I am preparing for a last-minute business trip (read: what, my toenails look like I live in a cave and I'm not sure what I have clean to wear), but today when I picked up the little angel from summer camp, she said:

"Mommy, I have a green band! I can swim in the big kid's pool!"

And we did a little happy dance around the parking lot.

And I told her over and over again how proud I am of her.

Then we went to swim lessons and made a bunch of extra sandwiches for lunches and picnic dinners at swim lessons while I am gone, and she helped me pack, and the Celebriducks had a show in the bathtub in which the Celebriduck Dorothy may or may not have sung an extremely off-key version of Over the Rainbow.

That's the best way I know to celebrate. Hope you're having a good week. Posting this week will most likely be bizarre as I attempt to navigate the NYC subway system on less sleep than I would prefer. This month is totally bizarre for me.

Also -- I saw all your comments about ladybugs. I went to Ace Hardware after swim lessons, but alas, no ladybugs. WE WILL PREVAIL. The search continues.

The ladybugs I ordered from Amazon arrived a few days ago in the midst of a nose-clogging heat wave. I waited until the little angel got home to open them -- I was so excited and sure she would be, too.

We pried open the package to find a little plastic container filled with wood shavings and 1,500 dead ladybugs.

I shook the container, hoping some would crawl out from under the wreckage.

The little angel shook her head santimoniously. "Their legs are all curled, Mommy. They're dead."

I actually refused to believe this. "They can't all be dead."

I shook the container again.

"I told you not to order live things off the Internet, Mommy."

I stared at her. Since when is my seven-year-old lecturing me on purchase behavior? WTF?

I stalked inside and pulled up Amazon, determined to return the stupid dead ladybugs. Let them have their funeral at an Amazon warehouse. The Amazon return process is pretty amazing -- you fill out some stuff and a Fed Ex guy shows up with a return label and you just hand him the box. The problem is you have to select a reason for return. These were my choices:

I chose "does not work properly."

Because they were dead.

But any of these would've worked, really. Different from what was ordered? Yes. Different from website description? Yes! Missing parts or accessories? Like a heatbeat?  YES! I could go on and on.

So now I guess I have to find some local ladybugs. Any ideas?