A Blast from the Past

Girlmama brought Miss D (and her snotty, snotty nose - I am a goner) to visit today. We played for a while, ate lunch and got bored. So we took a drive out to a new home community built by my former employer - long story short, big company sold out to bigger company, but the brand is still out there.

We met the agent in the office, and I didn't recognize her at all, but she placed me. Turns out we had interacted on a crazy lawsuit over a decade ago (the company did nothing wrong). It brought back memories of a time that was mostly down the post-brain-thang memory hole. And the new community is LOVELY! Girlmama fell in love with a house that could actually work for them - it's spacious and a great floor plan and affordable - though as we left the neighborhood she asked the same question I always ask, "So where do you SHOP around here?" Because if you're a working mother with a young kid, the awesomeness of the community clubhouse and junior Olympic swimming pool is less practical then where you can grab diapers or get a prescription filled on a Sunday night. She'd have to be satisfied with that issue before it would hit the short list, and this is how house shopping should work.

They aren't really ready to make a move yet. We just visited for the hell of it, hoping Miss D would nap in the car. She did nap, and I bumped into somebody I had nearly forgotten, and the neighborhood is lovely - it has HILLS! In Florida!! I KNOW, RIGHT?? And a big dog park and the aforementioned gorgeous clubhouse and pool, and now I know what it is like, and that made the trip worth it.

Before we took that drive Miss D played and the dogs loved on her obsessively. Miss D is snotty. May's parting shot was her trip to the ER late one night last week - croup. Ear infection. The Pink Antibiotic of Childhood was deployed, and while she is a snotfest and I am sure I'll be sick by Wednesday, she is chipper and smiling. My daughter reported that giving her the antibiotic was harder than giving a cat a pill, but this evening reported that it's easy if she lets her administer her own dose. If she can put it in her mouth by herself, no problem!

And on that topic - I picked up some baby treats to keep in the pantry, so my daughter doesn't have to haul everything possible with her. I discovered that the baby cookies are not just fine for Miss D to practice feeding herself, but are fantastic for her nearly toothless admirer! Almost no fat, enriched with vitamins and calcium, and less than half the price of the Only Dog Biscuit Murphy Could Eat! And of course, they are designed to be easy to gum, so no worries there. I think I'll be buying a bag of these on every trip to the store from now on - and Murphy has a new reason to worship Miss D.