May all of your dreams come true.Back to reality today, but first we spend a last few hours at the beach, squeezing all we can out of this beautiful San Diego day.
My best to each of you out there, the heard from and the unheard. Let's take charge of this new year.
Been spending some time with another couple on our trip. Sometimes spending that time makes me really appreciate the Mister. We work pretty damn well together much of the time. No passive-aggresive shit, just honest requests of what we would like to do.
We vacation really well together. It's just fine to spend a day hanging out. Neither of us feels that there are important things we need to see while we are here. If we miss something, we'll be back. But the important thing is that we relax, and a busy day of seeing sights that we feel we must see is not on the agenda. Yay for the Mister and me.
Today we saw:
pelicans (very cool and prehistoric looking.)
cormorants
bunnies
squirrels
dolphins (playing and jumping in the waves. I longed to be out there with them.)
seals (So damned cute.)
Poop art. Do you think they planned this?
This morning, we ordered breakfast delivered to the room. I had oatmeal, and the Mister had granola. These are the condiments they brought. Because i just love mayo and mustard with my oatmeal.
This is what Christmas morning was like at our house; Meno-made Cinnamon rolls and bacon on my recently acquired Holiday plates. I ate three rolls and 5.5 pieces of bacon.
Now we are in San Diego, lounging at a fancy hotel, eating too much and walking in the cool, but sunny weather. You'll be pleased to know that there has been no outdoor nudity. Because that would be against the rules. Those Californians are no fun.
There is an ocean here:
And cliffs:
That is all. Carry on....
Em passed her driver's test on Tuesday. She was very nervous beforehand. She even asked The Mister to take her out and help her practice parallel parking on the morning of the test.
On the drive home from the DMV, i text-messaged the Mister with "The eagle has landed." He was at lunch with a friend and apparently he showed the friend who laughed and said, "Your wife has a good sense of humor."
All The Mister wanted to know was "how did she do on the parallel parking?" She nailed it. Full points.
Her first solo flight was to the grocery store to get a celebratory gallon box of goldfish crackers. As we have learned, in this house, goldfish cure everything.
To date she has made 3 excursions and returned safely, with a huge grin on her face. I think her world just became a little larger.
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I had lunch yesterday with QT, who is in town visiting her family and some friends. It was a typical day in Seattle. That means raining and cool. She didn't have an umbrella or a hat, so we spent a bit of time looking for one, chattering through two different stores. (I can reveal no details of our chattering, as i am a safe-house for sensitive information.)
The Nordstrom's $48.00 umbrella was rejected. Off to Macy's, where the masses shop. We both bought cool style umbrellas which could double as a cudgel. (This is the direct cause of the sun appearing while we ate lunch. It never fails)
Since QT lives in the frozen, landlocked North, we had to find a lunch place that served seafood. Which we did, sitting at the bar in Matt's, sipping champagne and a Bloody Mary, and chattering. (Do you sense a theme here?)
It was lovely to see her. I hope that it will happen again, sooner rather than later. Did you get that hint young lady?
Here is my favorite Holiday tchotchke. It's my favorite because it was given to me my a man who used to work for me. He is Hindu and i am an atheist, and it's a nativity scene. I find that amusing. It plays "Silent Night" and the part of baby Jesus is played by two tiny blinking light bulbs. 
The End:
(I was going to call this A Primer for Men, but that would be sexist and i realize that it could also be A Primer for Teenaged Girls.)
It's in pictures, so that even you will be able to follow along.
This is bad:
When you reduce the toilet paper to shreds and can see the cardboard roll, leaving it this way is rude. No really. I know, who would have thought, right?
Look! Right behind you is a toilet paper bonanza, a veritable breeding ground for toilet paper, there for the taking:
There is also a catnip mouse next to the toilet, in case you need something to play with:
Reach out and grab a new roll, like this: Don't be afraid, it won't hurt you, they are very gentle, and soft, and absorbent.
Place your new friend, the fresh roll, into its new home. Look at this, look at what you have accomplished.
Take a bow. You deserve it after this impossible difficult for you task.
This is one of those family stories that gets told while the one person who the story is about cringes and tries not to appear angry.
When my older brother Tim was 8 or so, he had a particularly rough year, behavior wise. (I think he might have been diagnosed as ADHD today.) Thus my mother thought it would be the height of amusement to put a lump of coal in his stocking that year. The rest of the family talked and tittered behind Tim's back for weeks. How clever, how funny, how he deserved it.
My oldest brother, Don, snuck out of the house one night and rustled up a lump of something that was probably asphalt, but close enough, and into Tim's stocking it went.
I thought this was pretty funny back then, but secretly i was glad that it wasn't me who was in line for this humiliation. My 6 year old self's laughter was mostly from relief, as well as from the joy of being included on the "right" side of this joke.
Tim's reaction is lost in my memory to my excitement of a Christmas morning. I know he got all his other presents, but my mother had sent a powerful message. When i think if it, i feel ashamed of my part in it, even though i was 6.
I had to laugh when i read the first line of liv's latest offering:
"another self indulgent post " she wrote.
Isn't blogging really all self-indulgent posts? I mean, here we are writing about the minutia of our lives and the even minuter minutia of our brains.
I wish liv was here today. I need a girly girl to go shopping with me and help me find a top to wear to tomorrow night's work party for The Mister. I want something that will show off the girls, which will be at eye level for most of the men.
The dinner is being held at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Seattle. There will be plenty of libation. We were told to take a cab so we could indulge freely in these libations.
It would cost us about $100 to take a cab from where we live. Some free dinner.
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I got a huge laugh today when i was out walking. I walked past a Jiffy Lube place that had lost its "J". Big bold sign declaring IFFY LUBE.
I think my laughing frightened the woman who was a few yards ahead of me. She sped up a little. I could have caught up with her if i had wanted to though.
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The symptoms:
So here's what i've been working on in my quilting group. The group i joined earlier this year and wasn't sure i would like. It's a table runner.
Here's one square:
And here's the back of another square:
If this doesn't get me a merit badge on my "I'm a real girl" sash, i don't know what will.
My next project will be a quilt for Em to take to college with her. She is keen on that idea.
Today: Rain, heavy at times with wind.
Tomorrow: Rain to showers.
Wednesday: Cloudy with showers.
Thursday: Scattered showers.
Friday: Cloudy with showers.
Saturday: Rain at times.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with showers.
You get the idea. Rain. Liquid sunshine my ass.
The Mister planned an after Christmas trip for us this year. He booked it two days before San Diego went up in flames.
Guess where we are going?
Yep, San Diego! We will be staying at a place which is still there, and still beautiful, in La Jolla. We are leaving the day after Christmas and will be returning on New Year's Eve. We will spend the time wandering on the beach, window shopping, hiking and eating good food.
Even if it rains, it will be warmer than it is here. This trip will prevent me from curling into a little ball and staying in my bed with two cats for the rest of the winter and most of the spring.
If any of you have knowledge of San Diego, please chime in with the names of restaurants, places to go, hikes to take, anything you think we should see. Thanks.
