Category Archives: Those Cats

Flat Mayhem

Local craftblogger Becka is having a goldfish names contest and the prize is a really cool felted bowl. There is also a prize for the most creative wrong answer! Winners will be announced June 11.

Chelsey’s coordinating the Official Knitter’s Book Swap Volume 1, in which knitters will swap their favorite non-knitting books. To participate, send her an email by 7 pm EDT, June 14.

There’s going to be a blogger meet up at Estes! Thanks for organizing this, Margene.

And even more tummies!

Ok, I have to admit it – I’m completely fascinated by Mayhem’s frog pose. You might’ve noticed. 😉 She spends a lot of time like that, so I’ve gotten some interesting shots. For reference, that chair rung is 4 inches from the floor.

*swish swish swish* -the sound of Mayhem’s tail

*swish swish swish* -more with the tail

“Are you done yet? I come under here to get away from you with that camera! This is my private time.” -Mayhem

And now she is 1

Reading Update
Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy. Another steamy Vegas Vampires book. Fun and light.
Murder of a Small-Town Honey
and Murder of a Sweet Old Lady by Denise Swanson. Cozy mysteries about Skye Denison, a school psychologist in Scumble River, Illinois.

Birthday Update
Happy birthday, Mayhem!! Although you’re all grown up now, you will always be my Kitten Girl. (Actual size of that “huge” blue mouse below? 2.25 inches… Actual size now of Mayhem’s back leg from toe to knee? 4.5 inches…)

There will be a contest to celebrate her birthday – but it’s going to be after I get back back from Colorado, near the end of June.

“But… I still feel like a kitten…” -Mayhem

8 things about Mayhem

Brenda tagged Mayhem for the seven (or eight) things meme. I know, I know – lots of people have tagged me. I’m sort of meme-adverse and I’ll just apologize in advance to anyone who tags me. But Brenda made a very good point that I have 100 Things about me, 25 Things about Chaos, and even 5 weird things about Chaos… and nothing for May! Oh dear. Bad kitty mom.

1. Mayhem is a chewer. Chew chew chew. Fortunately, she doesn’t chew on power cords (much) and has only chewed on books that I own. I’m pretty sure that the library frowns on fang holes in paperback covers…

2. Mayhem believes herself to be the dominant kitty around here. Chaos does not agree. There are some rather spectacular disagreements about this. None of these disagreements has changed her mind.

3. Mayhem likes to sprawl froglike underneath the kitchen chairs. I think it looks like she’s been squashed.

4. Mayhem has the softest fur I’ve ever petted. Her tummy is particularly soft. This results in me snatching her up to rub her tummy more often than Mayhem feels is appropriate.

5. Mayhem doesn’t purr very often. She purred a lot when she was a wee kitten, but at some point she started to only purr when “nursing” from Chaos. Since Chaos has her mostly “weaned,” she rarely purrs anymore. This makes me sad.

6. Mayhem likes to be near me and almost always follows me around to see what I’m doing.

7. Mayhem is fascinated by water. She likes to lounge about in the bathroom sink. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a white bathroom sink free of black fur when you have a sink kitty?!) Sometimes she falls into the shower with me. She doesn’t stay long!

8. Mayhem is indefatigable when playing fetch and her favorite fetch toys are little furry mice that rattle. None of her mice have tails – she either eats the tails off (see #1) or I cut the tails off so as not to add to tail collection in her stomach!

“This is an exceptionally nice nip toy! Mmmm…. nip.” -Mayhem

Cat, cat, llama

I couldn’t resist this stuffed toy at Shepherd’s Harvest because… doesn’t every child need a stuffed llama?

[sounds of suspicious sniffing are heard]

[sounds of suspicious and somewhat puzzled sniffing continue]

“Ok, I give up – what is it?” -Chaos

*sniff sniff sniff* -Mayhem

“A llama. Sure we were going to be able to figure that out. In case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t in the friggin’ Andes around here. Hmph.” -Chaos

*sniff sniff sniff* -Mayhem

“Come along, Mayhem. We have no time for this silliness.” -Chaos

Hmmm… What have we here? Could it be Chaos, returning to knock over the llama?

“Hee hee hee!” -Chaos

“That’ll show that llama!” -Chaos

Hmm, I wonder what exactly that will show the llama?!

A message from Chaos

“Waaaah! Mom had to work really late last night de-worming computers and I had to wait and wait and wait for my dinner! I was getting really worried about her, because if she never came home, I would have to catch and eat May, and she’s pretty speedy. And also very furry and wiggly and squeaky. Plus I guess I’ve gotten kind of fond of May. Oh, Mom said to tell everyone that she’s taking her iron and multivitamins and feeling a bit better and she hopes to catch up on bloglines over the weekend, whatever that means… Mom also said to tell everyone that Fraro’s surgery went well! Do you think the vet was at Mom’s work to help de-worm the computers?”

Mayhem has eaten my brain

Heather’s giving away a Project Spectrum pink/green/yellow themed cd – leave a comment about what you like about spring before midnight MDT, April 6, and you could win a copy.

You could also win a Dyson vacuum cleaner from Five Minutes for Mom, but you have act quickly – the contest closes at 1 pm EDT today, April 4!

It snowed last night. It’s snowing right now. Waaaaah!

The pet food recall has expanded a bit. However, neither of the Science Diet dry foods that Chaos eats (w/d and c/d) contain wheat gluten (it’s the m/d that’s being recalled by Hills), and May eats a grain-free food called Innova EVO. For treats, they get Feline Greenies (fortunately, they chew their Greenies and don’t bolt them, so no choking/breathing problems), which don’t contain wheat gluten, either. Thanks to everyone who has inquired! We all appreciate your concern – especially since I don’t watch TV and missed the initial furor. Jeanne’s looking out for me now and making sure I’m up to date. 🙂

Work is still crazy. But I’m done early today for the Yarn Harlot festivities and I’m taking tomorrow off. Woo-hoo!

“Mom’s brain was pretty tasty! But there sure wasn’t much left after work ate most of it Monday and Tuesday.” -M

RIP SRM (This post may not be suitable for those sensitive to sparkly mouse carnage)

Elspeth is having a contest for “WIP It Out” on March 31st. There will be a prize for identifying the movie quote, and another lucky participant will receive one of E’s frogged WIPs.

Cindy is having a contest – leave a comment about any Greek affiliations you may have had in college (or just leave a comment if you were independent and unaffiliated). Comment by 11 pm CDT March 29 and you could win some sock yarn. Although I wasn’t in a sorority, I was in Xi Sigma Pi, the National Forestry Honor Society…

Sallee the Knitnana is having a contest to celebrate a comment milestone. Leave a comment about the Meezer by midnight EDT March 30 and you could win a Nana Sadie Rose sock bag (a new design)!

So perhaps you are wondering about the post title… I think a picture will speak a thousand words.

Yes, that is the skin and skeleton of Chaos’ beloved SRM. If I hadn’t witnessed Chaos demolishing SRM, I would’ve blamed Mayhem, known to be very hard on her toys… Compare the picture above to this picture of SRM, taken in January of 2006:

When asked why he would treat his beloved toy in such a fashion, Chaos didn’t have much to say for himself.

I guess we’re left to find our own answers about this senseless loss of sparkly mouse….