I'm taking dinner to a co-op school family tonight - the mom's just had major surgery, dad's trying to work and parent and go to the hospital. Different families have been doing a dinner run 3x a week for 2 weeks - it's really nice, and underscores the different reasons why this co-op feels like home a lot of the time. I dropped an email earlier trying to figure out what foods they'd seen too much of, if they were hungry for anything in particular. Turns out, everyone's been avoiding chicken and casseroles as too obvious. Which is also kind of cute.

funeral directors must have a very interesting sense of humor.

I would totally date a funeral director.

When my father died, the fellow at the mortuary did what his kind is meant to do and put on the solemn, "I knew your father..." speech. I politely stopped him replying,"Okay, look. You know my father because, a few years ago he came in here and dropped a load of money. No one in the Universe is sad at his passing, least of all me. So, let's get past that."

In a matter of minutes, we were convivially yucking it up...as I systematically rejected most of the truly silly things my father had spent gobs of money on (a pink casket, really?) and ended up having a great time. The fellow was clearly relieved to not have to front.

He told us some of the in-house jokes and I absolutely roared. Bless him.

Turns out, everyone's been avoiding chicken and casseroles as too obvious. Which is also kind of cute.

That is so sweet.

I generally make hearty soups. Easy to heat, freeze and accessorize.

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Fireman Sam"

"Fireman Sam who?"

"Fireman Sam's on the TV!"

G's idea of a knock knock joke.

G sort of misses the point of knock knock jokes. That's such an adorable age.

So, I just made an appt. with a different vet for Mickey. I'm not really pleased with my other vet and the fact that they wanted to charge me $300 for a CONSULT (no tests, no treatment, just a look at his records and a chat) seemed incredibly ridiculous to me. A friend recommended her vet and I'm taking Mickey there next week. I'm going by Vet#1 to get his records today.

I already feel a little better about this just by doing that.

I hope you get what you need from the new vet. That consult fee is outrageous.

In pet news...or rather, mushy petmom stuff. Bartleby and I were out for a walk this morning when he limped and held his paw up.

We have so much stuff on the sidewalks around here, it is a fairly regular event. But this time, it was worse than usual. When I reached down and swept his paw with my finger (my job at such times) he yelped and gave me that 'this is horrible!' look.

I sat down on the sidewalk and spread my legs and asked him to lie down. He scrunched up so super close to me that he couldn't actually lie flat. I eased him down and cradled him so I could get a close look at his pads.

I suspect it was a rose thorn that poked him.

As I finished up the inspection, he licked my face and relaxed. In that moment, it struck me how fortunate I am to love anything so much. When I was young...the angriest dog in the Universe...just trying to figure out how to be me, I would never have guessed that my heart could be so open.

If you are looking at thyroid treatment, you need to like and respect your vet and their office. Good choice, ChiKat. It's so key. I've been there.

I am a good daughter. Just found dad lemonade. Our "tailgating" at the track is both of just reading. We'll go in in an hour. Til then, noses in stories, the both of us.

Bonny, that's so heartwarming to hear!

I was apparently a bit overzealous in my tax filing, and totally forgot to claim the new furnace ($1500 credit) that i signed for and was purchased in December, tho not installed until last week.

So i just did an amended return, but i have to snail mail the amendment. *sniff* If i had just waited a couple of weeks coulda saved soooo much time. That was really confusing. Like, do i just mail in the new forms, or do i really have to mail in the WHOLE BLOODY RETURN that the IRS already processed? Pretty sure it's just the amendment form and the new schedule, but i suspect this will take longer than just today to straighten out. Totally worth it for $1500, but still irritated with my lack of procrastination this time.

Good foot news!

Just met with my surgeon. Looks like there will be less breaking and more scraping. This is good news for my recovery. Woot!