In-Laws, Harry Potter, and other stuff

Generic stuff today:

Another Sunday-afternoon visit to my in-laws' for dinner yesterday. Sometimes I feel like I don't fit in out there. Okay, most of the time. Yesterday was so fun - two of the Burrito's cousins have nasty summer colds right now, so of course they spent all their time within two feet of him (they have no concept of personal space, and the toothpick-sized 3-year-old tried to pick the Burrito up and carry him (!), luckily not dropping him on his head before someone grabbed her). Youngest sick cousin spent a lot of time coughing on Burrito's toy car, too. Then one of the oldest cousins (old enough to know better) was using the toy car for a sort-of roller skate, barefoot. I'm not a big germophobe, but jeez, people! The car's getting disinfected, and I'd run it through the dishwasher if I thought it would survive.

Then Least-Favorite Sister-in-Law (parent to the rollerskate cousin) managed to get in another snide compliment. El Burrito started really sort-of walking last weekend at my parents' - bopping along while holding our hands as we walk behind him. He loves it. So we showed Granny that little trick, and then he was doing pattycake for her. Which is not a new thing, we've been playing pattycake for months now. Least-Favorite SIL pipes up and says "He's finally catching up, isn't he?" And I swear, that's almost a word-for-word quote - I'm not sure about the "isn't he" part. I'm sorry, I didn't know he was running behind. I came thisclose to saying that out loud, but I bit my tongue. Twit. She's moving rapidly up the "People who can bite me" list.

I finished the last Harry Potter at 1:00 this morning. Started re-reading it over lunch, because I read it pretty speedily the first time. Had to find out who died and get it over with, you know. And oy, what a list. I got lucky - ordered from Amazon with the free shipping, which usually takes a week or so, but the PO delivered it Saturday, just as we were leaving to do the shopping. And before we could get out the door, my sister called to see if I'd gotten mine yet. Then she called Sunday afternoon to see if I'd finished. :)

An acquaintance of mine (fellow that went to the same church) died last week. Two years younger than me, with two little kids. He was working on a construction site and fell 30 feet. His family was able to donate some of his organs, but it's still a tragic thing. I've been trying to decide whether to send flowers or a donation to the fund set up for the family, but since visitation starts in an hour, I'd say it's too late for flowers.

And I need to read up on strollers, convertible car seats, and Mozilla Thunderbird. My ISP is requiring an email program with features that Eudora doesn't have, and since I refuse to use Outlook, Thunderbird is the best option. Stroller shopping is a pain in the #%%, because the stores here have virtually nothing as far as options - Target has exactly one non-travel-system stroller, Toys R Us has 3, and Walmart had 2. Toys R Us is the only store that will let you push the strollers around the store; everywhere else they've been tied down and de-wheeled. And that is the sum total of available stores, other than Sears, which I haven't visited yet. It's insane that a city this size has such crappy options for baby-shopping. Car seats are just as bad - we've narrowed it down to Evenflo's Triumph or a Britax Marathon or Roundabout. Of those three, we found one (a Britax) in stock at Target. Zilch on the other two. The big question is which seat will fit in my car - that will probably be the deciding factor. DH's car isn't a problem, being a mid-sized car (Ford Taurus). The Escort, on the other hand, isn't exactly a roomy car.

And now I've gotten all that out of my system, so I feel better. Time to go change the laundry and feed El Burrito.