Hello, everyone! Bandit here, Cats Haven shelter manager. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! The Holidays are just around the corner,
and I am SO ready for turkey and stuffing, ornaments, and the all-important gifts!! And starting this week, It's Beginning
to Look a Lot Like Christmas because Barb and I are packing up tonight for the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show!!!!! Starting
this Wednesday, we'll be at our annual booth at this annual event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. More about that in a minute
because I have a favor to ask you guys!
So how is everyone? I hope this blog entry finds everyone in a grrrr-eat mood.
As always, life has been busy at the shelter. We've been doing everything from planting daylilies to adopting out kitties.
Congrats to everyone who has found their homes recently!!! And while Barb has been spending her evenings working on jewelry
for our upcoming events, I've been teaching classes for our senior cats. We still have our kitten classes during the day,
of course, but at night we've been gathering some of the seniors and doing some really fun stuff. Monday nights is our very
popular "Sleep" class; Tuesdays we've got our "Stretch and Sleep" seminar; and Wednesdays bring "Find
Something and Sleep Under or In It." Thursdays we're teaching "Sleep and Drool," which is a very well attended
class. And Fridays are Strip Poker nights. (That one was Merlin's idea, and quite honestly it's a little disturbing.) So we've
been working hard to design some mentally stimulating activities for all of our seniors. It's so important to keep them on
their toes (or their sides and stomachs, in this case).
So aside from being busy here at the shelter, we've been gearing
up for all kinds of fun events! The first one starts this Wednesday, and it's the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show at the Indiana
State Fairgrounds!! We'll have our annual booth at this wonderful show, and I can hardly wait. We'll have the Kitty Du Jour
with us each day, and we've got all kinds of fun stuff for sale. Catnip toys, FABU Gypsy Cat jewelry, handmade winter scarves,
Chris' mom's super-cool needlepoint Kleenex box covers . . . more stuff than I can list here! And the proceeds from the sales
all go to us here at the shelter. Now, I mentioned that I had a favor to ask of you guys. We're still a little skimpy on volunteers
to help at the show. Specifically, we need to have a few folks join us in the booth on Saturday and Sunday during the day.
If you have a couple of hours, please consider coming out and spending time with Barb. I'd really like to get someone to help
her Saturday from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m., and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, we can use some help from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Here's the
cool thing about helping at the show . . . we'll not only reimburse your $3 parking fee, but you get into the show for free,
and after your shift is over you can wander around the show for as long as you want! You can help Cats Haven *AND* get a jump
on your Holiday gift shopping! If you can help out, contact The Other Sue at susan@pjfuzzypaws.com so she can add you to the
schedule. And hey, if you can't volunteer but would still like to attend the show, be sure to print out the coupon on the
home page (click here) and take it with you for $2 off show admission!!!
We also have another event going on at the Fairground this
coming Saturday and Sunday. We'll be at the Great Indy Pet Expo with lots of adoptable kitties and more fun stuff for sale
(Saturday - 10 a.m.to 5 p.m.; Sunday - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)! This is a really fun event with lots of shelters and rescue groups
participating, and lots of animals looking for their fur-ever homes as well as lots of stuff to buy for your fuzzmates! To
see who all is gonna be there, check out www.greatindypetexpo.com. Even if you're not looking for a new fuzzy family member, c'mon by and say HEY to the volunteers at the Cats Haven booth!
And
if all of this wasn't enough, our good friend Leah Sands (foster mom extraordinaire) has a really nifty fund raiser going
on for us! See, Leah is an Avon representative, and she's offering to donate 25 percent of her sales from now until November
27h to Cats Haven!!! I personally LOVE Avon products. I use their ANEW under-eye cream to keep away wrinkles and dark circles
. . . anyway, this is a great way to stock up on all your favorite Avon products and help the shelter all at the same time.
I'm planning to get Lady Gwen a few things. She really likes the Smooth Miracles lipstick. (Hey, don't laugh. Have you ever
seen Lady Gwen with chapped lips? Think about it . . .) To take advantage of this fabulous fund raiser, just click here and make your online purchases! Thank you, Leah, for caring about us like this. Raspberry was right when he said "Leah?
Oh, she's such a babe!"
I better get back to helping Barb pack for the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show. I hear her
banging around on the 3rd floor . . . and besides, I'm pretty sure that mouse is still here in the office. If she's three
floors up, she can't hear me scream if that vicious mouse tries to hogtie me again like it did last week. Who knew that a
mouse could use a lasso like that?! I'm here to tell you that these rodents just can't be trusted. I'll blog again next week
to let you guys know about the Eiteljorge Winter Market, the Gathering of Artists, and our annual Cats Haven open house! We've
got a lot going on, and I hope to see all of you over the next few weeks! - Bandit the puddytat
