Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Every Now and Then, I Get Some Brilliant Idea

My mind is usually always whirling with great ideas, but I never really have the attention span to make those ideas come to fruition. Today though, out of sheer desperation, I made one of my brilliant ideas work. And it really did work!!!

Little Guy was in and out of the hospital for the past week. I managed to get him released yesterday, but tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I hadn't purchased one single thing to prepare for the meal I'll need to make, and that meant I'd need to bring all five children with me. I did have Marlene to help me, but today is the day before Thanksgiving. Have you ever been to a grocery store the day before Thanksgiving? Nightmare, right? Now picture doing that with all five of my children. I know. Scary thought. Take some time to breathe in and out until the trembling with fear subsides.

I decided to try something new with the kids. First, I put together my menu. Then, I broke each item on the menu down by what ingredients would need to be purchased. After that, I google imaged each item, copied the pictures, and pasted them into a Word docutment. Well, actually I broke them down into three different documents.

By the time I was done, I had "scavenger hunt" lists for each child. No two of my kids were looking for the same things. I haven't done anything so smart in a long time. Instead of wanting to go down the toy aisle or begging for things they wanted me to get, they were focused entirely on the items on their lists. It did take a little longer than usual because I waited for them to "find" the items rather than just going directly to them. Basically, I just had to be sure I slowed down in an aisle right near an item I knew was on a list. Because their lists were so specific, I didn't even purchase one thing that wasn't on the list. NOT ONE!!!

So, there you have it. Proof that I do on occasion come up with something smart. Now if only I could come up with something to stop kids from peeing in strange places or make the laundry and dishes wash themselves...

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