Finally Spending "Money, Money, Money By the Pound"

Name that movie. 

All day long I have been stewing and mulling.  How do I tell you about two completely unrelated, long-awaited events that both occurred today?  I pondered.  I Googled.  I wrote.  I deleted.  I was interrupted at least 15 times in my attempts to get this down.  And now it is 10:30.  I don't know if I can be as funny as some of this deserves when it is this close to my bedtime.  We're just going the straighforward route.

Let's take the event that made Hubby so very happy.

More than two years ago, we had a huge tree fall in our front yard.  It was one of the 150 year old behemoths that line our driveway.  We spent a good long time cutting the branches off, but our chainsaw wasn't big enough to get through the trunk.  That tree trunk is still in the exact same spot as it was two years ago.

Several weeks ago we had another tree come down on the side of our yard.  It was old and dead, with no branches on it, but once again our chainsaw is not big enough to handle the 100 year old trunk.  It has remained in the yard exactly where it fell.

Last summer our HD channels stopped coming in.  We had someone come out to check on the satellite dish, and we were told that a tree branch 20 feet in the air was blocking the signal.   The branch was way too high for us to reach, so we left it.   We were pleasantly surprised to get those channels back once autumn came around and all of the leaves fell off the tree. 

One night last week, Hubby was watching something on TV, and at around 9:30 the satellite signal was completely lost.  The next morning, I was able to watch the news, as all of the channels were back.  That night, 9:30 hits, and Hubby loses his channels.  We immediately knew that the tree had grown and was now blocking not just the HD signals, but every single one.  Then, and only then, did Hubby declare, "We need to get someone out here to cut up these trees."

Tonight, Hubby is merrily flipping through all of his "new" HD options while extremely large piles of chopped up trees patiently wait for us to haul them to the burn pile.

And now, to my happy day.

For the first time in twelve years, six months, and two days I had three full hours of errand running on a weekday with only one child in tow.  (For those of you trying to do the math, twelve years, six months, and two days ago I gave birth to Buttercup.) 

Who knew that there were no lines anywhere on a weekday morning?

Yes, I still had one child.  But it was only one child!  Usually my errands look like this.  One child means glorious, peaceful, calming quiet.

Not one child sent me into a panic attack by accidentally stepping in front of a moving vehicle in a parking lot.

Not once did I have to break up a bickerfest over who was on whose side of the cart.

Not one boy spun into the path of an elderly woman in the aisle of a store.

Which means I didn't get one nasty look from an elderly woman.

I never heard multiple children chant, "Mom!  Mom!  Mom!  Mom!  Mom!  Mom!" all at the exact same time.

Which means I didn't have one inkling of a headache.

Do you have any idea how much a person can get done when she doesn't have to stop to deal with these things?  Errands I have been avoiding for months and months were getting checked off in lightening speed.

I got a loooong-overdue haircut.

I finally bought the box springs and rails I need in order to get Star and Giant out of their bunk beds.  It's been on their wish list for at least six months.  I bet Star gave up all hope of ever getting out of that top bunk.

I bought the spectator chairs to replace the broken ones we threw away several weeks ago.

I bought the locker organizers the kids asked for on the first day of school.

I spent 25 minutes just browsing and breathing in my favorite scent.  Yes, I have a Kindle and only read books on that, but I love, love, love wandering around a book store.

OK, I didn't just browse.  I bought Halloween books for the nieces, nephews, and goddaughter. 

Basically, I'm spending all of the money I didn't spend in twelve years, six months, and two days.

And I'll get to do it again next week.  And the week after that.  And the week after that...

Unless, of course, I run out of money.

Have a lovely day!