Growing Kitties

Oh No! I think Mom has really lost it this time. I can't believe Mom thinks she can actually do this! I looked once and then I looked again and it's true!

I think Mom is trying to grow kitties from my fur! She has a whole can full of this stuff! She brushes me every day and sometimes two to three times a day to collect this stuff.

I've checked it out very carefully and I don't care what she says, you can't grow a kitty from all of the floof, no matter how much I leave around!

Maybe if I ignore her, she will give up. I thought she would have more intelligence than that, seeing that she has that advanced degree. I guess it goes to show that cats are definitely smarter than the beans. (At least I have a nice, shiny coat from that brushing!)

Update: Many of you have been asking about the task of brushing me. I LOVE it! It is bonding time for my mom and me. All she has to do is hold up the comb and/or brush and I come straight to her and begin purring. The only time I get aggravated is if I have some mats that she has to work on getting out. I even lay on my back in her lap for her to clip my toe nails.

Cool Cat Award

My new friend, Huffle Mawson has designed a new award for fur friends and I am one of the first recipients of the Cool Cat Award! Isn't Huffle a beautiful lady-cat? Thank a bunch Huffle!

I am supposed to pass this award off to five special cat bloggers. I would like to share this special award with my very special fur friends:

Jasper McKitten Cat because he introduced me to the Cat Blogger World,

Daisy because she is so funny and makes my Mom laugh,

Marilyn Monreow because she takes time away from the other Ballicus kitties to visit me and have her own website,

Miss Peach because she reminds me of a true Southern Belle, and

Bhu because he is in love with me!

Because Huffle made the rules, I can only choose five, which is so hard because all of the kitties on Cat Blog are so special to me!

Have a very sunny Monday!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

This is my spot to take it easy today, Mom. Go find your own chair!

My First Award

Remembering Forest

My First Award . . .

Yippee! I got an award from Chica and Pumuckl (and their mom - Ana) for my blogs this week as we traveled down memory lane. I have been at this blogging thing for a little over 1 month and Mom and I enjoy reading so many entertaining blogs. I would love to pass this award on to all of my fur friends, but decided to showcase my floofy, flat-face friends because there are not a lot of us on the cat blog.

Maggy and Zoey
Goma
Billie (and her other siblings)
Prince Muddy Paws and Myst

Cat Clip Art

THEN: Baby Praline with the "famous" string!

I just had to give you another Baby Praline picture this week to complete the stroll down memory lane.

NOW: Praline at 12 1/2 years

Have fun reading about some of my flat-faced friends.

Then and Now

Wow! How time flies when you are having fun! I hope you have enjoyed my baby pictures this week from almost 13 years ago. Mom says I have grown from an adorable baby to a beautiful lady. I will be 13 years old in September and my mom says I can't tell you how old she is.

Praline and Mom-Paula 1995

Praline and Mom-Paula 2008

Mom says everyone thinks that I am a fat kitty and they are surprised when she tells them that I am only 8 1/2 pounds. I have a lot of floof, so it makes me look fat. Mom says she wishes floof was her problem! (Don't tell her I said that!)

I have been a great comfort to my mom with all of the changes she has gone through in her life. She tells me that it is so wonderful when she comes home from a really stressful day and I meet her at the door and immediately start purring. I purr because I am happy to see my mom AND I know she will give me treats!

My Mom tends to be a Type-A personality and really likes to be in control of the situation. One day one of her college students came up to her and said, "Dr. Gregg, can I ask you a question?" My mom told the student yes, thinking that it was some complicated math problem. However, the student said, "You like to be in control, right? How can you have a cat?" My mom responded with a laugh, "She keeps me honest."

T13 #3 - Baby Praline Memory Lane

I bet you are on Baby Praline overload this week. Mom has just been obsessed with transferring my baby pictures to digital format so she won't lose them (Now I just need to remind her to back up her hard drive!). For today's T13, we will share picture from my first month with Mom back in 1995. Tomorrow, we will complete the Baby Praline picture week with a then and now shot of Mom and me.



1. Playing with my two favorite toys as a kitten: a shoe string and a stick with feathers and string. I wonder where these went.

2. Helping Mom with the filing. She tends to be a Type A personality (how does she ever live with a cat?) and likes to keep things in order. Unfortunately, her filing is a lot larger now.

3. Snow! We live in South Carolina, so we rarely see snow. My first three years with Mom, we lived in Clemson, SC, which is in the western corner of SC and borders SC, NC, and GA. We actually had snow my first winter with Mom! She took me outside, but I quickly ran back inside because it was too cold and wet!

4. Eating! I tended to be a messy eater! Just look at all of that food on the floor. Mom says I am still a little messy. I like to call it picky. Every cat knows that each piece of food tastes a little different.

5. Talking to Mom. I am half Himmie and everyone knows that Himmies have some Meezer in them, so it is only natural that we like to talk. I developed a very special vocabulary for my Mom in my early years. She knows which meows mean, "MOM", "I'm hungry", "I'm scared", "Hello", etc.

6. Visiting my human grandparents. While Mom was in graduate school at Clemson, she rented out her house in Columbia, SC, so we had to stay with her parents when she would go home for the weekend. I traveled almost every weekend with my mom until I had surgery to get "fixed" at about 6 months of age and then I started staying home. About the only time I get in the car now is to go to the V.E.T. I don't really like to travel now.

7. Playing with balls! My human grandparents bought me this neat toy that was round and had a ball inside of it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that ball out! I think my Mom eventually stepped on it and broke it (is was an accident, of course!).

8. Visiting my human aunt and cousins. I enjoyed exploring my mom's sister's house when we went on our first trip. She had hard-wood floors all over the place. It was so much fun to take off running and then try to stop and slide completely across the room.

9. Kissing my Mom! This is one of the reasons my Mom fell in love with me. I actually kissed her in the pet store. My favorite place to kiss her in on her chin. Even though I am a little heavier now, she still picks me up the same way and I welcome her home every day with a kiss on her chin! (Hey Mom, that sure is a weird hairstyle!)

10. Big eyes! My human nephews called me Gizmo (from Gremlins), my human grandmother calls me the Owl Cat, and my Mom calls me Baby Girl. One of the problems Persians have is with their tear ducts, so we tend to have these dark splotches under my eyes. Mom is doing a lot better with keeping me clean now, but this is one of those "bad days" of eye stains.

11. First Christmas present. This was my first stuffed animal that was actually given to me. My mom's grandmother picked it out for me and it was my favorite gift for a long time. Ma Ma Gregg went to the Human Bridge two weeks before Christmas, so this toy was very special to both Mom and me.

12. Me and My String. I could never get enough of that silly shoe string! I think I took it wherever I went. Hey Mom, don't you think you should clean up a little bit?

13. Living the College Life. Even though mom was 40 years old when she went to graduate school, her apartment began looking like a typical college student's dorm! Of course, all of my toys didn't help too much. My favorite game was to take a flying leap towards a pile of papers that mom put on the floor (either to grade or to read for research) and see just how far I could spread them out! Now, I just lie down on the papers to keep her from work on them. She spent an awful lot of time at the computer, so I used to jump up and walk all over the keyboard, her papers, swish the pencils off the table, and just meow to distract her. I still do this as she is helping me with the blogs.

Thanks for being patient with us as we traveled down memory lane. All of these pictures are from my first three months with Mom. We lived in this 3-room apartment for three years in Clemson until Mom received her PhD in Mathematics Education. Our first move was to Spartanburg, SC, where Mom got her first job at Converse College as a professor. We then moved to Aiken, SC, where mom was a professor at the University of South Carolina - Aiken and then Mom finally moved back into her house in Columbia, where we have lived for the past five years!

First Road Trip Continues

Hello My Furry Friends!

Just a few more pictures of my first road trip to my human aunt's house when I was a kitten.

Let's go mom!

What do you mean I have to get inside? I want to feel the wind blow through my floof!

When we stayed at my human aunt's house, we had to stay in William's room. He was the 7 year old and had a small little bed that mom and I had to share. This was my little corner of his room. As you can see, I had my portable potty, my food, and the every important "lint remover". Mom says she should have invested in stock in this company because she needs one everywhere she goes. Mom caught me during dinner. MMMMMMM.

Mom claimed she was on vacation from school, but there were these really thick books with us. I decided to turn on the charm and make mom choose between studying and holding me. Guess which one she decided on? It still works today - 12 years later!

I learned to show my floofy belly early in life. This is Russell, who was 12 years old.

But Mom, I don't want to go back home. William and Russell are too much fun to play with.

Whew! That was a fun trip, but it was very tiring. It is always nice to be back home!

P.S. Mom went back to the doctor today and he said her foot is looking great! Her next appointment is in 6 weeks unless there are any problems. She has to go back to the oral surgeon tomorrow for follow-up on surgery she had in March. My poor Mom! She has just had it rough. Thanks for all of your special thoughts and purrayers!

First Road Trip

I forgot to tell everyone about how long it took to get my registration papers completed for my name. The nice lady at the pet store told my mom that I was a "pointed Persian" and that was what was written on the papers. However, the officials said I couldn't be a pointed Persian because I didn't have blue eyes (I have greenish/yellow eyes) and that all of my toe pads weren't dark (two of the pads are pink and the rest are dark). They asked for pictures of me and did a genetic search and finally decided I was a Tortie! It took almost 3 months before my name was official. Just thought you would find that interesting.

My first road trip (December 1995):

Within a week after I came to live with mom, she had a break from studying. I think they called it a Winter Break. My mom called it Christmas Break. We traveled from the Western part of South Carolina to the East Coast to visit her sister. I did okay traveling as long as mom sang to me all the way (about a 4-5 hour trip). We stayed there for a week and I became acquainted with her nephews.

Hey Mom! What's this box all about? All of the soft material that has your special smell on it is inside. Oh . . . we are going on an adventure. What's an adventure?

Don't forget your toothpaste! I want to smell sweet breath when I kiss you. Oh yes, don't forget my toys either, and my food, and my portable bathroom, and the most important thing, ME!

Yippee! Let's go!

This is Russell and William. Would you believe they are 25 and 20 years old now?

Mom - is this my present in the big box? Can I open it now? Please! Please!

P.S. Mom went back to work today for the first time in two weeks since her surgery. She said she was pretty tired and wanted to write more about our first trip together, but she compromised (what is that word?) and scanned pictures instead! Probably most of you would rather see baby pictures than read anyway. Thanks Mom!

Gotcha Story

Mom found my baby pictures, so slowly she is scanning them into the computer to digitize them so they won't all fade. These pictures were taken with the traditional cameras that actually used film!

This is my first picture in our apartment in Clemson, SC, which shows my adorable little face! That is one of the reasons why she fell in love with me at first sight. Can you blame her? I began early helping Mom organize her papers, which has been a life-long job for me. She just has too many papers around all of the time and needs someone to help her.

In the beginning . . .

Mom used to have a gray kitty named Muff (see post from June 9, 2008) with her husband. Well, her husband decided to leave her after 21 years of marriage and he took Muff with him. Muff had been diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure and the doctor had only given her 6 months to a year, so mom told the man-husband that if she was going to lose them both, she would rather do it at the same time. Needless to say, Mom was very depressed. She tells me that it took her almost a year to stop looking for Muff to meet her at the door when she would come home. Muff lived to be 18 years old and went to the Bridge 6 months after I came to live with Mom.

Mom decided to change her life and left her full-time teaching job to go back to college and work on a Ph.D. She had been separated for about a year, had moved 3 hours away from home to go to college full time, and was feeling the itch to have another fur child in her life. She knew she wanted a really floofy kitty and starting looking in the paper for Persians, and especially Himmies! But every time she called, all of the kitties were gone.

One day (December 11, 1995) when she was visiting her parents in Columbia, SC, she stopped by a local pet shop just to see what type of kitties were there and how much they would cost - she swears she didn't have any intentions of buying that day. I had other plans.

She walked in the shop and guess what? There were some baby Persians in the shop. She told the polite lady that owned the store that she was interested in a female Persian. The lady told her that all of the solid Persians had already been adoped, but she had two Persians that were half red tabby Persian and half Himilayan and one was a girl. Mom asked if she could hold me and I put my plan in motion to go home with her. I immediately licked her face and began my loud purring. Mom walked around the store for about 1/2 hour with me in her arms and I felt so comfortable that I had found my human Mom that I fell asleep in her arms. That was all it took! The polite lady showed Mom my fur daddy (Little Tiger of Harbison) and my fur mommy (Chocolate Baby) and they were beautiful! The lady called me "Flower Face", but mom took one look at my sweet face and coloring and said, "Her name is Praline." Of course, she had to come up with a fancy name to complete my papers, so I became Miss Paula's Sweet Praline.

Mom took me home to Clemson, SC, where we lived for three years while she completed her Ph.D. I helped her organize (or reorganize) her papers for her dissertation and would put my stamp of approval (teeth marks) on math papers that she had to grade for the math classes she taught.

My first attempt at "bowing up"

My first toy - a ball that had another bright toy inside of it. Hadn't quite figured out what to do with it yet.

Playing with the ball on the kitches floor! That was fun. There was a hole under the cabinets in that apartment and I actually squeezed under it to get the ball, so Mom ended up putting up cardboard to block my entrance. I liked that dark space, but she was afraid I would get caught and she couldn't get to me.

My favorite toy was a shoe string. I carried that string all over the place. Hmmmm. Wonder what happend to that string?

Time to eat, Mom!

Tomorrow, I will share the adventures of my first vacation trip to my Mom's sister's house with more pictures.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Baby pictures and Gotcha Story begins tomorrow!

No More Noise Crackers!

OK, Mom, I put up with all of those noise crackers all day yesterday, so today let's have some peace and quiet, okay.

Seriously, I did okay yesterday. Mom went to eat with some friends and there were a lot of noise crackers going off when she got home after dark. But, I was a good kitty and met her at the door and she rewarded me with treats, so I stayed out of the closets the rest of the night.

Note from Mom - Praline did really well last night. It was the first time she actually stayed out of the closets and sat beside me!

Independence Day

Guess what? Mom found my baby pictures! We will start with the history of Praline next week after the holidays.

In the meantime, I must find a good hiding place before all of the fireworks start going off!!!!