Queen of Rambles

What a crazy day! I only had a few things left to buy for the big day tomorrow, but I somehow managed to spend a good portion of the day driving all over town anyway. It started with a quick drive to pick up a box of freecycle clothes and shoes. I haven’t even brought them upstairs yet so have no idea if that was worth my time.

Then it was time to continue the quest for juniper flavoring. I’ve already scoured all the local grocery store spice aisles and it’s simply not available. Mussare posted a great link to some places in the area that carry them, but it is the day before Thanksgiving in an urban area. There was no way in hell that I was going to get on the freeway and try to go anywhere. I’m hunkered down in Germantown. I’m very glad I don’t have to try to travel out of here over the holidays.

Anyway, I drove over to the liquor store that we never go to because it is way out of our way, only to realize that I was having a brain fart. The liquor store was not a liquor store. It was just a beer and wine store (you can’t buy alcohol of any sort in regular stores in Maryland). Duh! The store my friend referenced was actually right next to my regular grocery store. DUH DUH DUH DUH!!!

So off we went to the regular grocery store, while I scoped out all the trees along the way, wishing for a juniper tree to jump out at me. It really would help if I was certain what a juniper tree/bush looks like. I just asked Mike and he told me he doesn’t think they have them in this area, so at least I don’t have to feel too bad about being an incompetent naturalist. It’s only been. . . oh. . . twenty years since I took freshman biology and was required to identify all the trees around the school. Oh my God! Do you know what that means?????? I could have a 20 year old child! My mind has just been blown. Not that I was anywhere near sexually active when I was 14, but some of my peers were pregnant freshman year.

*shakes head fiercely*

Ok, back to the gin. Erik and I navigated a very tight maze of glass bottles to get to the very back of the store where a big sign assured me I would find the gin. My friend said to look for the bottle with the juniper berries. I looked and looked and looked and was getting very frustrated. There was a bottle that had a picture of a lime, but no juniper berries. I don’t know much about alcohol, but from my reading last night I think that maybe all gin is made from juniper berries? Finally, I grabbed Erik’s hand and as I turned my face in a different direction I noticed a section of bottles that had juniper berries all up the sides. The bottle has a weird design so the juniper berry side is not easily visible from the front.

Anyway, I bought my gin and a bottle of Shiraz and headed off to the grocery store.

It was about 1:30, so it wasn’t too bad. I used those crazy scanner things since I only had a couple of things to pick up and in the end the whole experience was ok. I even found Vienetta ice cream! I haven’t had it since I lived in Sweden! I used to get it all the time over there since in general their ice cream is really gross. In fact, the ice cream is so bad that the tofu based stuff is better. When my in-laws were here they were asking why Americans like to eat ice cream so much, so we took them to Ben and Jerry’s. They suddenly understood the obsession.

We drove home. I pulled into a parking space. I suddenly realized that I forgot another important errand! Off we went back to the shopping complex we’d just left to check out a hint that sealwhiskers posted about yesterday.

We hit pay dirt!

World Market is carrying JulMust this year, the special Swedish Christmas soda that Mike loves. We don’t have to take a trip to Ikea this season! Can I get a cheer?

I bought several bottles, so the clerk asked me if I’d tried it. “Yes, it’s disgusting,” was my very diplomatic answer. I then explained about my husband liking it, yadda yadda yadda. Mike was a happy boy tonight.

We get home, pull into the parking space, and suddenly realize “DUH! I have a package in the office.” Normally I would just walk over there, but it’s freezing out today (the reason I can run so many errands with ice cream in the trunk), so we drove over there and got the package. I thought it was some clothing I had ordered, but it turned out to be the super hero Christmas capes! They’re still in the car because I don’t want Erik to see them. I can’t wait to open them up and have a look-see!

Whew! All this after a day at Zumba that I thought was going to kill me. I love Zumba. I think I need to start going to their new 5:30 class, but I don’t know what to do about dinner and Erik. That would make an awfully late night for the little guy. We are very committed to an early bed time for him since it makes our lives so much nicer.

Erik has been begging to make a cake for the past two days, so he was very excited when I told him we were going to make a pie. It drives me batshit crazy to have him sticking his hands in my pie crust mix so I finally got smart and realized that if I give him his own bowl with some flour and water he’ll be entertained and I won’t have to be grouchy.

It worked like a charm.

The kitchen was a complete disaster, but I made my pecan pie and didn’t feel the need to stab myself in the eye so I’d say it was a successful idea. Mike, my house elf, might not agree.

I hope all you Americans have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow! I was going to be a grinch and not celebrate this year, but I say that every year. We are all prepared for a feast tomorrow, though I forgot to get potatoes. We’ll have plenty of food without them so I’m not crying too hard over the omission. Neither of us really care that much about mashed potatoes anyway and Erik won’t touch them. I thought little kids were supposed to love taters.

Tonight I realized that I understand the words “I’m thankful for my family.” I am so thankful for my boys. Life would be boring, sad and extremely lonely without them.

When I was a kid and we always had to say we were thankful for our families I never quite got it. I just paid lip service to the idea, but I was not thankful for being born into Dysfunction Junction. I was thankful for my mom, but everyone else? All they did was make my life more difficult. I’m just not a very nice person sometimes.

On that note, I’m going to bed. I’ll wake up in the morning and be super nice to my own little family. It is hard to fathom that ten years ago I was a miserable first year teacher on the verge of suicide. I thought I had nothing to live for and didn’t see how my life would ever get better. I’m so happy that my perfectionist tendencies freaked out over the idea of someone coming in and seeing the horrible mess of my gradebook. I don’t think I really would have ever had the courage to kill myself, but it was pretty close there for awhile. I’d decided to take a lot of sleeping pills and then take a hot bath, but have a towel over me. I figured that way it wouldn’t be painful, it wouldn’t be too messy and I wouldn’t be totally naked. I’m horrified by the thought now. I guess the moral of the story is that if your job makes you want to kill yourself, quit.

La la la! I’m off to bed and sweet dreams (I hope. Last night I dreamed I was in prison for murder and that wasn’t very sweet. You’d almost think I was morbid or something.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.