When my sisters and I were much younger, we had a Commodore 128 (with 64 emmulation mode!). One of our favourite games was a Barbie game, that in retrospect, had to be the most sexist game ever. The game went like this:
Barbie, who was as immobile and plastic on the computer screen as she is in real life, is standing around her house, when the phone rings. Surprise! It's Ken! Ken is calling to invite Barbie, his go-to gal for lame-ass events, to go somewhere. Usually, it's boring stuff, like playing tennis, going on a picnic, or going to the pool. Sometimes it's to the prom (which seemed normal at the time, but makes no sense now. They weren't in high school, so did they just drive around looking for proms to crash?). Whatever it was, Barbie always responded with a chipper, "Gee, that sounds like fun!" Then Ken would tell her he'd pick her up in an hour, and hang up.
Now came the challenge - getting Barbie ready for whatever it was Ken was taking her to. She'd drive around in her car, and you'd stop at the shoe shop, the hairdresser's, and various clothing shops. You could change and colour her hair, or change the colour and pattern of the clothes and shoes - but she had to be back home in an hour! Which is soooo unrealistic - everyone knows that it takes two weeks of solid prep time for Barbie to pick out the perfect ensemble to go play tennis.
Once she got home, one of two things would happen. Either the doorbell would ring and Ken would whisk her off to some boring function, or the phone would ring and it would be that pansy-assed coward Ken, calling to cancel. "Gee Barbie, plans have changed, would you like to go to the [insert event]?"*
Because we played this game so much, "Gee Barbie, plans have changed" became a catchphrase in our family - a way of saying that something we had planned to do had undergone some retooling, and we needed to replan. And it was a fun way of boring aquaintances with stories from our childhoods, so, y'know - two birds, one stone, and all that.
All this to say that the plans for going home this weekend have changed. Not drastically, but changed nonetheless. My sister and I in the roll of Barbie, and my mother in the roll of Ken (sort of). The original plan was that I was going to stop at her place on my way home on Friday night, Saturday morning we'd hit the LYS in her neighbourhood, and then we'd proceed home. I'd get my hair cut Saturday afternoon, and then we'd hit the LYS's there.
My sister called this evening to say that my mother has been dropping seriously heavy hints about wanting us home Friday night, so we altered our plans accordingly. She, her husband, and my younger sister will head home Friday evening, and I'll head straight home Friday night. It's actually a better plan, since it required a detour to get to her place. Plus, we'll have Saturday morning to hit a few LYSs, get my hair cut, and then hit a few more. Plus, I won't have to worry about the blueberry perogies thawing out over Friday night, and I can cook them up when I get home.
*Incidentally, if you put Barbie in a bikini or skimpy bathing suit and heels, it was guaranteed that Ken would take her anywhere, even if it was to the prom. Asshat.
