Ok, enough sadness....

Let's move forward. RD needs serious help in choosing a cute gift for his little red haired girl (actually a blonde hee hee), a member of the band "Purple Soul." She recalled to him her horror at losing her entire Pierrot doll collection to a flood, a fate to which my collection succumbed, as well. I had tiny jester teddy bears and a huge Pagliacci doll that I won in a school raffle in 1981, that met a sad fate in my closet when my ceiling collapsed in a rain storm. I feel her pain. Now he is on the hunt for a new doll to simply "drop" as a gift, which means all that careless-looking stuff is really searching, hunting, and rehearsing honed to a fine razor's edge. The candle worked, let's see how this goes.



The Christmas listing has begun! Let me shamefully put here how little money I had last year after Olive's cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgery, which hit me in the pocket for a whopping $1100. I don't mind having spent it, but I would rather have had a tumor-free kitty and been able to share my bucks with friends and family during the holidays. I tried, I planned, but still got whomped on by bills, rent, food, and not knowing if Olive would make it. She hung on until this past May, but I still feel sidetracked. I planned and planned and it went into the crapper. So, it's out with the long-ass legal pad, and off I go. I'm starting now so I don't get in a slump.



I put up an Amazon.com wishlist that went nowhere for myself, so here's this year's rule for all of you: send me large, nasty hints about what you want. I don't read minds, I can't scry into a crystal ball, there is no Harry Potter-esque unicorn university where the secrets and wisdom of the Gift Certificate Gods will send me to get you the right thing. SPELL IT OUT, I AIN'T SANTA. And, if I should still screw up? No snivelling, no moaning/bitching/tantrums, and anyone who posts my gifts up on eBay will feel my full wrath. I'm a seller and a buyer, people! Better hide your email addresses if you don't want me to know you're "re-gifting", which is really a cheap ghetto word for "recycling a gift because I'm an ungrateful coward who's too lazy to stand on the exchange line." I'll bid on your stuff, win it back, and FLING IT at your head. And, no, YOU WILL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN. You won't get as much as pigeon poop from me when your birthday comes around, let alone Christmas.



As for me? Simple: silly bedroom slippers, candles (scented please, but no vanilla), cat-related items (mugs, calendars, Garfield), ballet stuff from the 70's, anything from Ice Capades in the 70's or 80's, winter-related thingies, new collectible Barbies, Snow Queen books (I have a small collection), Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Gelsey Kirkland anything, Toller Cranston items, or gift certificates to Old Navy, Strawberry, or Origins. There. Now you can't say you don't know.