Was supposed to take today off, but felt guilty about the volume of work that was not just staring me in the face, but grinning maliciously. Got up. Did work. Showered. Went to work. Did more work. Left early to get to the vet's to pick up the special diet food for the two pudgy cats. Tiny cat is eating a few bites of kitten food every day to try to help her gain weight. Got a postcard in the mail today advertising a company that will decorate your house for the holidays - tree, lights, outdoor decorations, the whole thing. I wonder if they'll celebrate the holidays for me too - go to the parties and lunches and family gatherings and buy and deliver all the gifts and smile the pasted on smiles. Wait, do I sound a tad bit Scrooge-like already? I think that's the ghost of Christmases-I-was-never-really-fond-of right now.

Books: There was a small book fair at work today and I bought the following:

1. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon. I read about this book somewhere when it first came out and perused the first few pages of it on Amazon. Last night when I ordered a couple of other things from Amazon it was out of stock, so I bought it today rather than waiting. Lack of patience, you know.

2. The Michaels Book of Arts and Crafts. This one may become a gift, or may stay with me. If it becomes a gift I will regret having given it away (they only had one at the sale) and will mourn all the crafty types of things I might have done. If I keep it, it will forever remind me of all the crafty types of things I'm not doing, thus increasing both guilt and stress levels. Grief vs. guilt, a perenially tough choice.

3. Just for Kids Collection. A cookbook for kids. This one is definitely a gift, destined for the 10 year old boy who listed cooking as one of his interests on his Christmas questionnaire. A friend (the one to whose home I invited myself for Thanksgiving) is collecting gifts for this kid who will not have much of a holiday otherwise. So I will be buying some hideously violent Gameboy game and will use the cookbook to assuage my guilt (a theme tonight) over pandering to big toy companies.