Don’t forget to play along in my personals ad contest – there are some very funny entries! Deadline is 6 pm CST on Thursday, December 13.
Reading Update
Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik. Pure unadulterated chick lit that integrates knitting into the story better than most of the other knitting novels I’ve read.
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. At its most basic, this is a novel about superheroes and supervillains, told alternately from the perspective of each. On another level, it’s a novel about identity, relationships, and alienation. I really enjoyed it, but I know several of you read it and felt more “meh” about it – I’m curious to hear why.
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. The most recent Jennifer Crusie novel is as light and fun as her others.
Hot Mama by Jennifer Estep. Another superhero book! This is the sequel to Karma Girl, which I haven’t read yet – but will be reading soon.
Thank You Update
I won a contest, and Karen from Denmark sent me 400m of gorgeous Kauni yarn, plus some decadently dark chocolate, a holiday ornament with Danish assembly instructions (that should be an exciting project!), and a lovely letter. Thank you so much, Karen! (Tangent: Once upon a time, I wrote many letters and sent many cards. I guess email made that all less necessary? I miss it sometimes and will write the occasional letter. Recipients still seem able to identify these non-screen artifacts.)
“*sniff sniff* Yum! This smells like sheep (what are sheep anyway?) and pine needles (ditto on the pine needles)!” -Mayhem
“Dum dee dum dee dum…” -Chaos
Jane sent me another of her lovely photo calendars! Thanks, Jane – it’s already at work, waiting for January. And Susan saw these purple “Black Cats Rule!” socks and thought of me… Thanks!
“*sniff sniff* Mmmm… real pictures!” -Mayhem
Fortunately, the calendar was rescued before any kitties licked the pictures!
I’ve been threatening promising to show some outtakes to prove that for every decent cat picture I take, I also take many, many crappy cat pictures. I’ve restricted today’s outtakes to pictures that actually have identifiable cat parts in them.
Exhibit 1, in which there was no Chaos wandering through the planned shot, as I supposed him to be stationary. This shot could be rescued with a bit of cropping and captioning.
Exhibit 2, same thing – May was stationary when I started the shot. Maybe this could be rescued with cropping and captioning, too – something about that ghost paw, probably!
“Whatever, Mom. And just to be clear – I rule. Mayhem so doesn’t rule.” -Chaos
Pretty much the same here! For every good shot, there are around 3 crappy ones! Except for Mae – the ratio is probably more like 10 to 1 for Miss Squirmy.
Oh wow, that Kauni is beautiful! And I love those socks!
What? Someone is writing better a better ad than mine? Chaos…don’t worry…we KNOW you rule.
Now I know whom to ask if I run out of Kauni EM (right?) while doing Armagh. I just ripped out the biggest 3rd of a sleeve, so you better hide the Kauni.
Fear not. I have mostly out-takes. Holli gets jealous if I try to take a picture of just Tig and worms some part of her anatomy into most “cat-only” photos!!
Yup, many crappy shots, one amazing shot. Perseverance, people!
Mmmmmmmmm lovely kauni!
Outtakes rule!
Chris- Love the Kauni yarn.
And just for your information, any picture that has cats in it cannot be crappy.
Look it up in the “Cat Owner’s Manual”.
Why not write cards, if you miss doing it? I think email makes it more necessary, not less.
Yep, animals and kids, it’s so hard to get a good picture. One almost has to continually snap pictures, to hope for one gem.
Oh Jule Stjerne!!! I’ve made tons of them… I think I still have some paper strips some where to make more!!! They make very cute ornaments!!!
Hehehe, those outtakes are great too 🙂
Cheers Eva
OMGoodness – so drooling over the Kauni. What a great color. So, the cats are getting the diva complex, huh?
I hear you on the kitty out-takes. I never seem to hae the patience to make it through very many.
May, Sheep are like big, fluffy cats. Only they’re really stupid. Oh wait – maybe they’re more like big, fluffy dogs. Anyway, they eat grass (but don’t throw up afterwards), and they like to hang out in clumps. The clumps of sheep are called “herds”. When you chase them, they all run in the same direction, unlike cats (remember, I said they’re stupid). Once in a while, they get a haircut, and the clippings (the “wool”) is used to make pretty yarn for stripey socks and bibs, and other fun things that mom likes to make.
I have thousands of pictures of my big pup sticking his nose on the lens. He is impossible to contain.
You DO know that you’re supposed to read the sequel AFTER the first book, right?
I take an amazing number of crappy pictures. Boogie is worse than a cat about standing still.
still thinkin’ on that ad….clearly i’ve got to be wicked clever to win….
mmmmmm, Danish. haha!
Cats + shutter lag = lots of outtakes. Hurray for digital cameras, which allow us to snap away to our hearts’ content without worrying about the astronomical cost of film, developing, printing, etc.
So May is more interested in the scent of sheep and pine needles than chocolate? Silly kitty…
Good to know that I’m not the only one who ends up with Kitty Outtakes… I suppose I’ll have to post some of mine one of these days.
Wait a minute — so people pick up pens and use them to write things other than grocery lists and Dear John letters?
Seriously?
Intakes, outtakes, they are all pretty kitty pics!
If I could hold the camera still, my ratio would be better, but thank you! It’s nice to see outtakes. Cute paws.
Mayhem does too rule, Chaos. In an unChaos-like way, of course.
I keep meaning to read Soon I Will be Invincible and cool! I didn’t realize ther was a new Crusie out.
That yarn is gorgeous! I really owe a friend of mine in Norway a letter, but I keep putting it off!
Oh wow – that Kauni is beautiful 🙂 Looks like you’ve had some amazingly nice gifts!
Hey, just heard about an awful midwest ice storm… are you part of that?
loved the outtakes.. too funny..
and I am still laughing at all the ads written for you. It’s a riot.
I loved what Lark wrote- so right on!
That Kauni yarn is gorgeous!
I take a huge number of crappy pictures. The ferrets move too fast and Katie hears the camera about a split second before the shutter goes off.
I’ll echo everyone else… that Kauni is gorgeous!!
So, what does the ornament look like? : )