Yeah, that was more than a month...

Sorry, buddies. That was three and a half months. Here's why:

Momma hasn't been good at writing up my posts. She got her dissertation done, defended it against her Special Attack Committee of Professors, and got her Ph.D a month ago. She was very stressed and sometimes unhappy, so I didn't have the heart to bug her about my bloggie.

And actually, I haven't seen her for a month now. Coco and I have been at Granny and Poppa's in Michigan, with my cousins Sophie, Sassy, and Cheetah, because Momma went to a conference in Spain and is going to move away from our 'partment next month so she thought we should just stay comfy at Gran & Gramps so we don't have to help pack stuff up and put it on a truck. Momma is pretty sure she is going to come here and stay with us at Granny and Poppa's because she doesn't have a job. She is very, very upset about this, which I don't really get, because living at Granny and Poppa's house is grate:

See how comfy I am? They have a nice sunporch and you can snooze out here all day and watch lots of birdies! The food's okay, too. I've assured Momma I'm getting enough to eat.

So while Momma isn't too good these days, I'm doing just fine, buddies! Sorry if I'm not back again for a while this summer, but it is hard to telecommute when Momma's computer is all the way back in Ithaca and I'm here in MI. Have a grate summer, every-buddy!

Just taking a break

Hi Every-buddy--

Thanks for checking in, buddies. We're just taking a break from blogging so Momma can finish her doctoral dissertation. She has to give it to her committee in less than three weeks. She hasn't heard back yet from the university where she interviewed three weeks ago, so she doesn't think she will get that job, either. So Momma is very worried about not only finishing her degree but also getting a job.

So, as you can imagine, Coco and I are very busy keeping Momma from getting too down. I'm sure you understand how time-consuming that is, buddies. Coco and I will give you an update later this month.

Your buddy, Jimmy Joe

Wordy Wednesday

Oh boy, buddies, I got another grate award! This is exciting. This is the LOVE-YA! award, which my grate buddies the Orange Tabbies, Turtle and my nose-twin Pippin (and their tortie sister Ava Grace) gave me.

This is the description of the LOVE-YA! Award: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I'm gonna pass this on to my grate buddies:
1) Wally, Ernie and Zoey over at Island Cats
2) Sunny, Olive Oyl and Rascal of Mommy's Little Fat Boy
3) Princess Isis the Doggie
4) and Luna over at CatSynth

In other news, guess what I saw went I went out with Coco this morning?


LOOK!!!




GRASS!!!!!
Coco and I found lots of fascinating smells in the long-hidden grass, so we had to spend quite a while doing a thorough investigation.

Finally, Momma is going away tomorrow for two days for a Very Important Interview. I thought I'd ask for some of the grate Cat Blogosphere Magic to help her, so could you chip in with some good luck purrs and furs for her?

Thanks, buddies!

TGIF

First of all, super thanks to my new li'l buddy Tuck, who gave me a grate award this week!This is the Proximity Award:
"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Wow, what a wonderful award to get. I'm gonna pass this on to my grate buddies:

* Sweet Praline

*Tybalt

* Camie's Kitties, Tavi, Cody and Miss Jade

* Jeter Harris

* Whicky Wuudler, Angel, Oliver and Gerry at Everycat
* Eric and Flynn

* Earl Grey, Tazo, and Titus of the Furry Kids

*Laila and Minchie at Cat-a-holic

This award means a special lot to me since I haven't been able to be as good a visitor as I'd like to be, buddies. As you know, my momma is under a lot of Bean-stress because she is finishing a dissertation and teaching a new college course and trying to get a grown-up job at another college. So she usually only lets me use the computer a couple times a week to visit you all. Sometimes I don't have time to leave comments for everybuddy, but I love catching up with your news!

So Momma said she's just never going to be not-stressed-out this semester, but Coco and I at least had a better week this week. We had lots of naps, and Coco got to take some good walks and I got to visit some of the neighbors, which I like to do because I'm a friendly guy. I didn't get a chance to enter my sister Coco into the Best Fur Sibling contest, but I decided to give her a shout-out today, because she is a grate sister, even though she is a doggie and not a kitty.*

*Coco thinks a correction is needed: she says she is not "a doggie," she is a Wiener Dog, which is something special unto itself.

Coco is a grate sister because she is supportive when we have to take the Long Ride in the car to Granny and Poppa's and Momma pushes drugs on me. We go out exploring the yard together (except in winter when it is Tundra out there), and sometimes in the summer we go on hunting trips. We also enjoy sharing sunbeams together in the morning:

These are some of the reasons why my sister Coco is a grate fur sibling.

TGIF

Oh man, buddies, what a week!

So it started out with me and Coco doin' our usual duties, showing Momma how to relax and be happy. I showed her how to enjoy a sunbeam on Monday:

See, I had the wonderful realization that you can use your scratcher as a pillow, too!

You can see how relaxed I am on my scratcher-pillow.

But the week got worse. On Tuesday, Momma blind-sided me by pulling out the PTU and taking me to the v-e-t!!!

It was terrible, buddies. First of all, as those of you who had been reading my bloggie for a while know, I get car-sick. So as soon as we get to the horrible office, I got the barfs real bad. It was very embarrassing. Well, the assistant and the doctor lady both kept petting me and talking about how handsome I am and what a grate guy I am, so I'm thinking, "hey, maybe it won't be that bad this time. Maybe they just wanted to visit with me."

But no! After saying over and over how good-lookin' I am, they promptly took me back to their lair and poked me with needles and STOLE BLOODS FROM MY NECK!!!

Look at this evidence. I think maybe they are vampires. It was a terrible experience, but I think I got through it pretty bravely.

Coco didn't have a grate time either this week. We got lots of snow on Wednesday so she couldn't take a walk, and instead Momma made her play Beauty Parlor, which Coco hates. She asked me please not to put a picture of her all wet and sad on my bloggie, and I'm a good brother so I said okay.

We are going to spend our weekend recovering from our stressful weeks with lots of naps and treats. I advise you all to do the same, buddies.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Now that we have gotten settled back into our own 'partment and Momma is putting our stuff away, I reminded her that she needs to update my scrapbook with all of the awesome holly-day cards my buddies sent me!

Momma has books for her pictures:

But they are just regular Bean pictures, and I don't think they are very interesting.

So I have my own scrapbook!

I keep all of the grate cards and pictures that you send me in my scrapbook. Thanks, every-buddy!

Wordy Wednesday (I'm finally back)

Hey all my buddies!!! I'm back!

Whew. We are all finally back in our own 'partment, me and Momma and Coco, after a month at Granny and Poppa's house in Holland, Michigan. Momma kept leaving us there, though. First she went to San Francisco, where she had a business conference and Very Important Interviews. Then she went to Germany, where she traveled with Auntie Julie* and had a Very Important Meeting with her advisor.

(*Auntie Julie isn't really an auntie. We just call her auntie because she's like one).

Coco and I were equally busy. First of all, there was holly-day decorating to snoopervise:

Then there was all of the snoopervising in Granny and Poppa's house while Momma was off seeing things like this castle in Heidelberg, Germany:

And this weird medieval hospital in Nuremberg, Germany:

Personally, I think it was a stupid thing for Momma to do, abandoning us to go to Germany, even if she did need to have this meeting. For one thing, that meant that Coco and I didn't have anyone to snuggle with at night, because my bratty girl-cat cousins sleep with Granny and Poppa. Plus, it was very cold, and only Very Stupid Beans take vacations in cold Germany in January. Beans like Momma:

We had to drive through snow to get home on Sunday, and Momma had to start teaching germy freshmen again yesterday. So even though she was Not Working for a month, she is already stressed. But she promised to try to get my bloggie posts up at least once a week now, and hopefully sometimes twice a week. I'm gonna be busy catching up with you all over the next few days!

That is, between much-needed naps: