Rumplestiltskin

The next Princess Tale is in the works!!! Rumplestiltskin, based on one of the Grimm Brothers' many fairy tales, centers on Gilda Aurelius, a shopkeeper's daughter, and a mysterious little man named Jack. I am going to try to have it finished by the end of April, but it may take longer than that. Here's an excerpt from Rumplestiltskin.

I slid off the stool and onto the floor. I'd been working for what felt like forever, and I'd made no progress at all. "This is impossible," I complained to the empty room. "No one can spin straw into gold."

"No one, says you?"

I jerked my head around. There, leaning casually against the wall, was a tiny man of some sort. Had he been standing next to me, I doubted he'd have come any higher than my waist. He had flame-red hair, and wore an elegantly tailored emerald green suit and top hat that matched his mischievously sparkling eyes perfectly.

"Who are you?" I shrieked.

He swept his top hat off and bowed extravagantly. "Jack Ryker, at your service. And you?"

"Gilda Aurelius," I told him...

"Well, Miss Aurelius, what was it you were saying about spinning straw into gold being impossible?" Jack asked.

"It is impossible!" I said. "I've been trying for the past three hours!"

"Nonsense!" Jack said. "You've just been using the wrong method, that's all." He grabbed a hank of hay, sauntered up to the spinning wheel, and sat down on the now-vacated stool. "Now," he said, "watch and learn." He did the same thing I had, but the strands that now twisted around the spool were made of solid gold.

Shopping: A Curse and a Blessing

Like most members of the female sex, I enjoy shopping. I love just taking a whole afternoon and going out with my mom to browse racks and try on clothes and have a lot of fun spending money and cooing over cute clothes and making fun of ugly ones. And then we go out for fast food afterwards (usually Arby's) and have shakes and share fries and tell dorky stories about what happened at school. Then we go home, listening to a Disney CD and singing along occasionally. (Well, mostly my mom.)

I also hate shopping though. The store never has my size. The size I'm supposed to be isn't what I can fit in. The thing I really like is expensive. I can't find what I'm looking for. My mom thinks a completely hideous outfit is "adorable." The salespeople mob me, smiling plastically and asking if I'm looking for anything, to which I always reply with a slightly annoyed, "Just looking, thank you." If I actually need a salesperson, one will never be around. While I show Mom how a shirt fits, someone will steal my dressing room, with my purse and street clothes still in it. My hair will get messed up. I'll never find what I'm looking for.

Case in Point: Last Friday, Mom and I went shopping for a shirt for me to wear to our fine arts meet we had yesterday and a dress for me to wear for graduation, as the black dress in the picture on my blog needs a jacket and since it's vintage we're having a hard time finding a wrap to go with it. (And it's ripped.)

I was very excited, because one of my best friends had told me she'd found her graduation dress at Dress Barn (why they named it that I will never understand; who wants to go shopping for a formal dress in a place with a name evocative of cows?) and they had just restocked the day before and they had some great stuff.

So we went, leaving right after school. We hit Dress Barn, where I tried on a cute sheath the color of a mushroom. (Nixed: sheaths aren't supposed to be worn with a jacket, and it didn't look that great on me anyway.) Mom found a completely adorable brown dress on the clearance rack. (Also nixed: while it was exceptionally cute and a gorgeous brown color and great fabric and a cool hem, it had a VERY low back.) I tried on a fancy red velvet shirt. (Rejected: too tight and it shed sparkles all over my black pants.) A white ruffly blouse. (Denied: I came out to show Mom and she started laughing hysterically; I still don't know why.) The rest of the dresses were weird colors, or not checkable, or in ridiculously large sizes, so we left.

Then, after dinner, we went to Kohl's. I tried on clothes for forty-five minutes. I tried on a cute brown sundress that I just ADORED. It was even on sale!!! But it was a few inches too short, and my mom's sharp eyes found poorly-done seams, so back to the rack it went. Blouse after blouse was rejected: too tight, too loose, too low, unflattering, weirdly colored. FINALLY, I found a black shirt that would work for the fine arts meet. It was on sale, so we bought it for a reasonably good price and left at around nine.

I'm still looking for that graduation dress. If you have any places to recommend where I could find a stylish, modest dress, I'd appreciate if you'd leave it in the comments.

I Love Weather!!! (Hehe, not.)

In about March, the weather around here starts getting exceptionally weird. Sometimes it's amazingly awesome and summery, sometimes it feels like the middle of January, and yet other times it's rainy and wet.

We have had all three this week. On Monday, all our snow started melting; by Wednesday, it was all gone. It was so nice out. I wore shorts and a t-shirt and felt completely awesome.

And then I heard there was supposed to be snow Friday. I laughed.

Friday dawned nice and sunny. By about seven, it was raining; sometime around nine, it started snowing, and when I woke up this morning, we had about an inch or two of snow.

It's mostly gone now; my little brother went outside and played in our yard, serving the dual purpose of getting rid of the snow and ruining the view at the same time.

What will the weather be like next week when I'm on spring break??? Stay tuned...