my abbott-and-costellian existance

N: I'm teaching pronunciation tomorrow using tongue twisters and need a few hand mirrors so they can see their own mouths.
Y: I have a whole bunch of them in that drawer right there.
N: Really? That's great. How many do you have?
Y: Oh, I have tons! (she indicates mountains with her hands)
N: Well I only need a few. Are any just small hand mirrors?
Y: I thought you were talking about tongue twisters. I don't have any mirrors.
N: Oh, okay. I've been looking on-line for good tongue twisters and found a few new ones.
Y: I have a big one that's like this (she makes a round shape with her hands).
N: What's like that?
Y: The one I have.
N: What the hell are we talking about? The tongue twister is shaped like that? I don't know what that means.
Y: I thought you were talking about mirrors. I have one big hand mirror, that's what I was talking about.

I try to keep up with her but always fall behind somehow. It's like I take a step forward and she takes two steps back.

Our conversation ended like this: Y: If I find any mirrors...you won't want to use them.

I don't know if the '...' adequately marks the change in tone that occured after this pause. The first part was with the tone of "If I find some, I'll let you know" but then I think she realized mid-sentence that any mirrors she might discover would be so old and dirty that they shouldn't be used any more. So she just suddenly switched gears. Because that's how my mother rolls. Consistency is the least of her worries.

Did you catch all that? I finally did, but now I'm behind on the next subject.