Why is it that it’s no longer good enough to have a rare and precious ONE of a set? My kids go to [insert any fast food chain] and get a toy with their meal. They immediately want to go there every week so they can “collect all six” of the [fill in name of stupidest toy ever made that were it not part of a collectible set would quickly be tossed in the trash and forgotten]. American commercialism at its finest.

Quickly glancing around my house, I see the following incomplete collections:

– 39,276 Pokemon cards, including 80% duplicates and triplicates–collection still in process
– 8952 Yuh Gi Oh cards, also including duplicates and triplicates–collection still in process
– 17 Power Rangers in various shapes and sizes
– 10,999 Hot Wheels
– Thomas the Tank Engine trains and track set (Did you know that these “cute” little wooden trains with names and faces are $10 to $20 per train!!?)
– Pokemon games for the Gameboy in every color under the rainbow–red, sapphire, gold, ruby, leaf, fire, blue, silver….aren’t they all about the same thing?
– Lemony Snickets books, there are 11 so far and it’s driving my son absolutely bonkers that he only has the first nine, even though he’s only read through #7
– Magic Treehouse books (see Lemony Snickets above)

I just don’t get kids these days. Now, I’m off to rearrange my 100+ “assembly” of workout videos by instructor and in order of release and then off to the swaps to fill in any “gaps”. Then I’ll need to dust my Franklin Mint porcelain cats and round up the beanie babies that have long ago lost their tags and become {gasp!} toys.

Hubby is going out of town until Tuesday afternoon. While I’ll miss him, the other part of me is quickly inventorying a list of “Things to do that Mr. Babs absolutely despises and Things to do that I’d be embarrassed to have Mr. Babs see me do”.

Am I a bad wife to feel a little thrill over this? If so, I’ll blame my mother. When I was a young girl, Dad frequently made long military trips leaving my mother, younger sister and I to fend for ourselves. This meant: trips to McDonald’s, trips to the pool, trips to K Mart and other fun stores and alternating nights sleeping in the big king sized bed with Mom. As a 60’s stay at home Mom, I’m sure she relished those opportunties to be the supreme ruler of the roost.

So what’s on the list? Well, let’s see:

1. Watch tear-jerkers and chick flicks–trip to video store required
2. Spend hours online chatting, shopping, etc
3. Control the TV clicker and seek out exciting new infomercials, especially fitness ones. I haven’t seen the Billy Blanks’ Bootcamp one yet.
4. Catch up with my seldom visited message boards.
5. Try on my smaller sized clothes and lingerie to see if I’ve lost enough weight to fit into my sexier duds.
6. Experiment with meals containing any of the following ingredients: beans, collards, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, salmon, halibut, Indian spices, lentils…but not necessarily in the same dish.
7. Do some of those “I told you so” chores–the ones he’s been nagging me to do but I can’t bring myself to do in his presence because I can’t bear all the, “there, isn’t that much better?” comments.
8. Read all the juicy parts of my favorite romance novels (I should probably read these right before he gets home though, if ya know what I mean…)
9. Exercise to my dvd’s whenever and however long I want in front of the big screen TV.
10. Indulge in my favorite daydreams.
11. Play some albums and cassettes that haven’t seen the light of day in over a decade. (Yes, I still have vinyl albums, even some 45’s!!)
12. Watch my Seinfeld and Alias dvd’s.
13. Sleep in the middle of the bed.
14. Look at pictures of and miss my dear heart.