CD3: Christmas Eve Eve

It's a Saturday and I'm going to be hard pressed to find a laboratory where I can get a draw for my CD3 FSH test. J said I should put off retesting till we get closer to doing another IVF but I think that it's good to know where the trend is headed...and to also know when the magic from the humira is gone. You know?

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Mom's house might fall out of escrow. The fucking buyers were supposed to close yesterday and since they decided to change lenders on their second on Wednesday we only got docs for the second on Thursday. The buyers signed yesterday and during their walk through decided to try to squeeze us for some extra money for upgrading the electrical box. I told our agent, BG, "They can have $100. I'll give them that personally. But if they say they want $120, or even $102, tell them they can go to hell in a flaming handbasket. Don't even bother to call me if they don't accept that and ask for anything more because the answer is automatically NO." I think he was taken aback, but we are so burnt out on them. Also, they've signed off on their contingencies and at this point if they do not close escrow they will owe us a few thou in liquidated damages and they'll be liable for the difference between their contract price and any other price we accept on the house. They have a newbie agent all of 9 months and I don't think she is advising her clients well. It remains to be seen where this transaction will go.

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Took mom to pick up my painting in Berkeley yesterday, do a bit of shopping, gawk at homes in the Berkeley Hills, and eat lunch. We stopped by a little French place that I've been dying to try (La Note on Shattuck) as I'd seen rave reviews for it's breakfasts, brunches, and dinners. There was a bit of a wait but it wasn't too bad. We were seated along a wall and squashed in between an older couple to my left and a nice family of four to our right. It was really loud in there and it made hearing for my difficult as she wears a hearing aid. But she did amazingly well considering. The couple to the left appeared to be regulars as I overheard them saying, "It's so slow today", "Perhaps it was a mistake to come here today", "This place is nicer when one has more time to eat", and so on and so forth. I thought at first that they were just being gripey. But no. They were right on target. Read on.

We all ordered. Drinks arrived faily fast (Pagnol $2.50), but we waited and waited for food. The waitress returns to tell us that they are out of the tomato soup today. The couple next door, who had also ordered the soup, changed their order to a roast beef sandwich that they'll split. (Yes, they were that close. Their table was maybe 4" from ours, and 4" on the other side where the family of four were seatsed) Nothing was private between our three respective tables. If my mom had to go to the bathroom during the meal I would have had to stand up, slide our table out into the walkway and let her out that way.) I ordered the same for my mom but she asked, instead, for a chicken sandwich. So be it. A chicken sandwich she shall have.

Another long wait ensued and after a spell the food finally arrives. The older couple was served first. Once the waitress had left, they both opened their sandwiches and said, "This looks like HAM." But they'd ordered a roast beef sandwich. Even I heard that. They said nothing to her but griped among themselves over it. Understandably. Why risk another 20 minute wait for food? Our food arrived next (although we'd arrived first). Mom's chicken sandwich ($11.95) looked okay and the golden sauteed peppers adorning the bread looked pretty tasty, but she decided she couldn't stuff the bread in her mouth with the chicken at the same time, so she proceeded to just eat the meat. It was tough and difficult to cut. Nearly unpalatable. $11.95 for a piece of leathery chicken. Grr.... I had ordered the Salade Paysand at $8.95 (country salad). It came in a user unfriendly bowl and was loaded with orzo and CANNED corn. Barf. Just then a wave of a memory flushed through me. THIS was the likely the very same dish that La Coloratura had ordered (and griped about) when she was at this very same restaurant. Arrghhh! And I had just ordered the same wretched dish. I muddled through the dish as best I could, eating the lettuce and ham and making my way around the obviously canned corn. At $8.95 for a small salad, you'd think that they could at least scrape and ear of fresh corn into it, you know?

While we were eating I eyeballed the family of four's food to my right. They had ordered breakfast and it looked actually quite scrumptuous. We finished up and decided to try to hit up the Cheeseboard (near Shattuck and Cedar) for some shortbread instead of spending more at La Note and risking more disappointment. I paid the bill ($25 + tip) and waited in the entry for mom while she made a dash for the ladies room. I noticed that they'd received and hung up their "Best of" awards, but these awards were for breakfast and brunch. Not for lunch or dinner. So clearly we'd come to La Note for the wrong meal. We'll try them again for breakfast or brunch, but we'll never order lunch there again. I don't think I'd even risk eating dinner there at this point. There are just too many good French restaurants in the Bay Area and too many good restaurants in Berkeley. Our lunch at La Note was a utter disappointment. I even apologized to my mother for having her eat such a terrible lunch. I was really embarrassed as I'd told her that I'd heard it was "such a good place". Sheesh.

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Think I found a new Land Rover to replace the one J and I sold a few months ago. I'm still bummed we sold it. I love that Disco. We had a 1995 Land Rover discovery with a manual 5 speed tranny, leather seats, dual moonroofs, and the ultra cool jumpseats in the back. They're rare as hen's teeth. Land Rover made less than 1% of their Discoveries with manual trannies for the American market as Americans are less and less willing to buy manual tranmissions. But I had automatics and I go out of my way to find manuals. And I found one last night. Praying it stays on the market long enough for me to get my tail over to where it's at and buy it. Tomorrow is Xmas eve but if we went first thing in the AM we could make it. I wonder if the owners would think we're twisted to want to see a car on XMas eve? Or even Xmas day would work for me. What the heck? Gosh I hope it's a clean Disco without issues. It would rock to get a replacement before the end of the year.

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Okay. Off to wrap more Xmas presents while J snoozes.