I pretend the squirrels are monkeys and that I'm in the jungle.

Last night I had the most exciting dream. I don't really remember what it was about specifically, but there was a lavish palace involved, betrayal, murder, a surprise twist ending, and so many beautiful fabrics. It started with some people who had bought a run down palace and were fixing it up to make into a hotel. Then the brother of the dead man who had owned it came along with the dead man's son, who (for whatever reason) had been abused and brainwashed into his hired muscle. The uncle was trying to swindle the people out of the palace and using the nephew to scare them. Then (somehow) me and the owners pulled a My Fair Lady on the nephew and made him into a gentleman who realized that he was heir to the throne and the palace rightfully belonged to him, yadda yadda ya. But the uncle was furious at this betrayal and called in the police to arrest the nephew and me and the other people (whoever they were). Very intense part of the dream. I go screaming and rushing into the throng of policemen arresting the nephew, cursing about the injustice of it all, but can't seem to free him. Then I remembered the gargoyles on the edges of the palace have machine guns built into them so that if the house ever came under attack, it would spray bullets everywhere in defense. (Remember this is a dream, so it doesn't have to make sense.) I realize I can grab one of the cop's guns and shoot at the gargoyle and it would activate the machine gun and kill all the cops. I knew the nephew (and rightful king) would be safe because he had already been locked up in the bulletproof paddy wagon, but I also knew I'd probably be killed in the spray of bullets. I heroically fired at the gargoyle, but even in my dreams I'm a terrible shot and missed completely. The sheriff instantly arrests me and says he's taking me in personally, instead he whisks me away to some sort of hotel and puts me in hiding as a maid. (The dream never explains why he suddenly becomes good. Whatever.) So I'm in hiding as a maid to a rich American woman with big hats, and I'm miserable because I believe the nephew/king and his sister (who had somehow come into the picture for the first time) are dead. Meanwhile, the country has been whipped into a frenzy by the evil uncle and they are actively looking for anyone connected with the royal family to kill them, so I am constantly afraid I'll be found out. Then the American lady goes to an auction where they were selling off objects from the palace and she brings back a bunch of scarves, an absolutely beautiful bunch of silk cloth, and a small box. She tells me and the other maid that they had come from the palace of Ariennes. I insist the scarves are far too ugly for Ariennes and that someone had conned her. She shows me the silk cloth and says she was told it was to cover the dining room chairs. I have a hard time keeping the tears at bay because I remembered helping the nephew/king pick the fabric out. "Oh, yes," I say. "THIS is from Ariennes." Then the American lady goes home and leaves me a box for a present. Inside is the cloth with instructions to make a dress and the small box. Inside was a huge diamond ring. The woman left a note saying that she had been well aware all along that I had come from the Palace Ariennes and that I was one of the rightful owners of the cloth. She said she had found the small box wedged into the desk of the nephew/king and from what the rumors had told her, it was going to be mine when I married the king. This makes the dream me cry. The gifts inspire within me a new belief that if I made it out alive, then someone else may have as well, so I go out into the city for the first time to find news. The sheriff sees me in a cafe and slips me two envelopes before leaving wordlessly. Inside one envelope is a letter written by the sister, who states that she had been rescued by the sheriff and was in hiding in a convent and found that she is quite happy among the nuns. The other envelope holds a piece of paper stating that the king had been executed on such and such a date and his body had been shipped to such and such an address. I was determined to see his burial site and so hop a train and arrive at the stated address, only to see that it isn't a graveyard at all. Instead, it's a pawn shop in a very quiet country town. I go into the pawn shop (with it's tinkling bell on the door) and ask the clerk behind the counter if he could give me directions. The clerk, who had had his back to me, stiffens, then turns slowly to face me. It takes a while for the dream me to realize the clerk is the nephew/king, though with very short hair and a scar on his cheek. He limps around the counter, his face a mask of disbelief and suspicion and.....................the freaking dream ends. But I think with a few adjustments this might make for a good book.
So, I went online to find a cute, yet cheap, journal and was surprised to see how few there were. When you walk into Barnes and Noble there are TONS of journals for sale, but few, apparently, make it onto the website. At any rate, I found one, and stumbled upon some great history books on sale, so I bought them. The rest of today really, really sucked and I don't want to talk about it. So.....the end.