Comfort zone

This month's JAC blog carnival is about comfort zones and Mom practically forced me to participate. She said that I have been lazy much too long and that I should take a moment to contemplate life and think about myself, my family, my pals. She can be so annoying.
What is a comfort zone?
According to Wikipedia "The comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control, and experiences low anxiety. A person in this state uses a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk."

Do I have a comfort zone? I mean, do I perform? Do I need to perform? I'm a cat, so are Esme and Greebo. We don't perform, we are. Yes, of course we feel stress. Greebo is severely stressed out by the vacuum cleaner. Esme hates pill time and drools like a champion. I have stress when Mom once again doesn't do what I want her to.
What is our comfort zome then? I guess it would be different if we were outside cats. We would be facing new challenges each day, cars, other animals, humans who don't like us or even worse who do like us and try to cuddle us. Maybe we would get to know the panic and the learning zone as well, we would learn to avoid the garden where the guy turned the hose on us or check out the house where the lady puts out snacks for us, we would learn to run fast from a car or maybe not.

My head is hurting now, enough of this.
If you want to know what the JAC members have to say about this, check it out here.

Jewelry Art by Dawn
Echoes of Ela
Cat's Wire

If you want to see some real comfort zones instead, however, here you go!

The cardboard beds. They are just the best, and even better with a sun ray.

The cat bed on the hallway cabinet.

Any place where my little sister can rest her cute little chin.

Halloween

"Hey Ponder, do you want to write something for Halloween?"
"Why should I?"
"For the JAC blog carnival."
"Oh, that still exists?"
"Of course it does, we only took a little break. You can write about Samhain, Halloween or Dia de los Muertos."
"I don't even know how to pronounce Samhain. Halloween. Hm. Let me think about it."

This was a talk between Mom and me a few days ago.
Halloween ... what does it mean to me? Even if I wasn't an inside cat, Mom wouldn't let me go out on Halloween. Or Esme, for that matter. While the day is associated with witches and black cats, black cats are not safe out there at that time. There are too many crazy people out there.
Sometimes Mom asks me if I would sit on her shoulder and stay there if she dressed up as a witch. Yeah, right. I don't even want to think about her nagging if I have to hold on to her with my claws out. Just today she shooed Esme off her lap yelling that her knees were pierced now.

What else is there on Halloween? Treats. What are we supposed to do with chocolate we can't eat or candy apples we don't want? We are not even allowed to scare anyone!
Nevertheless I have to admit I do get Halloween feelings. Maybe it's in my blood. So let me share my favorite Halloween video with you.



Also check out the JAC members' posts!

Jewelry Art by Dawn
The Crafty Chimp
Cat's Wire

How I develop my designs

"Ponder, wake up. Do you want to blog today? It's time for the Jewelry Artisans Community blog carnival again."
"What's the topic?"
"How to develop your own designs."
"What designs of mine were you thinking of? My way of arranging your blankets or designing with kibble bags? How about the litterbox?"
"Your litterbox arrangements are the best. I like how you take the litter from the edges and turn it into a mountain in the middle."
"I do like that movie about the Englishman who went up a hill and came down from a mountain, you know. Pretty much the same thing, isn't it? Unfortunately my artwork is for the moment, thanks to you."
"Yes, I guess that's in the nature of litterboxes."
"You won't take a picture of it, will you?"
"No worries. So, anything else you got to offer?"
"I could throw up for you."
"Don't you dare!"
"I could make a completely new design for your carpet."
"Ponder!"
"I'm just kidding. What could I throw up? I'm starving again."
"Is that a subtle way of telling me you are hungry?"
"What a smart human you are."

Nice. First a snack and then another nap.

If you want to see what the JAC members have to say about the topic of the month, you can find them here. I doubt it will be as interesting as my litterbox art would have been, but do give them a chance.

Jewelry Art by Dawn
The Crafty Chimp
Bead Sophisticate 
Cat's Wire