I cleaned, and cleaned, and...shopped!

You were perhaps expecting something different?

I worked all day yesterday on the house, and verily I say unto you, my house is now a palace, until the wild masses of midget terrorists Moobear and Meelie No brought every single child in the neighborhood over. I quickly stepped into Mommy Mode, which I reserve for the day in which I find myself in difficult situations with children swarming around me. "Smoothies for everyone!", I cried. " And then I prayed to the man up above that I had all of the proper ingredients. I set everyone to work, sending Master Nick over to the china hutch to retrieve the special wine glasses for the occasion. (Mind you, these were one's that I had gotten at Beal's Outlet for 20 cents a piece and they are plastic). Yes, I know...I'm such a spend thrift, but nothing is to great for my little angels and their gaggle of compatriots. I assembled everything and quickly made up the smoothies. Whilst the blender was whirring away, I began to plot my next step which was to get them out of the house so I could finish up what I needed to do. This way, I felt, I could at least enjoy a clean house for about 5 minutes. After smothies were poured, and brite, neon (my eyes!) straws passed out, I sent them on their way. They were all to walk along our street, drinks in hand and make observations. The first of which was that the boys were to count the number of trucks and the girls were to count the number of regular cars. I then informed them that they were to report back to me with the answers and to collect their next assignment, as well as get more smoothies. They were also aware that I knew the exact number of cars and trucks on our street so they'd better not mess up. Ok, I told them that but they bought it so that's good enough for me. As they were rushing towards the door, I shouted "No running allowed. You might slip and fall, and the glass will get smashed and you'll cut yourself on the plastic and need stitches. And how would I explain THAT to your mothers?" They all giggled because they are kids, and heck, I made the smoothies and I am the one who has ownership of the pitcher so they knew they must do as they were bid.

I'm happy to report that it worked and I didn't have to think of anything else for them to do, because as they were filing in the door with their carefully calculated numbers, the mother's began to call and ask that I send them home for dinner. My day was quite successful. The only thing I needed to do now was attack the children's rooms.

I began that task first thing in the morning and I was in my ruthless mode. If I didn't recognize it it was thrown out like a worthless boyfriend. I had about 75% of Meelie No's room complete when my friend Sharon called. You remember her? She was the one who had sex on the beach. She was in search for a candle and wanted to hit Beal's Outlet. I began to twitch violently, wrestling with my inner self. I knew that I was committed to finishing up the girls rooms today. But, I argued with myself, I could finish it when I got home. I began to whine to my inner self and eventually I just stopped listening. The long and the short of it was, I went with Sharon.

I hit paydirt. This wiped away any guilty conscience that I had about not finishing the girls rooms, and leaving my husband to deal with the little rug rats angels. I am happy to report that I paid full price for nothing. I have been trained by Sharon (a world class bargain hunter) to look and look hard for those things that are marked down. I got three vinyl table clothes, each for under 60 cents a piece. I'm tired of washing placemats, and I have young children, so this was a no-brainer. I have started to put together my sunroom, which will have the theme of Litehouses. I found THREE items (two of them 60% off and one 95% off) that I can use in that room. I also found a sweat suit for my youngest ($4.00) and a skirt for my eldest ($3.29). I felt elated, invigorated. No bargain would get past me!!!!! Oh, I also want to mention that I am always in search of hair accessories for the girls. I hit paydirt. I came home, I was happy, the kids were happy, and my husband was happy that I did not spend the money needed to pay the bills.

The children's rooms may still need work but by gosh, I settled for nothing but the best bargains. I am a mother. I am a bargain hunter. I am so damn sore from all of the work I did yesterday that I can barely move. But hey..it doesn't matter...I bought two bottles of Ibuprofen the other day during a buy one get one free sale.