Updates

Well, Maggie is doing OK. Dr. Rodgers said she thought the weekend fever/croup-like cough was probably a virus that Maggie was able to lick quickly, while the current yuck is a sinus infection. Everything looked/sounded clear (ears, chest, throat), but Dr. R said she suspected it would get worse if not treated, so Maggie's on an antibiotic now and should be feeling better soon.

After her appt., we went to WalMart to exchange one of her bday gifts she'd received two of. That, combined with $8 she'd received in birthday money (Bobby's aunt and grandmother always give you money equalling your age) led to an educational shopping trip for Maggie. I'd told her she could pick out $18 worth of toys, books, whatever, but that we were sticking to the $18 rule. Of course she doesn't know how to read price tags, but I kept a mental tally, and whenever she spotted something else on the shelf, I'd tell her how much she had left to spend. She really wanted a big Disney princesses playset, but it was $17.99, and I explained to her that she'd have to put all her other toys back if she chose this one. In the end, she did some smart shopping: she got a $3 dress-up crown/ring/earrings set, a $5 Polly Pocket with two pets, and a $10 Belle princess playset.

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Another reason we miss Purrcy ... he was our "Noo Noo." Those of you less familiar with the Teletubbies may not know that Noo Noo is their vacuum cleaner; whenever they make a mess, he simply sucks it up, easy as pie. Purrcy would live under our dining room table whenever we were eating a meal, and anything that hit the floor would be gobbled up. Now, not only do I have to grieve the loss of my beloved pet, but I have to clean up my floors every night! Bobby says we have an applicant for the position of Noo Noo II -- Shadow, one of the new (not)kittens, seems to be interested in the falling crumbs. He's not as good as our old pro, but maybe one day ...

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Here are some pictures from our Halloween. As background, my best friend and her husband live in our neighborhood. Dee was out of town until late Friday night, so John hung out with her brother rather than handing out candy all alone. But before he headed out for his guys' night, he stopped by the house to see Maggie in her costume. He didn't have any candy, so he brought her two oreos. I think maybe this picture was taken before her mouth was coated in black cookie residue. (It did add nicely to the mangey dog look though ...)

Bobby's niece and nephew came to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Sierra is a vampire, and Dakota (who didn't actually t-or-t but just wanted to dress up) was a Jedi. I think.

Here's Maggie at the front porch of our great friend Suzy. (Suzy is the one who feeds our pets whenever we go out of town. She is the BEST neighbor.)

Here are the pumpkins we carved:

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And finally, this picture has nothing to do with Halloween ... sue me. I meant to stick it at the end of last week's wit and wisdom post, because it was just kind of quirky and funny, but I forgot. The story behind this photo is that while I was on the computer ordering all that American Girl stuff last week, she was upstairs playing happily by herself. After a while, I kept hearing these thuds coming down the stairs, but whenever I asked her what she was doing, she'd simply reply with a sing-songy "I'm OK!" so I didn't worry about it. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the computer room and saw this:

For those of you keeping score at home, that's two shopping carts (one filled with plastic toy dishes), two doll wagons, a big doll stroller, three baby dolls, and a doll swing.