At least my stairs got clean.

It's been a few days, and since that is a bit unusual, I thought I'd explain.

The blame belongs with the Kirby salesman who came knocking Tuesday morning. Do I want a room of carpet cleaned - for free? "Of course you don't have to buy anything..." And I'm cheap, so I had them do the steps that we've been meaning to have shampooed anyway. Three hours later they FINALLY left. I have to say, I rather liked Frank, the kid who did the actual demo & cleaning. His "boss" Alex I could do without - he was so obvious I could actually anticipate what he was going to say next. Which came in handy when refusing to purchase a $900 vacuum cleaner without consulting my husband first. Because I'd kind of like for him to talk to me sometime in the next five years, or as he put it, not to "have a coronary."

Because of that "presentation", when my mom showed up with plants for our newest garden bed, we had to wait until after lunch. Also not helping was Adam's refusal to take a morning nap (he didn't today either. Hopefully this isn't a permanent development.)

Because I was planting in the afternoon, no laundry got folded. It all got washed, though, so I felt pretty good. Scrapbooking WAS going to fill in the gaps between loads, but...thank Kirby, I'd MUCH rather work on the album until 11pm. Of course.

(Remember, this is Adam's baby album that I'm trying to get up to date before his birthday party on Saturday. Right now, I'm at 9 months and feeling okay about that.)

But before that scrapbooking could start, we had a soccer practice to almost miss, thanks to traffic and me not checking for the field number. Then just before showers, the hose/sprayer attachment in the kids' bathroom broke off. So we moved everything to the master bath, extending bedtime by a good half-hour.

Wednesday we had a playdate here with a two little girls, one Leah's age and a friend from gymnastics, and the other Ben's age and a friend from playgroup. Isn't it lucky that they have the same mom? I thought so. While that mom and I chatted, I folded all our laundry. (Except Aaron and my undies. I do draw the line SOMEWHERE.) After lunch I got a few more pages done in Adam's album and played with the kids, waiting for Daddy to come home from an overnight work trip.

We were going to try to watch Alice in Wonderland last night, but our 6-month old Blu-Ray DVD player hasn't been playing any of our Netflix videos. Until now we've been thinking it was because of the "region number" of the DVD's. (??) But after a few calls, it seems it's the machine's fault. The machine which had a 90 day warranty. And cost $200 or so.

REALLY? How is it that we pay TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS for something, and the manufacturer basically says, "Hey, you'll get a good 6 weeks out of it! Have fun, kids!" Also, can I point out that this is our THIRD (make that FOURTH, as we remembered later) malfunctioning DVD player in 2 years? I've had it with technology. Take me off the grid, please.

But give me my Internet. At blazing fast speed, with no quirks or errors.

Anyway. Now you see why the posting has been sparse - clearly my days were jam-packed with no down time to speak of.

Next week is worse: VBS and then heading on "vacation" (cause you know what a vacation it is to travel with 3 little kids, right? NOT. MUCH. It should be called a "change of scenery".) for almost a week. During that week, I'll get to hang out with two old friends. And then all of my sibs & their spouses! In one house! For THREE DAYS. Only the toughest will survive.

Which means I'll be out after two hours.

On the other hand, that will leave me plenty of time to blog! See? Silver lining, right there.

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Any family gatherings planned? How do you survive 3 kids in a hotel room? Have you ever bought anything from a door-to-door salesman - not including kids' fundraisers?