Random Tuesday Thoughts

After a week off, I'm back to do my RTT update! Let the randomness ensue...

• My 80 year old grandparents spent the past week in Africa, checking out the local wildlife. This is their second trip there. Since retirement they have been to Europe, the rain forest, Panama, Alaska, and a few other places I'm forgetting. Up until about 20 years ago they had never ridden a plane or left the country. Grandma says this is their last big trip. I hope you guys had a wonderful time! I know you have lots of adventures ahead of you - they just may not involve lions.
• We bought a giant play structure at Costco this weekend and I don't think we quite understood what we were getting ourselves into with this purchase. The four 9ft boxes (plus slide, plus hardware boxes) required the rental of a pick-up truck to get home. If we had tried to tie that thing to the roof of our car, it may have made it around the block before flying off into oncoming traffic or crushing our car completely. Add the 1,000 lbs of playground sand we had to load - getting that thing home, unloading, returning the truck, and actually getting started took about 2 hours. We worked on construction (three adults building, one watching little ones) for another 5 hours and had to quit for the day on step 3 of 37. Two days later and I'm still sore. Do you think there's a construction fairy, and how do I get him to visit us?
• Insomnia is lots of fun. It's like a present your brain gives you that you didn't ask for and don't want. Thanks brain. You're awesome.
  
• River has a new friend. He's an invisible blue and orange monster that fits in his palm and goes by the name R-River. I never had imaginary friends that I can remember, but based on how fantastic this guy is, I wish I had. The name alone cracks me up. It's like some futuristic robot name. I know it's just a product of River learning his alphabet (R is for River), but I love that he used it to name someone. All of his other animals are named things like Monster, Big Bear, Little Bear. He can't say "this friend is a by-product of my subconscious and a figurative representation of myself." But somewhere inside he knows it.
  
• I'm in love with The Dollhouse. Really I would watch anything that Joss Whedon wrote (and if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog yet, there is an empty space inside you that needs to be filled). So far the ratings on Dollhouse are bleh but I have hope that they won't Firefly this show and take it off the air before it has a chance.
• We went to PetCo the day we picked up River's monstrosity playset, hoping to kill some time with the animals before the other stores opened. When we walked up to the sliding doors at 9:45am, they didn't open, so I checked the hours posted on front which said open on Sunday at 9:30am. We did what any parent desperate for entertainment would do and pried the doors open. (What? You wouldn't do that? You're a better person than me.) The lady at the front of the store was very nice and said, "Sorry, we're not open until 10." A fact which should have been obvious from the doors having to be, you know, pried open. But my mother always taught me false-advertising is wrong and I made a stink about the fact that the sign on their door was wrong. We walked away, me feeling very smug and put out. When we drove past the door on our way out of the shopping center I looked at the sign again to reinforce that smug satisfaction; however this time I noticed what the sign ACTUALLY said was Store Hours: 10am, GROOMING HOURS: 9:30am. And then I felt exactly like what I was: a giant asshole.
• And just for the sake of saving the shred of dignity I have left, let's talk about snuggles. Snuggles are always good in my book. Yesterday River and I were killing some time at Whole Foods before a playgroup and about halfway into breakfast he had a snuggle attack and jumped into my lap. He then wanted to pretend it was naptime, saying "Night-night," asking for his (pretend) blankie, and telling me to rock him. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Check out more randomness at Keely's place: The UnMom