Category Archives: Randonymity

Randonymity, Viewing

Look! Over there!

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Maybe you can tell that I’m attempting to distract you from the whole lotta nothin’ goin’ on ’round here? 😉 My Crazy Boo Monkey Socks have been about five rounds away from being done since Saturday. I’ve worked on my cardi a bit, but back and forth stockinette is not my favorite thing in the world.

Instead of knitting and reading, I’ve been goofing around on my laptop a lot, working on some mixes and chattin’ with the Fraro (did you see her gorgeous yarn over at the Loopy Ewe?!). And I’ve been cleaning a bit for a special houseguest who will be here Thursday and Friday night. 🙂

Oh, and I actually watched a movie the other night – Matrix Reloaded. I was thinking “mmm, good sex scene!” and “butt kicking bestest car chase ever!” and forgot all the flying. Way too much flying. On the plus side, not as bad as Matrix Revolutions *runs brainbleach cycle*.

Talk about discouraging – from the June 2007 issue of Minnesota Monthly (I tried to wade through some stacks of magazines over the weekend):

Minnesota Dating Is Not-So-Nice – Still don’t have a date for that dinner party? You’re not alone (well, only literally): In 2004, the Twin Cities made the list of 10 worst cities to hook up in, as determined by Sperling’s BestPlaces. Recently, the online dating service OkCupid.com determined that Minnesota has the nation’s loneliest women and shyest men. The knock has always been low turnover: Fewer people (in search of companionship) move into and out of here than such larger cities as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

Well. See, Van, my plot to knock hot bicycling boys off their bikes isn’t unreasonable – takes care of that shyness thing straight off.

Here’s another shot of Mayhem in midair capturing that mouse. I’m not sure if leaving the picture uncropped helps with the perspective or not… That black smudge at the top is my ghostly thumb after the mouse has been snatched from my hand. 🙂

“I triumph!” -Mayhem

Randonymity, Reading, Swappin'

Obscured ghost paws

37 Comments

Ruth’s hosting a Secret Santa Fiber Swap on swap-bot. Sign-ups close December 15.

Don’t forget to play along in my Superpower Blogiversary Contest before 6 pm CST, Tuesday, December 4!

Reading Update
Obsession, Deceit, and Really Dark Chocolate by Kyra Davis. Mystery writer Sophie Katz and her black cat, Mr. Katz, are back in the third book in this series. I really like these, and am already looking forward to the next book!
I’m the Vampire, That’s Why by Michele Bardsley. Since I’d already read the sequel (Don’t Talk Back To Your Vampire) and enjoyed it, what the heck? 😉
Cupid, Inc. by Michele Bardsley. What if Eros and Psyche opened not a dating service, but a fantasy service? This is pretty much chock full of sex vignettes, loosely held together by a bit of plot.
Just One Sip by Katie McAlister, Jennifer Ashley, and Minda Webber. Three novellas by paranormal romance authors – at least one of the stories was really cheesy. McAlister’s story is sort of a follow-up to her novel Sex, Lies and Vampires.
Love Overboard by Janet Evanovich. Like most of Evanovich’s non-Stephanie Plum novels, this is just an ok romance, set in coastal Maine.
Rising Moon: A Nightcreature Novel, Book 6 by Lori Handeland. Blatantly inspired by the Dark-Hunter novels, this was still an acceptable read for a paranormal romance.

Anyone have theories as to what triggered this paranormal romance outbreak that started a few years ago? Do you think it was the success of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels?

Life Update
I realized as I was walking around Lake of the Isles on Sunday (sunny and nearly 50F) that I physically and mentally feel better than I have for nearly two years, even though I’m not in the sort of shape I’m used to being in. Woo-hoo, surgery! Woo-hoo, rediscovered exercise plan!

I had a really good Thanksgiving, hanging out with my SIL’s family. Her parents stuffed one of the turkeys with gf cornbread stuffing, and my dad and stepmom brought me crustless pumpkin pie. Really, I got kinda sniffly about all of that. Until you have dietary restrictions and people go out of their way to include you, that may sound sort of strange to you… (I know Brigitte understands!) Anyway, “only” about 25 people showed up, out of the possible 40+… One of those people, my SIL’s aunt, turned out to an intelligent and dedicated knitter who (of course) had her knitting with her, so we hung out chatting and knitting and scaring the muggles.

MrsPao and Pao sent me a fun box of birthday goodies.

*sniff sniff sniff* -Mayhem

“Doo de doo de doo…” -Chaos

Hmm. Let’s try that again, shall we?

“New mice! New mice! New mice! Mom, put down the camera and free these mice for me.” -Mayhem

Much better. Yummy dark chocolate, a cute black kitty card (how did they know?!), my absolute most beloved favoritest dark chocolate rice cakes (tragically unavailable in the US), the aforementioned catnip mice, some stunning purple yarn that I think is silk (shiny! purple! shiny!), and a V.I. Warshawski novel (cool British printing; known as Blood Shot in the US). Thank you two!

Ok, this isn’t the greatest shot of May, but notice the ghost kitty arms as she leaps for the new mouse?? (Embiggen for best effect.) I was holding the mouse about three feet off the floor, if that helps you envision the difficulties of this photo…

“Ooof!” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Those Cats

Cat scratcher fever

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Cathy’s celebrating her November birthday with a contest. Share your favorite poem or quotation with her and you could win some yarn – there’s a twist to this one, so make sure you read the details as it’s a fun twist! Leave your comments by noon CST, November 27.

Have you heard about the One Laptop One Child program? The New York Times has a particularly nice overview article about it. Between now and November 26, there’s a cool program called Give One, Get One – for a $399 donation, you give a laptop to a child in a developing country, receive one of the same children’s laptops (and they are very, very cool), and get a $200 tax deduction on top of it. This is the technology that could make all those cyberpunk novels come true.

A few weeks ago, Jeanne finally guilted me into getting a new cardboard scratcher for Chaos. Ok, it was definitely past time to do so (um, he’d had the old one for nearly four years and had worn out both sides of it), and I’d been meaning to, but… Anyway, you can definitely see the difference between the two:

I hung on to the old scratcher for a few days, just to make sure that the new scratcher was acceptable – last thing I wanted was a feline meltdown about not having the right scratcher. It turned out to be no problem whatsoever.

“New scratcher. Mmmmmm…” -Chaos

“New scratcher. Mine. All mine!” -Chaos

“Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine.” -Chaos

“I totally don’t get it. Are you ok, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“Happy happy mine mine.” -Chaos

“Back off, Mayhem, unless you want to lose that paw. This is my scratcher. Mine.” -Chaos

“Mine… zzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

“I really don’t get it.” -Mayhem

“…zzzzzzzminezzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

“Hmph. Well, who wants to scratch on cardboard anyway?!” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Mundane Monday

24 Comments

Valerie made it back to the East Coast from the Midwest and has written about our lunch at 318.

Jennifer’s having a contest to come up with themes for FiberFlix. Leave her a comment with your theme idea by midnight PST, November 20, and you could win some sock yarn.

You may remember the Biteberry Yarn Contest, won by Anne of Paper Tiger Knits. Anne has suffered through all of the ends in that poor skein of yarn and has finished her cats paw lace socks!

Wayward Elf of Zurich has a nice post up about work and science, including some links to recent research. Make sure you check out the article about how praise affects kids, even if you don’t have kids – it’s an article that definitely has me thinking.

Reading Update
The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse by Keith Hartman. Don’t judge this book by the silly title – it’s a surprisingly good detective story, set in the not-too-distant future. I think Hartman does an excellent job of projecting societal trends (primarily group polarization by interests), then highlighting how breaking down that polarization is critical if society is to survive. But I probably wouldn’t even have checked this book out if it hadn’t had a glowing review by Charles de Lint…
Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie. This light romance, set at a small radio station, is another of Crusie’s rereleased Harlequin titles.

Life Update
Thanks for all of your birthday wishes! I had a very lowkey and pleasant birthday hanging out with my family. I got some Sugar’n’Cream cotton to keep up my bib production, a cute basket, a few decks of cards (I just had Ranma 1/2 cards, which were impossible to use), a Caribou card, a pound of Caribou Obsidian (if you’re keeping track, you realize I will not be buying coffee for quite a while!), a 2008 black cat calendar, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders (it has some really cute patterns), and a Barnes & Noble gift card. Thank you, family!

I got nothin’ else today. I got sucked into adding projects to Ravelry. I’ve been a member since April, but have only been adding new projects to it… until yesterday. Where did the weekend go?! Heck, where did the year go?! How can it be Thanksgiving in just a few days?!

Anyway, perhaps this cute picture will distract you… 😉

“I do not understand this ‘time’ of which you speak, Mom, but I’m worried about it! I hope it had its collar on before it went away so that it isn’t gone forever.” -Mayhem

Festing, Randonymity, Swappin'

Yarn and books and cats, oh my!

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TGIF… *yawn* If you suffer through this epic post, there’s a special treat at the end – one of the funniest birthday cards I’ve ever received (and it features a kitty and yarn)!

It amazes me how long it takes a package to travel between Minnesota and Ontario… and it isn’t just anticipation. But this package from Brigitte and friends was definitely worth the wait. 🙂 From the top, a cute wooden black kitty and Crazy Cat Lady Magnetic Sculpture from Lorraine – thank you! That sculpture is already on my desk at work. Below that is a lovely skein of Colinette Jitterbug (Velvet Bilberry) and a Knit Happens magnet from Rachel H – many, many thanks, Rachel!

The rest of the package was from Brigitte, who is possibly my long lost sibling. We need to talk to our parents some more about the possible details. 😉 From the upper left, a gorgeous skein of Lisa Souza sock yarn in Black Purple, a black kitty Webkinz (with a kinked tail, even!), three books I haven’t read before, a black cat “snow” globe, some very tasty “Kick Ass” coffee from Kicking Horse, Halloween pencils, catnip toys, two tiny black kitty beads, and a book of ChocoCat stickers. Thank you, Brigitte!

Actually, the catnip toys were from Atticus, Mae, and Gandalf for Chaos and May:

The kitties had to check out the nip right away.

“Big kitty! These are from that hottie, Gandalf! Oh! This is too cool!” -Mayhem

“Now, now, Mayhem, these are also from Atticus and the other Mae, not just from Gandalf.” -Chaos

“Whatever. Mmmm… Gandalf….” -Mayhem

Marsha was my Coffee Swap III partner and she sent some great goodies. Gluten-free snickerdoodles, a coffee mug with coffee beans all over the side and coffee-colored yarn in it, Regia Strato (you know how I love stripes), a funny magnet (not pictured, whoops), and enough espresso roast coffee from Porto Rico in NYC to keep me awake for quite a while. Thanks, Marsh!

“I don’t care what anyone says – I have a waist, dammit!” -Chaos

Wednesday night, Jeanne and Deb had a little knitterly birthday party for me (I turn 41 tomorrow – eeep!). Jeanne made our favorite extraordinarily simple flourless chocolate cake and there were presents! New Pathways for Sock Knitters and the 2008 SnB calendar from Jeanne, and The Knitter’s Book of Yarn and two skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in my beloved Black Purl colorway (please use your imagination to picture some black, purple, and grey yarn in the picture) from Deb. Aw, you guys. *sniff* Thank you! (Jeanne has a very, um, interesting picture of me from Wednesday night…)

“Hmm, I detect essence of Pudd, Kreature, Bugman, and Greta.” -Mayhem

“Wait, that can’t be right – I’m sure I smell Tig and Holly. How can this be?!” -Chaos

Mayhem apparently can’t resist napping on everything I put on the floor.

“A cat nappin’ on a Cat. Zzzzz…” -Mayhem

And if you’ve made it this far, here’s the wonderful card Deb gave me – you definitely want to embiggen this one! I can picture Mayhem in the role of the cat and Chaos in the role of the dog…

On the inside, it says “Hope you get all that you wish for” and has this very cute picture:

Thanks again to everyone! Have a great weekend, all.

Randonymity, Reading, Tales of the Neighborhood

The forecast lied

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Guinifer has blogged about our lunch on Friday, too.

Karina has some great tips (and recipes) for getting through the holidays when you’re gluten-free and dairy-free.

If you like alternative music, check out this cool holiday album that you can download for only $7. All proceeds go to Toys for Tots. You can listen to a sample track by the Long Winters at Cable & Tweed.

Reading Update
Don’t Talk Back To Your Vampire by Michele Bardsley. Again with the cheesy titles. 🙂 This wasn’t a bad read, as fluffy paranormal romances go. I take issue with the cover, which features a black SUV and a soccer ball. The main character drove a brightly colored VW bug and there was no soccer whatsoever!
Bookmarked To Die and Catalogue of Death by Jo Dereske. I do enjoy these cozy mysteries about prim librarian Miss Zukas, her cat “Boy Cat Zukas,” and her bohemian friend Ruth.

Life Update
Yesterday, my last day of leave, was supposed to be 66F and mostly sunny. Alas, I don’t think it got past 55F, and I only saw the sun briefly. Oh well, the day before was quite sunny and I took a few pictures while I was out walking.

You’ll probably need to embiggen this picture to read the sign.

This big empty space used to contain the Guthrie Theater.

Here’s the Walker Art Center from the back.

The artificial stream and ponds in Thomas Lowry Park have been drained for the winter.

A very cool moon and sun graced this porch.

I swear, these people have an inflatable decoration for every holiday.

“Who’s the cutest of them all?” -Mayhem

Randonymity, Those Cats

Thank you post the second

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Hard to believe it’s been nearly five weeks since my surgery! I’m feeling pretty good and continuing to go for walks most days. On Friday, I go in for a recheck and work release appointment. Where did the time go?!

Continuing on with the thank yous – MrsPao sent me two wonderful boxes! The first contained the book Twilight (excellent!), the Mountain Goats’ Nine Black Poppies cd, and a refillable catnip mouse that Mayhem is busily removing from the photo…

“Well, duh, this obviously isn’t for you, Mom.” -Mayhem

MrsPao also sent me some of those wonderful dark chocolate-covered rice cakes I love (um, there may have been three boxes), another book, and some lovely yarn – thank you so much!

“Hmph, where’s the cat toy this time?!” -Mayhem

Mind your manners there, Miss Mayhem!

TB sent wonderful tea, honey (with honeycomb), soap, a gluten-free spice cake mix, and kitty treats. Sorry I didn’t get a picture… thank you, TB!

Michaele sent me some much-needed pajama bottoms (when you’re convalescing and hanging out at home for weeks on end, you need lots of pjs!), black cat thank you cards, stunning sock yarn, and really tasty dried cherries. Thanks, Michaele!

“Dried cherries sound kind of tasty, Mom! Will you share? Do they taste like tuna?” -Mayhem

WendyG sent me more gorgeous sock yarn, a cute sock knitting bag, knitting coasters, knitting gift tags, kitty post-it notes, a little coffee notebook, and assorted kitty toys. In fact, Mayhem’s leaving the photo below with one of those little mice in her mouth… Thank you, Wendy!

“Dum de dum de dum…” -Mayhem

Amy gave me skein of Hollyhock Malabrigo laceweight and Miss T gave me two skeins of purple Panda Cotton. Hmm, do you think they figured out what colors I like?? Thanks to you both!

“Are hollyhocks like catnip?” -Chaos

Elspeth sent me some mix cds, some hand lotion, a cute black cat notepad, and a warm scarf that she made for me! Aw, thank you, E! Now, the big question is – will I be able to get the scarf away from Mayhem?!

“I feel pretty!” -Mayhem

“Oh, so pretty!” -Mayhem

“And so crazy!” -Mayhem

“Whew! I’m tired now.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading, Viewing

Break out the brain bleach…

47 Comments

Something I actually saw in a store yesterday: an anatomically correct gummi heart. Ewwwww!

Does this lolcats picture look like anyone you know?! 😉

Guess how many emails Heather will have in her work inbox when she returns to work after more than a month of vacation and you could win one year subscriptions to One Story Magazine and Kaleidotrope. Leave your guesses by the morning of November 6 to participate.

Chappysmom is having her second annual “Show me your November calendar pages” contest! Leave a comment on the contest post by November 15 and include a link to your calendar post to possibly win a Chappysmom Knitting/Fiber calendar. Here’s the calendar that’s hanging in my kitchen:

And the calendar that’s on my desk:

And while we’re talking about calendars – why the heck don’t we just stay in Daylight Savings Time all year?! The kitties love springing ahead (“Woo-hoo! Mom fed us early!”), but they sure hate falling back (“Boo! Hisssss! Mom is starving us!”).

Reading Update
A Cat in the Manger: An Alice Nestleton Mystery by Lydia Adamson. I read this short mystery about an NYC actress and catsitter and liked it ok, but I only got partway through another Alice Nestleton mystery (A Cat on a Beach Blanket) before deciding I didn’t want to bother finishing it.
Nerds Like It Hot by Vicki Lewis Thompson. Another trashy nerds mystery – this one was better than the last one I read, but the library copy was saturated in men’s cologne (that seemed a bit odd to me, personally), so this wasn’t a pleasant read.
Duplicity Dogged the Dachsund by Blaize Clement. This is the second mystery featuring Sarasoata pet sitter Dixie Hemingway. These are very well-written and I’ll definitely continue reading this series. My one complaint about this book was heavy-handed foreshadowing – so much so that I became vaguely obsessed (thus distracted from the rest of the story) waiting for the followup.
Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad. This short graphic novel is set between the tv series Firefly and the movie Serenity and although it’s only so-so, it does answer a question I had during the movie.
Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is the most recent Dark-Hunter novel. Mmmm…. Dark Hunters….
Divine Evil by Nora Roberts. This was the first non-J.D. Robb Nora Roberts’ book I’ve read. She can definitely write, but I do like the the J.D. Robb books a lot better (mmmm…. Roarke….). I’ll probably try reading some of her other stuff, however, since the extreme evilness portrayed in the book predisposed me to not like it.

Viewing Update
Once you get over the shock of me turning on the tv to watch anything… 😉
Firefly – I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this before! What an amazing show – really sad that there were only 14 episodes. 🙁
Serenity – But I’m definitely glad they resolved a number of open questions from Firefly in this film… even though I spent the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film crying. “I am a leaf on the wind…“*sniff*
Sweetland – Jeanne brought this over Wednesday night for our “Hiding from Trick-or-Treaters” gathering. The movie was based on Will Weaver’s short story “A Gravestone Made of Wheat,” which I read about 15 years ago and don’t remember at all. Anyway, the movie was set primarily in rural Minnesota in the 1920s, when Olaf, a Norwegian bachelor farmer, receives a German mail-order bride at a time when anti-German sentiment is high.

Chaotic Update
Lindy wanted to see more pictures of Chaos, since apparently last week was somewhat Mayhemish. Sorry, Lindy! Here Chaos enjoys a lovely felted catnip mouse from Paper Tiger, who also sent a mouse for May, tasty dark chocolate for me, and even gooey gluten-free brownies! Thanks, PT!

*bite bite bite bite bite* -Chaos

Knitting, Randonymity

Mayhem presents…

40 Comments

“Um, what am I doing?” -Mayhem

Never mind, May… It’s been a while since we looked at vintage knitting booklets, hasn’t it? So let’s peruse Hand Knits for Men (revised, 1961)… Feel free to caption amongst yourselves, although let’s try not to make my hit statistics too interesting, eh?! In a rare show of restraint, I’ve confined my captions to the picture titles – hover your mouse pointer over the pictures to see. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Randonymity, Tales of the Neighborhood

Randomly convalescing, with a whole lotta eepin’ goin’ on

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My convalescence continues to go very well. Last week, Jeanne chauffered me around several times – on Tuesday, we went to Uncle Hugo’s/Uncle Edgar’s and Dreamhaven. On Friday, we went out to Deb’s for lunch, a wee bit of dyeing, knitting, and conversation. On Saturday, I drove for the first time in 3.5 weeks! I probably could’ve driven sooner, but I figured that someone who couldn’t wear jeans comfortably maybe shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car… 🙂 Yesterday, the Procrastinatrix came over and we spent a pleasant afternoon knitting and chatting.

I’ve also been blessed with great weather for walking – sunny days, with temps in the low 50s to mid-60s and blue, blue autumn skies. Yesterday, as I walked around my neighborhood, I saw a black cat who looked a lot like Mayhem, except she had one shocking white whisker and no locket. She didn’t have a collar and she barely made it across a busy street – eep! Hope she’s ok – it’s a very hard time of year to be a black kitty outside. I also wandered down Bryant Avenue and realized that two consecutive blocks will lose a total of eight elm trees today. I’ll be able to hear the saws and chippers running all day…

Check out this bloglines screenshot from a week or so ago. I had maybe 40 unread posts and hit refresh… and this is what I suddenly saw. (You definitely want to click on this one to embiggen it.) Eeeeeeep! I’ll give you all a moment to recover. (It might’ve taken me more than a moment to gather myself and take the screenshot…) I refreshed again, and it was back to the “real” 40. Oh, bloglines, you sure have your issues!

“I don’t care about your bloglines woes, Mom. I just can’t believe that there are kitties who live outside where the big scary trucks are driving by all the time! Eeep!” -Mayhem