Sunday was NOT A GOOD DAY at the SpaceFamily homestead. We had yelling and screaming, crying because friends had the gall to go celebrate Easter with their families. Stores were closed (except Starbucks. Thank you Starbucks for two kid hot cocoas). Bedtime SUCKED.
But yesterday was better. Soleil got off to school, Luna and I went on an Easter candy hunt, Jay drove off to work. We found some cheap Easter candy at CVS, I bought a few lottery tickets for Fun (like we would EVER win, NOT!) and I drove home to grab my coffee and drop off the candy before ice skating.
We were on our way to ice skating, when I noticed a police cruiser behind me. I pulled to the side and so did he. Hmm, instead of the normal panic and anxiety I get when I see flashing lights, I was calm and thought, "what did I do? I was going the speed limit…hmmm" He asked for the usual license and registration. I asked him, "um, can I ask what I did?" He said, "You didn’t stop before turning on this road." He then went off to his car.
I thought about it and for the life of me, I still can’t remember if I stopped or just did a "stop optional" AKA yield or what. I know I never blow through that intersection, but I figure it wasn’t wise to say "You know, I was on autopilot. I can’t tell you what the hell happened. Jelly bean?" (the Jelly bean may be taken as a bribe and besides, we are pretending that they are kosher for passover. Shh.. that’s what I told Luna anyway!)
Luna wanted to know what was going on and I explained that I missed stopping all of the way at the stop sign. (I know I must have looked, I never go without looking). Big eyes and scared, Luna asked "Are you going to get a ticket?" I said "Probably. I made a mistake. I still need to be responsible for it even if it was a mistake." Then the big friendly policeman came back and gave me a warning (thanks!). He waved at Luna and told me "Just be careful out there!"
I was amazed I was calm. As opposed to Saturday when I took my car to get 4 new tires (cha-ching!) and an oil change (more cha-ching!) and they called to tell me my back brakes were metal to metal (cha cha cha ching!). All total? $1300. I took a cup of coffee when I left. Not that I needed more caffeine, but if I was spending $1300 there, I was getting a K-cup of coffee dammit!
Then I saw Monsters-vs-Aliens with the kids.
****SPOILER ALERT****
So yesterday, Luna and Soleil were discussing MvA in the car. One of the characters appears to die, but really is changing from Insectosaurus to ButterflyasaurusButterflyasaurus. The following conversation ensued.
L: "What was his name again?"
S: "Insectosaurus!"
L: "But the he was ButterflyasaurusButterflyasaurus! But he was really a moth"
S:"Yeah. I saw his feelers"
L:"The feelers had the feather like stuff and only moths have that. Butterflies have antennae."
S:"They should have called him Mothosaurus"
Mom:" How about Mothra?"
Both:"That’s stupid mom!"
Sigh
I did the EXACT same thing about 2 months ago right down to the “can I ask what I did wrong?” and not having a clue. I was thinking about what to make for dinner. I was totally on autopilot, and I looked and sort of stopped, but didn’t really stop completely either. All three of my girls were in the back seat and I rolled down the windows before he got out of the car. He looked at them in the back and he let me go with a warning too. But, since then I’ve really got to be careful, because I noticed I tend to not stop long enough at times (when I’m not paying attention and no one is around).
About 15 years ago I was coming home from work at 11:00 PM, totally in my own little world. The car I just flew by turned his lights on. oops. I pulled over and was completely calm because I had NO idea how fast I was going. He was almost laughing…”You blew right by me. You HAD to see the lights and antena. I HAD to pull you over.” I completely owned it; if I didn’t see him I certainly deserved the ticket. He couldn’t let me off because I was going over 85 in a 55, double oops, but he cited me for 1 MPH below reckless. It was kind of funny.