Today isn't really about cats, but it is cat-centric, or cat-adjacent, so I think it's still ok, right?
By now I'm sure you are aware that the Celestial Kitties Holiday Auction is going on right now. If not, hey! shop for your kitties Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus and help the Kitties of Winnie's Wish Rescue and Sanctuary at the same time! Or get something for the cat/dog/tiny pet lover in your life!
But I digress. Well sort of. See, I promised in the listing of one particular item that I would tell the story of it in my blog. And time is getting away from me and I still haven't told it! Perhaps you've seen the Rainbow Fur and Sherpa Nap Mats? Oh they are awesome! But boy do they have a story!
It may be long, but I hope you find it as humorous as I do.
It all began when I joined a group on facebook that shares deals and coupons on Amazon. (oh how I've spend, but oh how I've saved!) One day I saw a weighted blanket that had that awesome soft fur used on the best fluffy cat beds on one side and sherpa/fake sheep skin on the other. Wow, I thought, the cats would love to sleep on that! Either side! The price wasn't half bad either, for a blanket like that.
That's when I had my Bright Idea! I could cut that into small individual nap mats and have lots for the auction! What could be easier I thought as I clicked buy. It arrived in a few days and the first inkling that this might not be so simple after all. The box was HEAVY, oof! So heavy! Oh well, I said to myself, I can just remove the ceramic micro-beads it's filled with, no problem! Still optimistic!
I think I've eluded to the fact that I have some physical limitations previously, that becomes my next issue. I've decided that perhaps when I cut this blanket it should be done outside. Because, ya know, fur. I didn't want a rainbow colored fur covered house. For reasons this means that the actual cutting will have to be handled by Greg. I bought this super heavy blanket before Greg's accident. For months and months he was unable and not allowed to lift anything as heavy as this blanket so it sat in it's box testing the strength of the support beams of my house.
When Greg was finally up to taking on the blanket he took a folding table outside and somehow got the box out there. Armed with my second best scissors, into the breach he went. Twenty minutes later he came back in, one nap mat sized piece of blanket held up in his hand like a fisherman showing off his catch and a sour look on his face. He sputtered, cat spitting fur tufts style, and asked if this looked right. I giggled. The sour look deepened. But I couldn't help it! He was wearing as much fur as he was holding! He'd been wearing a black superhero tshirt. That superhero was now wearing a rainbow fur coat!
He brought me his catch, I mean the nap mat sized piece of blanket. And tiny little things fell out on me. What is that? That, oh that, he grimaced painfully, was the ceramic micro beads. Oh, but I thought he'd empty those outside as he cut the pieces, imagining little pouches containing these even tinier than I expected, itsy bitsy teeny tiny grey bits of grey debris. Oh, but no, they are not neatly contained in the blanket. They are floating around in what little squares, stuck in the fiberfill between the sherpa and fur. The one dribbling bits on me had been shaken within inches of its life for many minutes, which explained how Greg had become fur covered.
Oh, and extra fun, some of the squares did not get cut while making the mats so they retained all of their surprisingly heavy minuscule beads. I'm talking so small, it would take a hundred or so to make a grain or rice, maybe the size of the point of a pin, not even the head, the pointy end! Smaller than course salt! Like slightly enlarged grains of sand! I cannot imagine the process they used to create these tiny things, and being ceramic one would assume they were fired in a kiln, how did that look? Oh the question.. but I digress. Again. Sorry.So Greg would have to cut a slit in each of those uncut squares to remove the beads because we cannot have some weighted and some not weighted bits, right? I mean, these are for kitties! They deserve the best! Luckily I can hand stitch up sherpa in such a way that it hardly shows, in fact you would hardly notice if I wasn't telling you.
Back unto the breach Greg went! More cutting, more bead expelling, more grumping, more fur flying. When he was done, he said the yard had a rainbow circle. I bet ants were quite confused. Imagine coming out of your little ant hole and everything is frosted with tiny little beads, yes, even tiny to you, an ant, and bunches or pink blue yellow green and purple strands of fur. Imagine little ant holes now lined with fancy "rocks" and rainbow striped teenage ant bedrooms..
A few days after this, my nephew came to cut the grass. I warned him about that area of the yard, fearing that when the mower hit it, all the microbeads would be sucked up and thrown out at such a high speed that nephew would be sandblasted!
Turns out the beads were not the issue. Apparently when he went through that area all the fur went up into the mower and exited in a huge fluffy cloud. He said it looked like a Muppet exploded. Oh how I wish I had seen it!
So now beads removed, slits sewn shut, it was time to finish the edges. My plan was to use my serger with my trademark rainbow colored threads. (for those that don't sew, sergers do the stitching, edging and cutting all in one pass and you get seams like store bought clothes have) Twin2 has my serger. She would rather do the edging herself than return it. Ok, that works but, I warned her, take it outside and sew there because the fur will fly! Oh no, she said, she will sew in the kitchen where she will be able to just sweep up the fur. Nothing would dissuade her. So I let her have at it.
About five minutes into sewing I get a facetime call. Twin2 is covered in rainbow fur and she's holding up the first mat much like Greg did, as if it were a fish she'd just caught and was slightly repulsed by it. I giggled. But I think I refrained from saying I told you so!
I was informed by both Greg and Twin2 that I am not doing this again. Ever.
So if you want one you might want to get your bids in! Luckily there are a few. I put up the first three right away, and the next three this week. Next week I will probably put the last of them up and since no one else appreciates how awesome this deal was, I will not be able to repeat this process in the future. Some people have no concept that kitties come first and what they like, no matter how inconvenient for the human, is a must!
I hope you enjoyed my little saga of the rainbow mats. And for reading this far, here's an obligatory kitty picture as a reward for spending your time with us!
Glitter: Boy, that was long winded, and it wasn't even about us!
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And now that you've heard about one of the wonderful things in the auction, please stop by and see the rest at the
Every bid helps the kitties, so please, bid high and bid often! Thank you for caring!
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