The Toothbrush Saga

We had a few visitors on the weekend. My mother stayed on the Sunday evening, and my brother and his brood came on Monday night.

Our house gets quite cosy when you add another five into the mix.

It was lots of fun - 'Salina had Flowergirl (aged 6), Rockgirl (aged 4) and Brutus (aged 18 months) to provide Diva 101 lectures for.

We had two large pans of lasagne and green salad which enthralled everyone (well, until Rockgirl unearthed the fact that ZUCCHINI was an obvious ingredient in the lasagne, but being bordered by V and I had willing recipients of the offending articles).

'Salina then danced for them, sang for them, entertained them with raucous 8 year old hilarity and generally scared the pants of the demure little minions (well, the 2 demure ones - the toddler just kept bulldozing along happily). Possibly sent a thrill of fear in my sibling and his ever-loving wife...

I put all the visiting children in the spare room for the night, the visiting adults took up the sofa option (word to the wise - ALWAYS accept the offer of a mattress on the floor over our poor dilapidated sofa) - after a tumultuous bathroom dental session and only one "why can't Flowergirl sleep in my room" rant, all settled down to peace and quiet.

In the morning, everyone was up early - nothing unusual for us, but apparently there are children out there who will sleep in if the option is available - or even if not. Can you imagine? Children not bouncing at 6am?

But 'Salina did call most of the troops to action - we left Rockgirl sleeping, as she was due for grommets at 7.45 so food or drink was not an option for her.

After a hurried breakfast, showering, dressing, packing and peeling away, our little house was quiet again.

And then I went to shower. And then I tidied kitchen and spare room. And then I put on several washes. And then I br--- - well, I would have brushed my teeth, but it seems in all the mayhem one toothbrush went walking, and it happened to be mine.

Oh woe. I like brushing my teeth - it certainly beats the alternative of gross breath, build up and eventually no teeth.

(Just to disgust you, I did resort to using another's brush for a day or so)

So yesterday, we went on a great toothbrush hunt.

There are many options available in the toothbrush aisle, but I am not willing to have to toss up between our extravagant private medical coverage OR buying a toothbrush, so there are options that I immediately kybosh.

There are also other options that seem only to be concerned with the plain bristle and basic plastic design, and while I am not a fancy girl, I like to think my toothbrush manufacturer has put a little love into the finished product to sweep crap off my teeth.

So I am looking at the middle row - where they try to impress for as little outlay as possible. (Sort of how I used to lure men ha ha)

While some look at colour and costuming, I am then starting to look at economy - how much do I have to spend vs how many times I need to repeat purchase or can I take care of a whole heap of supplies at one time without busting the budget.

You will be pleased to know that my mental arithmatic stood me in good stead, and I finally purchased 6 for $7.98 (as opposed to 3 for $4.75).

I had 'Salina to help me with the purchasing dilemna (although I did not make her do the maths - I have learned my lesson), and she immediately set to the task of who would get what colours.

She likes blue - and there was blue - dark blue, light blue and almost exactly the same light blue but slightly aqua. However, her nearly 8yo mind has worked out that 6 toothbrushes and 3 members of family means she can only chose two (and furthermore, after a mother lecture, has learned that one at a time is good going).

Oh, it took minutes of angst at teeth time last night to work out which shade of blue she should chose and whether she could reserve her next brush and which shade of blue that one should be.

See - motherhood - its never as easy as the books say.

Can you manage to make such a mountain from a molehill?