All right, 60% of you thought changing the date of Halloween was a dumb idea.  But hey, those of us who don’t live in lovely little towns that are small enough to be able to dictate when the citizens should trick or treat might disagree with you.   “Those of us” meaning me.  Well, 25% of us, anyway.  14% didn’t think it would make a difference, and boy did you guys squander your vote.  Of course it makes a difference!  These are important issues we are discussing here!

Humpfh.

Today, I want to know how you hunt for deals.

My apologies for last week’s lack of CDF, it was just a hectic kind of week, ya know?  And really, I should just get used to it because it’s not like it’s going to slow down until after New Year’s.

So, our bright-eyed Hrithik Roshan gets elevated into the CDF Hall of Fame and I get to introduce two all new competitors to the game.

Both lads have their children coming fairly late in life.  They are both respected actors, and they both have fantastic accents.

Our first dad will forever be on my good list for his work in The Usual Suspects.

The second has been in quite a few films I have enjoyed, including The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain and Sense and Sensibility, to name a couple.

VERSUS

I just wanted a swing set.

OK, so they don’t make that particular model anymore,, but people are always trying to get rid of the big plastic stuff like slides, sandboxes, and swing sets.

And sure enough, I found quite the few listings in my area.

Little did I know I was to embark upon an odyssey that would leave me enraged, frustrated, and disappointed in all mankind.

The first lady we contacted said sure, we could buy it, and for fifty bucks off the original price.  Score!

We wanted to pick it up the next day, but she said she would not be home and we would have to pick it up next weekend.  Fine.  We told her we could come on Friday morning, we all agreed, and promised to call on Wednesday night to get her address.

Wednesday arrives, we call, and she breezily informs us that she has already sold it.  After speaking to us, she had re-listed at the price she was willing to sell to us for, and someone else responded.

Uh, what?

Well, people, she said, are flaky.  The people offered to come right away, yadda yadda yadda.

Hey lady, you know those flaky people you were talking about? Consider yourself one of them.

Then we had the man who was “firm” on his price, which was over by about a hundred and fifty compared to everyone else.  Stay firm, man, stay firm.  You’ll be firm for a very long time.  If this was involving Viagra, you’d be golden.  However, since it’s a swing set, you will wind up being very sad.

And the next one? Just sold, of course.

Finally we had the one who only replied to me once, didn’t reply for days after I offered to come and pick up the item ASAP, and then wrote me that someone had offered her more money.

This all in the course of a week.

I told my husband that if I wind up being screwed by ten people in a row, I’m buying a new one, dammit.

I used to pride myself on never being able to take a nap during the day.

No matter how tired I was, I just could not get comfortable enough to fall asleep in broad daylight.

My, how things have changed.

Thanks to my toddler’s erratic sleeping habits as well as my desperate need for 27 hours in the day, I find myself constantly jerking myself awake from a snooze session on the couch.  This is pathetic because I’m supposed to be watching my kids, not snoring in an upright position.  I never know if I’ve been dozing for five minutes or a half an hour, but either way, it ain’t a good thing.

But try as I might, I just can’t help myself.

And I also used to think that I was a great parent, judging myself on the Munchkin and how superior (of course!) he was to all other children.

Well, my daughter has cured me of that conceit, and I have finally admitted to myself that parenting is just one huge crap shoot.

I’ve also realized the odds of me winning the lottery are pretty much nil, and I’m past the point where I can run away with some rich oil tycoon.

Yep.

I’m bummed.

So much for my not complaining on a Wednesday, eh?

Oh, these flew right under my radar when they first came out.

But, they were worth the wait…

I wonder if anyone puts themselves in Slytherin.

Oh, and color me bitter that Warner Bros. is pulling a Disney and pulling all Harry Potter movies off the shelf come Dec. 29.

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