Thank Heavens

Whenever that 7-11 commercial comes on, I always used to feel just a teeny bit superior. "The slurpee crisis is averted," I yelled.

But oh my stars, I have seen the light.

Last night we got a 7 week old foster baby. ShallowGal may be prone to exaggeration but suffice it to just tell you that on his birth certificate, under name, it actually says The Most Colicky Baby on the Planet. We call him TMCBOTP for short.

Now ShallowGal has had her hands on many a baby. The attic is a veritable shrine to the great Harvey Karp ; a maya sling, a swing, an extra white noise machine, 3 miracle blankets, and the piece de resistance, a papasan vibrating baby seat.

I sent PCSguy on the hunt for C batteries needed to make the chair do it's magic. Batteries tend to be in one of two places, the heart shaped tin in the basement closet or the emergency kit. The heart shaped tin had 96 AA and 128 AAA batteries. But no C batteries. The emergency kit contained 3 serving trays, some garden flags, a can opener and a battery-less flashlight. (1) I'm not exactly sure what emergency we're preparing for, maybe some sort of picnic with Osama?

So at 1:30 am with a screaming TMCBOTP in tow, ShallowGal hit the road in search of 4 C batteries. Wal-mart and Target were closed. The nearest 24 hour CVS was 1/2 hour away. Even the all-night supermarkets had closed at midnight, not to re-open until 5 am.

I mean, why bother? By the time you turn off all the lights and lock the doors and get home, it's time to turn around and do it all again, right? Stay, get a head start on the donuts.

But by now you have to realize where I ended up, right? The 7-11. Where the owner / manager took one look at me and TMCBOTP and handed me a cup and pointed me towards the coffee. Although I'd have to drink a lot of free coffee to subsidize the $47.50 I spent on 4 batteries.

ShallowGal does indeed thank heavens for 7-11, but she wonders why it's called that since it's actually open 24/7 ? And how come more places aren't open round the clock? I've actually never had a C battery emergency at 2:30 in the afternoon.

And in case you're wondering, yes, TMCBOTP hates the seat.



(1) Missing C batteries, natch.