Y’all who seriously think I’m going to go out and build a “pet” for the snowman are DUH. REE. MING. You know what the high temperature was today? Like, 10. Farenheit. The HIGH, let me repeat. Homie don’t do playing in the snow, and homie don’t do playing in the snow ESPECIALLY when the temperature is horrifyingly, bitterly cold. Besides, the snowman is covered in three inches of snow already, so he doesn’t care about having a damn pet.
Good lord, what a long, long day. We left the house a few minutes after 7:00, picked up Debbie, stopped so she could get something for breakfast, and then hit the road. Four and a half hours later, we reached our destination: the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. And more importantly:
The spud!
The spud met us at the mall, and I hugged her for about fifteen minutes before I let her go (or maybe I just hugged her ’til she squirmed loose, one or the other). We got right down to business, considering the cold-ass weather (JESUS it was cold) – buying her a winter coat. I’d told her a few months ago that I’d get her a winter coat for Christmas, and then when I decided to fly to Rhode Island last week, I told her we’d go shopping for the coat when I was there, and since the flying-into-Rhode-Island part didn’t work, we ended up waiting ’til today.
Did I mention the unholy frigid coldness of the weather?
Since we were in JC Penney when we met up, we decided to look and see what they had, and she tried on three or four different coats, and then settled on one she liked a lot.
(flickr)
We walked around the mall for a while, and saw a nekkid mannequin, and are juvenile, so had to snap pictures:
(flickr)
and I was a bit startled to see that mall security roams about on their very own Segways:
(flickr)
By the time we’d roamed around the big-ass mall (it has three levels!), we were beyond hungry, so we went to Bertucci’s, the only sit-down restaurant in the mall.
The spud and my mother.(flickr)
Lunch was fabulous, and after we’d eaten lunch (and shared dessert), it was time for more mall-wandering. We hit all three levels and bought a few things, and by the time we’d done that, it was 3:00 and we were done with the mall.
Debbie is a teeny bit obsessed with the show Ghost Hunters, and it appears that they are based out of Warwick, Rhode Island, and since we were about half an hour away from Warwick, it would have been a shame not to make the trip to see the building and do a little stalking.
Unfortunately, when we got to the address she had, either TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) has moved, or they’ve taken down their sign. We circled around by it a second time, and then I told her to park and we could walk down to the address she had and do some investigating of our own, but she wasn’t up for that.
I kind of wish now that I had insisted – it was kind of a shame to go that far and not make the extra effort, given how excited she was at the idea of seeing the building and possibly some of the people from the show.
I snapped this picture to show the high outside temp of the day, but the fact that a 60-something, an almost-40 year-old and a 37 year-old were listening to 50 Cent on the radio is too amusing to pass up, blurry picture or no. (flickr)
We drove back from Warwick to the mall to drop Danielle off at her car. I gave her a good long hug, kissed her, told her I loved her, and let her go on her way.
It was really damn good to see her. Hopefully I’ll be able to spend more time with her this summer!
(flickr)
We used my father’s GPS to get to all our destinations (and Debbie did all the driving, poor thing!) and JESUS CHRIST that GPS lady is one pushy bitch. You miss one little turn, she has a fucking coronary. She tried to make us drive up 93 through Boston during rush hour, and when Debbie opted for 95 instead she had a fit. Later, when we exited 95 to find a place to pee and get a drink, she had a conniption, all “Turn left! Do a u-turn! Turn left and then right! Turn around! GODDAMN YOUR SOUL STRAIGHT TO HELL TURN AROUND I SAID!” She came in handy, but damn. Take a deep breath, control freak!
Previously 2007: Good ol’ Jerry Ford. Remember when he… pardoned Nixon? Yep, them were the days. 2006: No entry. 2005: No entry. 2004: No entry. 2003: My God, I love Sam’s, have I mentioned? 2002: Why, that’s almost as exciting as the fact that my birthday’s in less than a week! 2001: Fred, being the man, is legally required to deal with all car-related crap and I, being the woman, am legally required to bitch at him until he does so. 2000: So we apparently had a 2.8 earthquake today about which I knew nothing. ]]>
You and the Spud have identical eyebrows! Hee!
Oh, to be so potentially close to Grant and not see him. Not that I find him paranormally sexy or anything. Really. I swear.
Don’t you hate it when you start yelling back at the GPS computer lady. I had one in Phoenix trying to tell me to turn right into the friggin Phoenix airport runway!
That’s my mall! Good thing you didn’t meet up at Providence Place if you think that Emerald Square is huge. And it’s carpeted.
Are you watching your normal shows in Maine? I always like reading your opinions about The Real Housewives and whatever crazy thing they’ve done in the last episode (and the Lori storyline this week just made me LAUGH, and for once think that maybe George is okay).
It’s -17 here right now.. thats NEGATIVE NUMBERS.. Robyn we’re gonna freeze to death.
Aww, I miss reading about the Spud.
Entries like this are why I read you so very.very.faithfully.
I feel like I’ve gotten to “know” you and your family thru these, the inter-nets, and I care about your lives as they unfold. The photo of you two with the menus made me tear up – so playful, such joy to be together.
Thanks for sharing today, it just really made me feel sad in that way that we all know and love!
Mary
So nice to see the Spud’s smiling face–and her new blue coat is quite snazzy.
You and the Spud look like sisters! I bet it was so hard to let her go – glad you had such a nice day together.
You may tell Debbie that she’s not the only one obsessed with Ghost Hunters. If I or DS had been anywhere near Warwick, Rhode Island (which will probably happen around the time Hell freezes over), we’d have gone hunting Ghost Hunters our own selves. DH thinks we’re both completely nuts (though he will admit that some of what they’ve found is compelling), but I was surprised to discover that my home-bound brother also loves the show. My little brother occasionally shows a bit of intelligence.(g)
Good to see The Spud’s smiling face. I’m only amazed you let her wriggle free after 15 minutes.
And I suspect your GPS lady is the same one we have. My husband is amazingly patient with her, especially since she is occasionally quite wrong. But he uses her for long trips — like driving from our house to his parents’ house, which I’m pretty sure he could find without her help.
My boyfriend Rick has the same GPS lady. We call her Gertrude and cuss at her like the annoying person she is most of the time. Rick claims that the satellite information used by the GPS has a 30 meter error programmed in by our government–paranoid about the information being used to direct bombs–and thus Gertrude is excused for minor errors. When Rick’s especially happy with her, he changes her name to Gina and acts like she’s flirting with him. Jack, our 10-year-old, never allows this for long. “DAD” he says, scandalized, “her name is GERTRUDE!” I must need a champion against the bossy, inanimate trollop.
My 4 year old nephew asked his mother why the navigater was a lady. When she asked him why he said – if she’s a lady she won’t know where to go! Out of the mouths of babes. She didn’t know whether to laugh or correct him.
Looking at your birdfeeders made me wonder about something. I put up a birdfeeder in my backyard last summer and because of loose seeds and shells, we had tons of strange plants crop up all around the ground underneath it. Do you have this happen with your feeders? Is this because of a certain type of feed? I’m reluctant to keep the feeder up because of this although I love having the birds around.
It is so good to see the Spud! She looks so grown up and very happy!
Aww How nice that you got to spend time with Danielle! I bet you miss her like crazy!!
What’s really funny to me is that you and the Spud look nothing alike at first glance. But you have the same eyes, nose and mouth. My daughter and husband are the same way….
I also have GPS in the car and normally she is named “Betsy” but when she routes me through the ghetto she is renamed “Tawny the Street Whore”. And she is a pushy bitch, too.
Awww Spud! (Hey, that sounds like that old SNL commercial for Spud Beer!) It’s so good to see her here – I can only imagine how happy YOU were to be hugging your girl again. Thanks for the pics!
My husband and I are also fans of Ghost Hunters. There’s a new show on A&E called Paranormal State and we’re almost liking that one even more.
I’m also obsessed with Ghost Hunters. My entire family got TAPS t-shirts for Christmas, including our DOG! I even DVR it so I can watch it over again if it was a good episode! LOVE the G and J! They ROCK! And Contrary, you KNOW G IS paranormally sexy! Oh yeah!
-Nancy
Question for inquiring minds… How far away does the Spud live from your parents and Debbie?
That mall is right near me and I remember hearing 7 or 8 yrs ago that it was sinking a good amount each year and that eventually they’d have to close it. Not sure if they fixed it ??? but haven’t heard anything about it in awhile ! Great to see you and your lovely daughter together. You look so happy! I moved to Ireland when I was 25 for 2 yrs and came home one Thanksgiving and it felt sooooooooo good when my mom hugged me and wouldn’t let go:)
Someday you MUST get to the Providence place mall-it’s truly beautiful!Maybe you’ve been? Providence has come a long way since the 80’s and early 90’s…..;)
Oh, the GPS. How about “Route Recalculation”, “Route Recalculation” on and on. Last time we used it, I said to my husband, if you don’t follow THEIR directions, I’m turning it off. Well, he did follow and we found a quicker way from Delaware to NJ – avoiding the traffic.
That picture of the Spud and you is beautiful. You look so happy/proud.
Wonderful pictures. And being along the same snowbelt/cold line that you’re currently in, you’re right. It’s cold and I like it not either.
We’ve fondly named our GPS lady Towanda. GPS’s are wonderful things, but if you don’t do exactly as Towanda says she definitely starts twitching and moaning in that irritating “Turn around when possible” voice and you want to smack her. For grins and giggles, and a change of pace we’ll sometimes use Paul from Scotland.
Glad you’re having a wonderful time with your family.
Spud looks SO grown up all the sudden! You look like sisters now rather than Mom and daughter! Mine only moved 20 miles away and somedays that is just too far (he is an only too!) so I can’t imagine how good it was to see her and how far summer must seem!
No, I’m not a control freak. You just don’t get your streets right–EVER! And now take that 93 exit or … or … or …
The GPS Lady
Homie may not play in the snow, but Homie is willing to go walking up to a house that is used as a location for a television program that probably isn’t even shooting due to the writer’s strike just so she can get a peek at, Gasp!, a TV Star!. Geez, talk about priorities. So don’t go sayin’ Homie don’t do Cold – because she just showed us that she will. Debbie, on the other hand, not so much. AND, Mr. Snowman may be covered in three-plus inches of freshly fallen snow – but that’s all the more reason for him to have a kitty to commune with. How long could it possible take to mold a little kitty at Snowman’s feet? Really. I hope you conveyed my Thanks to your Dad.
It was nice to see Spud. She looks so confident and pretty in her new blue winter coat. I’m glad you were able to see her aftr all.
I had the pleasure of riding in a tow truck with a GPS recently after my Mom’s car broke down. After some time of awkward silence as the woman demanded “turn left!, drive .09 miles and then turn right! Redirecting…” I turned to the driver and asked him if perhaps there were less irritating voices for the system. “Well,” he said, “I did have Mr. T on there, but that was worse.”
I imagined it the whole way home, “I pity the fool who don’t take the next right!”
The spud looks beautiful and I am happy to see that you arrived there safely. Happy New Year!
Tammy
Dawn-She is about three and a half hours away……….depending on traffic:O)
You and your ex-husband (and the spud’s dad) seem to have a pretty good relationship as parents. I admire that. My Friday question: Was it ever ugly or messy when you two got a divorce and how much of a say did the two of you have together regarding the spud? My parents divorced over 30 years ago, did nothing but fight even after they were divorced and still hate each other now! Which is sad. It seems like the both of you did a great job parenting even though you weren’t together!
So nice to see the Spud on your site again. You must miss her madly. Glad you got a visit in.
When in Holland this past year my sis’ car had a GPS (much needed there!) and the man’s voice was very dignified. At times he too would get all obnoxious on us and it was tempting to turn him off. Bloody bastard knew we NEEDED him too much though, sigh..
you were SO close to me! I LOVE that mall!! love the pictures too =)
My husband insisted to use the “British accent” setting on our GPS and he calls her Elizabeth. And, yes, she is a pushy bitch.