All right, I’m not very good at tooting my own horn, but since it''ll make my mom happy...check out #8 on the Paperbacks list:

NY Times Bestseller List

Boy, I have had a couple of really unpleasant customer service experiences lately. One at a Loehmann’s, and one involving a Rodeway Inn in Massachusetts (consumer beware!). I don’t understand why some people have to be so nasty to complete strangers, do you?

I don’t think I’ve said anything on this blog yet about a series that is near and dear to my heart: Warriors, by Erin Hunter. But now seems like the perfect time to mention it because (a) there’s a new Warriors book coming out next week and (b) the mastermind behind the series is doing a book tour at the same time (yay!) (more on that in a minute).

Why do I love Warriors so much?

(1) Because it’s brilliant.

Every now and then, I’m seized by what I call English Major Guilt -- you know, that “OMG, how can I call myself a literary person when I’ve never read [insert classic here]?” feeling. Like, I’ve never read Dante’s Inferno or Milton’s Paradise Lost or Joyce’s Ulysses (and I'm pretty sure that last one's never going to happen!). I should give back my English major, shouldn't I?

For those of you wondering where the blog has been (Mom), here’s exhibit A:

My Bathroom

and exhibit B:

My Kitchen

and exhibit C:

All right, after many silly, photo-happy blog posts, I think it’s about time I wrote something Quite Serious about Writing to try and balance it out.

Previously on Who the Heck Gave Tui a Digital Camera While She Was Supposed to Be Getting Rid of Her Stuffed Animals?...

The oddly piratical Gundy encountered the miscreant responsible for the theft of his sweater...

Avast ye! That be MY sweater, you scalliwag! Surrender it at once!

Someone got a haircut!

Before:

(and yes, that is my new favorite toy, the Amazing Race DVD Board Game, in the background)

Also Before:

And...After!:

Well, I don’t know about you guys, but Sunshine and I weren’t terribly excited about the winner of this year’s Westminster Dog Show. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s no such thing as an un-adorable dog, and Felicity’s Diamond Jim is a very, very pretty Springer spaniel.

But I have to admit Sunshine and I kind of fell for these two instead:

WHEW.

Guess where I am! (at last!)

I''m in my shiny new office of my very own! In my shiny new house! In Boston! (Where it is cold! Ye heavens!)

Alas, poor blog, I have so neglected you.

But! There are many good reasons for that! I swear!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

In celebration of presents and eggnog and presents and family and presents and pine trees and presents, as promised, here’s...a baby pandapalooza!

One of the things I love about going to the zoo, especially a zoo I’ve never been to before, is that sometimes there are animals there that I literally had no idea existed.

For instance, what the heck is this?:

The good news is, we’re done with season six of The Amazing Race in syndication, and after season seven I can stop watching until it comes back around to season two (as I’ve seen all the ones in between -- 8, 9, 10, and 1). So in about a month I’ll probably finally shut up about this show, at least for a little while. But the bad news is...there’s still a month to go! So this one’s an all-Amazing Race entry. Sorry; hope you can put up with it until the obsession passes.

All right. I have to do this. I feel it is my duty as a storyteller, as a fan of penguins, and as a person, to warn you: DO NOT go see the movie Happy Feet. Or if you do, brace yourself for the weirdest, most disturbing, most peculiar animated movie ever. I have not been this disturbed by a movie since Starship Troopers (yeah, turns out I don’t like stories where the good guys get their brains sucked out by alien bugs while the stupid guys stroll off into the sunset with their big white teeth gleaming).