A little playlet.

Babe (a black and white cat) is lying on the floor beside a paper, which she begins to chew on.

Laura (a human dressed in dark blue at the moment) is sitting nearby, and says "NO!"

Babe ignores this.

Laura pulls Babe away from the paper.

Babe returns to the paper and looks as if she might begin chewing at any moment.

Laura reaches out and grabs a nearby spray bottle, positioning it so it is easy to reach and ready to shoot Babe.

Babe tilts her head back and looks up at Laura with wide eyes, very pink nose, and begins to purr. No further interest in the paper is shown.

...sigh.

Act two.

The scene is the same as before, but the view has widened to include an artificial Christmas tree. It has strands of lights on it, but they are not lit. Babe rests in front of the fireplace.

Laura enters from the garage door, carrying a red faux-velvet tree skirt, which she proceeds to extract from its cardboard and plastic ties with many popping noises.

( Why do I have the feeling I get to buy a new tree skirt every year?? )

I survived today.

I did go shopping, even for a large portion of the day. I did not, however, fall prey to complete and total insanity.

Partial insanity, yes. Complete and total, no. I was never near a mall and only twice was I near a store that could be classified as an 'electronics' store. (Fry's, near the end of the day to avoid the morning rush; and Car Toys, because I have wanted to replace the radio in my car and they had a pretty good deal in the Black Friday ad. And I was prepared to abort either or both, depending on the state of their parking lots.)

Mostly, I stopped at drugstores and grocery stores and got things I want for the holiday season or just things we needed (lights to replace the burnt-out ones in the kitchen, anyone?). Not a bad day. I did get some gifts, but not many. I'm not good at picking out gifts, having not practiced the art yet, and I haven't lured any hints from Scott yet.

Speaking of which, my post of "stuff I want" (some of which do not cost money) is hanging out back where I already posted it, except now it's maybe more relevant since we're in the holiday season proper. (But I know Scott's already been asked about what I want once, so it's probably good I put it up when I did.) I have edited my Amazon wish-list a bit, so it's not as Star-Trek heavy as it was.

If you haven't already, will you post your wish-list (meme-form or otherwise)?