No good deed........

goes unpunished~~!

I have been trying to do the good recession Christmas mom...... not many new presents..... not a lot of money spent...... seven kids......lots of clothes and PJ's and underwear.

I went for gifts we could use together as a family (we enlarged the play loft; got used Foosball; bumper pool / game table; neat air hockey table; grampy sent us a tent! and other grandpa sent me $ to buy some more camping gear~!.......love Craig's list!!!!

(remember I think with 8 Christmas behind us......I am sure we actually have every toy on the planet and then some)

Well I decided to get Colin and the rest a used ski ball machine (he loves ski ball and I thought it might work well for reinforcement at school with the tokens) and to buy Eric a really neat used CD jukebox! And about 150 cds to replace the collection he had to sell when he was laid off in 2001~ it took forever to find all of them....... (that and I am tired of hearing him whine about it!)

I was so proud of myself and I am only looking for a great hot tub we can agree on and a pool table w/ a ping pong top! The kids will love it...... daddy is making them benches to stand on to reach the tables and we got a few of the $5 games from Wal-mart.......... lots of fun....... and a whole lot less than I usually have spent.
-
But as I said above no good deed goes unpunished!

The really nice guy dropping off the ski ball machine, got lost twice (surprise.... I did warn him about trying to find our house in the dark...... let alone turn around a trailer) so he was late........
his friend was now in a hurry....... I just wanted to get them in and covered so Eric and the kids would be surprised!

Well they did get the jukebox in........but it was too cold to set up and of course I can't move it to its final position or put in the cd's till we get the ski ball in and I rearrange the game room again!!!! (I know MOM .....not what 30 week preggers should do on her own!) So it is just in the middle of the floor....... the ski ball is in the garage........ nice guy and Eric will move it in tonight or tomorrow.....

but perfect Christmas mom really wanted to have it all done before Eric had gotten home and wrapped. I always want to surprise him........ BUT IT NEVER HAPPENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just sort of gave up....... yes MOM....... I gave up....... I cried cause I couldn't make it all work, then I went and made spaghetti & bread......we all watched Rudolph's shinny New Year and then off to bed with the short ones! (sort of hoping Eric would miss it when he got home..... but no luck!)

He tripped over it, and he was surprised! (just not on Christmas day...... oh well..... there is always next year~!)

He did say it will be a really cool game room when I am done (I can't wait to paint and plaster & tile it...... but that will happen after baby number 8 in late Feb!...... unless I go insane!)