What’s that you say? You are filled with envy? I understand, but you can have your tuna and eat it too. Yes, that’s right; you can be a Crazy Cat Lady! I know it’s exciting, but really, you should stop weeping now, you won’t be able to read.

Once upon a time I too was a wanna-be Crazy Cat Lady. But then I realized that being a CCL isn’t about the number of cats you own (in my case only one), it’s a state of mind. It’s the understanding that balls of random cat fur floating through the house are not a bad thing. A knowledge that someday you can have a whole wardrobe of poop brown bathrobes which you can wear when you venture outside to get the paper and hopefully scare the neighborhood children. A certainty that you have, deep in your heart, everything it takes to live with 20 cats and treat them as if they are your children.

Luckily for all of us, there are now products on the market that can encourage us and help us realize our dreams. Even a tiny little book with a tiny little magnetic sculpture can buoy our spirits and give us the fortitude to forge ahead with our feline fantasies. Thank you, Crazy Cat Lady Magnetic Sculpture Kit, thank you for being there for all of us when we’re down and fear that we will never attain our goals. You keep us focused on what’s really important – our own eccentricities.

Now here’s what you get with this kit. You get a small magnetic sculpture of a beautiful Crazy Cat Lady. She has long, wild, flat and frizzy grey hair and is ensconced in a voluminous mauve bathrobe (not as desirable as poop brown, but it shows that each of us is crazy in our own special way). Her eyeglasses are traditional cat eye shaped (what else?) and she is pleasantly plump. She is, in fact, adorable. I particularly love her gigantic bathrobe sleeves, into which as many as three cats each could curl up for a nap. She is also really quite flat. Not quite two dimensional (as that would make her very difficult to pose) but close. She stands on two small notched supports, to keep her from falling onto and becoming one with her magnetic platform. She also has, of course, a bevy of cats, ripe for the sticking. They can be stuck on the platform or on the Crazy Cat Lady herself. Unfortunately (for everyone, really) the cats are difficult. No, these are not your sweet, coddled domestic short hairs that purr and shed on your lap until your clothes change color. Rather, they are solid black or white, quite as flat as the Crazy Cat Lady herself and, horror of horrors; stick poorly to the Lady and refuse to properly stand on the magnetic platform! Oh, the felinity. While there are a goodly number of cats (ten in all) they really only stick well to the outer edges of their proud owner. It’s just not right.

But just when you might be thinking all is lost, I bring you hope! Hope in the shining form of a teeny tiny little book devoted to the glory of the Crazy Cat Lady. Yes, they couch most of it in terms of ways to avoid becoming a Crazy Cat Lady, but they clearly understand the requirements and spell them out most thoroughly. Author Joelle Herr isn’t fooling those of us in the know - she understands the CCL far too well to be anything but a closet devotee. She even admits as much at the end of the wee book, advising everyone to embrace the CCL and everything she stands for. While she fails to recognize that Crazy Cat Ladies can indeed be married, she’s spot on in most areas (attire, cat spoiling, diary entries focusing completely on feline antics). Her sections are small but cute and funny and packed with good natured feline fun.

Anyone who has ever known and loved a cat has the inner strength to become a proper Crazy Cat Lady – with one cat or twenty, married or single, poop brown or mauve bathrobe. The one universal is accepting that you love your cat. Oh, and also not being afraid to look foolish in public, I believe this is a fairly important requirement as well.

The Crazy Cat Lady Magnetic Sculpture Kit is a small reminder of the potential so many of us hold. Despite the cats being less than optimally magnetic (and every good CCL knows how to deal with a difficult cat or two….or ten), the CCL herself is glorious and the book is cute, funny and self deprecating as only a truly grand CCL can be. This small set has taken up permanent residence upon what is quickly becoming the CCL shelf in my family room. As I continue to collect items for this shelf, I can only assume that one day soon my children will roll their eyes with scorn – it’s a day I will treasure. Now I must toddle off, it’s time to give kitty his kisses.






I would like to dedicate this review, written and posted on the shortest day of the year, to the grand ladies of SHLEP. While I fail to qualify (one inch too tall) I’m proud to submit this review of my wee little sculpture and book to Diana’s Best LITTLE Write Off Ever! It’s never to late to celebrate with the SHLEPs, I hope you’ll join the fun!


Recommended: Yes