Um, like, you know what I mean?

Monday, December 22, 2008

We had fun in Salem (which is now covered in snow!) did lots of shopping, per usual (no sales tax is awesome!), and found the best pizza place on the planet. In fact, it was so great that I'm not even going to say the name because it's busy enough as it is! A queue forms about 20-30 minutes before they open and so you'd better get there early or be virtuous in your patience.



I got some adorable pairs of shoes (ok, Michael, too), a couple more pieces of Le Creuset as well as lots of stuff at Banana Republic. Michael found some beautiful button-down shirts as he's now on a "no polos" kick. Whatever! :)



It hardly rained at all which was strange. I always look forward to trudging through the stormy weather in search of adventures! Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. Not a fan of the sun, I get grumpy when we don't have any cloudy days for weeks on end. So going to Oregon - or any of the other overcast places I've visited (Ireland, England, Scotland, etc.) - makes me happy!



Thursday is christmas and we have to drive to Marin to spend it with the in-laws. My sister-in-law has once again caused plans to be in a constant state of flux due to her lack of committment and time management. This inevitably leads to tension and stress and a holiday full of forced smiles. Fun! Oh, and her 13 year old is with us at the moment. Michael was in LA last week and brought him back with him on Friday. His mom flew in yesterday and was supposed to pick him up today, but it's 6:30pm and she's still "on her way." Not only that, but she's now planning on spending the night all so she can go to our favorite sushi restaurant. And she's bringing a friend. Joy. Joy... Joy to the world.



The kid, albeit not into drugs or gangs or other hooligan behavior, is the poster child for birth control. His favorite word is "like" and his favorite phrase is "you know what I mean?" So a typical conversation (usually one-sided because he either talks over you or doesn't actually ask a question) goes like this, "My friend, like, lived in, like, this, like, house and, like, you know, he like, his mom, you know, she, like, went in the,like, front yard and, ummmm, and, you know, like she saw this, like, thing, and, you know what I mean?" I... am... not... kidding. Only my steroidal will power has kept me from doing something that would be frowned upon by CPS.



He's currently playing a game on my xbox, using my headset, and having a conversation while playing that would cause Ghandi to curse. He has no internal volume control, no powers of observation (asked "is it raining" while standing outside looking at the rain), no table manners... I could keep going but I won't. I will give him a modicum of credit as he does know that I do expect certain behavior in my house and he tries to try. I only had to tell him once to hang up his towel rather than leave it to mildew on the bedroom floor. He helps clear the table when he sees us doing it. When we said, "No, we really don't know what you mean," he makes a concerted effort to use actual words (sometimes successful, mostly not). And, like I said, he doesn't tag buildings with graffiti, he loves his mother, he goes to school and mostly does his homework. Sure, it could be worse.



So that I don't write an entire blog about my inane nephew-in-law, I'll end by saying this:



Happy holidays, happy solstice (first day of winter today!), happy new year. 2009 is bound to be a bright new year filled with possibilities. May yours be fabulous.