(Near-)Misadventures

After Shrike left for work today, I decided that it was too nice out, and Peeper was too cute in her bunny outfit, for us to stay home, so I began planning a trip to Target.

I got myself dressed, and Peeper rediapered, and behatted, and into the car seat and grabbed my keys, and . . . .

Where are my keys?

Not in the diaper bag.

Not on the end table.

Not on the "dining" (ie: clutter storage) table.

Not on my desk.

Oh yeah, they are in my jacket pocket!

Where is my jacket?

Not on the couch, where we usually dump the car seat and jackets and such.

Not hanging on a dining chair.

Not . . . oh. Yeah.

In the "back-back" of the car.

Locked in the "back-back" of the car.

With my keys in the pocket.

Well, shit.

So, I called Shrike and asked her if she could think of any place I might have put the keys, other than where I was absolutely certain that they were.

Nope.

Of course, what had been a "eh, what the hell" trip to Target suddenly became a Very Important Outing, and I suddenly got very claustrophobic at the thought of being home with no transportation all day.

And then I remembered -This is what we pay AAA all that money for - to save us from our own stupidity.

So, I called AAA and asked them to send someone out to unlock the car.

Meanwhile, it was getting close to 4 pm, so I thought I'd better see how late Target would be open, since it's a holiday.

Doh!

Not open at all today!

So, I called Shrike again, to update her on the key situation, and whine about Target being closed, and she suggested that we try KMart.

A quick phone call confirmed that the KMart folks are as heathenistic as we are, as they were running their normal Sunday hours on this holiest of days.

Yay heathen capitalists!

About then, AAA guy came and got the car open, my keys were, indeed, in my jacket, and we were on our way.

Of course, Peeper had plenty to say about that, but then she wore herself out and fell asleep, so I took advantage of that and made a quick trip through the Taco Bell drive-thru for a "fresco" (no cheese or sour cream) burrito, and then - off to KMart!

Shrike had asked me to pick up a couple of things for her, and I managed to remember one of them. I also got a few things for myself, including some Oreos, which it turns out, seem to be dairy-free.

(No, I do not want to think about what the creamy middle is made of, if the entire cookie diary-free. )

Then Peeper and I basically just played around in KMart, and I discovered a wonderful thing - the toy section!

Now, taking, say, a three-year-old to the KMart toy section just to browse would be hellish, what with the "I wants" and "buy mes" and "whah whah whahs" - but Peeper has no concept of the market economy, so she doesn't know that we could make those things come home with us if we wanted to. She also has little or no object permanence, so she doesn't know that we didn't.

It's like a baby amusement park. Fun stuff to look at and listen to and play with and then it all stays there and doesn't fill our house with loud, obnoxious, battery-eating, lead-filled plastic crap.

(Yet.)

It was great!

I spent most of my time on the baby aisle, looking at all the cool stuff labeled for "6 months and up," pressing buttons, making noises, and showing it all to her.

She seemed to be enjoying herself, but the one small hitch to wearing her in the wrap (in this position) is that I can't see her face, so I can't be sure just how much fun she's having. I know that she's not mad, but beyond that, I'm really just guessing.

After KMart, we stopped at our favorite convenience store, for coffee and dinner (which is in the fridge, waiting for me), and I talked baby-wearing and extended-nursing and White House Easter egg roll with a complete stranger. (She started it.)

And then, back home for a clean diaper, and some goody and a bit of a nap - followed by toy time and naked time (for Peeper, not me!), more goody and a longer nap (shhh - still napping!).

Other than the part about Mommy missing it all because she's at work, it was a pretty good day, after all.