Did I mention

. . . that my sister is giving me a bit of a makeover for a birthday present while I'm in Georgia. Apparently I'm getting the package deal at a salon -

"shampoo, rinse, treatment (as in deep conditioning or something like that), a cut
and style. You also get a free brush with the package. "

I'm about 4 months overdue for a haircut, but I'm a little worried about this. I don't deal with change well, especially when forced to change, and although I've been pondering a hair change for a while, this may not work out really great. Given my preferences, it'll be limited to a haircut with no layers and fairly straight across the back, since that makes it easier to braid and go. An oval cut leads to a frizzy braid, or a half-length braid with a really long tail that looks bad.

There's also been mention of a makeup consultation with Bare Escentuals or however they spell it. I haven't worn makeup in 7 years, and that was just for the wedding.

Busy Busy Busy

All right, so I'm online and therefore not too busy at the moment, but still. I'm trying to do NaBloWriMo or whatever the heck it's called. We'll see how that works, what with being out of town for a week. :)

***

First of all, my plecostomus (aka the foster fish, Squiggy the Strange) is weird. He went on a tear in the tank at lunchtime, and hit the lid hard enough to knock the fish food jar onto the floor.

Right now, I am trying to find out if UPS has something similar to the USPS's mail holding service. We're going to be out of town, and I may or may not have a package en route. I ordered a model horse from the factory and they don't believe in letting customers know that their purchase has shipped. Yes, I've been spoiled by Amazon and others, who actually give me the tracking number so I know when to stay home and wait for a delivery. Since UPS does a return-to-sender after the third attempt, I need a plan.

El Burrito is feeling better. The nasty cough Sunday night must have been the worst of it. So he won't be feeling too lousy on our trip, yay!

Speaking of which, I need to start packing. El Burrito's stuff alone will probably take half of the car space. Other than that, we just need clothes, a few books for me, possibly a crochet project, and of course the sack of stuff that Mom is sending for my sister.

I also need to

• arrange for someone to feed the fish and make sure Squiggy is alive, because he would make a stink after a week, and he would die while we were gone just for spite
  
• water the plants
• remove anything from the fridge that could become sentient if left alone for a week
• figure out what's going on with the "big" camera (the SP-510; the FE-120 is the "little" camera), because the weird focusing thing is getting to be a problem
• find out if there are any tricks to photography at an aquarium
  
• make sure all the batteries are charged and ready
• find the car charger for the Tracfones
• set the VCR - can't miss Stargate: Atlantis, or the CMA Awards (and I tape the music awards - FFwd through the fluff, watch the show in an hour)
• take care of various YahooGroups that I own
• work on a plan for McCaffreyQuest 2007, since the questions will be posted while we're at the aquarium, and answers need to be submitted before we leave Georgia

And I'm sure there are more. Sadly, it won't all get done before we leave, unless we suddenly get some 30-hour days this week. I gave up the idea of listing things on Ebay last night; it was only going to save me $1.50, so I decided staying up until 2 a.m. wasn't worth it. Turns out there's maybe a better deal now, with free "gallery" listings or something.

I need a nap

It's 2:00 here, and I'm already wanting the day to end. Sheesh.

Why? Well, long story. To start with, El Burrito is still feeling puny. He had a nasty cough-till-you-gag going on last night, with all sorts of congestion. That's been going on for a day or two, so I called the pediatrician's office this morning. Got a callback at 10:15, can we be there at 10:30? Not so much, thanks (it's a 20 minute drive and El Burrito was just eating breakfast). So we got the 10:45 appointment, and I set a record for getting us both semi-presentable and out the door. We were only 3 minutes late for the appointment, so we only spent 5 minutes in the waiting room (sick kid side).

Verdict: Nothing going on in the ears, which we wondered about since El Burrito woke up in the night slapping himself on the head. Nothing in the lungs, either, so it's just sinus drainage, which is why it's worse at night. Just a cold, in other words. That fever last week was the beginnings of it all, and it'll probably clear itself up in another week or so. Humidifier, fluids, et cetera and so on and so forth.

Which means, joy of joys, that El Burrito will be feeling "meh" during our trip to Atlanta this week. Fun. But at least we know it's nothing serious.

And I've gotta say, he may be feeling puny but it's not slowing him down any. He got ahead of me after we got home, and I caught him splashing in the toilet. That got him his second change of clothes for the day. Then he was bopping around while I downloaded my email, and got the Vaseline jar. I've got pics of him happily smearing goo all over the kitchen floor, and himself. Clothing change #3, and it wasn't even noon yet.

So now he's asleep, and I've got to get cracking on the laundry that didn't get done this morning while we were gone. Oh, and go clean the kitchen floor again, since I'm sure the first run didn't get everything. And then figure out how best to wash hand towels that are slimed with Vaseline. And then, if I get time, list a few things on Ebay while they've got a listing sale going (which ends tonight). Plus, getting ready to leave for Atlanta in a couple of days, which means packing and figuring out a glitch with the camera, among other things.

But all I really want to do?? Is sit and vegetate for a while.

Vacation's over

Our little vacation is over. We're leaving after lunch to go get El Burrito. He's been having a blast with Grandma & Grandpa since Thursday night. Mom says he can say "tractor" now, and got to play with his puppy, among other things.

And now I'm going to go compose a reply to the seller of that Ebay auction, to let them know that I won't be paying the extra $45 in shipping that they want. I realize that it's still a decent price on the puzzles, and that it was probably an honest mistake, being their first sale and all. But it's still twice as much as I thought the total would be, so that's that. I'd really like to have the puzzles, but oh well. Sooner or later they'll all show up on Ebay again; they're not that rare.

Daylight savings time

I hate the time change. Nuff said

Trick or Treat, and other stuff

"Other Stuff" first:

El Burrito is spending the weekend with his grandparents. They actually drove up to get him yesterday afternoon, so I spent the day packing what he'd need for a 3-day sleepover. I remembered the meds, since he is coming down with a cold along with the teething - the runny nose and probable sore throat is more than just teething. I managed to forget the extra-layer bodysuits, though, so hopefully he won't need them. Mom called this morning with a report. They stopped off at an aunt's on the way home and El Burrito had fun. Until they had to leave Aunt's toy cars behind, that is. I suspect he'll get toy cars for Christmas. He's been on a car kick lately anyway, although I've got no clue where he got it from.

So we had a quiet night. Well, aside from DH having a 5-second "eek" when he woke up in the middle of the night and thought El Burrito was being awfully quiet. :)

I took the opportunity to do things I couldn't do easily with El Burrito around. First was calling the medical group that I haven't been to in a few years (since my last PCP went AWOL with no explanation) and beg an appointment for today. The doctor confirmed that the Nasty Zit from H@## on my back is, indeed, a boil; probably staph, possibly MRSA. She lanced it and took a culture, so we'll know for sure next week. No surprise if it is MRSA - El Burrito had a mild MRSA infection before he was a week old; either he picked it up at the hospital or we were already carriers. And I suspect that the three Big Nasty Infected Hairs this summer were also staph. So now I've got a bag with $85 worth of medicine to clear things up, and instructions to pay strict attention to handwashing and not reuse bath towels for a while.

After that lovely fun, I returned a few things for refunds, hit the Halloween clearance at Walgreens, bought two balls of beautiful wool yarn on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics, and traded some books in at the used-book store. Now I just need a way to keep from buying the same book twice. It's only a problem when I pay full price for both of them, which thankfully doesn't happen often. I do wish the store would give an itemized receipt of some sort, though. It would help to know if I got anywhere close to breaking even on what they accepted.

There was a drawback to the book swap. Usually I come home with fewer books than I took. This time, not so much. They only took part of what I offered, which is fine with me. But I also hit the mother lode in the Trek section - the first 15 or so volumes of Best of Trek, and all but one in lovely shape for books from the 1970s and 80s. Also found a Dorothy Lyons horse book, hardback and in great shape, for the insanely cheap price of $1.50. Now if I could only find a decent copy of Harlequin Hullabaloo, which I don't see happening anytime soon. The other used book store in town has a copy, but it's got a severe mildew problem and they still want $10 or so for it. That's probably why it's been on their shelf for the past 4 years (I'll swear it's the same copy, based on the mildew design on the cover.)

So, on to the Trick or Treat pictures.



Our Halloween decorations, featuring the El Burrito jack-o-lantern. It's a painted craft pumpkin, with the same teeth as Burrito. Almost - I need to add the newest tooth.



The free picture from the grocery store's Halloween Walk.


Showing off the teeth at Grandma's house.


Hot on the trail! Boy's gonna be a powerwalker when he gets bigger. The grocery store had Goblin Stations set up around the store, with costumed employees handing out goodies. For the first half, the Burrito would see the next station and make a beeline for it. He wasn't afraid of any of the characters, which I'm happy about. He would take the candy from the tray and put it in his treat bag, and waved at everyone.

Walking with Daddy.

The Walk only took about 15 minutes, and the candy haul was acceptable. A granola bar, apple, juice pouch, gummi fruit, and 8 mini candy bars. I think that's about the right amount. It's more than he needs (or will get to eat), but not enough that Horrible Things would happen if he ate it all at once.

A little Ebay puzzler

I've got a nice little Ebay problem to ponder on for a few hours. I won an auction about 10 days ago for a big lot of puzzles. The shipping quote listed in the auction was $25, which sounded about right for something bulky but light (they're the foam-backed 3D puzzles). The seller was new, only 4 feedback, but I decided that the price was good enough to make it worth a shot. What I didn't notice at first was that while the seller's location was listed in the US, the puzzles were in Mexico. So the seller emails me after the auction ends, saying that he's out of town but will be in Mexico this week and get back to me with a definite shipping price as soon as he checks with UPS/DHL/etc.

I got the shipping price from him today (after asking for it) - $63 to $69 dollars, depending on carrier, thanks to Customs. Ouch. Since my winning bid was only $20, that really hikes the total up. I'm not sure whether to go ahead and pay, or see if we can't mutually agree to cancel the transaction or something. That effectively doubles the average price per puzzle, which is what's making me go "Ack!" - but it's still a decent deal, providing the puzzles are in good shape.

And now I don't know what to do. Gah!!!!