Hmph…Thus, as soon as we can manage it, it’ll be time to go for a bigger car. A SEVEN seater (since six seaters are always just a lame third seat in the front, right?). I really like our current car’s good gas mileage and doable insurance rate. I just want something safe and affordable to buy and drive. Colin’s thinking a Dodge Magnum. Anyone have an opinion?

Today we went to Goodwill, where I almost bought a third copy of 7 Habits (the other two are in storage) and a flat iron for about $13, inclusive. But I was in the jeans section after discovering in the car that mine are fast becoming threadbare when my boy informed me that he needed to go to the bathroom. No bathroom in Goodwill, the fast food restaurant in the same parking lot was presumably closed at 9am, and with no other bathroom friendly places in sight I dropped my planned purchases for good or ill, piled the crew into the car, and drove to the nearest bathroom (yay Star Restaurant!).

Bathroom duties accomplished, we headed to playgroup at a friend’s house. I didn’t mention that it’s raining–that’s why playgroup wasn’t at a park today. This friend has a humongous tub of trains and tracks, the kind every kid dreams of. Actually, she seems to have every kind of worthwhile toy. Lots of cars, Mr & Mrs Potato Heads, blocks, an indoor playground, one of those awesome sensory tubs, and on and on. All the kids were in pretty much in heaven. And there were lots of kids today, and lots of moms, so we all got our social cabin fever treated this morning. It was really fun to visit and watch the kids interact, despite a near choking incident and another one-year-old girl pulling Heidi’s hair (hard) in innocent fascination.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but after playgroup we went to the library, where I coincidentally ran into a new friend I’d met at playgroup. Fun! But both of us were a little harried by trying to keep up with our kids going in multiple directions and constantly threatening to destroy the children’s section of the library. For example, Heidi really wanted to push the power button on every library catalog computer. And Degen and Maggie almost started a contest at one point to see who could put the most books in their take-home pile. Thank goodness I caught that one before the shelves were totally emptied! Our library has pretty much no children’s books on goal setting or learning to do chores for preschoolers, though, which was my reason for the visit. I fortuitously got one that the librarian said was good on learning to tie your shoes of which all four copies were checked out. She put a hold on it for me and lo and behold, the book was returned by the woman walking into the building as I finished checking out. Neat!

Finally we’re home, all taking naps or having quiet time after a “lunch” of bananas, leftover biscuits, and bagels sent home from playgroup. I had Costco hummus and pita for breakfast…which reminds me, the container of hummus is still in my purse. And I need to get a new purse since one of my handles is broken.

Since I derive great pleasure from it and I don’t remember bringing it up here before, I thought I’d mention “Jeeves & Wooster.” It’s a comedic British TV series based on a set of novels written by P.G. Wodehouse back in the 1930s. As far as I know, it’s where the idea of calling butlers “Jeeves” comes from. Both the shows and the books are delightful.’

Colin and I discovered the show a few year back, but yesterday for the first time I acquired one of Wodehouse’s books, The Code of the Woosters. In the show, the main character, Bertie Wooster, is played brilliantly by a 20-year-old Hugh Laurie of current “House” fame (he’s British, by the way–I’m always impressed at his ability to change his accent).  Anyway, Wooster is a uselessly rich young man who goes around visiting friends and relations and getting himself into all sorts of hilarious trouble, while his wonderful manservant, Jeeves (played by the equally brilliant Stephen Fry), manages to gracefully extract him from it and pull together a happy ending.  And all this with silly, witty banter intertwined for the entertainment of all.  If you like dry-ish comedy, I recommend you check it out.  Oh, and Hugh Laurie singing “Minnie the Moocher” here is pleasantry itself.  Hee-de-he-de-he-de-he, sir.