Cheap entertainment

This afternoon, I got the spring cleaning bug. I convinced my husband to clean, too, and we made a lot of headway. I was cleaning off the "junk" counter in the kitchen - the counter where everything gets thrown when I walk in the door: mail, purse, receipts, shopping bags, etc. There were lots of burp rags, baby socks, baby sweatshirts, even gifts for Meg. So I brought a laundry basket in the kitchen and started throwing clothes in it. Meg loves laundry baskets. She wanted in the basket. So I set her in. None of the clothes were dirty, they'd just been worn once (or never). She sat in the laundry basket, playing with her clothes, for an hour and a half! Up to that point, we'd been spending half of our time chasing her around instead of cleaning. But once I put her in the basket, she played happily and we cleaned like crazy. Our house looks awesome (at least the kitchen and living room) and Meg had the best afternoon. She was so happy I let her play with clothes! (Usually she wants to play with clothes I've just washed and folded and put in the basket. I say no.)