Tag Archives: Crazy Aunt Purl

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

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!

In which I shock all of you by doing linkity on a different day of the week than I usually do

Remember when I gave you an assignment last week? (You did splendidly and I thank you!) You were all helping Chaos and Mayhem prepare to interview Crazy Aunt Purl’s kitties during their visit here tomorrow. They’re supposed to be helping their mom promote her new book (reviewed below!), but you know how kitties are… You’ll also have the chance to enter to win one of five copies of the 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 by Laurie Perry), so make sure to drop by!

Contests

  • CJ and LB are at DIK, giving away a copy of each other’s forthcoming books (Mind Games (urban fantasy) by Carolyn Crane and Catch Me If You Can (m/m romantic suspense) by L. B. Gregg). Leave a comment answering their question for your chance to win. Contest closes 11:59 pm EST, February 28.

Of Things Bookish

  • It’s time to vote for the ugliest book covers in Jessewave’s Fourth Ugly Covers Competition! Please note that these covers are totally and completely NSFW and should not be perused by the easily offended. Bring your brain bleach and leave your comment about which cover you think is the ugliest before February 28. Why, yes, I did nominate the cover that has Candy Cane Guy on it. However did you guess? 😉

Learn Stuff

Stuff That Didn’t Fit Elsewhere (Because I Didn’t Put Enough Effort into It)

  • This looks cool, but I have no idea how well it works for suggesting new music that you might like.

Meow Meow Meow Meow

Reading Update
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 by Laurie Perry. Like its predecessor, Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split, this is a book that, for all its humor and irreverence, is about personal growth. Follow along with Laurie Perry as she makes her New Year’s resolutions (#7: “Try Something New [and Not Just a New Food]”), then tries to achieve them throughout the year. This was a great read – and you definitely do not need to be a knitter to enjoy it, although there are some fun (and funny) knitting and crochet patterns at the end of the book. (I am so going to make the braided icord rug.) My favorite lines from the book are about meeting and speaking with sock knitters: “Eventually they found me and talked soothingly to me, and told me stories about how easy it was and how quick, portable, and fulfilling sock knitting could be. I’m sluttish and easy when it comes to craft cults, so it didn’t take much convincing.” *ahem* I may have said those same things to knitters who’d never tried knitting socks before. 🙂 (Please note that I received this book from the publisher for review.)
When Irish Eyes Are Sparkling by Tom Collins. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a bi-curious artist with a heart of gold (whose family own the Irish Eyes pub) and a paramedic who avoids emotional entanglements. I was briefly afeared that there was going to be squicky twin action in this book and am very glad there wasn’t! My only complaint is a plot thread involving a voicemail and an attack that never went anywhere. (If it sways anyone’s opinion on the book, there are kilts. Yum.)
Brindisi Bedfellows by Jamie Craig. ebook. Enjoyable m/m romance about a guy who gets dumped by his boyfriend the night before they were supposed to leave for three weeks in Italy. While drunk, he invites his ex’s best friend along in place of the ex, and things get a bit complicated (but interesting!).
Dress To Impress by Jodi Payne. ebook. Good m/m romance about a financial adviser who meets a mysterious guy at a bar and takes him home for the night, then can’t forget him.
Sweet Treats by Stormy Glenn. ebook. So-so m/m romance about a doctor and a baker (but no candlestick maker) that was so sugary sweet I barely stayed conscious. Also, the main characters were called Nicky and Brandon, which was a problem for me. (See Cheating Chance by James Buchanan…)
Fundamental Things (OC Pride, Book 2.5) by Stephanie Vaughan. ebook short. I loved the previous two books (Jumping the Fence and Crossing the Line) in this m/m romance series, but this short didn’t do much for me.
Handle With Care by Mallory Path. ebook short. M/m romance short that left me completely “huh?” and “ooooooooooookay…”
Crimes of Passion by Mel Keegan. ebook short. Ok m/m romance about a couple dealing with difficult in-laws coming to visit.
The Guardian by Mary Calmes. ebook. This fantasy m/m romance qualifies for Kris’ m/m rut challenge! I’m trying and trying, but I fear the fantasy enjoyment channel in my brain might be permanently damaged. 🙁 Again, as with Hero, I don’t really feel as if I can evaluate this. I loved Mary’s paranormal m/m romance (Change of Heart) and her four-part m/m romantic suspense, A Matter of Time, but this just didn’t immerse me to the same extent.
Seducing Stephen by Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon. ebook. I read this m/m historical romance for Kris’ m/m rut challenge because I tend to avoid historicals like… the Plague. *pauses for groaning to die down* But then I won it in a contest last week, which seemed like a portent of some sort. So I hunkered down and read it. (Tam, you’ll notice that although this is a whole bunch of sentences, I haven’t actually reviewed anything yet.) And… I loved it! Possibly because there weren’t all sorts of dreary historical details, true, but the authors also managed to portray the secrecy and discretion that being gay in the mid- to late-18th century demanded. Highly recommended.


“I am ignoring you and your nonsense about unobscured pictures, Mom.” -Mayhem

Scandal of the butt-enhancing box

  • Knitters who’ve given up in despair of me ever giving away a knitting-related book (even though there is knitting in Keeping Promise RockAmy 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