It's a Jungle Out There

It was no surprise to Ryan when, a few weeks after we moved into our new house, I wanted to turn the space underneath the stairs into a little playhouse for the girls. I had the whole thing mapped out in my head down to the last detail. The play kitchen, the baby cribs, a perfect little nest for our mother hens. Unfortunately the playhouse idea was axed in favor of more practical things (like who needs food storage), but I never gave up my dream. And then yesterday during a ho hum visit to Costco with my mom, here is what we saw.



It's pink. It's retro. The sink swivels, the timer dings, and there is plenty of storage for our growing Princess dish collection. Yes, it is the twins' dream kitchen set.
I knew I had to have it, but I knew I had to think about it for at least 10 minutes first. So my mom and I finished up our shopping, ate a little dinner, and after the ok from Ryan headed back to Costco. Picture if you will, a garden of hundreds of pointsettia plants occupying the exact spot where my new kitchen was. Gone, all of the play kitchens, sold out in less then a day. Less than twelve hours.
Never fear my readers, I didn't give up the dream so easily. We tracked down a Costco worker who gave us the "Oh yeah, the KidKraft kitchens, we don't have any more and we don't have any coming in." Like we were the hundreth person to ask, and come to think of it, we probably were. With a little bit of prodding, this associate mentioned they might have a few in Sandy, and selling a little slower in Lehi. That was all it took for me to set my alarm extra early this morning, and brave the crowd induced claustrophia in search of my kitchen.
I found myself in Sandy, ready to get out my claws and fight to the death. And, as promised, there they were, 10 boxes or so sitting in a little pile in the toy section. I shrieked for joy, which probably alarmed the other customers, but at least got the attention of this little old man who chuckled watching me load it into my shopping cart (at least a hundred pounds it must weigh). He proceeded to pick the whole dang thing up and put it in my cart for me, telling me how he and his wife just bought two for their grandchildren. I rattled off about my twin girls and how I've been looking all over for this thing and Christmas isn't ruined after all and he just smiled. I ended up having to tie the kitchen into my car with the trunk open, driving down the freeway at the slowest speed possible. I might also mention that several moms stopped me in the parking lot asking, "Do they have those in there?' to which I could only tell them "I hope so." And so for them the journey begins but for me, or should I say Santa, mission accomplished.