We Girls Can Do Anything!

Earlier this week, I took Piper to the vet because she was a little under the weather.  When I called to make the appointment, they asked me to get a urine sample, if possible.  I suspected she had a UTI, so I went out with her and was able to catch her midstream.

Sorry if that's TMI, but I was happy to be on top of things.  Turns out, I was right, she did have a UTI, and now three days into antibiotics, she's doing better.  It's scary when the dog is sick - they can't tell you what's wrong.

The great news is, Piper isn't a sickly dog.  Her predecessor went to the vet at least three or four times a year for non-annual exam stuff.  She had a growth on her lip once.  She had a cyst on her paw.  She was on a strict Vitamin K regimen for six weeks after gnawing on rat poison.  She had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis twice.  She had terrible allergies and would chew herself raw.  She had congestive heart failure and at least twice pulled a muscle and was gimpy for a few weeks.

Poor Lola.  I adored her.  I was also extremely neurotic about her, and that rests squarely on me.  We both had separation anxiety - she caught mine.

We do the best we can with our dogs, with what little we know at the time.  And they do their best to tell us something's wrong.  

Because I had to take the doodlebug to our vet, I took a half day - which was overkill because I called at 8AM, got an 8:30 appointment and we were home by 9:15.  I could have been to work by 9:30.  But I decided to take it easy.  I went to Target to pick up a few odds and ends.  What I found was mostly odd.

I love going through the toy section because as a kid, Target (which, at the time was still Richway) and K-Mart were the big games in town.  I know my sister got her Barbie 'Vette there.  It was sort of a metallic purple with pinstriping in pink.  It was a sweet ride.  For those without a car for Barbie, you could always use a shoe, or a shoebox.  My grandmother (Mom's Mom) once made us a closet for Barbie clothes out of a sturdy cardboard that was a few inches taller than Barbie.  It was cute.

I did love playing Barbies.  When I was in third grade (or so), my friend Natalie and I had a spare leg from a doll whose playing days were over.  We wrote on it, "100% sexy" and put it in the mailbox of our classmate/my neighbor Jim.  When he got it, he threw it at us.

When I got married, I received from Jim and his wife a Barbie leg as a wedding gift (and a nice paring knife).

So, you know, Barbie and I go way, way back.

Naturally, I wanted to know what my girl is up to these days.

A few years back, they came out with this Fashionista Line - which included tall Barbies, short Barbies, curvy Barbies, and all kinds of skin tones and hair colors.  There was even a Fashionista Ken with a man bun.  

So I'm happy to report that the Fashionista Barbie is alive and kicking in the toy aisle.

But I have to say, the best thing about Barbie, in my day, was her clothes.  I mean, the whole point of Barbie was to dress her up and make up dramatic stories involving her being pregnant, or being a business woman, or whatever.  Now Barbie looks like she's going to go out to the club, and she bought a new top at Cato to impress.

Your future is bright, but your peplum is hideous.

Here we see Spacey Spice, 2 Sporty Spices and One Reporty Spice

In terms of the clothes for sale, there weren't many.  Poor Barbie had a tacky flight attendant garb - which was a dress that had a skirt and printed on it.  There were a few fugly Christmas outfit - fake ugly sweaters (made like the uniform), and short skirts.  No ballgowns or chic little ensembles for a foodless brunch next to the potted plant in some little girl's living room.

Apparently, Barbie can do anything, but she won't because she hasn't got a thing to wear.

My glasses say I'm  smarty in the streets, my stilettos say I'm slutty in the sheets.

I spent way too much time taking stealth Barbie photos.

I also bought myself a few school supplies, because I could, and I picked up some things for the bulletin board at work - we're going to a new theme - question of the week.  In theory, this is actually simpler, partly because it's not my baby - I'll just be a nanny from time to time.

But the board desperately needed a refresh, so new paper, new borders, new month, new theme.

Details to follow.

On all kinds of things.

In my next post.

ae