Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post for your chance to win a copy of the collection Eternal Lover.  The contest runs through 7 pm CDT, Friday, July 3, and the winners will be announced on Monday, July 6. Good luck!

Thanks for all your kind words on my biking injury yesterday. The yellow tones are really starting to come out in the bruise today. Hmm. I fear they’re going to clash with my purple toenails.

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Author Lorelei James is guest blogging over at Seductive Musings to celebrate her newest release. Leave a comment before 11:59 pm EST, July 4, for your chance to win one of Ms. James’s titles as an ebook.

Bummed that you didn’t win the signed copy of Michele Hauf’s new book The Highwayman? You might still be able to win a copy over at Riding with the Top Down.

For your chance to win a $100 Visa gift card and year’s supply of Pantene hair products, head over to CursingMama’s book blog and leave a comment about your worst hair day ever before 5 pm CDT, August 1.

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If you’ve ever wondered why certain knitting projects never seem to grow…

Aww, look at how cute that sheep cake is.

I can guarantee this one will give you a cute burn – but it will be worth it!

Thanks to Mouse for pointing out this very cool kitty mobile! Alas, I’m pretty sure May would kill herself trying to reach it, so I won’t be buying one.

Chaos wouldn’t be quite this polite… Hmm – I think that expression is actually “WTF is that thing doing in my fud bowl?!” Good try getting out of going to the vet.

Top uses for binder clips from Lifehacker – how could they skip using binder clips as chip clips?!? That’s my favorite use.

How to photograph your food in a restaurant without being a pest.

How to make a floating beverage holder for those of you who spend your summers floating in the pool.

And here I thought that texting while driving was dangerous – the thought of people baking pizza while driving is going to give me nightmares.

Speaking of nightmares, want your kid to have nightmares and need years of therapy? This toy’s for you!

The coffin couch… No, I do not own one, thank you very much!

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*delicate Panther Princess appropriate snoring and drooling*

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post for your chance to win a copy of the collection Eternal Lover.  The contest runs through 7 pm CDT, Friday, July 3, and the winners will be announced on Monday, July 6. Good luck!

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So Sunday I was on my bicycle, heading over to the Greenway to put in a few miles on the trails, when the car in front of me stopped unexpectedly. I stopped quickly and didn’t crash or wipe out, but I did manage to catch my right calf on the front sprocket.

Since I didn’t see anything that suggested stitches, I continued on to bike about seven miles before heading home to scrub bike grease out of my cuts. Here’s a before scrubbing picture:

Heck, it doesn’t look half bad using the flash.

This is what it looked like Tuesday evening – can you see the bruises forming? That’s going to be darn colorful in a few days.

“I’m outta here. You might fall on me or something.” -Chaos

“Remember, kids, don’t try this at home! Mom’s a highly clumsy but relatively experienced cyclist.” -Chaos

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post for your chance to win a copy of the collection Eternal Lover.  The contest runs through 7 pm CDT, Friday, July 3, and the winners will be announced on Monday, July 6. Good luck!

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Sydney’s giving away a copy of the science fiction book Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, written by her friend Stephanie Osborn. For your chance to win, comment by midnight, July 6.

Morbid Romantic’s giving away five copies of Carolyn Jewel’s My Forbidden Desire. (I won a copy from Kelly Moran’s blog last week myself.) For your chance to win, leave a comment before 11:59 pm EST, July 12. To increase your odds of winning a copy of this book, A Journey of Books is also giving away five copies. Leave a comment by midnight EDT, July 13, to enter. Not satisfied with your chances yet? Then head over to Seductive Musings before 11:59 pm EST, July 10, where there are another five copies available.

This week, Largehearted Boy is giving away 75 cds (no books). Comment by midnight CDT, July 3, to enter.

Author Nancy Herkness is giving away six skeins of Noro Gisha over on Romancing the Yarn. You have until July 3 to send her an email.

Author Suzanne McLeod is giving away copies of two collections (Mean Streets and The Eternal Kiss: Twelve Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire), plus signed copies of her own books. Leave a comment by the end of the day July 1 for your chance to win.

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It looks cool, but I think making an inverted bookshelf sounds like too much work.

Dear Author has links to free Kindle books and the Alice Hoffman Twitter kerfuffle.

What are the ethics behind accepting review copies of books? And how will book bloggers be affected by the FTC’s promised crackdown on bloggers receiving freebies for reviews?

The NYTimes thinks that the smartphone is the future of ebooks. I have to admit I hate reading ebooks on my Palm Tungsten E2 – the eInk display on my ebook reader is much, much nicer (plus the battery life on an eInk device is amazing). What do you smartphone owners think? Here’s the Dear Author guide to using smartphones and netbooks to read ebooks – rumor has it the guide will be updated soon.

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Reading Update
True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson. Solid if unremarkable contemporary romance featuring Gibson’s fictitious hockey team, the Seattle Chinooks.
The Vampire’s Bride (Atlantis, Book 4) by Gena Showalter. Survivor, the Atlantis edition. Eh.
Strange Bedpersons by Jennifer Crusie. Light contemporary romance that includes a black cat. Ok. Not one of the better Crusie books.
Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy. *fans self* McCarthy can write smokin’ contemporary romance with the best of them. I’m enjoying her NASCAR series far more than I expected.
Shadow Hawk (Harlequin Blaze) by Jill Shalvis. Shalvis writes a decent romance, whether it be a Harlequin or one of her tasty trilogies.
Daring Time by Beth Kery. *more fanning* Very good time travel romance that had me utterly captivated. Be warned – it is very, very, very steamy.
Call of the Highland Moon by Kendra Leigh Castle. Enjoyable paranormal romance about a werewolf from the Scottish Highlands and a woman who owns a romance bookstore.
Edge of Desire (Primal Instinct, Book 3) by Rhyannon Byrd. This series. Argh! It’s well-written and I’m totally sucked into the storyline, but damn, I spend an awful lot of time wanting to smack characters for being so angsty and TSTL.
Edge of Craving (A Prequel to the Primal Instinct Series) by Rhyannon Byrd. Ebook. This explains why all the Markers are hidden throughout the world. It probably makes more sense to read this after reading at least the first two Primal Instinct books. The prequel’s a novella, which was nice because no one could go off into an extended angst-fest. Sadly, while the regular series is well-edited, there are some glaring fails in this ebook (is Alia nearly 24? Or nearly 20? Please, someone, decide).
Touched by Darkness (Sentinels, Book 1) by Catherine Spangler. Solid paranormal romance – I’ll be reading more from this series. (I think it’s interesting that this NK cover shows fine abs, but suggests love handles at the same time.)

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More bookcase photos…

“Mom, why did you move our toy basket?” -Mayhem

And *gasp* – a bookcase photo with no cat bits?!

Hmm. No live cats, at least! Can you spot the cat in this last picture?

“Doopity doopity doopity do…” -Chaos

Welcome to the last week of what turned out to be a June filled with book contests! This week, I’m giving away two copies of the collection Eternal Lover (containing stories by Jackie Kessler, Lynsay Sands, Richelle Mead, and Hannah Howell), and one of the copies has been signed by Jackie Kessler. Two winners will be selected by random number and the first will receive the signed copy.

For your chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post letting me know that you’re entering the contest. Please make sure your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com and that you left a valid email address in your comment. (Leaving it in the email line of the comment form totally counts.) The contest will run through 7 pm CDT, Friday, July 3, and the winners will be announced on Monday, July 6. Good luck!

(Why, yes, that is NK on the cover. Nope, you’re right, that is not one the better pictures I’ve ever seen of him.)

“Why am I sitting here again, Mom? Who’s Vanna White?” -Mayhem

“And why are you giving away more books that don’t have black kitties on the cover?! Who wants books that aren’t all about black kitties?! Silly Mom.” -Mayhem

Congrats to fellow Minneapolitan, Carolyn of the Thrillionth Page, who was lucky number 59 and won the signed copy of The Highwayman. (And since it turns out that Carolyn lives eight blocks north of me, on the same street even, I think I’ll be delivering her book in person!)

Stop back Monday for another book contest! I’ll be giving away two copies of the collection Eternal Lover (containing stories by Jackie Kessler, Lynsay Sands, Richelle Mead, and Hannah Howell), and one of the copies has been signed by Jackie Kessler.

Pirate sun?! Or Old Man Winter?

I love this picture. No Camping – in a spot of greenery about four feet wide along an extremely busy commuter trail. Perhaps it’s meant in jest?!

Here’s a picture of the front of the garage behind the No Camping sign, if that helps you assess the location as a potential camping spot:

And a picture from the garden beside the garage – temptation, anyone?

Remember the picture of the egret at Lake of the Isles from last week? I took a second picture of that egret a few minutes later. Notice  the lump in its neck? That would be a frog or small fish, I’m guessing.

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“Yo, woman, bring me a beer!” -Chaos