If you don’t live in the north country, brace yourselves before you go over to Knitnzu for Lisa’s contest. Big chunks of ice slid off a roof onto her car (no one was hurt! whew) and did a shocking amount of damage. Guess what the estimate will be and you could win a $25 Spunky Eclectic gift certificate or some superwash wool. Leave your guesses and commiseration by 5 pm EST, February 20.

If you’re a cat owner living in the US, you can win a one-year supply of organic soybean-based kitty litter over at moderncat. Drawing will be held February 23.

Tell the Largehearted Boy what book you’re carrying around in your pocket these days (or wish you could get to fit into your pocket to carry around), and you could win some books from Harper Perennial’s new Olive Reader series (specifically designed to fit into pockets). The completely non-paranormal contest closes sometime in the evening of February 18.

If you sign up to follow scrapbook mystery author Joanna Campbell Slan’s Twitter feed, you’ll be entered in a contest to win a big box of mysteries from her shelves.

Brainylady Alison has a nifty tutorial on making a hollow book to hide your special secret stuff.

Definitely not Mayhem – there would be more ends. Anyone who has a cat knows how true this one is!

Not sure if your pet needs to go to the vet or not? This resource might help you decide.

If you use Facebook, you should read a bit more about their new terms of service.

25 Things Meme: The Evil Edition.

Reading Update
Star Quality by Lori Foster, Lucy Monroe, and Dianne Castell. The title of this fluffy/steamy paranormal romance collection set in “Delicious, Ohio” is more than a bit puzzling, since the stories are all about the magic of a blue moon… Not worth exerting any effort to read, although I did giggle over this exchange: “Does everybody around here drive like a lunatic?” “It’s in all Midwest genes.”
Out of Sight (The Men of T-FLAC: The Wrights, Book 5) by Cherry Adair. I swear, the book was about 100 pages too long for the amount of material. I definitely like the T-FLAC books with a paranormal element better than those without (guess which this is).
Edge of Fear (The Men of T-FLAC: The Edge Brothers, Book 9) by Cherry Adair. More anti-terrorist wizards! Woot. And the right number of pages for the amount of story. Bonus.
Visions of Heat (Psy-Changelings, Book 2) by Nalini Singh. This series is definitely growing on me. Telepaths and hunky wereleopards and werejaguars. Yum.
Dark Warrior Unleashed (The Talions, Book 1) by Alexis Morgan. Ancient Vikings who need to absorb human energy to survive – while that sounds rather vampirish, it doesn’t read like it. An intriguing start to this new series set in Seattle.
Demon’s Hunger by Eve Silver. Demons and succubi and sorcerers, oh my! The sequel to Demon’s Kiss is an intense and involving read that kept me guessing until the end. Definitely a recommended series.
Wild & Hexy (The Hex Series, Book 2) by Vicki Lewis Thompson. Fun’n’fluffy’n’sexy paranormal romance about magical matchmakers (and a lake monster and a dragon and a very clever dancing black cat) in Big Knob, Indiana. (The next book in the series will be Casual Hex…)

“I think there’s evil magic afoot around here! Someone stole my legs and I am not pleased at all.” -Mayhem

…Chaos taught himself how to open the nightstand drawer so he could steal earplugs. I discovered this when he dropped one at my feet so I could throw it and play fetch with him. Hmmm. The earplugs are now sealed into a plastic container, but he still rummages around in the nightstand every day. So, do I buy some sort of child-proofing device or simply remove the drawer handle? Maybe his protothumb project is further along than I realized…

For your chance to win the entire Kitty Norville (Colorado werewolf and dj) series by Carrie Vaughn, head over to Blood of the Muse before February 20, 11:59 pm PST. Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is giving away the Kitty Norville series, too, plus some runners-up will receive a copy of Kitty Raises Hell (not out yet). Not sure what the end date is for this one.

Speaking of book contests, I’ve had a bit of luck myself recently, winning a copy of Hell’s Bells by Jackie Kessler from Urban Fantasy Land and a copy of Tempt Me With Darkness by Shayla Black from Midnight Moon Cafe. I highly recommend following a few book blogs in your favorite genres! And remember – “Reading: Not juz fur innterlectualls.”

Tetris art!

Isn’t this a clever little knitting gadget?

Brace yourself for a cute burn – wee kittens wrapped in knitting. *thud*

Lovely way to hide unsightly cables and cords by disguising them as vines – too bad plants and cables/cords are some of May’s favorite things, making it the ultimate Mayhem SnackPack.

Perfect! A remote control for your cat.

Simply change the cat’s name to Chaos or Mayhem… This could be Mayhem, too. And talk about truth in advertising!

Speaking of cats on the internet, Salon has a short article on “how the lowly cat became an online star.”

Hee hee – too bad you can’t actually rent an author.

Reading Update
Weddings Can Be Murder by Christie Craig. Nicely done contemporary romance/mystery.
Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand (Kitty Norville, Book 5) by Carrie Vaughn. Dang, I think it would’ve helped if I’d remembered more of Kitty and the Silver Bullet… I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed the previous Kitty novels. (There are vampires in these books, but they are not the main focus.)
Sighs Matter by Marianne Stillings. You’d think the punnish title would’ve prepared me for the ongoing punnishment of this romance. Alas, no. As a romance went, it was lacklusterly ok, but the punnage, ah, the punnage was painful.
The Mercenary by Cherry Adair. Think this was a reissue of the first T-FLAC novel, without much paranormal to it. This was ok romantic suspense, but I felt that the ending was lacking a particular critical bit. (I’ll ruin the story for you if I mention what it is.)
Edge of Danger (The Men of T-FLAC: The Edge Brothers, Book 8 ) by Cherry Adair. Sexy anti-terrorist wizards. Eat your heart out, Jack Bauer.
Stay the Night: A Novel of the Darkyn by by Lynn Viehl. Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham as vampires (er, Darkyn) in the modern world. This is apparently the last Darkyn novel – looks like the next book will be a Kyndred book. Not sure it will make a huge difference.
The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 3 by Nora Roberts. Whew! This was an intense finish to the trilogy.
Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, and Lani Diane Rich. If you liked The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, which was another paranormal romance group writing project from Crusie, you’ll probably enjoy Dogs and Goddesses. It was fun and well-written, featuring talking dogs, cookies from a Like Water for Chocolate mold, and a Mesopotamian god and goddess or two. But, sadly, the last third of the book sort of fell apart.
Dream Warrior (Dream-Hunter) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The latest Dream-Hunter/Dark-Hunter novel (because really, to have any clue what’s going on, you have to keep up on both) is another rather mediocre effort, alas.
Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changelings, Book 1) by Nalini Singh. Telepaths and wereleopards, oh my! I definitely like her new Guild Hunter series better, but maybe I shouldn’t judge this series by the first book… Very steamy stuff.

“I deny everything!” -Chaos

Dust off your haiku-writing skills and write KitKatKnit a humorous haiku about knitting and/or cats before noon PST, February 6, for your chance to win some “fiber goodies.”

Ruth is desperately trying to find some yarn – she’s looking for Berroco Ultra Alpaca Lite (Ocean Mix), Berroco Ultra Alpaca (Carnelian), and Koigu KPPPM P315 (sort of lightish earthtones, heavy on the grey). Let her know if you can help – she’s already tried Ravelry.

Limedragon has some information about knitting comics – one online and one in print. And don’t forget that Natalie Dee often has knitting-related comics – does this encompass the misguided power of denial or what?!

Hmm – is it just my imagination, or does this IKEA hack of turning a doll bed into a cat bed (about $30) result in something very similar to this $300 pet lounger?

Anyone who’s tried to decipher my handwriting probably thinks that this is a very bad idea indeed.

Tea hee! Just when you thought it was safe to drink your tea…

Congrats to my neighborhood co-op, the Wedge, for making the 2009 Saveur Top 100! (It’s in the American Bounty section.)

The Uptown Mpls Blog has more gorgeous pictures of my neighborhood – these are from an evening cross-country ski race (with luminaria) on my beloved Lake of the Isles last weekend.

I’m pretty sure that this primer on Minneapolis skyway etiquette can be applied to numerous mass transit situations. (“Crazy people, y’all have got to stop talking to me.”)

The dismal science indeed – college is 248.4% more expensive than it was in 1990?! Yikes.

Harlequin’s giving away 16 free ebooks to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The paranormal title is Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf. And eHarlequin.com is giving away a trip for two to Mexico. (Do read the fine print first!)

Reading Update
Oceans of Fire, Safe Harbor, and Turbulent Sea (Drake Sisters, Books 3, 5-6) by Christine Feehan. Dear Christine Feehan: You can definitely write a compelling story, but please go back to remedial author school and review the section on s3x scenes. I think you must’ve skipped class that day. Your reliance on the words “channel” and “sheath” (to their occurrence up to six times in two pages!) is distracting and contrived. Thank you.
Edge of Darkness (The Men of T-FLAC: The Edge Brothers, Book 10) by Cherry Adair. Not great, but definitely enjoyable paranormal romance about wizards.
Whisper To the Blood (A Kate Shugak Novel) by Dana Stabenow. I received this book as an advance reading copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I’ve been reading this series for a while now, and even in order (so you know I really like it). This is the sixteenth Kate Shugak mystery. I strongly encourage you to read the previous 15 (in order!) before starting this book (the first book is A Cold Day for Murder, just to get you started). If you like Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski mysteries, I think you’ll like the Kate Shugak mysteries.

Kate’s an Alaskan Native, part-time PI, and full-time “Park rat” (residents of a generic national park in Alaska, based on the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park). She’s nearly always accompanied by the mostly faithful Mutt, her half wolf, half husky. In Whisper To the Blood, a gold mining company is buying land and preparing to dig a massive open pit mine in the Park, while the Aunties shanghai Kate (more than the Aunties usually do, that is). During the first half of the book, I found myself getting cranky at Kate and companion (can’t say who that is, as it could detract from your enjoyment of the previous 15 books). But the last half of the book took me by surprise, swept me along, and left me looking forward to Book 17!

I highly recommend this series, not only for the vivid characters and intense action, but also for Stabenow’s clever writing and insights.

Oh yeah, and my favorite quote from this book? “What, you bored? Suffering from a deficiency of mayhem?” Yeah, that’d do it for me. 😉

“Huh. So that’s what’s wrong with her today.” -Chaos