unspilled milk

I put the last of the milk in a mug and microwaved it yesterday. As a sort of a re-pasteurization step, it does a lot of good. But I forgot it and found it in the microwave this morning after I couldn't find the cup of milk in the 'fridge. Ewwwwwww. (It still smelled fine, but I'm not going to risk it.) Even more unfortunate was that this was after I'd already brewed the coffee.

It looks like I will be going to the grocery store.

The other thing on my list to do today is think of 3 fun things to do and 6 places to eat. My SO has late work all week and there just isn't a lot of point in spending hours in the kitchen brewing resentment. Better to treat it like an opportunity to explore new restaurants.

orig fic: Julian's Dreamhouse

stayintheroom Prompts #60
02JU2009

Julian looked at her Barbie Dreamhouse. It stood empty. He had been to nearly 50 garage sales the summer he bought it for her. She was the little sister of his best friend, but she was always at Julian's house, with Julian's mother, in the kitchen Julian's father had remodeled by hand.

Julian had built her a dollhouse from cardboard and tape, but the rooms had been too short for Barbie's head. Julian had named it Midge's house and tried suggesting they have a Zombie party, where headless Barbie and headless Ken came to dance with friends, but she'd just cried silently when Barbie's head didn't stay on anymore. His dad's recriminating look had been scathing, while he kindly said to her, "Julian will fix Barbie and find your Dreamhouse."

Julian remembered scrounging websites for garage sale notices and helpfully mentioning the ones with furniture to his mom for her refinishing service. He even offered to come along and help her load things into the pick-up truck. It had been a very long, very hot summer. But Julian had found replacement Barbies and new friends of Barbie early on, so he was sure it would be just a matter of time. He had been happy when his mother bought him Barbie's pink convertible in time for her birthday, he remembered, surprised by the unspoken support for the project. It had taken until the very end of August, past when school started, before he found the Dreamhouse.

Now, years later, she still had it, but the house was always empty. Julian still had the Barbies' heads from the zombie fiasco in a shoebox. Maybe those would come with him to college. They could be set out on the shelf in front of his books and to everyone else he would look all goth with his plastic severed heads.

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prompt: "The house is (finally/always) empty."