$5 And A Vivid Imagination Saves My Sanity!

Sunday I proclaimed to Robin that "I need to go to Michaels!" When he asked me why (not that he was ever going to be able to stop me! Ha!) I responded with "I'm not sure. I need to browse." That phrase is a little scarey at my place...especially when it's coupled with a trip to the craft store! Who knows how long I'll stay and how much money I'll spend! ;)

Well, I went with the intentions of checking out whether they had any new acrylic $1 stamps. Unfortunately for me, there weren't any. Heck there weren't even any regular $1 rubber stamps. I was a touch bummed, but I couldn't be upset for long. After all, it's not like I don't have a room full of "stuff" to craft with. I really don't need for anything. I lust after a lot of things, but need...nah, not so much.

Anyway, as I strolled up and down the aisles, I noticed a guy setting up a long clearance aisle! Ah...for me a clearance aisle makes me feel like a kid in the candy store! So checked out what they had on sale and determined that all their scrapping stuff wasn't "clearance priced" enough for my budget, so I moved on. Then I found this:

This was a whopping $5! Whooohooo! Oh, and the best part? There was one set with dinosaurs (as pictured above) and another with pirates (ships, sailors and all!)! I got one for John and one for William. As you can see, John got the dinos and William,therefore, got the pirates.

This is what the pirates set looks like when it's out of the box. Some ships, cannons, pirates and a plastic "island" scene to set up all their things and act out countless tales.

These have kept my guys occupied for three days now. The love these playsets. For five bucks each, I probably made an awesome "investment" in my sanity. The best part is that they each have their own storage box and everything fits neatly inside. I've threatened to toss any pirate, dinosaur or tropical tree that I step on and so far, so good (well, for four year olds at least!).

The only thing I didn't think about is that the jealousy issue would come up again (in case you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out any of my posts about the Buzz and Woody toys...aiyiyi!). John was desperate to play with the pirate set and William wouldn't let him. I went back to Michaels today and snagged the last box of dinosaurs and the last box of pirates that they had.

Well worth the $10 to save my sanity!

Edited to Add: My boys were out of their beds at the insanely early hour of 3:00 a.m. to play with these toys! I think I've created some monsters. I'm tired. Yay for new toys...not!