4th Semester Sales

We just got home from the 4th semester sales which is basically a yard sale on campus for all the students leaving the island. The sales are traditionally held under a big tent on the lawn in front of the library. They are supposed to start at 8:00, but people start showing up much earlier than that.
I went to the sales this morning hunting for several things including:
Textbooks for the next two semesters
Christmas presents of any variety
Cheaper food items to give to people arriving on the island
Coloring supplies and paper
I was quite successful in my bargain hunting, but I paid dearly for the bargains in the form of patience. Since my husband's major study day is Saturday he had left for school before the rest of us had even woken up. I dragged myself out of bed, and then tried to get the girls to get up so we could get going. They must have stayed up late since they wouldn't wake up even at our normal time to get ready for school! Then the whining started. But I was determined, we were going to find a good sale... It had rained all night and I had forgotten to put the cover on the stroller, so no transportation for the girls to campus, they had to walk, and no where to store purchases except for one backpack. We ran into friends on our way, and at thank heavens one of my girls got to hitch-hike a ride on the front of a stroller!
We finally arrived on campus around 7:40 and the sales were all ready off to a good start. I hastened to get in under the tent and start shopping and as I was completing my first transaction my littlest one cried out "Oh no, Mommy! I need to go potty!!!"
"No big deal," I tell myself, I can take her to the restroom and make it back before half of the things are sold, but then the oldest didn't want to come to the restroom with us, and the youngest decided she was going with or without her mother, and before I knew it both children had disappeared through a crowd of people in different directions. I located the oldest first and made sure she could stick with a friend before turning to chase after the little one. She had come back and was right behind me. I'm still not sure if she realized that she'd better wait for Mommy, or if she realized she didn't know where she was going.
The saga continued as I realized I had forgotten the list of textbooks I was supposed to look for, that I had miscalculated and needed to run to the ATM, and though my husband was supposed to take a break from studying to come and join us at the sales he had still not shown up. By the time we got back to the tent it was after 8:10 and paraphernalia and money were quickly changing hands.
We plunged into the sea of people, dividing our lists and attempting to haggle for the prices we were willing to pay. It started raining again. Hard. The water cascaded off the grass and into the dirt under the tent and before you knew it we could have had a really decent match of mud wrestling going on! My darling husband realized that the girls were driving me crazy by this point with comments like "Mommy, I want this!" "Mommy, I want that!" "Mommy, I don't want to step in the mud!" "Mommy, please can we get this?" "Mommy, I REALLY want this!" "Mommy, I WANT THIS!" repeated ad nauseum while I was attempting to find the items on my list. Between the muck and the whining, he decided it was time for them to take a break. He took them over to Subway to get pancakes that cost four times the price that we can make them for. I got my shopping done, and even including the superfluous breakfast we found almost all the coveted items at great prices.
My oldest even charmed a student into giving her a radio, the youngest went home with her prize in the form of a little stuffed turkey that gobbles, someone gave my husband a free textbook, and I now own shaving gel.
Maybe next time they'll hold the sales on the deck where there's no mud...