The Search Continues... (updated)

I love, love, love getting rid of stuff. LOVE, dammit. This conflicts directly with my other love of ACQUIRING stuff. It's mostly second-hand stuff for which I always have grand plans. Unfortunately, since giving up my garage and larger house in the 'burbs, I have neither the time or the space to store or restore a lot of this stuff. Thus, my love of purging has developed into a way to make peace with my pack-rat side.

On Sunday, I sold a ton of The Prince's outgrown baby stuff to this lady. I practically gave it away and maybe I should have, considering that she seemed to have a hard time coming up with the $50 I was asking but I mentally tallied the retail prices of all these mostly big-ticket items and it was close to $200. Considering our own financial situation (4 people living on one income blah, blah) I felt that I owed it to my own family to at least get something for these things, if for no other reason than to avoid forking over $70 for my own personal holy grail of baby items...the Deluxe Jumperoo.

Since I sold the Baby Prison (an exersaucer that my son regarded as a medieval torture device), I need somewhere to occasionally park The Prince while I engage in selfish, frivolous acts such as taking a pee or getting a drink of water. As previously noted in another entry that I'm too lazy to link to, he's already fallen off the couch once and I saved his ass yesterday from doing it again so yes, he does need to be SAFELY parked sometimes. It would be nice if he didn't totally hate it so I'm pinning all my hopes on the Jumperoo. Unfortunately, finding one is another matter altogether.

Yesterday, MLK Day, my husband was off from work. He's a really good dad and husband and I thought he deserved a break so I let him go play with his friends all day while I hosted a playdate with two of my daughter's screeching, squealing girlfriends. This is not my idea of relaxing or fun in any way, shape or form, but to my daughter, it's pure heaven. She is a terribly social creature who acts as if she will die if she doesn't get to see her friends outside of school. Did I mention that she's 5? The only upside is that The Prince slept all afternoon. Yes, indeed. He slept from 2pm to 5:45pm. I actually had to wake him up. After dinner, I put them in the car and we went to Toys R Us, which happens to be 2 minutes from my house. Unfortunately, this location is closing so while everything was on sale, they were out of the Jumperoo. Grrrrr...

So we walk next door to Target and head to the baby section where a surly clerk informed me that they, too, do not have the freaking thing in stock and suggested I go across the street to Walmart, which in THIS town is like a third world country where nobody has ever heard of that language...what's it called again? Oh yeah... ENGLISH! I told the clerk I'd rather put a gun to my head and the three of us vacated without the Deluxe Jumperoo and no closer to a parking solution for The Prince.

I'm considering a trip to Babies R Us even though I just asked last week for someone to beat me senseless if I ever mention the possibility of going there again. I know it will suck and I don't want to go but I want the DJ, I NEED the DJ. So go easy on me, okay?

UPDATE:
I went to the other Target south of me and they had the damned Jumperoo but while I was there I spent like $50 more dollars. On what? Well...let's see. I bought a big box of baby wipes because my whole family is addicted to them, a pack of TP because we all enjoy being cleaned and dried by paper that has a puppy on the label (when we're not abusing baby wipes, that is), a small pack of antibacterial wipes because the Discovery Channel made me a germ freak (see "100 Things About Me" if you really give a shit how), 2 pair of shoes for the fashion bunny (AKA my daughter), 2 Choxie candy bars of pure evil, a 2 liter of Coke for my hubz, a 5-pack of pink cotton bikini underwear for yours truly and some warm pajamas for The Prince who grows about an inch every freakin' week. I went for a Jumperoo. This is why Target is a DANGEROUS place. I must never, ever go there unescorted. Ever.