I Hate Peanuts

I hate peanuts.

Not this kind...

Or this kind...

I hate this kind of peanuts:

Seriously, why do they make these? They aren't good for the environment. They are a complete and total mess. They stick to whatever they touch. Besides, there are other choices. Better choices. There is bubble wrap. Fun to pop, easy to clean. And newspaper (that needs to be recycled anyway). Or tissue paper. Or another box. Or anything else on this whole planet besides styrofoam packing peanuts.

Oh sure, I could just throw the box and all away. But my kids love them. Which is a big part of the problem. My stupidity is the other part of this problem. When Avery asked me yesterday "Mom, can we just break these up into the box? We won't make a mess," I bought it. I said yes. I guess I forgot about her deceptive habits these days. I also forgot that her 2-year-old sister never made any type of promise to me.

But forget what they said or didn't say. Why on earth would any normal, rational-minded mother let her children play in a box of packing peanuts? In a somewhat clean, already-vacuumed-once-today living room? WHY?????

Because I'm stupid. And it kept my kids occupied while I took a shower and dried my hair.

Was it worth it? Not really. It took twice as long to clean the living room as it did for the solo bathroom time I scored.

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "But, at least you got a package! You can be excited that you had something to open. And who cares what kind of mess the peanuts make when you are digging into the box to find an exciting, new purchase?" Normally, I might agree with you. Not this time. You want to know what fabulously exciting object lay hidden inside all of these despicable peanuts?

Yep. That's it. A red, Fiestaware bowl to replace the one Reese dropped on the tile a couple of months ago. That's it. This is what I get for thinking I'm being smart by not dragging three kids to the mall for a $7 bowl. I'll just order online. It will be much simpler. Ha. Ha ha. It would have been simpler to buy my own pottery wheel and fashion my own dadgum bowl, dry it in a kiln and paint it red than to deal with this peanut mess.

That's what I'll do next time. Seriously. I will.