Category Archives: Those Cats

Knitting, Those Cats

In which Jeanne conducts an experiment involving Mayhem and knitting

41 Comments

Congrats to elaing8, who won the copy of Deadly Obsession by Kris Norris!

It turns out that for years, Jeanne has believed I stage those knitting pictures (well, back when I had regular knitting pictures!) in which Mayhem sniffs, gnaws, or lounges about on every single piece of knitting I place on the floor. Jeanne decided she needed to see for herself what really happened when knitting is placed on my living room floor.

So, when she was visiting recently, she waited until there weren’t any kitties in the living room, got up from her chair, and placed her gorgeous sock on the floor. Before she made it back to the chair, Mayhem appeared!

“Hey, what’s up? Did I hear knitting hit the floor?” -Mayhem

“Oh, look at that. Where did this stripey sock come from? Mom, I know you’re not knitting much of anything these days.” -Mayhem

(Ouch!)

“That’s it? Where’s the other sock? Where are the knitting needles? I like it best when there are knitting needles to chew.” -Mayhem

Anything else to add, Jeanne?? 🙂

Randonymity, Those Cats

In which absolutely no kitties will be going to the vet today *nudge nudge wink wink*

42 Comments
  • Crazy, crazy weather here – yesterday, it hit 80F.
  • The normal high for April 1 is 49F; the record was 82F… in 1882.
  • It’s been really dry, so things aren’t as green as you would expect with those temperatures.
  • The flooding you hear about is from our too-fast snowmelt while the ground was still frozen.
  • We do have rain in the forecast for the next few days…
  • Nothing to worry about re: the title of this post – just their regular annual checkup.
  • I prepare for this event by getting both cat carriers out a few days early.
  • At this point, if I don’t ‘fess up to leaving one of the cat carriers out all the time, Jeanne will share that tidbit for me. 😉
  • What can I say? I don’t want the cat carriers appearing to be a “zOMG! Flee! Flee! Flee!” trigger.
  • And they like to nap in the carrier that I leave out all the time.
  • I tossed some kitty treats in each carrier last night… baiting the kitty traps, as it were.
  • It never fails to amuse me that in the property description for my condo, my outdoor parking spot is described as my “garden apartment”.
  • Can’t say much for its ambiance.
  • Have a great weekend, everyone, be it a holiday for you or not! 🙂

“I’m sure that you heard wrong, blog reader. I’m sure Mom’s not going to take us to the vet. That would just be mean.” -Mayhem

Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Random Post of Randomness and Poop

59 Comments
  • I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that our two weeks of glorious sunshine have given way to a week (so far) of clouds and rain.
  • I miss the sun.
  • The snow is mostly gone, since it’s also been unseasonably warm.
  • I think I’m preparing for the start of Daylight Savings Time this weekend by already feeling tired.
  • Ok, I’m back. The previous reminded me that some of contests from yesterday’s linkity post actually end in EDT/CDT instead of EST/CST. All fixed now.
  • I have started a new pair of socks.
  • I’m already past the heel and into the leg on the first sock!
  • Too bad my sister-in-law’s birthday is tomorrow and I’m sure she really wants two completed socks instead of one sock, 2/3 done.
  • Earlier this week, I was sitting innocently on my couch, type typing away on my laptop when a yowling black blur of stench hurtled past me and shit-o-caust arrived in my living room.
  • *blink blink*
  • What caused this most horrible and inauspicious event?
  • Chaos exiting the litterbox at high speed with poop attached to his butt by one of my hairs that he’d consumed.
  • He was, apparently, fleeing in terror from the poop chasing him.
  • I must have missed the chapter in the cat owner’s manual where it prepared you to have to chase down your pet as he fled from his own poop, hold him down, and clean his butt with toilet paper.
  • Because? I’m pretty sure I’d have remembered that chapter.

“Have no doubt that I will get you for sharing that, Mom. And also? It never happened.” -Chaos

Contests, Knitting, Those Cats

For the First Time, Crazy Aunt Purl’s Kitties Speak Out! [CONTEST CLOSED]

220 Comments

Crazy Aunt Purl (aka Laurie Perry) is nearing the end of her blog tour to support her new book, Crazy Aunt Purl’s Home Is Where the Wine Is: Making the Most of What You’ve Got One Stitch (and Cocktail!) at a Time. Since Laurie’s probably answered every possible question there is to ask about her book at this point in her blog tour, her cats have stepped up to be interviewed… for the first time.

Today, Chaos and Mayhem are excited to welcome Bob, Sobakowa, and Frankie from Crazy Aunt Purl to Stumbling Over Chaos! Bob, Soba, and Frankie live in Los Angeles with Laurie.

Chaos: Excited? We are awake.

Mayhem: Speak for yourself, big kitty! Hi, other kitties!!!!!!!! Mom said you live far away. I hope you don’t live at the vet!! The vet is far away.

And May is a titch excitable… Perhaps you three can begin by telling us a bit about the book?

Soba: All I know is that I’m not on the cover – again – and she’s going to hear from my lawyer.

Chaos: So I heard that you actually wrote this book, Soba, but didn’t get any credit for it. Any truth to that, and if so, why do you let your mom get away with treating you so cruelly?

Frankie: I’m an airhead.
Bob: I’m scared. Or hungry. Or scared. Or hungry.
Soba: Obviously I have a more existential relationship with the manuscript, as my way of working is more self-directed, but I don’t need the recognition of a byline. Lesser cats may feel slighted by indignities like pooping in a box or having a stunt cat pictured on the cover of her human’s book, but I have loftier aspirations. Total world domination.

Chaos: Did you always know you’d be so successful at being crabby, Soba, and can you offer any advice to kitties who’d like to do the same?

Soba: I don’t think of myself as crabby. I think of myself as unfortunately equipped with claws but no thumbs.

Chaos: I feel your pain! The no thumbs thing really sucks, especially since Mom put locks on the cupboards. Hmph. Ok, Bob, you’re so laid back. Any tips for maintaining your boyish cool in a female dominated household?

Bob: Find a quiet spot in the closet.

Mayhem: Do you dye your fur, Bob? No one is that shade of orange!

Bob: I once ate half a bag of cheetos that I found in my human’s handbag. Maybe that did it?

Chaos: Are the rumors about Bob faking his dumbness true? Is it true he really has a degree in Economics, and it’s all an act?

Bob just fell off the bed, and is unable to answer this question.

Mayhem: Ouch. Poor Bob. I bet that hurt. Frankie, how do you deal with the pressure to be beautiful all the time? I myself find it requires many hours of napping to sustain.

Frankie: When you’re naturally gorgeous like me, you don’t feel pressure to stay beautiful because you just are. But finding people to appreciate your beauty nonstop is so hard! They always want to do things like “sleep” and “watch TV” so I have to stand on their stomachs or block the TV. It’s hard work being appreciated for your beauty.

Mayhem: Do you ever see ghosts? I do!!

Frankie: Not since we moved. Now we see more dust bunnies.

Chaos: Is it true that pets that live in California are all famous?

Soba: Only the ones with good representation. Our agent is with CAA….

Mayhem: What’s your favorite flavor of yarn? I like all kinds!!

Bob: I prefer knitting needles to yarn. Much easier to ruin.

Mayhem: Oh, yes, knitting needles are nice, too!!
Chaos: What kind of parties do you have when your mom’s at work?

Soba: I hate cats, so I spend most of the day trying to open the door and get to Starbucks so I can be with my own kind.

Mayhem: Do you have any suggestions on how to get our mom to quit spending so much money on yarn and buy more toys and treats?

Frankie: Have you tried throwing up on the yarn?

Mayhem: Oh, I’ll have to get the big kitty on that. He’s a very pukey kitty.
Chaos: What happens to you when your mom leaves for a while? (We’re pretty sure our mom stood in the hallway for two weeks when she said she was going on vacation, because even she wouldn’t visit the vet for two weeks.)

Frankie: We have a British nanny who stays with us. She’s like supernanny, only taller.

Chaos: How do you punish your mom for leaving you alone?

Bob: Hairballs.
Soba: Targeted furniture shredding.
Frankie: Constant meowing when she returns is really helpful.

Chaos: Oh yeah, I work the constant meowing, too. So very effective, isn’t it?
Mayhem: Is it true that fluffy white birds [snowflakes] don’t fall from the sky in California?

Frankie: We have lint. Does that count?

Chaos: I still miss Roy. Care to share an amusing anecdote about the Old Man?

Bob: He could actually open doors! He was so tall that if he stood on his hind legs and put his paws on the long type of door handles he could open all the doors. It was amazing.

Mayhem: Where does your mom buy your catnip? Does she have an inside line to a reputable source?

Chris breathes a sigh of relief that May didn’t bring up Frankie’s bust for catnip possession last summer.

Frankie: Living in California has its advantages, as we have legalized the catnip trade for medicinal purposes. Soba uses it for her “glaucoma.”

Chaos: Do you like it when your mom has visitors? How do you react? I stand at the front door after Mom buzzes someone in and I greet them with growling and hissing.

Soba: I enjoy discourse with new humans. The other cats hide under the bed and pretend to be invisible, the fools.

Mayhem: Thank you for visiting with us, kitties from faraway!!!!!
Chaos: Whatever.

And thanks for letting your cats visit with us today, Laurie!

Laurie’s publisher HCI has offered five copies of Home Is Where the Wine Is for me to give away, so make sure you mention that you’re entering the contest when you comment.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CST, Thursday, March 4.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up!
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this just refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • Only residents of the US and Canada are eligible to win.
  • No PO Boxes.

Good luck!

Knitting, Randonymity, Those Cats

Scandal of the butt-enhancing box

39 Comments
  • Knitters who’ve given up in despair of me ever giving away a knitting-related book (even though there is knitting in Keeping Promise Rock – Amy reports that all of her books, except her short story, If I Must, include knitting)… Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, knitters who’ve given up in despair of me ever giving away a knitting-related book, hang in there a few more weeks! On February 25, Crazy Aunt Purl (aka Laurie Perry… or is it the other way around?) will be visiting SoC, plus I’ll kick off a giveaway of her new book, Home Is Where the Wine Is.
  • Yay! It’s warm again here.
  • Warm being in the mid-20s (F) during the day.
  • No need to even zip my jacket.
  • Of course, that also means it’s snowing quite regularly.
  • And apparently all the weather changes are triggering sinus migraines. (Thanks for helping me put together the puzzle pieces, Debby!)
  • On the plus side, while this is my pager/on-call week, I have yet to see the pager.
  • The guy handing off the pager had some complicated vehicular crisis, so hasn’t been to work this week.
  • This guy has so much bad vehicular luck that I sort of hate to park in the same ramp he does…
  • Rumor has it my no-pager luck ends today.
  • Still, as Jeanne pointed out, any missed pager time during pager week is good!

“Hee hee! No one will ever find me. Best. Hiding. Spot. Ever.” -Chaos

“Hey, how’s it going under there, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“What?! How did she find me??” -Chaos

“Oh, and that box makes your butt look big.” -Mayhem

“…” -Chaos

Condo Living, Randonymity, Those Cats

In which I ramble for a bit, then include a very cute picture of a sleeping princess with a cold nose

47 Comments
  • If you have suggestions for authors you’d like to see me contact for contests, please leave a comment!
  • Um, no, it’s very unlikely that Neil Gaiman, Nora Roberts, or Stephen King will respond.
  • I’m most interested in featuring authors who have a bit less reach (for now!) and who will interact with us in the comments.
  • I do promise to shamelessly exploit my friendship with Carolyn Crane when her book comes out. *shoots meaningful glance at CJ*
  • For my evil day job (EDJ), I work as a systems analyst and spend a lot of time looking for patterns in data.
  • Turns out that looking for overused stock photos? Just more patterns.
  • For the record? Looking for overused stock photos is a lot more amusing than what I do at the EDJ.
  • Probably I should admit that I’m not sending any more holiday cards for the 2009 holiday season and put all of that stuff away until next winter, huh?
  • I had a sinus-triggered migraine last Wednesday, so I took a shot (mmm… sumatr1ptan), napped for a few hours with the kitties, and woke up feeling great.
  • The kitties were very happy because they don’t get to sleep with me at night – there’s really only so many times I can handle having Chaos walk across my head at 2 am because he wants breakfast.
  • Anyway, ever since then, each evening when I go in to my bedroom to sleep, Mayhem’s sitting expectantly on my bed.
  • Sorry, May. Out you go.
  • Although she doesn’t walk across my head while I sleep, she does cover me with her furry toy mice, apparently bringing mouse after mouse, hoping to find the magical mouse that will inspire me to wake up and play fetch with her.
  • Shhhh… sleeping princess alert….

  • Awww.
Those Cats

Disapproving cats disapprove

36 Comments

A couple weeks ago, Limedragon sent me a stuffed black cat that she’d found whilst cleaning her place. Thanks, Limedragon! I wonder why you thought of me… 😉

It’s a pretty cool black cat, designed to lurk on top of something. I placed it on top one of the bookcases and I’ve mostly stopped being startled by it whenever I walk in or out of the room and notice it out of the corner of my eye.

“Mayhem, how the heck did you get up… oh, never mind.” -me

However, not everyone seems to approve of this new cat.

“I feel so betrayed.” -Chaos

“Mom, why?! Why did you get another kitty? Don’t you love us anymore? And why does that kitty get to go up on top of the bookcase, when we can’t? I really don’t think that’s fair at all.” -Mayhem