State of Confusion

It's no secret to any woman who's been pregnant that babies steal your brain.

Yes, it's true. I don't care what Discovery Health says, with ALL THREE of my pregnancies, I've been "dumbed down". I forget things, process thoughts way more slowly, the whole nine yards.

Unfortunately, in my experience, it often takes up to a year AFTER the baby comes to regain full mental capacity. I also figure there's some sort of direct correlation between the number of children a woman has and the number of brain cells lost to "baby brain".

As crazy as baby brain makes me, though, I do know that I've not completely lost my common sense.

One of the (many) things we had to replace for Mr. Baby was his crib mattress. While we hadn't yet gotten rid of the crib itself (AmenandthankyouJesus!), the mattress was reincarnated as a bed for Princess the Wonder Dog, and, while I'm all about recycling, there's just no way that it was going back into the crib.

So I went online to one of my new favorite shopping sites, Amazon.com. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I'm late to the party. I've had baby brain for the past nine months.

Anyway, I discovered that there are about as many different types of crib mattresses as there are babies. And while I love my children, and want the best I can afford for them, I'm pretty confident that Mr. Baby doesn't need a $299.00 crib mattress.

So off to Walmart.com for me. Now, I'm not a big fan of the Evil Empire, but sadly, for us frugal moms, it works. I found a lovely, highly rated Kolcraft brand crib mattress for a mere $36 in their "Site to Store" program. I called my local Walmart to see if they had that particular model in stock. The associate was gone for a minute to check.

WM Associate: "Yes ma'am, we have that model in stock. It's $57."

Me: "FIFTY SEVEN DOLLARS?! For that model?"

WMA: "Yes ma'am."

Me: "Uhm...it's available on the Walmart.com website for $36. That's a $21 difference!"

WMA: "Yes ma'am. I understand that some things are priced differently on the website."

I don't know if you've used the Site to Store feature of Walmart.com, but it's pretty simple. You place your order and pay for it online, and they ship it directly to the store at no additional charge. We've purchased a few things through the site, and while we've noticed the occasional minor price difference, we've never purchased anything that is marked up more than 50%.

Here are the options as my baby-affected brain worked it out:

a) I can walk into Walmart today and pay $57 plus tax for the mattress.
b) I can order the mattress through Site to Store, pay $36 plus tax, and they will ship the mattress from the warehouse (even though they have them in-stock). In 1-2 weeks, pick it up at the store.
c) I can order the mattress through Site to Store, pay $36 plus tax, plus $3.97 shipping (all STILL $17 cheaper than option a), and they will deliver it TO MY DOOR in 1 week.

Can you guess which one I chose?

I realize that we, as a society, are more into immediate gratification than thinking through things and saving money, but I'm really confused as to the price difference in this situation.

And that's not my baby brain talking!

After drinking the green beer...

Not really, as the thought of green beer nauseates me. But I've been busy as the proverbial bee in my world, so you, my bloggy friends are in for a real treat.

In the interests of going green, I'm "recycling" an oldie, but a goodie. One of my first posts, and still one of my faves.

Originally aired in October 2006...

So, like many of you, I have several males in my life. After many hours of painstaking observation, I wanted to share an amazing discovery I have made. All males, regardless of age, share an affliction.

Male Pattern Blindness.

There is no other logical explanation for what goes on in my home, and others like it across the country. Allow me to share.

My darling husband, on his days off, has been known to grab the cordless phone, stand in front of the refrigerator, and ring me at work to ask me where the ketchup is. And I, being the person who put it away each and every time prior (another male syndrome to be addressed at a later date), can tell him with compass-like accuracy the exact coordinates where the ketchup is currently residing.

I know this is consistent throughout the gender. My sweet son #1 cannot, as a general policy, find his gym shoes in the morning even though we have a firm rule in our house that the gym shoes, backpack, and jacket go by the door before he goes to bed.

This in, in part, because "by the front door" is such a vague term. In my mind, "by the front door" is a specific location, limited to approximately two square feet of space near the coat hook. His interpretation is a bit broader, of course, and extends to the entire 24 square feet of the entryway, including underneath the hall table. He also doesn't share my seemingly logical assumption that said gym shoes should be placed together. So, of course, when he goes to look for the shoes, they may be under a table or separated in some fashion. Needless to say, this arrangement, in combination with his gender bias toward Male Pattern Blindness sets him up for almost certain failure in his search for shoes.

I hold little hope for baby son #2.