Am I first??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *throws confetti*

I'm having a glass of wine for you tonight!

Randomly, I'm not a big fan of poetry myself. I just don't understand that deeper meaning that so many poets think is so obvious in their poems. I love love love haikus and will write them at random times about whatever is going on.

Crazy Aunt Purl says
Holy hell, it's my birthday!
Cat poop is smelly.

See? Instant haiku!

I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't like poetry either. I've taken plenty of litterchure classes also, and while I try very hard to appreciate it, I just DON'T GET IT.

Happy Birthday to you!!!! I hope you manage a few glasses of wine in between all that awful work.

Hey missy mae - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Your boss sucks ass!!! We hate him. A lot.

Love, me

Happy BIRTHDAY!!!! Celebrate for a whole month to make up for having to work on your birthday ;)

I so enjoy your blog and humor. Wished you lived close to moi (midwest) I got a heck of a guy you could meet. My wonderful stepson got dumped by his wife for another woman!

Well, I was a English major with a concentration in poetry, and I'm dating a poet. So I guess I can't relate to the poetry thing. The cat-pooping thing, yes. The having-to-work-on-your-birthday-when-you-asked-for-the-day-off-months-in-advance thing, yes. (Particularly annoying if you have to work because your boss is expecting loads of press calls because of a press release that goes out that day that the entire media ignores and so you answer exactly NO calls on your birthday when you're working.) The having-a-stupid-ex-husband thing, yes. But not the poetry thing.

Try to have a happy birthday despite the working. There's a whole world of people out on the internets who just love you, more people than you realize. (So many, frankly, you would probably find it really weird if you knew). And every one of them are wishing you a happy birthday. You can't let them down.

happy birthday!

i have to work on my birthday too this year.

I have a different poem for you

Hippo birdie two ewe
Hippo birdie two ewe
Hippo birdie dear Laurie
Hippo birdie two ewe

It is also set to music but it is not as deep.

It's so late here that it is real early and I should be in bed asleep but I've got your cats' problem.... thank the heavens we don't have to use litter boxes!

A haiku for Kathleen, who comments even though she has discovered that I have one remaining brain cell and it is not being used on poetry:

The poetry thing?
If you put it to music
I would SO love it!

;)

Happy Birthday, toots.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday! If it makes you feel any better my birthday usually hates me too and I ALWAYS have to work or be at school. Booo! Make the best of your specail day and I'll be toasting with wine tonight in your honor. Long live CAP!

Also, do ya'll think I have crossed some blog line by posting song lyrics? And I don't mean a good line. I mean a bad line. Hmmmm. Heh.

Happy Birthday! I'm with you on the poetry thing. Limericks and Haiku are acceptable. If I wasn't so busy at work, I'd compose a birthday haiku or limerick for you. Maybe later. It will give me something to do during the afternoon meeting. Everyone will think I am paying attention and taking notes. hah!

Happy Birthday Laurie!

Here's to the cats taking the poop day off in honor of your birthday.

Many Happy Returns!

First of all, happy birthday.

Second of all, you are not the only one who doesn't get poetry. There are actually only a few poets that I can even stand, and I've only discovered them in the last year. And they all write in Spanish.

Also, you are not the only one who hates birthdays. Put my name on that list.

Third of all, adore you. I found you through my best friend, Jo, of littlegirlfound...and you make me laugh and cry and spit chunks of blood into my alphabits. Have an amazing birthday.

Tracy Chapman always has the perfect lyrics! I remember listening to "Fast Car" the day I got my driver's license when I was 16... I had all the windows down and blared it! I thought I was the coolest.
Happy Birthday :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!! Celebrate as long as possible with much wine and fun.

Yeah, what is it with little cats and tons of poops? It's a government plot I think.

I've always thought of song lyrics as poetry...so I think that maybe ya do like some poetry...

Here's some of my favorite lyrics from Leonard Cohen

"You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in. "

Have a Happy Birthday! Even if it is at work!

Happy Birthday, Laurie! I'm sure you'll (ya'll'll?) make up tonight for having had to work today. Looking forward to seeing the post.

Lorrian

Don't forget, if the bus DOES get hijacked on your way home, TAKE PICTURES! and if one of those banditos is a hottie, snap him up, birthday girl.

Happy Birthday!

From a new blogstalker and her four cats - who are also poopy.

Happy birthday, lovely lady.
Here's (DRINKING **LARGE** GLASS OF WINE -- hell, make it two! -- IN LAURIE'S HONOR) to you.
(If it makes you feel any better -- I know, it won't but I'm sharing anyway -- I spent my birthday -- about which I had forgotten, by the way -- schelepping massive amounts of Mahon cheese and fig cake and olives to the Mpls Convention Center in the FREEZING COLD, and then attempting to convince folks who had only come to Food & Wine show for the wine and therefore did not give a crap about what kind of non-wine goodies I had but what-the-hell-is-that-giant-hunk-of-stuff that, no, I wasn't cutting up a giant hunk of dead animal flesh, that they really should try the fig cake, that it went great with big red wines, and that of course I absolutely, positively would be happy -- no, THRILLED -- if they left their nasty germ-covered toothpicks on my tables. Really. It would be my pleasure to pick up THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN IN OTHER PEOPLES MOUTHS!!!!)
Ahem. So it could, maybe, be a tiny bit worse? ;-P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I don't like poetry either, and your kitties should make your boss a present. :)

Happy Birthday!!! (Hoists ginourmous cup of coffee...cuz, hello? At work too. Sigh.)

I'm with ya on the poetry. I don't get it. Give me music any time!

I don't think you crossed any blog line (good or bad) posting lyrics because you can Google just about any song and get the lyrics. So really? You're just doing all of us a public service and not making us Google the song.

Wish could help ya with the pooping. But my cat? Will not poop in the litter box. Pee? Yes. But she has to go outside to poop. In the neighbors yard. The neighbor with 6 cats. I think she's trying to get some sort of message across.

Where was I? Oh yeah...so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Here's hoping if something does catch fire that it's a really hot fireman who rescues you!

Happy Birthday!! I sorta agree with you about poems. Songs are way better. Try to enjoy your day :)

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Go ahead and feel/say whatever you want to today because it's your day. (And if I were you I would drop complaints all over work about working on the special day. Go overboard to the point of annoyance. "See boss, that's what you get when you take away my day." If they don't like it tell them they can go smell poo.)

Happy Birthday! On this Day of the Hump, I hope that your day will go by quickly while at work and that you will enjoy abundant quantities of wine, friends, and all that is good and beautiful in the world.

Happy Birthday - here's a little limerick for you...

There once was a girl named Raurie
Plauged by cat poo and other things gory
Hats that wont fit
A birthday of sh*t
But she sure writes a hell of a story

Happy Birthday!

Here's to you! I'll be having a *GIGANTIC* glasss of wine for you tonight to celebrate.

And, I know it's my fault because I, you know, chose to train for a marathon (which I realize now was just certifiably insane) but I had a 14 mile run on my birthday.

And TheBoy, assuming I would be thoroughly exhausted, didn't plan anything.

And the next day was a going away party for a friend's boyfriend who moved away with out her.

So yeah, I drank alone on my birthday this year!

Happy birthday to my st-end Laurie!
St-Ends Forever.
Love you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Here's to a great year!

Happy Birthday Laurie!
Hope the day goes smooth and easy, just like good whiskey! ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Thanks for making 34 look so cool!

My cats are not only poopy but also pukey today. (When do you start to worry?)

My first summer job was for a publisher that specialized in poetry. And I so didn't get it. Fortunately, most of what we got in was so clearly, blatantly, awful -- in the "I hate women" or "My dog Skip/He's a pip" or "God is watching us" vein -- that "eew go away" was an appropriate response.

Happy Birthday!!!! We all love you out here on the internets! Oh, if you think all the kitty bombs are horrible, just imagine that you just got this new baby chihuahua...and imagine that little bundle of cuteness decided to chow on kitty poopers...she lost a ton of cute points with that one, I can tell you. Try not to think of that story while having a drink...think of it while you are looking at your boss today...

Hot diggity! Happy Birthday, Laurie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Really, have a happy one, sucky work day and all.

happy birthday! :)

Happy Birthday!
May this next year bring you lots of yarn and wine and not so much of the poop. (I mean that both literally and figuratively.) :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hope your day is as wonderful as you are... and if there should be an emergency, I am certian you will overcome with your preparedness. Tell me, were you a Girl Scout? Oh, never mind, that's the Boy Scout motto "Always prepared".

Anyway, Happy Birthday!

My cats like to super-poop while I am brushing my teeth, so I CANNOT ESCAPE (the perils of having the catbox in the bathroom). Also, I have pre-emptively Lysoled poops in progress if I'm going to need to be in there for a while.

Happy birthday, Laurie!

I must admit that I am not a fan of poetry either-have never enjoyed reading it or analyzing it either for that matter. I used to write it in high school, but didn't all teenage girls? Mostly silly little verses like "I'm in love with a boy named Joe, but his girlfriend, Jane is such a ho." kinda thing.

Tell your boss since you made you work on your birthday that he know owes you two vacation days. Tell him that Kim in Maryland said so. Damn, what about the folks who had actual vacations planned? Like going away and stuff? Did they have to cancel as well? So incredibly WRONG!

Happy birthday!
I'm a huge Tracy Chapman fan, too. I think she's sort of at the intersection of poetry and country.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Laurie!

May your cats gift you with a day of constipation - them, not you - and not the painful kind, the non-painful kind.

Happy Birthday Lauire. Here's to being a Cancer!!!!

Happy Birthday! I hope work isn't too bad. Also, that's a good song. Thanks for reminding me of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!!!
Hope this day goes better than past birthdays.

Happy Birthday (again) Laurie!!!
I agree with Anne...celebrate for the whole month!

Songs are poetry, only better. My favorite is Dave Alvin (of Blasters and All-Nighter's fame). Check out some of his lyrics: (www.davealvin.com)

See you tomorrow for more b-day celebration!

E

Hauoli la hanau!

That's hippo birdie two ewes in Hawaiian!
;)

Hope you have a great birthday maybe the cats have something special planned?!!!

The cats gave me all their presents this morning hah hah.... someone left me a pile of hairball on the carpet. Love ya'll! But soba snuggled me all night, and I felt very popular because Bob and Frankie fought over who got to sleep on my feet.

Ah, true love!

Tonight I'm going to Petco to buy them some presents, because they deserve it :)

HAPPY BDAY!!!!!!!!

I'll throw one back for ya tonight while im sitting at home working tonight ;)

From one of life's travellers to another...have a wonderful birthday Laurie! Sending you good vibes in the hopes that your day is a fabulous one.

Hope you have a great birthday--work, litterboxes, and all.

You are correct! Poetry? I think everyone is really pretending to like it and be moved by it, etc etc just to *seem* intellectual, when, in reality, no one knows what the hell the poet is really trying to say.

The best poems start with "there once was a girl from nantucket..."

Hardy har. HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY! Will drink much wine in your honor tonight...oh the sacrifices we make for our Crazy Aunt Purl.

HAPPY BERFDAY!!!!!

Happy birthday, CAP! Congratulations on surviving another year (& writing a wicked funny blog about it). Just remember, no matter how long your boss makes you stay at work today, he can't change the fact that you're now *liberated* from being 33.

I had the craziest impulse to call Mashti Malone's & have them set aside from rose-flavored ice cream for you to pick up next time you go to S&B. Is that the former Angeleno in me, or the blog stalker?

Happy B-Day, Laurie--in honor of your southern-ness, here is some "Kitty Hi-Koo..." Stolen from somewhere, like, an anonymous file somewhere...I don't know where...

You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will show you.

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
elevator butt.

The rule for today.
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.

In deep sleep hear sound
Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
Will find in morning.

Grace personified
I leap into the window
I meant to do that

Blur of motion, then-
Silence, me, a paper bag
What is so funny?

The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds
Your foot just squashed one.

You're always typing
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.

My small cardboard box
You cannot see me if I
Can just hide my head.

Terrible battle
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a "term paper"?

Kitty likes plastic
Confuses for litter box
Don't leave tarp around

Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes
Fear vacuum cleaner

Want to trim my claws
Don't even think about it!
My yelps will wake the dead

I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
inside your armpit?

Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!

Oh no! Big One
has been trapped by newspaper.
Cat to the rescue!

Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in the bed, then screams!
My claws aren't that sharp....

Cats meow out of angst
"Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break so much"

Litter box not there
You must have moved it again
I'll crap in the sink

The Big Ones snore now
Every room is dark and cold
time for "Cup Hockey"

We're almost equals
I purr to show I love you
Want to smell my butt.

Happy Birthday!

Dear Aunt Purl, Because you had to work on you B-Day, I think you'll enjoy this link!

http://www.insanecrazy.com/media/swf/whackboss8.swf

p.s. I read your site every day, its awesome, thank you.

Aw, man. Once again, I won't look very original here, because someone did my idea before I got to it. But, hey, here's a goofy poem for your birthday...

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
You're a cool blogger,
So, we like you.

Yay! I know... I spend entirely too much time around preschoolers. I know I could do better, but why try if you don't like poetry anyway, right?

Happy Birthday. Oh, and would it really be that bad if a certain Mr. X, for example, were to be arrested on your birthday?

So you think a birthday during the summer is melancholy? Try having a birthday on New Year's EVE!! Combine getting older with EVERYBODY thinking back on the year in review. Can be very depressing.

HOWEVER.......have as good a day as you can at work today (boy is that a weird sentence!) Go home and have some wine, and schedule another day off to hang with your girlfriend regardless if its your birthday or not. Carpe Diem regardless of the date (and age!) Can you tell I dont do birthdays??!?

Anyway I truly understand abt the poetry (try reading Beowolf in Old English!blech.) and abt the 4 cats that poop (I have an 18 y/o who still cant cover her pee or poop and it is BAD!) Enjoy your day and your week and your wknd. Here's to not having the bus catch on fire or the Big One hitting today! ;-)

Lynn-a lurker blog reader who THOROUGHLY enjoys your writing!

Happy Birthday <3

Happy Birthday!

Show your displeasure at being made to go to work by not working very hard. Or not working at all. Whichever won't get you fired.

And, I too, find poetry tedious except for the funny ones. And I'm not very country...

A limerick for you:
Today it is Aunt Purl's Birthday.
There's really not much more to say.
Her cats like to shit
Can't do nutin' 'bout it
It's a shame that she can't feed them hay.

Yeah, I didn't say it was a good limerick.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I'm with you on the poetry thing. There are some poets I like, but for the most part it makes me feel icky inside. To quote my sister, "I'd rather hear someone recite a naughty limerick".

Happy birthday, LP. There isn't anything wrong with a good bottle of wine to toast the anniversary of your arrival in the world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE! Mine is in exactly one week and I'm waaaay older, so you'll always be young to me. :-)

(and what IS it with the cat poopin'? same problem here, but with "only" 3 cats - yoikes)

happy, happy day!!

Happy Birthday Crazy Aunt Purl!
In honour of your birthday, I'm going to SnB tonight where I will surely talk too much and say inappropriate things and perhaps even swear about my knitting.

Have a great day... and please, don't work too hard. In fact, I still think you should claim that you have a migraine and go home.

Love, love, love ya, girl.

My shoes: Bandolino mules
My clothes: linen capris w/ a short sleeved sweater.

Poetic enough for ya?

Happy Birthday! (from a long time reader, first time commenter)

To get yer boss back, you should go into work really, really, really hungover tomorrow. That'll teach him/her.

Oh! I was right! It IS today! *preens*

Happy birthday, Laurie! I hope you can salvage today with some good wine and delicious cake. And you do NOT have West Nile or glaucoma! GET OFF OF WEBMD!

Happy Birthday! Mine's next Tuesday - I was HOWLING at the hoarding tendencies of Cancerian females, I totally identify. My daughter is also a Cancer and she was very impressed with your bubblewrapped booze earthquake preparedness, we will adapt that to hurricane preparedness this year. Howling at the cat poop too - one of my three - I think it's Boris - produces stuff that would make a Great Dane proud. It's like, cat turd, cat turd, cat turd, OHMYGODWHATDIDTHAT? And yes, he produces them on the night shift. I hear him go through the cat flap - he barely fits - at around 3 a.m.

Happy Birthday!

*clears throat*

Catty poopday to you...
Poopy catday to you...
Slimy hairball catty poopday...
Poopy catday to you...

....and many more.....

*takes bow*

happy birthday!

here's a tip for the poopmonsters: feed them a high quality food (like science diet) rather than a grocery store brand. it's more pure nutrients and less fillers. fillers and fiber mean extra bulky poop. it'll cost more, but you don't have to feed as much, and you won't have to poopscoop as much.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Hope you have at least a few good hours in the day. It sucks to work on your birthday, no matter how old you are.

BTW, the cat poop thing? My big ass Polly can make poops that are almost as big as a kitten. And when I gave them canned food, the poops would be huge AND runny AND stanky. After I cut out the canned food the poops got somewhat better. I knew the poops were hers because the size of them would have killed any of the other cats here.

Happy Birthday Laurie! My idea of good poetry is anything by Shel Silverstein, and if you've ever heard him recite his own poetry (when he was alive), then you'd know that all his poetry is actually songs! Therefore good poetry = music.

I hope your birthday is wonderful!!!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby!

Hopefully the cats will poop less, today and your work load will be light.

ENJOY!

happy birthday! Drink red wine and eat cake.

Happy birthday! Just add me to the long list of folks who read your blog and enjoy it greatly.

I'm still iffy on poetry. I like poems that are short and clear, although periodically I'll break down and read World War I era death poems or John Donne's love poetry (no, I have no particularly good reason for those choices but then I've never claimed more than a passing acquaintance with normalcy).

Anyway, have one hell of a fun day.

Mum, Drew's a bad boy! He said the word "poop"!! He made up a poop song to happy birthday. He's naughty!
(Hippo birdy two ewe, again! Love the poopsong)

Happy Birthday Aunt Purl! Wishing you much wine, many parties, much yarn, very little poetry, and even less pooping.

PS - I put a voodoo curse on your very poopy boss.

Hey! Happy Birthday! This last year? Just a set up for the BEST YEAR EVER! Look at all the new friends you have made! And the people that are supporting you. And look how cute as a button you are! And how funny! You should really write the divorce survival guide, because you make anyone going throug it or not see the funny side of pathetic times. This year: the.best.EVER!!!!!! That is my giftee to you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Hope when you get home you get to enjoy the back porch and a big glass of wine then lay on the couch with the furbabies.

love,
carrie

I think you should chose another day to celebrate birthday, just like the Queen of England...
Happy Birthday, Laurie!

"This is your birthday song. It isn't very long."

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with no tragedies or kitty poop! Instead . . . how about a lot of wine, knitting, and smokie treats (also known as cigarettes.)

(Hooray! I lurves me some Tracy Chapman!)

Hey Birthday Girl! Wishing you all wonderful things in this new year of your life!

I leave you with a Gilda Radner quote that I love:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. DELICIOUS AMBIGUITY..."

Here's to your delicious ambiguity!!

girl you need this for your birthday
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/dessert/cakes/kittylittercake.html

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CRAZY LADY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOO YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Happy Birthday!!!

On my 34th this past November I had to work. It was my 2nd day at my new job. I wanted to ask for the day off, but I didn't know if they would take it well... And my big party? My friend and her boyfriend felt sorry for me (cuz I'm the SINGLE one) and took me to dinner. Yes, Sorry for me. Yes, the SINGLE one. sigh.

It sounded like you did it up right on the weekend, and I hope that the cats give you a night off from the pooping.

Thanks for the lyrics, very apropos.

One of my inspirational songs is "Through Your Hands" by John Hiatt.

Also, "All My Life's a Circle" by Harry Chapin.

And, on certain days, "Raise a Little Hell" by Trooper.

Hey Laurie -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY ..... all week long. Don't you know that birthdays are to be celebrated for a whole week ... having whatever you want to eat, being with favorite people, being happy in spite of where you are (work) because it's your birthday and they don't know that you're suppposed to have happy days all week long. Just keep reminding them that it's your birthday and you intend to celebrate clear through the next Wednesday. So there! Go to a yarn store and splurge. Go to your stitch and bitch and yak your brains out, have some wine and call people just to tell them how much you love them and that it just so happens to be your birthday so you wanted to get in touch. (when i drank i used to go through what I called my "I really, really love you" stage. Hopefully I would pass out soon thereafter. More wine, more phone, big bill. Then I would occasionally call the operator (after having been on the phone for half an hour) and tell him/her that I had just dialed a wrong number and didn't want to be charged for it. But never mind me.

The only birthday that bothered me was the last - 50. I've gained 30 pounds from being depressed about it. Believe me I understand the Cheetos on your chest thing and little crumbs on your cheeks. My dogs lick the crumbs and tears away as well as smearing mascara all over my face so when I finally look in the mirror, I just have to start wailing all over again!

But I just want to ttell you to let the shit just go by and accept where you are sitting right now. You won't be in the same place a year from now. You have greaat friends, a stich and bitch, a job where you can use the computer for personal things and healthy, happy cats with five fangs among them! (You need to add some cat food to your emergency kit and litter as well!) You are beautiful, funny (which is very, very sexy) and bright!

Here's to a great year for you and a shit year for Mr. X! (big turd)

love to you, mary

http://www.nanceestar.com/CatHaiku.html

cat haiku....v. funny!!!!

CJ

Happy Birthday! And, my present to you is that I went and *purchased* this song online, just cause I don't want you to get a visit from the Feds. Cause really, I your blog and adventures.

Hey there Laurie ... despite the fact that you already have 95 comments (Ninety. Five. Wow. You're like the Harlot now.) I wanted to wish you a big ole Happy Birthday! :) Go get yourself something pretty or special or both.

Happy Birthday, hopefully by now you're home after a crazy afternoon of swimming in other peoples loot...chillin in whats left of the not-so-smoggy-and-not-too-hot Valley evening glow with a bottle of red and a bar of chocolate. Cheers, I'll hoist one to ya tonight!
-TN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Hope your day is special!
boo and hiss to your boss for making you work!!!!

has 96 now!!

Happy Birthday Laurie,

Enjoy!

It really does get better as we get older. We don't have to worry about the future, 'cause we're living it, have learned enough not to fuss about the past, 'cause we've enough of it to compare with the present, and can get away with OUTRAGEOUS behavior......'cause there ain't nobuddy can tell us we cain't do it.

Look your birthday in it's eye and spit wine in it.

((hugs))

happiest of birthdays to you! (even if you have to be at work)

holy toledo! i saw 100 comments and thought 'wow, people must really want thier very own file of catbox litter poetry!!"

Happy b-day I say as I de-lurk. and also, hi!

Happy Birthday!

holy sh*t! 102 comments! I pee my pants when I get 4! Anyhoo, I'm with ya on cat poop (I've got four). Hamsters beat cats, but it ain't stinky.

As for poetry, my offspring is in the creative writing program at her arts high school. I am forced to attend 2 written-by-teens-who-are-angsty-for-no-reason poetry readings every year. Thank heaven she's a junior next year. Only 4 more to go!

Happy Happy Birthday!!!

Woo!! More wine!!! Happy happy happy birthday!

Happy Birthday...*ugh*
Happy Birthday...*ugh*
May the candles on your cake burn like cities in your wake,
Happy Birthday.....*UGH*

Even though the lizard boss made you work on it. DISHONOR! Dishonor on their whole family!

Happy Birthday, baby.

Short but sweet message!

Happy Birthday to my favourite Crazy Aunt!

Cats are special that way. Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!!!!

I hated poetry when we studied it in school. The teacher would ask, "what did Mr. Poet mean when he said blah, blah, blah". How the hell do I know what he meant. It's just a bunch of non-rhyming words thrown together in a big jumble.

My cats stand and watch me empty their litter boxes and as soon as I walk away promptly hop in and refill it.

Hope you had a great day--despite all the poopin'

Wonder if "beano" works on cats???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I fairly recently stumbled across your blog and love it!!!

And I just LOVE that song too!!

WELL COMING IN A LITTLE LATE. BUT HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME READ YOUR ENJOYABLE AND SOMETIMES NOT EMJOYABLE MOMEMTS THAT YOU HAVE. WE ALL HAVE THEM AT TIMES AND YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO WORK AROUND THEM . ENJOY THE DAY AND THE DAY AFTER!!!!!!

Oops, I forgot yesterday. Might have been the wine...Happy Fantastic Birthday! I can't remember a birthday or day after I haven't had to work in years! Good thing for me is I have customers who remember! I'll never forget the gift of Dom Perignon. That was a realy good birthday! Cheers, CAP!

I'm usually mute in the flood of so many comments but since today's your special day: Happy Birthday!
And the cat do-do problem? Let them outside to poop in the crack house kissing cousins garden - they'll never notice. Have a good one.

Happy Birthday, Laurie!!! I miss you, and I wish I could be there to tell you in person.

P.S.- I agree on the poetry thing; as far as I'm concerned, Shel Silverstein is the best poet that ever lived. Though there are a few Emily Dickinson poems I can stand.

Maybe you should ask the birthday fairy for a self-cleaning catbox. Or better yet, that book that teaches you how to toilet train your cats (I kid you not- I saw it at Barnes and Noble. I'd get it for my cat 'cept we have to leave the lid down so the dogs don't drink out of the bowl and so my kids don't knock stuff off the edge of the sink into it) BTW, my friend from Atlanta also spells it ya'll.

happy birthday, says friend 118.
chicago will celebrate your birthday by drinking in my apartment tonight! :)

Mom told me today that this little blog had a post in which the blog host mentioned how she doesn't take a shine to poetry and how about 120 peeps came on and agreed with her. So I just had to get on and give a little serenade to the things in the world and in words which we seem not to understand and the sheer delightful beauty of those things that speak to the dark parts of ourselves jumping over the hard-control hard-handhold hard parts and go right down into the soft and wormy, warm and foamy, breathtakingly mysterious parts. The Jungle Jungian parts. The parts that see a pair of stellar shoes as true to the stars in the night sky, and that's why we decorate ourselves with them. The POETRY parts! The parts where words invite us into the land of multiplous discovery of many layered land! Cuz Everything is a metaphor, even your shoe. And the rhymes are the things which lull you there. You are poetry. To hate poetry is to hate a part of yourself. Invite what you don't understand into your life, like the galaxy, and the matrix of millions of galaxies, and your heart will grow, for those also exist wildly inside you, with the confused world of language which makes you this species. It don't need to make sense to be Sense. Poets who live on their knees bring you down there too, why try to kick when you're in that position? That's all.
Yours truly,
a little poet.

Haiku, eh? Catbox poetry, you say? Ahem.

Overflowing box
Pungent clumps and scattered grit
I am night-shift cat.

(Your kitties inspired me.)

Um, I'm not sure why the comment function has Willowbutton writing the kitty-poop haiku -- that was me. (But I'm also not sure why I'm laying my claim to this, either.)

;o) -- Carolyn B.
http://www.carolynbahm.com/knitblog/knitblog_index.htm

OMG, I just had to post a comment after seeing that picture. I had a laughing attack after seeing it. My tummy hurts from laughing and it's your fault! LOL
I've been reading your blog for some time now and it totally rocks. You're just so cool! I wish I was on the States so I could attend your parties ;-)
Happy belated Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday L.!! (Damn vacations getting in the way of wishing it to you on time-Geez!!!)

Hope it was wonderful with not TOO much cat poop!!

Sorry I missed your birthday.... Hope it was riotous and happy. Yes, billable hours would be great... though I think hookers are the women who are most likely to bill by the hours.... "hookers" not crocheters or knitters. Glad you figured out the hat business, too.