picky

I’m sharing this company photo series here rather than over at Lo.Co., mainly because the point of this post is more that I am picky. This charming little pool that I bought today at Target for $29.99 will be returned shortly. Yes, one can actually return a pool, with the help of a towel, a deflation device, a strong arm, and some packing tape. And a stubborn streak. I didn’t particularly want to spend much on a pool, I was more figuring on $15 or so, but then I thought I’d go ahead and get this one with the slide, because N.Lo would be more likely to use it. The enticement would be worth a mere fifteen bucks: He’s not a big fan of the water these days, but is a big fan of slides. And indeed, he did try to make it up and down the inflatable slide. K.Lo tried, too, she really did. But, the thing was generally unwieldy with no slip-slide factor to it at all, and after a quick brainstorm, I just moved the whole pool over to our real slide, which worked fantastically. They both had such fun, with about an inch of water in the pool. But then I thought, okay, I’m now stuck with this inflatable slide, which is both useless and landfill, and I essentially paid way more for the pool package as a whole because of said slide. And that irked me. It’s not just the money, but more the principle of spending every penny wisely and also refusing to be ripped off? Maybe it’s not worth the trouble, but I also think that’s what the companies count on… In the meantime, I’ll either purchase another small, simple pool as a replacement and rig it up to the bottom of the slide, or do what I perhaps should have done in the first place, which is to see if the hard plastic pool sitting in the back corner of the yard can be salvaged. It’s sort of a swamp land at the moment, but maybe with a good scrub. This entire predicament could have been avoided had I tried that procedure to begin with, perhaps, but learning is so much fun and I try to do it often. Anyway, considering the fun we did have while it lasted, I don’t see the morning as a total waste. Weee!