Sunday, September 05, 2004

Today the PNE - Tomorrow the Mall

Today the corniest, most expensive mish-mash of everything under the sun. I love the PNE. We'll spend the day there, from opening to the end of Bring on the Night dance and firework extravaganza. (We'll skip the rides. We spent a day in August doing just rides for 8 hours.) The SuperDog Show, the demolition derby (or whatever they're calling it this year), community dancers, talent search, mop and knife miracle demonstrations, ultra-corny but wonderful Cirque Pop, Equestriana and the smiling, beautiful sturdy ladies on their dancing Clydesdales. I'll pack sandwiches for lunch to save money but we'll buy way overpriced nitrate and grease-loaded supper (well, I'll probably have dicey dangerous don't know who made it sushi) and ice cream for sure. My kids always talk me into letting them eat the giant cube of curly fries while we watch the horse show. The people-watching is the best: always people we know all over the place but also people who we would never see anywhere else. People come into town for the PNE. It's a big day for everyone. We'll all be shiny and excited and a tiny bit scared by the grubby grabbiness of the whole thing, but Hooray!

Tomorrow my husband and his friend will rip out our dining room carpet, tear up the kitchen linoleum and commence re-flooring that whole area with ceramic tiles. It's going to be beautiful when it's done, but I have to get the kids out of the house for the day. I fear we will end up where they want to go, the mall. It's not only that I hate spending money on over-priced stuff, but that's part of it. I really miss the days when Value Village had the same allure for my kids as Old Navy does today. I also feel sad to see people who are stuck working at the mall, and worst to see people who actually go there for enjoyment. They're easy to spot, zombie-walking slow to make it last because maybe it's the best thing available for them to do with their time. What a sad sight. I'll try to make a mall sandwich tomorrow. Something outdoors like taking the dog to Rocky Point to get her out of the way of the destructo-guys too. Then the mall. Then maybe a movie? Or maybe I'll just pick up pizza since my kitchen will be a disaster, and we'll picnic in the basement and label school supplies. I don't know. We'll make the last day sweet and only 50% mall-crawl if it works out the way I want it.

Question for today: What's the best thing you ever found at V.V. Boutique?

mompoet - packing a plastic tablecloth to sit on in case the ground is wet


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