Contests, Randonymity, Reading, Viewing

The Baleful Glare of the Cat Chaotic

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Mrs Pao and Pao are back in the UK, if you’re curious to see and read more of their adventures in the US. Can you believe they lost weight on vacation?!

Becky’s looking for ideas on how to use some Rowan 4-ply yarn. Leave a comment with your suggestion by September 16 and you could be randomly selected to win a prize.

Reading Update
Aunt Dimity: Detective, Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday, Aunt Dimity: Snowbound, Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin, Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea, and Aunt Dimity Goes West by Nancy Atherton. Have I mentioned how much I like this cozy series? 😉 The only thing that could make it better was adding a black cat – oh, wait, that happened. And the most recent book takes place in Colorado, Kristi!
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde. It always takes me a few chapters to get back into Fforde’s rollicking Thursday Next novels, but it is definitely worth it.

Viewing Update
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Colin Firth in a fountain instead of a pond – I know that must whip you ardent fans into an utter froth! 😉
Flatliners. I haven’t seen this movie for many years (probably since it came out in 1990), but it was still enjoyable – the hairstyles were only slightly distracting. And maybe it’s just me, but some of the scenes out in the city reminded me of The Lost Boys and of another film I can’t quite nail down… Maybe Blade Runner?! Something darkly atmospheric and rainy like that.

“Oh, how you will pay for this, Mom. This is much worse than that guy sitting on my cat tree.” -Chaos

Randonymity

Friday is also for thank yous

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Mrs Pao and Pao brought along fabulous gift bags when they visited us in the Twin Cities. Thank you both very, very much!!

There was a lovely purple gift bag (which Mayhem thought was tasty) and lovely blue tissue paper (which Chaos thought was tasty, even though it didn’t match his eyes like Jeanne’s tissue paper matched Pudd’s eyes). Remains of gift bag and tissue paper were removed before this photo shoot began.

Pictured below is a new-to-me mystery by Simon Brett, a stack of my beloved Kallo dark chocolate-covered rice cakes, and a copy of Simply Knitting with an adorable sheep-shaped row counter!

“Hmm, I don’t know why you’re so excited about these rice cakes, Mom, because they sure don’t smell like food.” -Mayhem

A lovely Canterbury Cathedral tea towel (you need to use your imagination a bit on the Cathedral bit, since it looks somewhat like a black blob), bringing my total number of tea towels to three. (I have a lovely one of the Big Merino from Sahara’s trip to Australia – did I remember to post a picture of that?! – and quite a nice one from when my stepmom taught a semester at Alnwick Castle, aka the castle in the Harry Potter movies.)

“Doesn’t this look better as Chaos Cathedral?” -Chaos

Some absolutely gorgeous silk and wool sock yarn – yum!

For some reason, the Paos thought of us when they saw this bib. You might see more pictures of the bib another day… *insert ominous music here*

“How do you fight with food? Does it have something to do with how the big kitty wants to chase me away from my food bowl sometimes? That’s very rude of him. I never leave unless I’m good and done, though. Or unless I get bored with eating.” -Mayhem

“Don’t worry, big kitty! I have the bib situation under control! Even if you are rude about my food.” -Mayhem

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Thursday thank yous

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Dotty’s celebrating her first Sockiversary and she’d love to hear what you love about sock knitting. Leave her a comment before midnight PDT, September 30, and you could win sock yarn, a sock project bag, and other goodies.

Jeanne’s got a great shot of Chaos shooting Jeanne’s husband Michael the Glare o’ Death and a bit more about our adventures with Mrs Pao and Pao last week. And just so you know, there were many more things on sticks – I only captured some of them.

Reading Update
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde. I have the strangest desire to brush up on my nursery rhymes now… Was Humpty Dumpty a suicide? Or murdered? Answers to age old questions are revealed in Fforde’s rollicking tale. I love this bit from the book:

[Jack’s mother] opened the door within two seconds of his pressing the doorbell, letting out a stream of cats that ran around with such rapidity and randomness of motion that they assumed a liquid state of furry purringness. The exact quantity could have been as low as three or as high as one hundred eight; no one could ever tell, as they were all so dangerously hyperactive.

I would argue that you really only need two cats to achieve that state!
Aunt Dimity’s Christmas by Nancy Atherton. Waiting for more of the series to arrive at my library! These are lovely British village cozies.
Mad Mouse: A John Ceepak Mystery by Chris Grabenstein. Fast-paced and well-done, I found the second in the series to be as enjoyable as the first.

Thank You Update
I’m a little behind on thank yous, but not too bad. First, let me thank everyone who weighed in on whether to knit my Trekking 126 plain or with pattern. I decided to go with plain, and have ripped back and reknit to where I was earlier in the week.

Next, some fun things I got in the mail recently. On the left is an adorable crocheted black kitty wallhanging, sent to me by Wendy because for some reason it made her think of me. On the right is a Chococat notebook (with Chococats on every page!) and a nifty little bookmark, sent to me by Ruth. Thanks, Wendy and Ruth!

Chaos and Mayhem were mightily intrigued by that there bookmark.

“What is it, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“Obviously a most unusual and shiny cat toy, May.” -Chaos

“Hmm, it sure doesn’t seem to do much.” -Mayhem

“Here, let me help, May.” -Chaos

“Let’s see if I can get a fang into it and carry it away…” -Chaos

Failing that, Chaos turned to admire the gift from Wendy and absorb every possible molecule of Lucy scent there might be.

“Mmmmm… sweet Lucy…” -Chaos

See the Sights

Fair on a stick

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The main reason I went to the State Fair on Friday was not to search for gluten-free food and beer; however, I did have a pita-free gyro, strawberries with whipped cream, and two glasses of Redbridge gluten-free beer. The main reason was for Jeanne and I to take our UK visitors, Pao and MrsPao, to the most Minnesotan thing we could think of to do. They got right into the spirit of things.

Jeanne’s husband Michael came along, too, and was a good sport.

We saw many strange and amazing sights.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t bring me any deep-fried kitty food on a stick. Hmph.” -Mayhem

Knitting, Reading, Viewing

Trying to catch up

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I took a bit of a computer break over the holiday weekend and am frightfully behind in bloglines. Please let me know if you’re having a contest you’d like me to mention, as I’ll probably read about it on your blog long after the deadline has passed… Thanks!

Check out Frarochvia’s new etsy shop!

Reading Update
The Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel by Laurell K. Hamilton. Wow, there was actually a wee bit of a plot mixed in with all of the sex. I was pleasantly surprised by that, but disappointed that the entire book only covered maybe 24 hours – it could take years to get to next week at this rate! At least Edward was in the book – he’s one of my favorite characters.
Aunt Dimity’s Death, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, Aunt Dimity’s Good Deed, and Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton. Apologies to whoever recommended these to me – I am obviously much enjoying these lovely British mysteries about the amazing Aunt Dimity, ghost.
Tilt-A-Whirl by Chris Grabenstein. This mystery is set in a seaside New Jersey town, told from the perspective of a part-time summer cop. This was a well-written and engrossing read and I’ll be interested in seeing where this series goes next (the next books are already in my library list).
Damsels in Distress by Joan Hess. I’ve never really gotten into Hess’ Maggody mystery series, but I do enjoy the Claire Malloy mysteries. The latest features shenanigans amongst the members of ARSE (Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment) at a RenFest.
Knit Two Together by Connie Lane. When Libby inherits a rundown yarn shop from her estranged mother, it changes her life. Definitely formulaic, but since it’s a Harlequin, I was fully prepared for that.
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston. Another formulaic romance, but I enjoyed it anyway. Come on, it has a picture of coffee on the cover (and it was $0.70 at the thrift shop).

Viewing Update
Bridget Jones’s Diary. Of course I had to watch this after watching Pride and Prejudice recently! My favorite P&P allusion was when Bridget was listing Mark Darcy’s faults and one of them was the length of his sideburns. Hee hee.
Love Actually. A very sweet film and another chance to see Colin Firth sans crazy P&P sideburns. 😉

Knitting Update
I actually am working on a non-sock project, which I’ll talk about it a few days. First, I need to get some input on this sock I’ve started. I can’t decide whether using the 9 to 5 pattern on this yarn is a good thing, or whether I should rip back and just knit the sock in stockinette. What do you think?

“I just can’t decide, Mom – I like them both! Maybe if I ate one of those Addis while I was thinking…” -Mayhem

Randonymity

What’s in my bag?

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A few weeks ago, MamaTulip bravely revealed the contents of her purse and I was mightily impressed at how, well, minimal it seemed. Because, um, my “purse” is actually a piece of carry-on luggage from REI… Generally, my sock knitting bag and a book are in the “purse,” too. No cats, though. Even I have limits! 😉

“Hey, May, get over here! I think something’s about to happen!” -Chaos

Clockwise from bottom left (you may want to click on the picture to make it larger), a small purple hairbrush, a shopping bag (the kind that folds up into a wee stuffsack), some pressed powder for blemish control (I think I bought that in 1997), and some backup UnPetroleum lip balms. Running out of lip balm? Eeep! Moving right along – hand lotion, my wallet, a small pink pouch with “feminine supplies” in it, a blue bookstand, my camera case (since I was obviously using the camera), iron pills, a GorillaPod (you can’t see it, since May is chewing on it), Neutrogena Oil-Free Sunblock, and my PDA (under Chaos’ head).

“Mwmph.” -Mayhem

“Oh, how I wish those feminine supplies weren’t in that little pouch. They are so much fun to rip apart!” -Chaos

Clockwise from the left below, a pen and notebook, my access badge for work, a java jacket from Kind Coffee in Estes Park, some bandaids, generic lactaid, more lip balm, lots of hair bands, earplugs (yellow case), a glasses cleaning cloth in a little case, Imitrex autoinjector for migraines, Swiss Army knife, more generic lactaid, my own java jacket, more “feminine supplies,” silk hankies hiding my blog card case and sunglasses case, a Red Tango pocket mirror, my cell phone case (the phone was charging), and a glasses strap (just in case I get really crazy active and skydive or something, I guess).

“I do love these little hair doodads! I wonder how many I can steal before Mom notices?” -Mayhem

Finally! A Bad Kitty notebook (from a bin at Target ages ago), my checkbook in its kitty cover (oh, she has key fobs in that same fabric right now!), a toothbrush and toothpaste, some pens and a Sharpie, Caribou Wintergreen HoofMints, more sunblock, and antiperspirant. Whew! Isn’t it fortunate that, for days that involve a lot of walking, I pull essentials out and toss them into a smaller bag?! When I shop, I pull my wallet out and just take that along.

“My goodness, big kitty. Do you think everyone has as much stuff in their bags as Mom does?” -Mayhem

“No wonder she goes to the chiropractor. Sheesh.” -Chaos

Contests

Woe the Mayhem – is her cuteness in danger??!

28 Comments

Yet another telephone switch upgrade last night, although it fell apart really fast, so I was in bed by 11:30 pm – just going to sleep in a bit with my snuggly kitties as you read this…

If you live in the Twin Cities and are interested in going to see A Prairie Home Companion at the Minnesota State Fair Friday night for free, let Annie Modesitt know ASAP. She has tickets to give away because that’s the day her husband has surgery. Send good thoughts his way!

Ari is having a raffle over at Baking and Books to support the 2007 New York Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, held by Hazon. a non-profit working on sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and other food issues. She has over 75 cookbooks/prizes, donated by publishers, to give away for the raffle (which ends September 3).

Schrodinger is celebrating her own string of contest wins by having a contest. She’s giving away three very cool “cube” sock bags – leave a comment by 11:59 pm EDT, September 4, if you’d like a chance to win.

“Moooooooommmmmm!! Can’t we go to sleep yet?! You’re really messing up my beauty sleep again with this working overnight stuff. What if my cuteness starts to fade from exhaustion?!!” -Mayhem

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

I solemnly swear that I do not knit catnip into my socks

50 Comments

Ugh – the past two nights I’ve been awakened in the wee small hours by some very serious thunderstorms. Last night it was 70 mph wind, torrential rain, nonstop blinding lightning, and thunder that set off car alarms. Poor kitties – they are nervous wrecks!

Hockeymom’s having a contest – caption the (a-hem!) picture and you could win some of her hand-dyed yarn or roving. I think Tink or MamaTulip might have a lot of fun captioning this picture (hint: taken while tailgating before a Foreigner/Def Leppard/Styx show..) – maybe you could convince Hockeymom to come up with a non-knitting prize. 😉 Leave your captions by 6 pm, September 3.

Reading Update
Spare Change by Robert B. Parker. I’m not big on Parker’s Spenser mysteries, but I do enjoy the Sunny Randall mysteries. In this one, Sunny teams up with her father.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. Yeah, I listened to it again. 🙂
Vineyard Stalker by Philip R. Craig. I love the J.W. Jackson Martha’s Vineyard mysteries, but sadly, they will soon come to an end, as Craig died earlier this year. According to his son Jamie, Craig left three completed mysteries (of which I assume Vineyard Stalker is one) and one incomplete mystery.

Knitting Update
Friday night I finished the 9-to-5 Socks (follow that link for yarn and pattern details). They took six days and I totally love them!

Although not as much as some around here do…

“Don’t make any sudden moves, Mom – I’d hate to have to hurt the socks.” -Chaos

“Because I really, really love these socks. How do I love them? Let me count the ways…” -Chaos

“Mmmm… purple stripey socks…” -Chaos

See the Sights

Another rainy Monday…

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Vacation Update
I have more vacation pictures! I know, I know, you thought we were all done with that. But when Deb mentioned that she was about to head out on vacation to the Black Hills, I remembered I still had a few left… These pictures are from my drive home on I-90 and are all “hold camera and click while continuing to watch the road” shots.

I’d forgotten that it was foggy when I started driving home.

Really, I have no idea what this was all about.

There were some dramatic clouds. Hmm, do you think that one in the center is The Grim?! Must not’ve been, since I made it home safely.

Not a lot of topography along I-90 in South Dakota, so it quickly became photo worthy. I couldn’t have centered that sign better if I’d been trying.

The sun eventually did come out, revealing yet more mysteries along the highway.

“You are growing sleepy. When you awake, you will remember nothing, except that you must never go on vacation and leave your kitties alone again.” -Chaos

Art journaling, reading, knitting, and cat parenting. It's a wild life.