Objects in Mirror May Be Smarter Than They Appear

Sometimes I wonder if I come across on Facebook as a total idiot. I may come across this way in my regular, everyday life, but that I'm not quite as concerned with. Maybe I should be, but that's a post for another day.

I'm starting to notice a trend in my FB posts where I start out saying "Does anyone know...". Maybe you've noticed this as well. I'm constantly asking the general public (um, consisting of my friends, family, and neighbors, I suppose) the best way to do this, the best best stores to find that, the easiest way to accomplish this, the cheapest brand of that.

I'm a little worried that these constant requests for help make me seem a bit... well, helpless. Like a fragile baby bird sitting in a nest with her mouth open, patiently waiting for someone to regurgitate me a nice meal of workable real-world knowledge. It's sort of a cute image, but also a bit pathetic for a grown woman.

The truth is, I'm perfectly capable to finding the answers to all my questions myself. I could search the Internet for a half hour and then spend two hours in the car driving from store to store to find the best place to buy a Whosey Whatsit. I could go through countless trial and error tests to find the best way to accomplish a Thingamajiggy project. I have an IQ high enough to accomplish all this, yes.

But then what would be the point of having a plethora of knowledgeable, crafty, and talented friends?

Yes, that's right. That's the reason I am Facebook friends with you. Because you are smarter than me. I have surrounded myself with a group of my superiors for a reason. So I can slowly siphon off their knowledge and skills and use them for my own. That's my special skill. I'm like the majestic leech, or the noble tapeworm. I love getting a good deal, or getting a project done in the snazziest, easiest way possible, but I find no pride nor joy in actually being the one to come up with this knowledge. And that is why I am a very fat, happy, well-fed baby bird (just couldn't let that analogy go quite yet).

Being the leech that I am, I am very fortunate to have quite a few very talented and knowledgeable family members and friends to leech off of (because being a leech is pointless if you have no one to suck).

We visited Wayne's brother in Oregon for Thanksgiving this year, just in time to benefit from my sister-in-law's love of finding a good deal. I put quite a tight budget on Christmas this year, because we're working on being smarter with our money, as well as the fact that I wanted to set a precedence for the kids that we don't go crazy-bananas with presents for the holiday (when I think about how much my parents must have spent on my Christmases growing up and how little I truly appreciated it, it makes me sick with guilt). But because of my amazing s-i-l, who knew what toys were on sale where and when, I was able to get the kids everything I had planned on for WAY less than I budgeted (which meant I could get them a few extra things that I wanted to get them but didn't think would fit in the numbers). It's going to be a great Christmas, and I really think the kids are going to enjoy what they are getting and put them to good use for the entire year.

I also have two photo collages in my house that I'm sure would never have been hung if not for the helpful tips from my Facebook friends, not to mention the myriad of project ideas I have waiting to be done for my home that I have craftily stolen from friends and neighbors.

But the person that deserves a special mention is definitely Bethany. Not only is she just generally awesome (this post, with a few details changed, would be exactly how I would describe my feelings about being a stay-at-home mom. Practically the words right out of my mouth. Except, you know, it's better written), Bethany is also super smart and creative (I love this idea for face-out book shelves and plan on doing that in our toyroom one of these days) and a SUPER deal finder. She has a Facebook page called Screamin' Deals, and if you don't already subscribe to it, I highly recommend you get on that as soon as possible. Again, I like deals, but I'm uber lazy. I think Bethany must scan around 2 thousand deal sites a day to find the best offers (and the ones most applicable for moms like her), and those deal sites must get their info from around 2 billion-trillion webpages... So, basically, all I have to do to learn about the best deals from all over the entire internet (yes, I'm being dramatic. It makes this post more titillating) is subscribe to Screamin' Deals, and read my Facebook page. Which I already do. So, technically, all I have to do is live my life normally, and the deal info just falls into my lap. I love it. Today I scored 3 awesome deals for things that I actually wanted/needed to buy anyway, and I didn't even have to get up out of my chair.


In conclusion, to all the friends and family whose knowledge and know-how I am constantly sponging off of, Thank You. And I promise I'm not as dumb as I seem.