Pomp and Circumstance

I just had to address this whole "Royal Wedding" business.  Thirty years ago, I watched a very frightened and nervous 20 year-old girl marry a man 12 years older than herself.  A man she barely knew.  She was the same age as me.  I did not watch Will's and Kate's wedding on TV, but I saw a clip of it on the internet.  Kate was an older, more mature and confident bride.  It was also obvious that, if not in love, she liked William very much.

I like this photo.  They look happy and comfortable.

Anyway, the extravagance, pageantry, formality and fanfare was annoying.  I'm not sure why it bothered me this time, when it didn't 30 years ago.  I guess all that hoopla just doesn't impress me like it used to.  I think because I know more now.  I have a better grasp of what a wedding like that costs not just in terms of money, but time and manpower.  Not to mention making decisions according to propriety and an outdated protocol.

I think my niece's wedding was much nicer.  She spent some money for sure, but only on the things that were really important to her.  She kept her guest list small--only about 80 people.  And everyone had a good time.  My nephew's wedding was larger, more traditional and formal.  And, while his wedding was nice, it wasn't as much fun.

So, I'm glad the Royal Wedding is over.  God bless them and may they live happily every after.  I'm willing to bet my niece and her hubby will!

The Best Laid Plans...

...of mice and men gang aft agley.    That last means "oft go awry."  Technically, Robbie Burns wrote:  "The best laid schemes of mice and men, gang aft agley."  Whatever.

My daughter is over her cold and, last Sunday, put a second coat of primer on her bedroom walls.  If I was doing a comic strip, I would have put a blank frame after that statement.  Imagine crickets chirping indicating the deep silence.

*Sigh*  I still have two bookcases to assemble.  I still have piles of books in my room.  There are still boxes of Christmas decorations in the living room.  Everything is in a holding pattern, waiting.  Waiting for Brittany to get done with her room.

I wouldn't mind so much--God knows I am not very quick to get my projects done--but I can't even shift stuff in the room upstairs so I could at least get my bookcases set up.  She still has stuff all over up here.  Yes, I'm griping.  Complaining.  Not very productive, I know.  So, I've been working on all the give-away stuff.  I had stuff up here in my room, stuff in a couple of boxes in the living room, stuff in  my mom's bedroom and it all needed to be combined and packed up for drop-off.  I did that Sunday and Monday.

I had Tuesday all planned, with my errands to be done in a circuitous route (I hate backtracking):  Take my friend's kid's birthday present to the PO in Willow Springs, drop off a library book and pick up tax forms at the library, drop off give-away at the Amvets truck in Bridgeview, take my car for it's emissions testing in Bedford Park, head south to my bank in Chicago Ridge, and stop at Dollar General in Hickory Hills for a few sundries.  This is where Robert Burns comes in.

Well, the post office was empty, for a change.  That was amazing.  It started to go wrong at the library.  There was nobody there, either!  The two librarians at the counter and the research librarian all stopped when I came in and we had a bit of a chat.

Very nice, but I forgot the tax forms.  

I got to the Amvets truck and, because I had wedged the boxes and bags in my trunk so tight, the volunteer and I had to wrestle the stuff loose.  But, it was done.  Off to the emissions testing place.  I have to take 79th Street east to get there. It's not just that there are bigstupid trucks (yes, I ran that together on purpose!), there is a lot of traffic in general.  Even at 2:00 a.m. there is a lot of traffic on 79th.  It was 11:30 a.m., which was incredibly idiotic of me to time it like that.  People were heading to lunch!

I turned north on Central, bracing myself for the awful condition of that road.  It did not disappoint.  It starts out residential, then you pass between the Catholic boy's high school and a large elementary school.  I guess they leave the road so terrible to keep people from speeding by the schools.  But Central has been like that for as long as I've known it, which, since I've lived in the area all my life, is, well, all my life!  Then, as I reached the industrial areas, surprise, surprise!  They had fixed Central there!  I don't mean patching and filling pot holes.  I mean a new, level layer of asphalt!  It raised it enough, too, so that it wasn't teeth shattering to go over the railroad tracks!  But, then I had to turn on the street for the testing center and it was back to driving right down the middle of the road.  You have to do that to avoid the pot holes and chuck holes on each side of the street.  (Chuck holes are really big pot holes.)  If you met a car coming toward you, it was like driving with cars parked on the sides.  Whoever had the biggest hole on their side swings over and stops, lets you go by and then gets back in the middle of the road.  Driving in the Chicago area is like a macabre dance.  Not everyone abides by the pull-over-and-wait rule.  Then you end up playing Chicken.  I don't like playing Chicken.  So, for the one jackass who kept coming, I had to straddle the pot holes with my right tires in the gravel.  Thank God for new tires and no chuck holes!

I finally get to the testing center and the little sign says it'll be an approximately 6 minute wait.  Not bad at all, I thought.  Then I pulled past the building and saw the lines!  Every bay was open and had a minimum of five cars in line.  So I waited.  Fifteen minutes later, I was pulling into place for the test.  Now, 15 minutes, with those lines especially, was not bad!  BUT--if they had said 15 minutes up front, I would been a much happier camper.  Why the subterfuge?  A lot of those people were probably at lunch from work.  Not everybody has the flexibility to sit there nearly 3 times longer than they estimated.  It's the principle of the thing, ya know?  Oh, yes, my car passed.

Heading south again to go to the bank, I came up to the shopping mall that had a pet store I liked.  Impulsively, I turned in and bought cat food and litter.  The prices aren't cheap, but they're not ridiculous and I wanted the bigger flavor selection they offered on the canned cat food.  My old cat, Jessie, is very finicky.  But that's a story for another time.  When I was checking out, I found out I no longer was a Preferred Customer.  I had to apply for their new savings card.  Well, isn't that precious.  It just so happens there is a bookstore at the other end of the mall.  I couldn't just drive by.  I mean that literally.  After wondering through the store and purchasing two books--hey, one was from the 60-cent bin--I finally got to the Bank of America at Chicago Ridge Mall.

It should have been no big deal.  My mother got a small check from a refinery for sending her silver dental work in.  I had thrown a couple of old sterling silver chains in, too.  It was a whopping $6.74.  I just wanted to throw it in my account.  My mom signed it and I signed it.  Let me point out, I have done this before!  They wouldn't take it since she's not on my account there.  Huh?  See italics.  But I counter-signed it!  Didn't matter.  She had to be there and to show I.D.  Aaagh!  I had to tell myself to breathe.  What. The. Heck.  Okay, okay, it's a small check, we'll take care of it another time.

As I was heading to Dollar General, I figured I'd top off my gas tank.  I'm trying to use only American-made gasoline and there was a BP on my way west.  I had been watching the gas prices the whole time I was driving around.  $4.05.  $4.03.  So I resigned myself to pay over four freaking dollars a gallon for gasoline.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised.  God must have thought I needed a little more pick-me-up than passing the emissons test and a walk through the bookstore gave me, because the price was listed as $3.98!  When I swiped my card and hit the button, it came up as $3.97!  I tried not to think about how I had paid $3.75 just a couple of weeks ago.

By then it was after 1:00 p.m. and I was tired of driving.  I decided Dollar General could wait, especially since I had the cat food now.  Instead of continuing west to 88th Ave, I turned on Roberts Road.  Bad move.  Oh, the traffic was okay.  It's just that, a minute after turning I saw the Tastee-Freez sign.  On another impulse, I turned in.  I got two Freezies (they're like DQ's Blizzards).  The guy gave me a cup holder, but one of the Freezies wasn't positioned properly.  Except I didn't know it then.  There were no lids on these things and I didn't ask because they weren't overfull.  As I turned back onto Roberts Road, the loose one tipped over.  I grabbed for it, trying to push it in the holder and keep the ice cream from slopping on the seat.  My hand is covered with caramel ice cream and I'm trying to keep it from getting on my purse or my books.  Remember, I've driving during this.  My guardian angels were working overtime because I looked up in time to keep the car in my lane.  The stupid Freezie promptly fell over again on my purse.  My Tignanello purse.  My fabric Tignanello purse.  I grabbed it again, this time keeping my eyes on the road while trying to shove the cup in the holder.  Caramel and ice cream were on my fabric seats, my purse, books and steering wheel.  After five more turns, I was finally in my drive way.  Have you ever tried to make turns with one hand?  Because I never let go of that stupid cup until I was in the house.  After all that, I realized that the guy hadn't put the chocolate syrup on mine!

All right, I admit it wasn't the worst day ever.  Not even close.  But the frustration it did have wore me out.  And I was afraid my mother would pout because I didn't buy a book for her.  Fortunately, a book I had ordered for her came in the mail, so she was happy.  So really, all the negatives were balanced by positives.  It just didn't happen according to plan.  C'est la vie!