Mother of the Year

I love a good deal. I also love keeping my children entertained and away from the TV. Yesterday, I seized the opportunity to do both. I belong to an email group for selling garage sale stuff in my area. I got to thinking about a post I'd seen about a week ago for an easy set pool like this one. I emailed the lady and they still had the pool, it was in good shape and she wanted $50. So I ran it past Hubster and he thought it sounded good, so I set off for Small Town Texas about 20 miles from my small town. I was cruising along, minding my own business, drifting off a hill when I spotted a highway patrol vehicle down the road. Now, normally, I'd do a quick brake check since it is my habit to "drift" a bit above the speed limit, but on this day, I was doing just under the speed limit, and was not at all concerned. Imagine my surprise when he pulled over and waved.me.over. Long story short, I missed the sign that signaled the beginning of Small Town Texas' speed trap, and so my just under the limit became 10 miles over and the nice officer decided that he would reward my ignorance with a $125(!!!) speeding ticket. Yeah, I'll be doing defensive driving for that one. Sheesh. So all of a sudden, my $50 swimming pool isn't looking like such a sweet deal.

You would think that would be enough, but, no, my saga continues. I brought the thing home, and I was obliged to set it up today in.the.rain. Why? You ask, would anyone in their right mind set up a swimming pool in the rain? Because I have children. That's why. And there would be no peace for me until they were swimmin' in it. So we set it all up and started filling it. The kids were happy that the rain was going to "fill it faster". Gotta love their sense of optimism. By the time it was full, it was after 6:30, and the kids had been outside with sweatshirts and long pants all day watching over it. Do you think 67 degrees and rain was gonna keep them out of that pool? Oh, HECK no! But, Hubster has taught me well. When E was a little guy, we lived in the wilds of WY. It gets seriously cold there folks. I mean like, SERIOUSLY cold. The boy would *not* wear a coat. Hubster finally convinced me that my parental duty ended with telling the child it would be wise to wear a coat. Sitting on him and physically bundling him into it was not necessary. His advice: Let him figure out why he should wear the coat. Worked then, works now. Instead of telling my excited youngsters it was entirely too cold to swim, and going into a lengthy discussion of why water is super-duper cold when it comes out of the well, AND listening to untold hours of whining, I said "You wanna swim? Knock yourselves out!" It didn't take real long for them to get good and blue, and truth be told, the water is probably *several* degrees warmer than it was when certain people, (who shall-remain-nameless-but-know-who-they-are, *koffDADkoff*) pitched me over the side of a boat into a lake in WY in APRIL. None the less, if the neighbors weren't talking before, they certainly are now. I mean, really, what kind of mom lets her kids swim in frigid water, in the rain? Mother of the year, that's who, so shut your mouths and let those kids enjoy that $164 pool I just paid $175 for.