Saturday was spent primarily trucking around from fabric store to fabric store looking for the right fabric for the shirt for my Willy Wonka costume. I discovered that generally the price of fabric is directly proportional to the size of the store. For example, at the Fabric Depot they have a huge selection, but a particular fabric was $10/yard there. At a small Jo-Ann, the same thing can be had for $2.50/yard. Now, granted, you’re paying for selection and convenience at Fabric Depot, but that’s a little spendy, thank-you-very-much. I bought at Jo-Ann.

Sunday was a family reunion for the people on my mom’s side of the family. It took place at Rainbow Falls State Park in Washington. Nice park, not a whole lot of people, so it was a good spot.

The thing about a “family reunion” for that side of the family is that I see these people all the time. All the time. Holidays, birthdays, random times of the year… Maybe not all simultaneously (that’s almost more than a person can handle, if you know what I mean), but I see them all the time. So it’s not really a “reunion” so much as “another get-together.”

I hadn’t eaten all day, and the agenda for the event said we were supposed to get there and eat at noon. After a nice couple-hour trek into the sticks, we got there and when noon rolled around… for some reason, we weren’t eating. I’m really not sure why. I think we might have been waiting for someone or something, but… well, here’s my take (and if/when I run some event on my own, this is how it’s gonna be): The schedule says noon. Come hell or high water, if you aren’t there at noon, you just get to eat late. We’re eating at damn well noon. I’m not waiting for you.

One o’clock rolls around, still waiting. The hunger has passed beyond me to other people and the finger foods started disappearing - anything you could walk past and grab without a lot of people noticing. Probably 1:30p hit and we started eating. Actually, it was more like, “we started milling around closer to the food with the intent to eat.” Here’s another one: I have no issues being “the first to eat.” I don’t care if you’re the first either. The person closest to the head of where the line will eventually be had better get his/her ass in gear and get going. If we’re not eating on time, I no longer have the patience to wait and see who’s digging in first. We’re all eating the same food here

• let’s get on with it.

I’m sure I ate more than my fill, but there’s always a lot of food left, so even being fuller than full (as I’m sure everyone else was, too), everyone ended up taking something home.

After the feeding died down, we were all sitting around talking, which is probably the most entertaining part of any of these get-togethers since it seems random crap happens to that side of the family a lot. I’m not sure if we bring it on ourselves or if it’s just luck. For example:

My aunt and her boyfriend were at the Clackamas Les Schwab getting tires or something the other day. Apparently there was nowhere to sit inside, so they went outside. Not finding any benches, my aunt’s boyfriend went over to the brick-wide ledge surrounding the front window of the place and perched up on that. My aunt followed suit, wedging her ass up on the ledge until -

Crash!

The front window of the Les Schwab broke. I guess it cracked from top to bottom and side to side. She claims there were bullet holes in the window that had weakened it but… well, keep telling yourself that. Hehehehe.

They went back inside and were greeted at the front desk as “Mr. and Mrs. Crash.” Rock on.

I guess if you go to that Les Schwab the window is taped up with duct tape while they wait for a replacement. (My aunt didn’t have to pay; Les Schwab’s covering that. Maybe they’ll put a bench outside, too?)

A couple hour drive home and we were finally back by around 8:00p. It was a long day, and I think I’m still sort of recovering from it. (I’m not really a car-trip person, particularly crammed into the back seat.)