Oh, one more thing worthy of note. My site has been finally listed on Yahoo.com's web site listing. I've been in the 'pages' listing for a long time....now I'm finally in the *real* listings. It's contributed greatly to the influx of new people. The photos of the week are running about 500+ visitors ahead of where they normally are. Amazing what a little search engine listing can do for a site. Oh, by the way, I don't think I submitted the listing that made it in there. The supposed name of my site is "Cat's Fat Acceptance Emporium" Not a bad name, but as you know, my site is called "Cat's House of Fun". Hey, if the new name got me in, more power to it. :-) It's got a nice ring. Oh, thanks to *whomever* submitted my site with the dandy new name.

The Photo Selection of the Week is posted. http://www.catay.com/cat/week.htm For those who are unfamiliar with my site's schedule, the photo of the week is updated late Wednesday nights. I think I've only missed one scheduled launch since I started that photo thang, and that was due to an internet connectivity glitch. There may have been one other time that I was early, but that's about it.
The requests for a new collection of photos has been great. I think I finally have enough new pics of a similar nature for a new collection from the photos taken this evening in the black jeans and leather top. Watch for it in the coming week.
Did I mention I'm tired? It's what? 1:30am? Blarg!

Yet another update...the San Diego National NAAFA tour page is up now too. *phrew* I think I'm almost done with tour pages. Click Here to see the San Diego Tour.

Just a wee mention of a web page update I did last night. The Vegas Tour page is up and ready for visitors. Click Here.

It's almost Labor day, the unofficial end of summer. What comes after Summer?? Halloween of course. :-) I love this time of year...changing leaves, Halloween and cooler days. (Not cold days, mind you...just cooler!) Thoughts of Halloween costumes fill the air...time to get creative. I've had a lot of fun costumes in the past...the acrylic fish bowl, the pineapple, the ear of corn... What to be, what to be. I have one costume in mind that I will be entering in the costume contest (either in Chicago or in Atlanta at their BBW bash) but the costume isn't super comfy for dancing. I can't, of course, divulge my *brilliant* idea 'cuz others are sure to copy it. hehehe. If you have any ideas for me that would be *danceable*, drop me an email at cat@catay.com If I choose your idea, I'll send ya a prize. (It's a cool prize...trust me.)

Time for another two second movie review: "Bring it on"
I knew going into the movie that it was a cheerleading flick. Expectations were low. I didn't want to see a violent movie this weekend, so this ended up being the selection. Turns out, it wasn't *THAT* bad. It was definitely geared towards teen agers, but it wasn't painful to watch. The storyline was simple and predictable...just what I needed. :-) I'd give it a C+ rating.

hehehe. Just found a few more fat chick things when I was testing my link to the towel: Bathing Beauty Spreaders. (Honest, it's for spreading butter or something...get your mind out of the gutter!) Four fat chicks atop the spreaders.... very cute, and only three buckeronis. There was a bathing beauty candle too, but that looks sold out. Waaaa. I do my part to support fat chick merchandise. For instance, I have a collection of fat chick dolls that have been put out on the market the past couple of years...the Mimi doll, the Rosie O'donnell doll, Ursula from the Under the Sea movie, etc. I'm not a huge doll collector by any stretch of the imagination, but it's just that when I was a kid there were *NO* fat dolls unless they were wee little roly-poly baby dolls. I think it's important to keep the fat women on the shelves. :-) We've got to infiltrate the consumer's consciousness as a viable saleable item. Maybe that way, the Lane Bryant catalog people will finally switch to models who could actually wear the crap they sell? Maybe...

Some catch up to do.... First, I've got to recommend a towel that I found at Amazon.com. It's a beach towel with a fat chick on it! It's on clearance now 'cuz they were trying to sell it through their kitchen wares area. I bought it thinking it was a kitchen towel. It's only $6.40 so you can see why I thought that. The amazon description doesn't say the size, but I'd estimate it at 60x30...not huge by any stretch of the imagination. Anyway, if you're interested in an inexpensive big beautiful bathing beauty beach towel, click here.

Sleeeep...sleeeep...my kingdom for some sleeeeep. I'm just a wee bit tired. ZzzzzzzzzzzZZZ. Several nights in a row of 6 hours or less can really add up. Throw in a chocolate binge due to hormonal cravings and you've got one zonked chick.

I'm still beaming. I beamed at work earlier and sent an email 'bout the show to all of my co-workers. My boss thought it would be great to have a link to the museum and some samples of my work showcased in our daily newsletter. Hmmm...I passed on the sample idea. I'm not embarrassed by my photos, but I don't want too much *in your face* stuff being pushed down my co-workers throats by having my naked tummy in their daily newsletter. Just a bit too much over-activism I think. I will show them prints if they request it, which several have. I think there was a wee bit of shock with one of 'em, but she was still supportive. hehehe. Gotta shock 'em once in a while....especially when they ask for it. :-)

It's official!!! The Rogaland Kunstmuseum in Stavanger, Norway has updated their site...I'm listed as an artist. *beam* http://www.biz.no/rogkunst/eng/ for the english version. Look for a wee artist named Catherine Nordling to be part of the Utopia exhibition...that's me! Yay!!!! This is soooo cool. :-) The internet is a wonderful thing!!!!

I've got the answer! Thanks! Al Jarreau sang it. Click here for the info. My mind can rest easy now. heheheh. I hope you're having a great day!

Does anyone remember the song at the beginning of the TV-show "Moonlighting"? If ya do, drop me a line at cat@catay.com. Thanks!

Updates to my US Tour section: Mardi Gras/New Orleans and Washington, DC

I've posted my International Initiative page. http://www.catay.com/cat/international/index.html Enjoy!

I took about half an hour tonight to stop in an AOL chat room. It gives me great reason to not chat there again. The room was filled with the "lowest common denominator" chat. Granted, AOL isn't meant to be the intellectual chat mecca of the world, but please, at least there can be chats that go beyond base, rude, insulting, almost-humor! There was a discussion about "aprons"...tummy aprons, not the cooking kind. It wasn't a frank discussion, no it was a bash session in a room called, "Cute Fat Chicks". The negative *jokes* came from both fat women *and* men. I'm sorry, but what I saw wasn't "cute"...the chicks in there were fat, but they definitely had nothing *cute* going for them...

I'm not an intellectual by any stretch of the imagination, but it just makes me wonder why ignorance can be revered in such a chat room? I mean when I spoke back to these people about their rude behavior they stood, arm in arm, (figuratively, you understand) and defended quite proudly their ignorant behavior. I really don't understand that. I really, really don't.

Join me in adding drawings to the following site http://www.youdraw.com/ Apparently the drawings will be added to a book at *some* point in the future when they reach 500,000 drawings. Help 'em get there while letting your creative juices flow!

Two second review of "The Cell": A slightly less intense "Silence of the Lambs" meets the *prettiness* of "What Dreams May Come." Visually appealing and yet *something* is missing. I can't put my finger on it yet. Maybe because I didn't really get a strong feeling for the Jennifer Lopez character nor the main FBI detective. B+ It's been a terrible summer of movies. There are really no stand out movies to mention. The blockbusters fell flat and there haven't been any completely *feel good* movies either. Just overwhelmingly blahhhh.

I'm off to a movie. Dunno which one yet. I'll be back later with a two second review.

Oh, look! My first thoughtful email about my blog. It's great to think that I've already brought out some discussion! Yay! Anyway, I've received permission from the author to post this in my CAT-a-BLOG, so not to fear that I'll start randomly posting emails. I thought it was worth posting. What do you think?

Dear Cat, I was taught that "if you didn't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all" and I've found that it helps me not notice or focus on the negative things in the people around me. I know I prove my humanity with my faults and idiosyncrasies and still hope for acceptance. Unfortunately, people forget the act of finding fault lessens the integrity of the complainer much more then it hurts the receipiant of the criticism. We all shoud endevour to set standards of tolerance and forebareance in our dealings with each other because there will always be the times we need tolerance for ourselves. I am old enough to remember having prayer in school. In my class we had the standard Oklahoma perdominance of Southern Baptists, one Episcopalian(me), one Lutheran, two Presbyterians, and two Jews. We each took turns leading the prayer and our teacher assured us that God would hear us regardless of who lead the prayer. The Baptists had extemporanous prayers, and the rest of us had memorized prayers but I never noticed any significant difference except Melanie's and Stan's prayers didn't end in amen. I don't know where tolerence and respect for diversity is taught instead of given lip service but it sure would be welcome. If we choose to drag people down we only lower the lowest common denominator. If we choose to accept and rejoice in the diversity of humanity we ennoble ourselves. Having friends of differentraces, sexual preferances, the opposite sex, and different etnic backgrounds has enriched my life in innumerable ways. While complaints and derogatory statments by me have only diminished me. I am sorry I've gotten so preachy but your Cat-a-blog is something I've noticed also. Thanks for giving me a forum to share my feelings. Harry

Why do we believe hieroglyphs or cave paintings to be "historical" writings? Couldn't they just be fiction or modern day romance novels? hehehe

Are people generally good and just *happen* to do bad things, or are they overwhelmingly bad and struggle to do good 'cuz they think it's the *right* thing to do. The use of the terms "good" and "bad" are obviously subjective, but if you thought of it on a general level, which would it be? For me, the answer changes from day to day. (I'll be the first to admit that often the opinion will change during different times of the month...)

Today, the sun is shining and the answer is..."overall good," but they are lead to do *evil* by desires that are beyond their emotional control. Ask me another day, and the magic 8-ball will have a different answer. hehehe

~~~~~

This brings up another thing that I've been tossing around in my head for a couple of months. Silent Hatred or Hidden Hatred. It was a long car journey from Chicago in the spring after a BBW bash that made me think of this concept as being a detrimental to society as a whole. The general idea is that so many people present a pleasant front, but deep down they hate or strongly dislike an individual for *whatever* reason.

At a recent BBW bash, I saw so many examples of it...

• a thin family who laughed and joked about the fat chick in the elevator until they saw me coming down the hall. The immediately stopped when they saw me. Then, when they thought I was around the corner, they started up again.
• A woman who I know trashes me behind my back, asks me in an all too sweet pleasant tone "How are you..blah, blah, blah, blah"
• A very happy woman gets off an elevator, her two *friends* (I use that term loosely) make faces at each other and roll their eyes immediately after her departure

It goes on from that bash to online:

• Web boards on which private or personal *differences* are supposed to be written about in email, not in a public forum even though the *differences* were discovered on that public forum. (This doesn't happen *just* in size acceptance boards, but all-over the net.)
• An instance posted on a board that indicated that there was a strong dislike of a person for *months* even though I had wittnessed a lot of *nicey* *nicey* banter between the parties.

I could go on and on, and I intend to at a later date. I find all of this soooooo disturbing. I'm sure this is not a new societal thang. I'm sure it's been around for centuries. Is it human nature or just a fact of our society? Is it more common now than one hundred years ago? Anyway, chew that up...I'll write more about this at a later time.

Oh, some news! I'm in the new issue of Radiance Magazine. You'll find me in the black and white pages of the swimsuit layout. Wheee! Find it at a newsstand near you, or if you prefer, I think you can order a subscription from http://www.radiancemagazine.com/

I just re-read my posts to make sure I don't sound like a complete nut. Note to self: stop using the phrase "Who'd have thought". Gads!

I suppose I should do a formal WELCOME to those who actually stop to read this, eh? Well, here it is: WELCOME. Thanks for stopping by my Blog. Who'd have thought that my site would contain more than just hundreds of photos?!? :-)

Ok, it's *live* now. Do ya think anyone will read this? Nah...

I'd *love* to be able to go to the opening of the "Utopia" show in Stavanger and, of course, have dinner with the mayor, but at this point, it doesn't look likely. Airfare is *really* high...around 1200 dollars. A bit too steep for a ~4 day trip...although it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Pay out the bucks to see the opening or maybe go after the opening at a cheaper autumn flight rate? Waaaaa. I'm torn.

Oh, just thought, most of you probably don't know why I've been invited to have dinner with the mayor of Stavanger. Recently the director of an art museum in Stavanger Norway contacted me about being part of an art show there. He noticed the artistic quality of the work in my "Photos of the Week," particularly the "American Beauty" piece and he sent me a very nice email. I guess it put a bee in his bonnet, 'cuz shortly after that he invited me to participate in the "Utopia" show that's from 9-September to early November. Who'd have thought that a site like this would open a door like that!? I'm lucky!

I got my invitation to have dinner with the mayor of Stavanger, Norway yesterday. Unfortunately, the gum of the envelope stuck to the invite. Waaaaaa. Who'd have thought that I'd have to fly to Europe to have dinner with a Mayor? Go figure.

To edit the look of my blog, I've needed to update the page using HTML. Yes, it's been a while since I've edited HTML directly. Oh, sure on a typical day basis I go in to the HTML of a page once or twice to tweak something, but rarely am I creating code by hand. It's not as fun as it used to be, I tell you. heheheh

What is a blog, you might ask? Just my ramblings, quite frankly. Read at your own risk. I have no time frame for my ramblings, as it should be. Just when the mood strikes, I'll be speaking into this keyboard.

Hey, does this work?