   She's measuring everything and counting how many servings of wet I get.  Then she measures the kibble and doesn't even mound it up anymore!   Not Fair!    

Today I got to sit in the open window for whiffies for 15 minutes, and when M closed the window I zoomed through the house like a herd of elephants (according to M).   I did that 3 times.   Now with all that exercise I got, I think I deserve more kibble don't you?  Well, I'm NOT getting any more she says.   

I'm thankful for my humans.  I really do love them.  But sometimes I don't think they are fair with me!   i'm also thankful I got the trip to the vet over with for a month.

Mario