Burning, buying, and bechamel

Maggie says:
Happy New Year, everyone! For my New Year's Day, I was lucky enough to have an unexpected visitor named Marjorie swing through town. In fact, right now she is sitting in my cozy living room "working" on a report and I'm at my office... how fair is that?! Drink up (my coffee), Marjorie, and while you're at it, here are my top three moments of our New Year's Day together:

• Switters the cat setting his huge, bushy tail* on fire from a candle, and Marjorie coming to the rescue while I screamed from the kitchen

• The Great Ikea Excursion of 2008**: 25 minutes in 2.5 hours

• Marjorie talking me down when the first slices of my lasagna fell apart, while deservedly making fun of me for my casual "sure, I can throw dinner together by 8:30" over-optimism

* For the time-being, Switters is now a short-haired cat with a very average tail... Will his glorious raccoon-like appendage ever regrow from the ashes of yesterday's disaster? I promise to update anxious readers! ;-)
** Yes, already. It was that intense.