We were without kids on Thursday, Friday, and some of Saturday. The day care closed up shop Thursday afternoon because of the flu, and so we thought we'd run up to Mt. Pleasant and get my sister-in-law to babysit for us. Well, she ended up wanting to keep the kids, so we let her. Sarah and I were able to go out to eat at Memphis Smoke, stay up late, sleep in, and all the other stuff we've forgotten about since we had kids. Don't get me wrong. I love the little brats, and can't imagine my life without them, but sometimes we've gotta be kid free, even for a day or two.
We ordered bunk beds online so that when our niece comes to stay with us for a while, we'll have a place for her to sleep besides the bathtub. They were pretty easy to assemble, or so Sarah has told me, and they seem pretty good for what we need. They didn't come with mattresses, though, and our weekend seemed to be a quest for bedding.
We thought we'd try Sam's Club, since our neighbors have a membership that we can mooch off of. We looked it up online and found the ones we wanted and then went to the store. Of course, the bay where those very mattresses are stocked was empty. I looked around for someone to help me find some mattresses, but I guess they keep the prices low by not hiring employees.
I had someone paged and, after a few minutes, an older guy came up and asked me what I needed help with. I told him I needed two mattresses, but they weren't in the bay. I wondered if they had some more.
"If we did, they'd be on a trailer in the back," he replied.
There was an awkward silence. It wasn't long, but he was satisfied with his answer and I wasn't, so we both tried to let the other finish everything up. He continued:
"The guy that works this area isn't in until one, and he'd know."
Well, how about that. The one guy that knows how to ask the Commodore 64 they have in the back if there are any mattresses in the store is off until one. His name is Brian, so I'm told, and he'd know if there were some more mattresses in the back. I just politely thanked him and left. I felt like telling him that I'm not going to waste my time coming back if there aren't, in fact, any mattresses in the back. Even if there were, I'm not sure I'd come back so I can walk around looking for this alleged "Brian". What the hell? I would hope that something like Sam's Club has an electronic inventory system that any moron can use. Sometimes I can be a big dreamer, I guess.
We ended up getting some mattresses in Mt. P for a little more than half the cost we would have paid at Sam's Club. They weren't as nice, but the kids will probably destroy them anyway, so I'm looking at the situation as minimizing my losses.
Apparently, the girls didn't let my sister-in-law sleep in. Friday morning they were up before five, and Saturday they were up a little after four. Glad it wasn't on my watch. If Brianna gets up before six, she's going back to bed, whether she likes it or not.
Since my last post, folks have requested I post some of the pics I had mentioned. As soon as I get some scanner action going, I'll get those up in the photo galleries. Also, I'll be looking at integrating the photo gallery into the site so folks can leave comments and whatnot using their Ron's Brain accounts.