News Dump

Procrastination stinks. If I'd just write blog posts more frequently, even every other day, I'd be able to tell you all the details of my mortally interesting life. But, try as I might, I really don't. It's my one weakness. That and water polo. So I think I'll just try to store up my everyday adventures to be told in news dumps like this. Beware. I wrote these all in random chunks, so every adventure could be its own post so it's a little long.

We left for our super long Thanksgiving vacation on Friday evening. We got out of the house only two hours later than we were hoping to. I think it's a personal best for my family.

After four hours we landed in Palm Springs. Or Palm Desert. It looks exactly like the background right now. There we enjoyed Italian food, thrift shopping, and continental breakfasts.Oh my gosh. those breakfasts were good. There's nothing like not working in the mornings to work up your apatite.

Saturday marked my half birthday, but more importantly, the 50th anniversary of the best sci-fi show of all time and space. This is the time to stop reading if you a) have no patience, or b) are not a confirmed Whovian and don't want to hear a detailed analysis of the latest episode The Day of the Doctor. I'm going to do this off the cuff, so it will more than likely turn into an embarrassing display of my more fanatic side.
i seriously don't think I had one problem with the show (surprise surprise!). It wasn't too filled with wacky aliens, we got to see five different regenerations, and watch a good plot to boot. (Spell check doesn't like "regenerations" OR "Whovian". Blasphemer).
This episode rang Matt Smith through and through. Trust this fun loving Doctor to go out of his way to break every single rule in the universe. HE FREAKING MET FOUR REGENERATIONS. WHAT.
I loved the way all the Doctors interacted. They didn't all work together perfectly, but that's alright. It was in their characters. I loved it that John Hurt explained some of the character flaws in Tennant and Smith. Also the internal conflict was heart rending. Hurt was able to see the consequences of his decision and how it would effect himself in hundreds of years. That could shake anyone's resolution, but by the end he succeeded in doing the right thing, despite the obvious personal repercussions, and (duh) saves the world.
That sounds really heavy handed. One of the beauties of Doctor Who is that the writers are able to portray these mega confusing stories in a lighthearted, easy manner. It makes the whole show irresistible.

Choosing what to wear can be a hard enough ordeal for me as it is, but choosing what to wear with a limited wardrobe is all but impossible.
I tried to pack a wide selection of clothes, I really did, but apparently not wide enough. That, added to the fact that I'd forgotten almost half my clothes in the dryer back at home, had me in a funk for almost ten minutes.
Enter the mater. It was at this time that the mother, having concluded the morning meal which I mentioned briefly before and will more than likely be noted again in more detail anon, announced that she had seen some promising looking thrift shops, and that it was her wish to go "thrifting."
I took the irresistible bait and we spent the afternoon digging through vintage sweaters and 70's house dresses, finally ending at a small, funky little consignment store.
After wiling away the past three hours looking at clothes marked $3 a pop I was pretty much shocked out of my wits to see a steam-punk-esq jacket for $65. I steeled myself to leave, but my mom was already engrossed in a rack of refurbished vintage dresses.
I wandered about the store for a few minutes. It really was a funny place. There were floor length ballgowns and 50's style dresses, old lady coats and mink furs. All of it in mint condition,, just not my style, let alone my size. Or so I thought.
When I found my mom again she had only just started on the second rack. I was impressed she'd finished the first. I was about to tell her that I was done and point out how ridiculously over priced these retail items were, when the owner walks in.
Now, let me show you the whole picture. Here we are in this random, out of the way shop. It's small and we're the only ones here. The woman (who had been in the back room) has nothing better to do, so she strikes up a conversation with the mater. In a British accent.
They get to talking, so I begin to retrace my steps around the room and look through everything more carefully.
The woman walks past me to a rack. On the way she stops.
"I think your mom has something for you to try on."
I go back to my mom.
"Here. Try this one." She hands me a mass of heavy, striped fabric. I fumble it around and realize it's a skirt.
"Can I see?"
I open the dressing room door to show her. It's a wonderful skirt. Full, heavy. Maybe a bit long, but seriously, what isn't?
"Twirl."
I grin. The ultimate test. It had already passed, but I couldn't wait to see the look on my mom's face. I spin and immediately feel like a princess. Some clothes just feel pretty.
The woman comes back.
"Oh my gosh! It's beautiful! So many people have tried that, but it just won't fit anyone." She gasps. "Wait a moment."
She comes back with a white sweater and black hat and some polka dot heels.
We spent at least two hours there. Two hours of playing dress up for the first time in years. I forgot how much fun it is! There were vintage party dresses and hand knit sweaters and adorable flats and jaunty top hats. Ooooo! It was bliss. I love window shopping!

Yesterday we left the Palm place to continue on to Arizona. Since we'd already come a fair stretch of the trip we only had six hours ahead of us. Or so we thought. Until we thought it would be an extra two hours. Until we though we realized it wouldn't.
Let me explain.
A few hours after leaving I woke up to my dad and Joe laughing nervously. I didn't feel like fighting to get back to sleep so I sat up and looked around. We were stopped on the side of the freeway, hazards blinking while cars raced by at indecent speeds.
As if on cue, a man (who I guess had parked right in front of us just before i opened my eyes) came up to the driver's side, and my dad rolled down the window.
"What's the problem? Can I help?"
"If you could drive me over to the gas station, that would be great," my dad answered. "I can walk back or call AAA or something."
The man looked at the sign we were conveniently parked in front of: Mobil, Shell, Chevron 2 miles.
"Well, do you have a rope?" the guy asked. "I could tow you and save you a few hours."
I like it when random people are generous and nice. It was like a real life Good Samaritan.
My gratitude only lasted for a while, because ten minutes later we were all hooked up and ready to go.
We couldn't have been towed for more than a minute, but it was the most stressful minute of my life. Pop laughed nervously as he explained to Joe that he needed to steer exactly as the man so as to not pull them both off the road. Oh wait. We weren't ON the road. We went on the shoulder for the next two miles, expecting every second to have to follow the man into a lane. But he didn't, and I can imagine we got some pretty strange looks from the cars who were passing is in the other lane.
But wait! There's more! We were so happy that we rear ended him! It turned out to be only a fender bender, but it was exciting all the same.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a writing prompt in the near future. It's one of the writing prompts that Josie's done and is as unintelligible as usual, but I like it. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.