They say it's your birthday...

So, as it happens every few years, my 25th birthday fell on Thanksgiving. That meant I was in the warm, loving home of my parents eating way too much food, visiting lifelong friends, and trying to keep both Mom and Dad from sneaking Roger too many treats.

However, the side effect of ThanksBirthGiving Day is that the day didn't really feel like my birthday since it was already another holiday. Pumpkin pie is good, but it's no birthday cake. A group of us had planned to go out for drinks Saturday night in Burly, but for various reasons it fell through. Not exactly the hoopla I had hoped for on my quarter-century.

I did get presents, though! My parents scored a huge cache of Lu-Ray dishes from an antique store looking to stop carrying it. Dad found me an old wooden ladder to use as fun shelves, and a vicious little pocket knife.

And the star of the day: I am pleased to introduce you to the "Climbing Vine" found online at Designer Stencils. It's for my bedroom. I plan to paint the walls a pale green and stencil the vines over it in white. (Unfortunately, that's probably a long way out, considering my room still looks like my closet exploded all over it!)