Hi again, friend. Raspberry here. We've had a few fun things going on over the past couple of weeks, and this is my first chance to sit and write. Despite the lousy first night at the Home Show, what with our stuff getting stolen from the porch, we had a super weekend! Lots of folks stopped by our booth and we handed out a ton of flyers and Mewsletters. Barb sold several pieces of our . . .er, I mean her Gypsy Cat jewelry, and we got to visit with some of our wonderful volunteers. Thanks, everyone, who came out and helped! You guys are the best ever!!! And I gotta thank

Stacey Cassell for making a donation to us. After someone stole our money, our good friend KJ mentioned this on WZPL. Stacey was listening that morning, and she got on our website and make a very nice donation through our PayPal link. Stacey, thank you so much. It's humans like you that keep us doing what we do.

Last weekend, Rebecca Furnish surprised Barb for her birthday! LOL!! Boy, was that ever fun! Rebecca and her husband, Sue Hobbs, Sue Hildebrandt, Dzana, and Dave and Zoe Molloy (and ME, of course) had been planning this surprise dinner for a few weeks, and they really caught Barb off guard. She thought she was going to Golden Corral for a steak dinner, but instead the Furnishes grilled steak and salmon and had all the trimming for a deeee-lish birthday dinner! Barb had a chance to put her feet up and be waited on hand and foot for a few hours. Of course, I had to stay at the shelter and babysit, but next year, I'm gonna go and someone else can take care of the little ones! Thank you, Furnish Family, for giving Barb such a wonderful evening. The next day, Vicki brought over a cat cake so we could celebrate Barb's actual birthday during our grant writing meeting. It was a spectacular cake in the shape of a cat . . . complete with cupcake kittens! Vicki, you and I need to talk about spaying and neutering, okay?

This coming weekend, Barb will be at B Java Coffee at 56h and Lafayette Road with some of her gorgeous jewelry . . . just in time for Valentine's Day! Come by between 11 and 2, sit a spell, have a coffee, and check out all the really cool things she's doing these days. I've taught her a lot in the past year, and it really shows. This stuff is soooooOOOOoooooo cool! And Sunday, we'll be at Pet Supplies Plus on Rockville Road from 12:30 til 4 doing another Kitten Kaboodle adoption event. We'll have kittens as well as adults available for adoption, and each adopted kitty will get its own special gift bag filled with fun things! Oh, and thanks to Liz Morken with Eagle Pack foods, each adopted cat will get a free bag of Eagle Pack! We gotta start these guys out on good food, y'know? So c'mon over to Pet Supplies Plus and visit with the kitties as well as the volunteers.

Well, it's time for me to get to bed. It's late, and I've got a very early morning tomorrow. We've started an 8 in the morning Kitten Yoga class . . . this wasn't MY idea, however. It was Maurice's idea, but he's gotten so chubby that he can't touch his toes anymore. I hate to say it, but he's just not a good yoga instructor. So I've taken over and have to be ready to stretch first thing in the morning. The kittens love it, tho. After class, they get a hearty breakfast and they're then ready for their day of cat studies. So I hope to see you all this weekend at either B Java or at PSP! More later, friends. - Raspberry