No pictures yet!

Sorry, but I didn't get any pictures of the newly-organized rooms yet. The day was full today.

My husband and I took a few hours' date and went to some thrift shops in search of a few specific things. (We came away with some great bargains, but more on that in a minute ... )

When we got home, my husband decided to mow the lawn. I had a migraine, so the kids went out to play on their bikes on the parking lot. My husband can see them while he's mowing, so this shouldn't have been a problem. (You know this is going somewhere important, right?) Well, it was a problem. I should have known my little girl would get into some mischief, but this about cost her life! She went to the pond to look at the bullfrogs she's been hearing, leaned over a little too far, and fell headfirst into the pond!

That was bad enough, but for some reason, my husband didn't see her. It's a good thing she had the presence of mind to stand up because neither of my kids know how to swim - and so have no idea how to hold their breath underwater. She isn't known for having much "presence of mind," so I'm grateful it finally kicked in! My son saw her and ran to get my husband, and they all descended on the house. I answered the door and was greeted by a crying little girl with green pond scum clinging to her new shirt.

Motherhood is never boring, is it? I'm just glad she's alive, and I hope she learned her lesson. I know I did - never, ever let that girl out of my sight for a second!

So ... you can imagine I didn't get any pictures of the kids' reorganized rooms. I also didn't get any pictures of our great thrift store finds. (I really need to bring my camera back downstairs!) But I'll tell you about them anyway:

• Rival electric food slicer, model 1101, looks to be new in the original box (with Styrofoam packaging still in place!) - $6 (I have an older, mostly-plastic slicer I got for free at an auction a year or so ago, but this is much more user-friendly.)
• Presto Salad Shooter #02910, looks like new in the original box - $4 (My cheese shredding blade broke on my food processor a few months back, and I desperately wanted a replacement.)
• Fisher-Price Kid Tough digital camera, without USB cable BUT we just bought a similar camera from a friend and it came with a cable - $5 (Now I can give both of my kids their own digital camera for Christmas and avoid the fights about whose is whose!)
• Discovery Channel Robotix CyberArms, complete in the box with instructions - $1 (I'm thinking about giving it to my nephew who has been wishing for some Lego MindStorms. It's not the same thing, but it's a little similar!)

Those were the biggest finds of the day, but we got some other really nice things, too!