Ah, Fame! Fur For the Gulf Goes Live!

Dawn breaks for me at 5:45AM with the melodious strains of vomiting cats. I rise, stumble down the hallway and mop up the mess. Thinking I cleaned it all up, I head down stairs to check my email only to find out by stepping barefoot into another puddle, that I missed some. Fortunately, I didn't go back to bed after I cleaned off my foot. My cellphone rang at 7:15AM. It was a local reporter with our NBC affiliate calling to tell me that they wanted to send a crew over, TODAY (instead of tomorrow, as I planned) and that “the sooner the better” would be good.

Okay. The store doesn't even OPEN until 10AM and I needed to get Sally Sox and her kittens to the store ASAP! I didn't dare call anyone that early, so I sent out emails right away, then began to wait nervously until I could call them guilt-free.

My Director jumped in to help me make calls. I flew over to Southbury Printing (thanks guys for getting everything done in time!) to pick up the flyers and banner, got back to Your Healthy Pet and got everything set up and ready to go. Thankfully, Sally's foster mom brought the cats. I got it done by 11 AM!

I'm very pleased with how the banner came out!

Inside Your Healthy Pet with everything set up.

I called the Newsroom to let them know we were all set. Ha ha ha! Another story bumped us, so they said we'd have to wait a bit and they would call me back to let me know when they would arrive. Okay, deep breath. Good chance to take some pictures of the kitties and try to calm down.

This is Caruso at 8 weeks.

Mimi with her siblings.

The excitement of waiting around was too much on the kittens. Meanwhile the humans were fussing around the store. Of course, today was the day for the surprise inspection by the Fire Marshall of Newtown! While the Owner's of YHP were moving things around and looking panicked, I tried to think about what I would say if interviewed. I wanted to be clever and interesting, prepared and smart. I knew they would cut down whatever I said to a sentence or two, if even. I hoped I wouldn't screw it all up.

About 90 minutes passed. The Fire Marshall left. Debbie, the foster mama, mentioned she hadn't fed the cats at all that day. Smart move, so the kitties don't need the litter pan, but...they were so hungry, we decided to feed them. I guess they were hungry because they wiped out their food in seconds. I began to imagine kittens pooping while the cameraman was there, but what could I do?

I was jonesing for some tea. Getting up after 4 hours of sleep was starting to hit me. As the cats washed their faces and resumed napping, I started to fantasize about caffeine and or sleeping on the floor behind the counter. Maybe they could shoot the segment without me? What had I gotten myself into?

Finally! The camera man arrives! His name is Trevor and he was very nice and friendly. I expected an uptight snob for some reason. He was neither. He told me how it would go. I helped him set up the shots to establish the story, which I think he appreciated. Being an Art Director for over 20 years came in handy, so did naturally being bossy.

Trevor shot a lot of video. Somehow we managed to wrangle Caruso and Sally Sox into letting me brush them on camera. We used some bonito flakes as a treat, hidden next to a clump of cat fur to keep Sally Sox in place. In my mind's eye I imagined how every shot would play out, but the last segment was going to be the interview and I was the only one on camera.

Trevor told me to look at him, relax and not look at the camera. Ha ha ha. Easier said than done. He said I could stop and start again if I felt I needed to-and which I did. I was so amped up I talked fast, but I think that in the end, I hoped it would come out as being passionate. Either that or I was going to look like a doofus.

The NBC-30 News is broadcast at 5:00pm, 5:30pm and 6:00pm. Our segment was at 6:00pm. I was shaking and light-headed by the time it came on. I saw myself and heard myself talking. I burst into hysterical laughter! Was that REALLY ME? My goodness I looked like a baby seal with no neck. Overall, the bits without me in it did go well, but honestly, I love to be in front of a group teaching or training, but not this..oh no. I definitely have new admiration for people who can be calm on camera (and who have a sleek “Audrey Hepburn” neck).

I'll try to get a copy of the segment to post here. Until then, here I am in my full doofus-where-is-your-neck glory.

So that was great. Cough, cough. Now we wait and see what happens next. Will get get a TON of fur to ship to Matter of Trust? or just an embarrassing lump that we'll secretly just throw out for being inadequate?

I don't have time to worry. Apparently, I'm too busy being famous. I was also in the Danbury News-Times today, too! Gosh, fame. I'm so important that I can't even keep up with all the press I'm getting!

I swiped this photo off the DNT web site, so it's THEIR photo and they get the credit. See link above for more...

Nicky looks completely confused, while I'm just trying to look hot. FAIL!

It's 7:45PM. The day flew by. How will I face tomorrow without being on camera or having reporters asking to quote what I say? At least I have cat vomit to look forward to. That's the one thing I can pretty much count on after the studio lights dim and the reporters drive off to bear witness to the next “breaking” story.