Observations

Things I keep meaning to 'blog':

H. bought two new hats which he wears constantly. AND, to my amazement and complete disapproval, he has left the tag on the bill of the cap - the 'gold medallion' sticker that shows the hat size is STILL on the hat. He told me 'everybody leaves them on' and I didn't believe him until we were at the mall recently and J. pointed out another kid sitting near us with the 'size' sticker still on his hat. What's with that? I don't get it AT ALL - when did marketing stickers become fashion statements?

Kids apparently, literally become 'teenagers' over night. The transition with B. seemed more subtle. But with H., it has been like 'overnight'. We (his parents) are idiots. He gives us looks and uses tones that come out of nowhere. Yikes. We have two in the house now and I hope we survive it.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner in San Francisco yesterday at Scala's Bistro on Powell Street. It was very good and wonderful ambiance. An added treat was my sister K. and my niece H. who were in the city for a(nother) post-trial trip. Every time they prevail in a big trial, their boss takes them on a trip. They've been to SF twice in the past 6 1/2 months, and I've seen my sister K. 3 times in the past 14 months, which is a record. It was a lot of fun. AND, I had an 'excuse' to shop in SF so I made my way through the massive crowds and went to Nordstrom. Scored a Dooney & Bourke tote bag for 33% off. Used the gift cards I received as one of my parting gift from the college and two gift cards given to me by friends. It's a cool bag and I LOVE IT. Great find at a great price. A stop at Sephora for Evian spray water for Fofy (our miniature parrot). No, she's not spoiled. Honest, she's not. (Ok, she is....). She loves to be 'spritzed' with water and Evian seems to soothe her (literally) ruffled feathers better than anything else.

OK - back to the dinner. H. sat next to me and seemed lost in terms of what utensils were his, which water glass was his. It was enough to make me consider getting a Miss Manners video - we go out A LOT and to some pretty nice places - so I was surprised to realize that he wasn't sure what to do. But he did fine. The Caesar salad was served with the Romaine leaves un-cut and you'd have thought they had just put a plate of turnips in front of him. Practically had to teach him to cut his food. The desserts were AMAZING and delicious and thankfully, we all 'shared' so we got to taste a bit of everything. I am going to teach myself to make pomegranate sorbet in 2007 - one of my more 'fun' resolutions.

As another resolution, J. and I took both dogs on a nice walk this morning. Spent a bit of time in the park letting them sniff and explore and run around and then walked some more. They were tuckered out when we returned home and we HOPE to do this more often. I am hoping to get up early - like I was commuting to Livermore - only then not commute - and use the 'extra' time for some exercise. Hoping J. will join me, but trying to leave it up to him. But I hope he will. REALLY hope. (J., please do). We both need the movement in our lives.

I worked 1/2 day on Thursday. There wasn't much to do since the furniture for my office isn't here yet - in fact, it hasn't even been ordered yet. So I'm making do with an old desk and a couple old tables. Will be 4-6 weeks before my 'real' stuff arrives. On a good note, though, I will be able to select it myself which is good 'cuz I don't really care for the dark mahogany finish that the other folks seemed to have selected. So I'm kind of glad I can pick out what I like and make the layout what will work better for me. Start officially on Tuesday and I'm excited about the 'newness' of everything. Folks seem nice so far and everyone seemed glad to meet me and glad they have a 'permanent' CBO.

J. took down all the Christmas decorations today. The tree was sawed in half so the city will pick it up this week. The outside decorations are down and boxed though not back in the rafters of the garage yet. But a lot of progress was made. The 'old' desktop computer in my corner of the study was finally 'retired' and moved out of the study. I spent a good part of the day sorting through things on my desk and filing, etc. Also scrubbed the kitchen floors yesterday with the new carpet shampooer/floor cleaner. They look GREAT and tomorrow, I'm doing the family room floors. Also putting away Christmas gifts, etc. AND I still have some cards to get in the mail. My 'holiday' cards are almost always 'new years' cards. Oh well. I try. Some years I think I won't even send them, but then I enjoy getting the cards and updates we get from people, so then I want to send out our holiday greetings.

That's it for now. We're all looking forward to the 'New Year'.