I cooked the goose.

So yesterday I decided to wash the blankets and stuffed animal that we dragged around China with us. I specifically waited this long because I didn't want to take away any remaining "China smell" that might be of comfort to Nedy.

Nedy's gray goose ('Goosey') is her buddy. He has been since day 2 in China. He's not a "security blanket" kind of thing, as she leaves him alone most of the day, but she loves to give him hugs and kisses and says "hi!" to him whenever he's in view. Goosey is important around here.

You know where this is going already, right?

Ummmmm...although Goosey's internet description says he is washable, I guess they meant 'surface washable' because...ummmmm...I cooked the goose. Turns out Goosey *was* stuffed with wool. I retrieved him from the washer as nothing but goose skin with a large lump of compacted, matted wool inside. THE HORROR. Dan was distraught. I was distraught. We were even more distraught to find out that Goosey is no longer available in gray, so there was no replacement option. (And, how the heck could we just replace Goosey?! I mean, he's GOOSEY. You don't just go out and get another because he's a little...ummmm...jacked up.)

Sooooooooo...after Nedy went to bed last night, I got out my seam ripper and went to work. I pulled the matted wool out his side, restuffed him with some machine washable fill, and sewed him back up. I was careful to reattach his tags, as Nedy loves his tags. And then I decided to do one better and give Goosey a new tag. A big, robin's egg blue tag. When the repair was done, I went at him with the lint brush for 10 minutes or so to work up his nubbiness. And I have to say, when I was done I was proud of myself. Goosey looked nothing short of AMAZING.

But the test came this morning when Nedy got up. I'll let you be the judge. (Yep, I'm proud of myself.)