The Home Depot trip that got a makeover...

It started out like any other Home Depot trip. Four kids takes some sort of system anytime you go out in public, and Home Depot is a slam dunk. One parent takes the kids to load up on the free popcorn, and sits them all properly on their very own lawnmower. Letting your children eat popcorn on lawnmowers buys you all sorts of time for the other parent to shop. Tyler reminded me at one point that these are $4000 lawnmowers, but seriously, if you don't want them test-driven by a two year old, then you're going to have to rethink your display.

So I'm monitoring the really expensive lawnmowers - uh, I mean kids - while Tyler heads to the storage section to look for some bins to hold our newly sorted LEGO collection (thousands of miniature pieces now sorted by color... this is how we spend our Friday nights). We had talked though our vision before we left home, and knew exactly what we were looking for. Something big enough and flat enough for proper LEGO building. You know, so the pieces aren't so piled up that you can't find exactly what you're looking for. We're LEGO freaks around here, and this sort of thinking is critical for maximum output (I'm so glad I went to college for this stuff).

Ladies, never, and I mean never, send your husband to roam freely by himself in Home Depot. Or the grocery store when he's hungry. It's just plain not safe. Or Sam's Club for that matter. The large containers are just too tempting for any man.

I could go on, but all you really need to know is this. We went in for a few plastic storage containers, and came home with this:

Now I'd like to think that I have an open mind. But Tyler... Tyler sort of has a reputation for thinking outside the box. Let it be known that his creativity has served our family well over the years. But I have to tell you that I was not prepared for this. The Home Depot dude could see it written all over my face. "You want that in their room?" I asked the kind employee if he was married. He nervously giggled, then smiled and said, "Yes ma'am, thirteen years ma'am." Hmm... ironically the same number of years as us. "Would your wife let you put that in your house?"

I don't remember his answer, since I'm pretty sure I was chasing a toddler while cleaning popcorn off the floor at this point.

There was one left in the box, a left-over from Christmas that hadn't sold. It was sturdy, and boy-like and the drawers were large and flat and slid in and out oh so smoothly. And you could even lock a two-year old out of it if you wanted to.

And when the boys were done with it? Why, there'd always be some sort of use for it in Tyler's workshop.

Mmmhmm.

What happened from there is kind of a blur, but somehow I caught the vision, and here we are. It's perfect in form and function. The whole family is in love. Except for the two-year old, who is officially locked out.