Last time, when Tessie was here, talking about all those Whimsies in their pretty party dresses…she let the cat out of the bag. No, not Mr. Squee! As if you ever could keep him in a bag! He’s such a big strong guy, he would just head-butt and claw his way out of the bag! No, “let the cat out of the bag” is a saying that means you let a secret slip. And accidentally, Tessie let a big secret slip. Did you catch it?
First, I want to apologize to all of you for keeping any secrets at all. All three of us Whimsies want to apologize, in fact, but after much discussion about how to handle this matter, I was chosen to be the spokesperson. And I’m glad to do it. Because I don’t like keeping secrets. And I’m not even sure why we ever did in the first place.
So here’s our big secret: it’s about food. As you all know, we Whimsies have been adamantly proclaiming from the beginning that we don’t eat food. Well, folks…that’s not exactly true. Now, it is true that we don’t have to eat food, like humans do, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy a little snack from time to time. Specifically, we Whimsies tend to enjoy sweets, candies, desserts. We’ve tried other foods, and they simply don’t do anything for us. But give us a food packed with sugar…yes, that appeals!
We can’t figure out why, but our best guess is that it’s because as Whimsies we are naturally so sweet already, that the sweetness of cakes, cookies, candies, ice creams, etc. just naturally blends so well with our temperament. It’s a fact of life that everyone likes things that confirm what they already know and love, and so it seems we Whimsies have no objection to anything sweet…even food!
First, I must tell you that Tessie felt absolutely awful when she realized she had let this secret slip. It was when she was telling you about the Whimsie named Lollipop, and how she would bring a lollipop as a party gift, and when everybody played Smash the Pop, pieces of candy would go flying every which way, and everyone would be scrambling to see how many pieces they could pick up. Even though it was never actually stated, Tessie was mortified that from this you might be able to figure out that we might actually enjoy eating those little pieces of broken lollipop.
At first, we thought we might deny that we would actually eat lollipop pieces, and thus continue the ruse that Whimsies don’t eat, but the more we talked it through, the more we all came to the same conclusion that we are tired of even having a ruse! So we want to come clean, and that’s what we’re doing here.
Now, why did we ever start such a ridiculous ruse in the first place? That was the first question we had to ask ourselves, and during our discussion we realized that we were making a much bigger deal of this than it should have ever been. As far back as we can remember, every other Whimsie we’ve ever met has also enjoyed eating sweets. It’s just not something that Whimsies tend to talk about a whole lot. But then, in comparison, most other Whimsies don’t talk anywhere near as much as we do! LOL! I mean, as far as we can figure, we are the only Whimsies in the world who actually express themselves on their own website!
So we started with “don’t talk about it a whole lot,” but somewhere along the line that morphed into “don’t talk about it at all…in fact…just simply DENY it.” But how and why did we make that morph? It was a perplexing issue, and as we discussed it, this is what we came up with: Guilty Pleasure.
You’ve heard the term “Guilty Pleasure” before. Usually it’s used to describe when someone enjoys watching a movie or TV show, or reading a book, that they know deep down in their heart is truly AWFUL, but they don’t care, they simply love it, and they’re going to go on enjoying it anyway. Well, I guess we Whimsies were feeling a certain amount of guilt about the pleasure of eating sweets—mostly, probably, because we don’t have to eat food to survive, so perhaps we were being a little self-indulgent
in doing so. Maybe we were feeling embarrassed about it. so we thought of it as a “Guilty Pleasure,” putting the emphasis on “Guilt” instead of where it out to be—on “Pleasure.”
And now, let’s lay on top of that: almost all the humans we’ve ever known have the very same attitude towards sweets! They think of it as a Guilty Pleasure. See, for humans, it’s matter of health and weight, and among humans, nobody wants to be fat or unhealthy, and eating too many sweets can bring on both of those conditions. So we’re guessing that along the way, we Whimsies just sort of incorporated the human attitude into our own, even though there is no logical reason why we should. We always feel very connected to our humans (unless they are horrible humans, like Trixie has known in her past, but we won’t go there now…) so generally we want to do whatever we can to help them and support them and validate and even mimic their own attitudes and behaviors.
Now, as soon as we came to this conclusion, we felt it was time to get Miss Chrissy in on the conversation. And you know what she said? “Yeah, I was wondering why you guys keep insisting you don’t eat, when I’ve never seen you refuse an invitation to a helping of my homemade peach cobbler or chocolate chip cookies. But I didn’t say anything till now. I figured this was something you would work out on your own.”
Miss Chrissy was right to leave us to our own devices, and we have at last thought this all through, and now that we’ve made this confession, we feel really good about it. We hope you can forgive us for our previous deception. We are DONE feeling guilty about the pleasure of eating sweets! And now that we’ve come clean, we’re looking forward to sharing with you our feelings on some of our favorite desserts.
Throughout this post, we’ve added a few pictures of some of our favorite foods. Tessie is partial to pure sugar treats, like lollipops and gumdrops—which is why she got so excited by the idea of a game called Smash the Pop. And since she felt worst of all for spilling our secret, to help her feel better, Trixie and I let her pick the icon for any posts where we’ll talk about Sweets. Take a look at the column of icons on the right, and you’ll see Tessie’s choice on the bottom.
As for Trixie, she is partial to chocolate in all forms, but nevermoreso than when it is topped by pink icing! So you can guess which of these pictures is here by her request! And one of Trixie’s very favorite sweets of all…you guessed it! Pink cotton candy! What could be sweeter?
Now when Miss Chrissy was talking about that Peach Cobbler…that was me, mostly. I am simply crazy for anything with fruit flavors! A while back, on 4th of July, I made mention of watermelon, and though it’s true that I have never had the chance yet to try actual watermelon, I have sampled watermelon-flavored 
candies, and those are just about the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten!
But this is just the beginning of our discussions of Sweets. Now that the “cat is out of the bag,” we feel much better about it and are ready to go on and extol all our favorite treats! How sweet it is to not have any more secrets! And how sweet it will be to come here often to share with you all the wonders of the wonderful world of sweets!
Even though it’s not officially Autumn yet, it’s September, the month when Autumn begins, and Autumn is our favorite season. Not just for us Whimsies, but Miss Chrissy and The Man are in complete agreement as well. We think Mr. Squee probably feels the same way, but we can’t seem to get a straight answer out of him lately. He’s been in a contrary mood because try as he might, he can’t seem to figure out how to make his autofeeder drop kibble simply by knocking his head against the plastic container. It’s a perplexing problem that makes him occasionally ornery.
But enough about Mr. Squee! I’m here to begin our celebration of Autumn! Autumn is a time of many celebrations, containing not only Halloween and Thanksgiving, but also many birthdays here in Whimsieville. At Halloween we’ll disguise ourselves in costumes, but for Thanksgiving and birthdays we might very well have a party! And you know what that means: friends and fun, games and music, and let’s not forget…fashion! 
First of all, hair like that….wow! I’m calling her Carrot Top, and honestly, I don’t know when that name has ever been more appropriate. We might see a Whimsie now and then whose hair is so red it’s orange, but…c’mon now! And there’s so much of that truly orange hair. So much that she needs to use numerous hair ornaments to keep it under control. Each ponytail is restrained by a fluff of orange and white, and there’s an additional fluff on the top of her head. There’s so much going on here! Carrot Top is saying, “Yes, I’m casual…but I’m also a little bit crazy! And I’m ready to party!”
Now here’s another girl who’s ready to party. So much so, that her outfit is not even a dress, it’s described as “playsuit.” The multicolored stripes in this playsuit, offset by a blue bodice eloquently portray the idea of fun, fun, fun! Suzy Stripes looks like she hopes this party will include a spirited game of Twister, and she’s ready to get down on the dots and twist herself in knots! Her shoes are simple, with a single leather strap, so easy to kick off at a moment’s notice. 
Now let’s switch gears a bit and get back to some more preposterously pretty party dresses, as you’ll see worn here be another braided beauty. Lollipop is working the flowers like there’s no tomorrow! A delicate trim of lace at the bottom of her full hemline says, “Yes, I’m a lady, and if you don’t’ believe me, check out the little pink ribbons on my braids!” So! Our Trixie is not the only one! Pink ribbons and braids seems to be a recurring fashion theme among high-spirited Whimsies. 
The first impression is that our new Whimsie friend is a “Brownie,” which is a very young Girl Scout. She even appears to have merit badges sewn in to her very plain dress. And what is that on her very lacy neckerchief? Could that be yet another badge? At once, you have to look at this Whimsie and wonder, “What an unusual Whimsie! What in the world is she all about?” At a party, when she walks in, all heads will turn, and instantly be topped with a floating question mark. As this friendly Whimsie approaches, even though you have never met her before, you can’t help but ask…”What is the meaning of all these symbols on your dress?” And so, there is a topic of conversation, an “ice-breaker,” as they call it.
We were very surprised last night when Miss Chrissy informed us that she and The Man would be staying home with us today. Why? we asked. Are you not feeling well?? Oh, no! Nothing like that. It’s just that today is a holiday called Labor Day. Labor Day?? What kind of a name is that for a holiday? It doesn’t sound like much of a holiday to us! But Miss Chrissy explained that it has something to do with people who have jobs, and Unions, which are organizations who protect people who have jobs, and in general it just celebrates the fact that we live in a wonderful country where most people can in fact have jobs. 
alphabetizes her CD’s by Name of Artist, and alphabetizing is one skill at which I happen to excel! So I got right to work on the task….helping myself to some fun music on the headphones as I worked! 
Of course, our jobs seemed much too tame for the likes of Trixie, our resident adventurer, so when she heard that a light bulb had gone out in the ceiling fan in the office, she was all over it. She climbed right up the ladder and changed out that bulb, lickety-split! (As you can see, though, she wisely had someone to “spot” her, just for safety’s sake.) 
and throw it in the trash. She was all about taking the trash right out to the curb, until Mr. Squee reminded her that an annoying little dog has recently moved into the neighborhood, and though he generally keeps to himself, you never know when he might Get Loose. At that point, Trixie decided to be not quite so much of an adventurer, and left Trash Removal to The Man.
While all this was going on, Tess found herself another job, polishing the living room table! You remember what I said about Football Saturdays being like a movie theater around here? Well, this past Saturday was the first Saturday of College Football Season, and in keeping with the movie-theater theme, Miss Chrissy and The Man enjoyed some popcorn during the game. Now, of course, we Whimsies do not eat, so we have no idea what popcorn tastes like, but I can confirm that it certainly does smell good! However, popcorn is one of those foods that is greatly helped along by a good dollop of melted butter, and some of that melted butter got on the table. No problem! Tessie found the furniture polish and got that table back in tip-top shape!
and after a week or so they decided Yes! This is the way to go with curtains, so they went back to the store and got the last of the needed curtains, and we hung them today. I say “we,” because as you can see here, I helped. I held the drill for Miss Chrissy and handed it up to her when needed, after all the measuring was done. I also handed her the screws. And let me tell you—Trixie can take care of light bulbs on her own! I’m not interested in getting any higher than this top step of the utility ladder!
his Cat Condo was moved away from the window so the curtains could be hung), Mr. Squee also settled down with us, heartily agreeing with the idea of a nap! But then again…doesn’t he always? As a cat, Mr. Squee never needs an excuse for taking a nap, any more that us Whimsies need an excuse for having fun! Even when that fun is…hard work! 
Last time we were here to talk about fashion, I was wearing this comfy, cute little striped hat in pink and white stripes, with a band of neon green around the edge. I’m loving this little hat so much, I don’t want to take it off! In fact, I’ve been so inspired by this hat, I suggested to Tillie and Tessie that we might want to put our noggins together and see if we could use my new hat as a jumping off point for a themed fashion show! Well, of course, we all saw it right away—the theme is stripes! We all love stripes, and we certainly have enough striped items in our extensive wardrobe, so this is what we have put together for your viewing pleasure. (Miss Chrissy helped us a little in putting together our new looks….but Mr. Squee did not help at all. He just lay there on the bed and watched us like we must be crazy to keep changing our fur, when he has perfectly good fur that works for him in all seasons and always looks great.)
First, as you can see, Tessie changed out of her last Summer outfit, and has gone in a totally different direction. Gone is the buzzy little ladybug, and now our Tess is decked out in sharp, classic black and gray stripes. Looking at Tessie in this outfit makes me realize that sometimes the very best outfits are those that are most simple. Because what have we here? Two colors. One pattern. But a look that says, “Look at me! I love fashion!”
And what about Tillie? Well, you’ll notice that in addition to purple and white stripes, Till has chosen to do something most unusual with her hair. She has so much beautiful hair, she really could do so many fun things with it, with ribbons and bows and clips and elastic bands. Here, Till has gathered all her hair on top of her hair in an appropriately colored purple hairband, and fluffed the resulting ponytail out in all kinds of crazy directions. This is a look that says, “Hey, look at me! Even when I look like I couldn’t do a thing with my hair, so I just stuck it on top of my head in a simple ponytail, I still look great!” 
And now, last but not least…me! Here I am in my signature color, pink, working the pink stripes with my pink-striped hat and some plain pink pants. Don’t I look bright and sunny? And you know what? Wearing pink even makes me feel bright and sunny! Funny how that happens…One day soon I’m sure I’ll have to take off my new favorite hat, but while it’s looking so great with my brilliant pink ensemble, why not keep it on just a little bit longer?
Sometimes I surprise even myself.
something I think I’ve been trying to deny for a while: there’s something intrinsically appealing about the villain, Loki.
I’ve only been able to read a few years worth of comics so far—just the tip of the iceberg, in a vast, vast history! And as far as I’ve gotten, Loki still looks like this fellow on the left. With his yellow tights and scaly underpants, he’s not very attractive, is he? And then, when you get a close up of his face….bleah!!!! Even less attractive!
Now let’s look at how Loki is dressed, because, as they say, “Clothes make the man.” Thank goodness the movie Loki has not opted to continue with those ridiculous scaly underpants! I mean…really? How can anyone take seriously a villain who wears his underpants on the outside of his outfit?. (This is a troubling practice among the villains I’m currently meeting in my comics reading, a trend I hope will very soon be turned around.)
actually, especially when he’s 
But I think Loki is actually trying to move past that cutesy qualifier. He is, indeed, trying to do some real damage. Or wait. Maybe not….maybe not exactly. I mean, let’s think about this. What is it that Loki is trying to after all? Sure, he wants to have absolute control in all the universe, but what good super villain doesn’t? That’s just par for the course, he’s complying with the rules of the Super Villains Union. 
of a brother, the Mighty Thor. He just wants to be treated like an equal. What in the world is wrong with that?
Okay. I know none of this justifies all the terrible things Loki does. I sort of wish he wasn’t actually so cute. Why couldn’t he look more like Mole Man from the Fantastic Four comics? Why couldn’t he look more like Thanos, from the end of The Avengers movie? Then it would be a lot easier to hate him.
