Way too long between posts but I've had a couple of hurdles, health-wise. After cutting my knee and the sudden, inexplicable foot pain I caught a nasty head-cold which has not fully departed. I still don't know what went wrong/what I did that caused the foot problem but I have an appointment with a podiatrist Wednesday. Almost all the swelling is gone and there is very little pain, so I do not hold out much hope of learning anything from said appointment, but I'm going because, if nothing else, it will placate Alan and The Boss.

This is my last story from our weekend away: the power of being nice. Our first night there, I used a couple of the toiletries the hotel had provided and the shower gel smelled so good. I just loved it. It smells like nothing so much as 'fresh and clean'. I made a mental note of the brand and figured I'd Google to see if it could be ordered online. It can; it's this stuff.

The next morning as we were on our way down for breakfast, we passed the hotel housekeeper in the hall. We spoke to her and chatted for a couple of minutes - 'hey, how's it going, isn't this nice weather, have a good day' sort of general pleasantries. She was still on our floor when we returned from breakfast but this time passing her, Alan noticed a ton of the little shower gels (and soaps and lotions) in her cart. He asked if we could buy a couple. She seemed a little puzzled so he elaborated on how much I liked the shower gel. She said, "No, you can't buy them from me! But you can have some!" She handed me a couple and I thanked her very nicely. She called after us, asking what room we were in and we told her.

Every day when she cleaned our room, she left extras of all the bath products and lotions, and then the morning we were to depart, there was a knock at our door. She handed Alan a plastic bag FULL of the shower gel. This is what I have left over after using it every day and giving some to my mom:

It turns out that they sell the stuff in the hotel gift shop, and if she'd directed me there, I would have thought nothing of it and thanked her for the info. Instead, I believe because we chatted with her and treated her like an actual person instead of "the help", she was extra nice to us - and we left her an extra-nice tip. The warm and fuzzy goes around.

And the shower gel smells fabulous.