A Very Cheezburger Birthday

I am considering the below my personal bday gift from Cheezburger...just...wonderful.

Kitty Play Date, or Interesting Social Experiment

Sangha: You has excellent taste in nip, old boy.

Hamlet: Yeh, now gets outta mah toys!

So today Tara and Sangha came over for a hooman-kitty play date. It was, well...interesting. Hamlet was immediately unsure and curious about this four-legged invader, and Sangha was scared of the new environment and didn't know what to make of Hammy. So basically each kitty stayed in his respective corner of the universe, and when eye contact happened, Sangha would hiss and Hamlet would give him a look of, "Why you don't want to play?" But no blood or tears were shed, so I think it was a successful first encounter of the feline kind.

And these pics have nothing to do with today, but I took them recently and wanted to share:

Okay, Iz ready for take your kid to work day!

You has comfy literachur. Dis chair not so bad, either.

We haz new Prezident!

So my office had a viewing fiesta this afternoon for the inaguration. It was pretty freaking awesome. I, like a lot of Americans, was excited about and interested in an election. I'm still way behind the political times, but I'm finally listening in to a lot more than I have before.

Favorite quote of inagural speech: We will extend our hand if you will unclunch your fist.

In other, nonrelated news, some of you may know John was in an accident last week. Since I'm writing about it second, you can deduce he's fine. His car's in the shop, though, in pretty bad shape. Luckily he has rental insurance, so he's covered till he gets ol' Sally back. It was last Thursday when we had the snow and ice.

Also, Tara and I spent the day Saturday redecorating her office and in Atlantic City. Just some favorite moments and quotes in a series of short plays:

Cashier at Snack Shop 1, Tara 0
CASH: That'll be $10.67.
TARA: hands over a ten spot
CASH: blinks awkwardly That's $10.67, ma'am.
TARA: stares awkwardly for a while more Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I totally thought I gave you a twenty!
ME: in heaven
END Scene

Cashier on Casino Floor 1, Maureen 0
ME: Hi, how are you?
CASH: cold stare
ME: Could I exchange these dollars for quarters?
CASH: We don't sell quarters.
ME: Uhm, I don't want to buy quarters. I give you dollars...you give me quarters...
CASH: I'm sorry, I can't do that. I can only give you $2.00.
ME: Listen, lady, I just wanna do my laundry!!!
CASH: cold stare We can't sell quarters. I can give you $2.00 but that's it.
ME: Okay.
END Scene

The of course there was the would-be drag race on the way home, Tara chucking an empty bottle and having it accidentally ricochet off my head, and lots of other stuff in her office that I can't remember (T, help me out in a companion blog? haha).

Good night, and welcome, President Obama! Wahoo!

Week's End

So first things first. My back is okay. It started healing up on its own, so the doc didn't prescribe anything (which made me happy cuz I'm not all about getting med-ed up). He was a doctor of osteopathy, which was AWE-SOME! He did some adjustments on my back, and I was basically ready to sign up for daily appointments. I just need to keep up with what I've been doing: heat and stretching. That I can do. And I am feeling much better. This week it's been more of a dull ache than the blinding pain it had been, so I take that as a good sign.

In more fun news, John and I went to my company's first basketball game of the season this Thursday night. It was at The Hun School (really...go and gawk...this place exists!), which was kinda ridiculous to get to. Mainly cuz I didn't realize that "Pavillion" in rich-WASP speak meant "gymnasium." Let me just highlight this nugget:

Cost and Financial Aid:
Day student: $28,390
Resident student: $41,265

And it's a middle/high school: delicious. The game was a barrel of monkeys, and I can't wait till the next one. Three of my friends from my department are on the team, and the rest are faces I only know from passing them in the building. And let me say, for not practicing together, they did a pretty good job. We lost by one point, and it was pretty much a give-and-take game the whole way.

WIN OF THE GAME: A member of the opposing team got ejected for too many fouls, and this guy was arguing with the ref. And then, it happened: the ref said, "You don't like it? I don't care! You're not gonna win anyway!!" Awesome!

So tonight, John and I will go to Donna and Rachel's for a taco fiesta...YUM! And tomorrow we have a Tastefully Simple party at my mom's. A weekend of delicious food.

For now, I'm going to relax with last night's Num3ers free OnDemand. Thank you CBS and Comcast. : ) Ta!

And to cement my status as a crazy cat lady...

...I give you the lastest stalking of my kitty. Why, all of a sudden, he has become a mole obsessed with tunneling I do not know. But it's hilarious and cute all the same.

Our New Year's Eve(ning)

Well the rest of today was busy, but nice. Our turkey dinner a la Alton Brown was DELICIOUS! I'm so happy our first attempt at a large bird went well. All I could think of was the people who call the Butterball 911 line, or the people who wind up in the ER with charred faces, crispy hair, and blackened fingertips. I'm proud to say all our limbs are in mint condition and intact. : )

I now present a pictoral ode to our feast (which has provided ample leftovers):

And it wouldn't be a blog without some pics of Hammy. I know you all make fun of me and my "cat blog" but hey...don't pretend you come here to read about MY life. haha

Ottercat wants some urchins and crabbies.

I swear to you he tucked himself in!! I has a cozy.

Happy 2009!

Hope the 08 was kind to you all, and I hope the 09 is even kinder.

At the moment, we are roasting a nice 13 pound turkey while a nice loaf of beer bread cools...it smells rather amazing. We used a Sam Adams Fezziwig in the bread...nom!

Other than that, I'm in pain. Classic me...a month or so ago when we were decorating for Xmas, I strained my back. Then a few days later, forgetting we had just bought a new 40-pound tub of kitty litter, I went to grab the tub, pivoted my upper body at the exact time I grabbed the handle and lifted, and basically felt the muscles across my lower back rip to shreds. It's at the point now where seeing a doctor is inevitable as driving is very painful, and sitting in my crappy chair at work for 8-9 hours a day is just plain excrutiating. Ugh. Go, me.

Despite it all, I'm hoping 2009 will shape up to be a good one. Last night we went with Donna and Rachel to a fiesta. It was a nice, relaxed time. Even when the power went out (how's about them winds?!), we all just kinda chilled with candles and tap lights. We actually left before midnight, and were home in time to watch the Clintons trigger the ball at midnight. Then we watched Kathy Griffen. Start the new year laughing...what better way can you think of?