Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
December 3 , 2003 - Shopping Expedition
On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, The Gryphon and I got up early to meet an old friend of mine for breakfast at Perkin's. I probably would have gone along, just to catch up, but she said her parents might be coming along, and maybe her two kids.
As it was, it was just her. Seeing her was just like old times, joking around easily. She told me all about her job at Wal-Mart and how she enjoys the management position she has.
She also told me her husband is tickled ... well, not pink. Brown, I suppose. You see, he just discovered that he has some African-American heritage in his family history. "I always knew it," he insisted when he told her about it.
We talked about how much we like the areas where we're living, which are more urban and therefore more varied than the neighborhoods where we grew up. We agreed that the best way for different ethnic groups to understand each other is if they interact on a daily basis, and we talked about how one day, America's melting pot would produce a whole nation of people who look like Tiger Woods or Tia Carrere. This, we agreed, was a good thing.
After about five cups of coffee, I was finally awake. We showed my friend my new car, and I gave her a hug and wished her a safe trip home.
My mom had the day off but my dad had to work. The rest of us, my brother and his wife especially, wanted to drive to Lowe's. They don't have one in Vermont, and they've been fixing up their home.
The Gryphon and I were happy to tag along. In Central Pennsylvania, there's not much to do for fun but shop.
When we'd all had our morning coffee, my sister suggested we should have bought a container of ground coffee and made it in the coffee machine in my dad's office. This might have been a brilliant idea if we'd thought of it a couple days ago, but we'd already sunk enough money into convenience store "crackoccino" that by now, it hardly seemed a bargain.
The Gryphon and I were about the only ones who didn't have a home project going for which we needed to find a specific item at Lowe's. We just followed the others, joining in the conversation.
My sister told us she'd been looking for designer toilets. She even did a search on the Internet and didn't find any. She wants a toilet that doesn't look like a toilet, that looks like something else, something sculptural. Maybe a hand, or a fish.
My brother suggested she ought to start a company where she makes designer toilets. If there's nothing already out there, he reasoned, there might be a market for it.
This became a running joke, with us seeing item in the store and saying, "You should make that into a toilet," such as a very painful looking piece of machinery.
The most brilliant suggestion came from my sister and her boyfriend, who together came up with an idea for a toilet shaped like an upside down boot. The best part is the marketing slogan: "This toilet kicks butt."
None of us really had the patience for the mall, even though there were some halfhearted suggestions of going there. My sister suggested Taco Hell, and we were all feeling a bit hungry, so we agreed to stop there on the way home. And then once we got back to my dad's place we would regroup, and whoever wanted to go to the local thrift store could walk down there.
It's been a good long time since I've eaten at Taco Hell. I used to eat there a lot in grad school, which is one reason I got sick of it. But their menu has changed, and I was actually able to get something that seemed a bit healthier.
My brother, on refilling his soda, made the mistake of mixing Mountain Dew Code Red with Cherry Pepsi. I think the logic went something like: "Mountain Dew Code Red is red, and cherries are red, so it ought to work." It didn't.
We drove back to my dad's place. My sister's boyfriend had to be getting back to State College, so she saw him off. The Gryphon decided to hang out at my dad's while the rest of us walked down to the thrift store.
It was starting to rain, so we kind of regretted walking but by the time it got bad we only had a couple blocks to go and we decided to tough it out.
You never know what you're going to find in a thrift store. The best find I had, I would never have found if my sister hadn't pointed it out: an op art skirt. She said she would have tried it, if it hadn't worked on me. I also got an olive green button down shirt. My sister found a really cool vintage coat, which is silver faux fur with black trim.
Then it was back to Dad's place, where we talked about what to do for dinner and decided on Thanksgiving leftovers.
We'd promised to spend time with Mom today, but she hadn't wanted to join us for the shopping expedition. So after we'd all dined on leftovers, pretty much everybody went over to my mom's place, while I started work. The Gryphon and I knew we'd see her the next day, because we'd planned a trip to the Woolrich store in Lock Haven.
Once more, I finished my work after everyone had gone to bed, so The Gryphon and I turned in as well.
More on the Wilson family Thanksgiving:
December
1, 2003 - The Family Thing
Moral:
Life is like a thrift shop: you don't know what you're looking for until
you find it.
Copyright
2003 by Alyce Wilson
What
do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):
