Step away from the chocolate!

So, it's been a while, and I intended my next post to be about how excited I was that N was home (where was he, you ask? In Vegas with boys, leaving me alone in the big-ass apartment scared to go to sleep by myself in the new neighborhood. Except that I ended up not being as scared as I had anticipated I would be, and I did just fine alone in the place. And the cat was a fantastic bed companion, if not a little furrier than I'm used to in there.). And while, yes, it was still very exciting to have him back, the momentum of that feeling has sort of passed so the post wouldn’t seem as genuine or necessary now, five days later. Plus, he's got a nasty cold and I prefer my Ns healthy. (Sorry, honey.)

Meanwhile, I've had all these random ideas to post about, which I now present to you, in no particular order:

-Someone knocked over the fire hydrant at Sunset and Highland Monday morning. The water was almost as high as the building it behind it! It was kind of exciting, like a snapshot of a hot summer day in 1950s Brooklyn, but then I saw the backup of traffic (luckily on the opposite of the street) and my little fantasy world was broken (for the other people. I just sailed on by in my lane).

-It's that time of year where I'm constantly confronted with finding a good answer to "Are you done with your Christmas shopping?" or "Are you going anywhere for Christmas?" I never know what to do with those because inevitably, the other person ends up apologizing for the question, which isn't my intention, but really, what else am I supposed to do except say, "Well, I don’t celebrate Christmas. My Hanukkah shopping is done, though."?

-Speaking of this time of year, I've been extra generous for some reason. I bought a Starbucks gift card for the mail carrier because he always manages to get our mail in the right place, even when the pesky "1/2" is left off (oh, how I hate that "1/2"!). I also bought toys for four kids I don't know, but who, according to our adopt-a-family list here at work, live with their mom and grandmother in a two-bedroom apartment along with another four-kid family. I bought small gifts (is that inappropriate? I mean, but really, how much room can there be for toys with 12 people in two bedrooms?? Damn, I think I ruined all my good intentions.).

-It's also the time of year when there's all manner of crap to eat in the office. Now, I have no problem avoiding it, but my boss thinks that she's being kind by getting me tons of sugar-free chocolate so I "won't be left out." I appreciate it, but I don't know if you've ever had sugar-free chocolate. They don't put that "excessive consumption" warning on there for nothing. Despite what you think about my self-control, I can't control myself around stuff that's "okay" to eat (I know, my brain is whack), so I keep eating it. Needless to say, my belly has been a mess for weeks. Weeks! bleh.

-N's mom and my mom met up for lunch today in Chicago. Their first meeting alone. That surge in the temperature today? That was the collective burning of my and N's ears.