Dichroic Reflections

bittersweet, but mostly sweet

So far, highlights of catching up on everyone else's diaries have included
Caerula's husband's hair href="http://caerula.diaryland.com/011229_25.html">catching fire and what the
man in Astralfrog's life href="http://astralfrog.diaryland.com/christmas01.html">wrapped for Christmas.
The trick to reading things like that is leaning back so you don't sputter on the
keyboard.

We spent the holiday at Rudder's maternal grandparents (the
lucky boy still has two full sets, despite having turned 35 two days before
Christmas). His parents, an aunt, and a cousin were also there, creating a
pleasant level of confusion. His grandparents have a house they built themselves,
on a golf course overlooking the Pacific ocean. It's not huge or anything, but
it's all wood inside, and beautiful. This year was bittersweet, since it may be
the last one in that house. It's in a small town north of San Francisco, and they
have a long drive to get anywhere, and they're getting a bit old for it. They've
put their names on a waiting list for one of those senior communities that has
care there if you need it. I think this one is affiliated with a university, so
there should be lots of interesting things to do there -- these people are getting
a little bit frailer, but are still active and interested, and have just come back
from a cruise to the Panama canal, so a nursing home environment wouldn't suit
them at all. They're very cool.

Our most addictive and most
frustrating present this year was from Rudder's cousin. It's a scale that also
measures body fat percentage. Unfortunately, it says right there on the box that
anyone who works out a lot needs the scale with the special "athlete mode" which
this one doesn't have. Possibly as a result, it measures me at a whopping 27%.
(Well, if I were really that high, I certainly would whop!) It also measures my
nearly 6', 160 lb husband, who works out what even I think is too much, at 17%, so
I know it's not right. We've arbitrarily decided that all measurements from that
scale are 10 points too high. Not 10 percent high, which would be about two points
-- I mean ten points should be subtracted. So there.

I'm also having
a bit of trouble with the gift certificates I've been given. I asked for them,
because I've been trying not to buy books or clothing, my two greatest spending
vices. For Chanukah, Rudder gave me small ones for Borders, the local used book
store, and REI. Also, apparently his parents are sending us ones for L.L. Bean --
those didn't get there in time for Christmas. The problem with all this is that I
feel I should spend them on just the right thing, so it may take me forever to
decide. I have the Borders one narrowed down to two choices -- either Nicholas
Basbanes' latest or a combination of Diane Duane's latest wizard book and Helene
Hanff's Q's Legacy. I'm leaning toward the latter on the theory that my
library is more likely to have the former.

And Rudder's making waffles, so I'm thankful for him all over again.