get down with OCD, yeah you know me!

Lately I've been feeling that, should I be so inclined, I could totally get my health insurance to spring for a good psychotherapist. In layman's terms, I've gone a little bit batshit. Seriously. Explanations would take us a little too far into the realm of my actual, non-chronicled life, so they'll stay omitted. But for your vicarious pleasure, I'll submit the following example of life with the loony.

I've been crying over everything. My eyes feel like sandpaper and my makeup has been tissued off by 11am, tops. I choose to blame the pregnancy hormones, but who knows?

Anyway, here's the story. I don't have a whole lot of memories of my childhood. The ones that I do have tend to be pretty vivid, if not very relevant. One thing I do remember well is the distinct pleasures that I had when my mother would buy us new Beatrix Potter soap figurines made by Crabtree & Evelyn. Nora and I were huge Beatrix Potter fans, and the soap was so wonderful. French milled, smelling like jojoba, and pressed into the shapes of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Jeremy Fisher, and Tom Kitten. Oh, and Alice in Wonderland. Don't know how she fit in, actually. The stuff lasted forever. I loved it.

So naturally, I began to think about buying some for my baby. So what if he's over three months away from entering the world? So what if you don't use actual soap on babies right away? Better to be prepared! I dug up my credit card and headed over to Crabtree & Evelyn where the website promptly informed me that the only children's products currently manufactured by said company was something called 'nursery tales', a brightly packaged collection of balms, soaps, and creams that were NOT TOM KITTEN. I sat at my desk, trying to absorb the fact that the beloved soaps had been discontinued, goodness only knows how long ago. Then I promptly burst into tears.

I mourned the staggering loss for a day or two before admitting my woe to a coworker, who suggested that I look for them on eBay. I've never bought or bid on anything on eBay. And I was highly sceptical that anyone would really be trafficking in baby soaps made over a decade ago. But what the hell.

I was wrong.

One week and eight dollars later, I was the proud posessor of this:
And a few days later, I decided to get him a companion:


Then, there was the deal I couldn't refuse:



And then, things just started to get out of hand:
I was finally able to admit I had a problem when I emailed someone in Great Britian to ask about shipping charges for a Jeremy Fisher soap. Must. Get. A. Grip.

But this baby will be so very, very clean!