The ticket muncher

Many, many happenings in my home these days. My 3 yr old is potty training and we've given our kitchen a face lift, of sorts. Oh, when will the fun end for my family and myself, I mean, WHEN? It just doesn't get any better than this. I've said it once, I'll say it again, I'm just living the dream. Living. The. Dream. I tell you...

Like any red blooded mother, I made a pee pee chart for my son. Every 5 stamps earns him a special treat. Like, dinner for example. His first 5 earned him a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which is my personal hell on earth, but the kids enjoy it so. So, alas, he earned 5 stamps and off we went to pay the mouse.

Also, on this particular day, my husband and I were in disagreement as it pertained to our new backsplash. He wanted to do it himself. I wanted him to hire out. My husband doesn't "hire out" for anything. He's quite handy, you see. So, you can imagine the brick wall I was up against when I begged for the back splash of my choice and the total ended up being quite a bit higher than the quote. I knew I'd eventually get my way. We'd been getting along fabulously lately. And by gettting along, I mean, he'd been gettin' some (wink, wink). Sure, I'd have to do some fancy footwork to get that back splash, but I'd earn every square inch of it, oh boy!

So, we're wrapping things up at Chuck E. Cheese and we have a few tokens left. I say to him, "whaddya say we make this interesting. Winner of Skeet Ball makes the back splash decision". He tells me no. I rub his back and play attentive wife. A while later, he propositions me. I won't get into the proposition because it involved a darling skirt (now tainted) and some open toe heels that tie up at the ankle. Next thing I know, we're standing before our respective lanes and we're shaking hands. May the best spouse win, I tell him. I blew out my final breath. I (air) kissed the germ infested ball and we were off! Needless to say, I rock the Kaz ba. I won 20,000 to 18,000.

Of all the games & rides at CEC, the thing my kids love most is the ticket muncher. How many tickets will he eat this time? What on earth will I buy with all these tickets? Will I be able to choose from the first, second or third row? The possibilities are endless. While my babies were hemming and hawing over their precious prizes, Jason was wondering if we could pay for our new back splash with the kids tickets. Surely, behind the counter were the really good prizes...can't you just look in the back?? He's a good sport, God bless 'em.

Definitely the most expensive trip to Chuck E. Cheese he'll ever be on, but oh-so gratifying. 1, 2...6, I'm calling up the decorator lady and the back splash is being installed Monday.

Voila! And that, my friend, is how it's done.