Three of You Are Winners!! (The Rest of You Get Cat Pictures)

First up, the winners of yesterday's It's Hard Not to Hate You book giveaway are... Beth D. Marlene Bates Melissa Chapman (But you know this because I already emailed you.) For everyone else, I have a story. (So, really, you're all winners! Yay!!) Ahem. Anyway, last week was my birthday. Neither Fletch nor I are usually big birthday people, so I wanted to keep the day low-key, particularly since last year we actually had an elaborate celebration with friends in from New York. I've also been sick ever since that asshole sneezed in my mouth in Detroit so I didn't feel up to going out for dinner in the city. Plus, I received my present early when I stumbled across an old poster chest (like a steamer trunk flipped on its side) at an antiques store. I love the trunk so much that it took every ounce of willpower I possess to not to email a shot of it everyone I know with the caption, "Look at my chest!" I would, of course, follow that up with a photo of the brilliant red shrubs on the side of the house with the caption, "Check out my bush!" This is why no one ever emails me back. Anyway, I was kind of mopey on my birthday because (at my insistence) we weren't doing anything and I didn't have a present to open. Finally, Fletch couldn't take the melancholy anymore and suggested we stop at the Orphans of the Storm animal shelter...