Hey! There's a jungle gym in the living room

I was in need of a little Christmas right this very minute, so I put up a little tree. Roxy seems very excited by the whole idea of Christmas. I'm certain she's plotting some unusual activities for when I'm at work during the day. I just hope it's still standing when I get home.

You just hold out your hand...

I know that Facebook is supposed to be a phenomenom of a generation twenty years younger than I am...but I honestly believe that it works better for the Over 40s. And here's why...we're the ones that have lost touch with our friends from middle school, high school and college. And we're the ones who benefit when those wonderful friends who drifted out of our lives twenty years ago...suddenly reappear. One of the greatest joys of my life over the past twelve months has been reconnecting with my sorority sisters. Not only are each and everyone of them just as bright and beautiful (and funny) as I remember, they seem to still know what makes me tick. How lovely is that? I was reminded today when one of them directed me to the facebook page of author Claire Cook and I found this video. I'm a fan. I'm also a fan of the lovely Susan Boyle, a Cinderella who has made her dreams come true. Find out about her most recent dream-turned-reality here. It's the Top Chef finale tonight. Still cheering for Kevin? Me too!

I'll take the one in the turban...

The Kennedy Center Honors is my mom's favorite television program of the year. It's the only night when she wishes she could trade her 15 inch television for a 50 inch 1080p HD flat screen with a surround-sound Bose audio system. The program was held last night in Washington DC. It will air on CBS over the holidays -- check your program guides. This year, the crew of honorees included Bruce Springsteen, Robert DeNiro and Mel Brooks. I think Mel Brooks is hilarious. My favorite line is from "Young Frankenstein" -- when Igor is asked if he'll help with the bags, he responds, "you take the blond, and I'll take the one in the turban." Makes me giggle every single time. Thank you, Mel!

I'm with the band...

This is an ad for fancy-schmancy bottled water in the U.K. I think it's about as cute as it gets. I would buy the water and I think that most of the cats I know would be big fans...waiting outside the backstage cage for just a glimpse...or at the very least a whiff of the band.

Eating Chocolates & Watching HGTV...

A new study has been released about what cats do when their owners go to work in order to earn the money to pay for their high-priced cat food. In Roxy's case, while her origins are shady, she will only eat Fancy Feast Appetizers. At $1.50 per container, it's the most expensive cat food out there. And to be honest, the grilled Talapia smells so good I've often thought of tasting it. And when have you ever heard a cat owner say that? Most cat food smells like the garbage container that's overflowing and been left too long. Blech! I know Roxy is very concerned about the health and well-being of the local birdlife population and spends a great deal of time monitoring their activities. I 'm certain that Roxy also watches a lot of television and attempts to rid the dining room table of its tablecloth. A good time is had by all. I dream of living her life.

Julia Child never had help like this...

Roxy is in charge of the kitchen in my house. On Thanksgiving she was nearly out of her mind knowing that there was fresh bird meat in the kitchen. She spends most of her days in the kitchen window looking out at the birds in the bushes out there and someone had caught a big fat one and brought it inside to roast for her dinner. She was nearly delirious with joy.

And yes, she does fit perfectly into that roasting pan. I know because I caught her hunkered down in it -- I had to re-wash everything in the kitchen. Roxy makes me extra careful -- picking up bags and garbage -- no flowers -- cleaning food -- cleaning the counters -- cleaning the dishes -- she leaves no stone unturned in her daily explorations.

Her most recent kitchen discovery is the coffee maker where I make my tea. I came out this morning to pick-up my travel mug to leave for work and found her monitoring the noises coming out of the machine. She was very intrigued. She think's it's a cat toy. Isn't everything? Would it be wrong to buy my cat an E-Z Bake Oven for Christmas? Hmmmm....

It Was Like This...

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was as sweet and nice as this adorable little tickle-ish kitten. Mine was fun. It went like this...

Turkey. Tryptophan coma. Movie. Sushi. Hockey. Football. More Turkey.

More or less with a little bit of extras here and there, that was my holiday in a nutshell. A chocolate pecan nutshell.

On the train on the way to work this morning, I turned to my friend and said, "I'm pretending that I'm on a train on vacation in Europe." She looked out the window as we whizzed through the underbelly of Sylmar and said, "Yeah, the butt-ugly part."

There is no easy way of going back to work after a holiday. Not even if you're striving to be delusional.