Well, I was forced to give up on my plan to decorate our tall (fake) Xmas tree this year…mainly because of our mischievous little Peekaboo. She is definitely a jumper whose favourite pastime (well, one of them) is to climb all the way up Stefano’s bookshelf and gently tap away at any objects up there…until they crash onto the floor. The more noise she can make, the better. These bang crash boom noises used to startle me so much that I would dart upstairs to make sure that all the cats were alive.
And every time, the little rascal, who by then had jumped down off the bookshelf, would approach me with an innocent I-didn’t-do-it! grin and a friendly meow, her tail straight up in the air. Needless to say, crashing sounds from Stefano’s study don’t alarm me anymore. At any rate, this is why I knew that a tall Xmas tree in our living room would probably not be a good idea. But we had to have a tree!
So I set up a small (fake) Xmas tree. 
This ended up being a time-consuming project…since both Peekaboo and Priscilla had made up their stubborn little minds to help me at all costs (so adorable, though…).
I stuck the tree on top of a small cabinet in a corner of our dining room, up against a wall on one side and barricaded with packages and Italian panettone and pandoro on the other, trying to make the area as cat-proof as possible. So far, my obstacle course has worked. So far…
Well, tomorrow is Xmas, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Xmas and Buon Natale! Auguri!
Happy Christmas Margaret – and a healthy New Year.
Paul
The best of Christmases to You Two
and all the little kitties!!
Joy and peace and healing.
Merry Christmas, Margaret, Stefano, and Kitties. (And to you too, Paul and Sunshine.)
Merry Christmas to Margaret and Stefano.
Peter 06
Merry Christmas Margaret.
I hope you have a wonderful time over the festive period and 2009 brings everything you want.
Thanks for the healthy hummus recipe – one of our favourite foods. We shall be making it for the New Year`s Eve dinner with friends.
Best wishes
Mary
Margaret, I was wondering if you could refresh our memories as to what exactly has been your curcumin regimen for the past 6 months. How much curcumin daily, dissolved in what oil? If you do not want to re-post it at this time, please send me an email.
Regarding pasta – you did not mention eating whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. I too love pasta and have cut back, and when I do, I try to eat the whole wheat version. What do you say to this?
Hi Shelley, I didn’t discuss simple versus complex carbs or natural versus refined starches because these two issues, albeit important, went beyond the point of my post, plus I am no expert in this field…in a nutshell, though, based on what I have read, if you are dieting then it’s a good idea to choose whole wheat pasta (a natural starch), which is harder to digest and has more fiber content than white pasta (a refined starch). But in terms of our “cancer” purpose, I don’t think there is much difference between whole wheat and white pasta, which are both complex carbs.
The main thing (and again, this is based on what I have read) is to avoid simple carbs, such as sodas and sugar. As much as possible. I haven’t had a soda in years, now. And if I have a craving for a simple carb, I choose my own homemade sweets whenever possible.
I welcome expert opinions, of course… 🙂
Margaret