Mother's Day is saved?

The mystery of the One Sweep broom has been resolved. It was not my Mother's Day present, although it was intended to be a present.

You see, last month the husband was working night shift. Which meant his days off were spent all alone while the rest of us slept. He passed the time playing on the computer and watching late night television. There are lots of infomercials on at that time of night, and, well, you see ...

The fact is, the husband is a marketer's ultimate fantasy. He can be sold to so easily. He's the worst kind of impulse shopper and to make it even worse, he's loyal once he's signed up.

He had Juno when we first met. Remember Juno? "Email was meant to be free!" Advertising was supposed to cover all the costs. There was always a banner ad on top of the screen when you were reading your email, and when you sent or downloaded your mail a nearly full-screen ad would be displayed.

The husband bought almost everything they advertised, I think. After we got married I kept running across packages that he'd never even opened. We had a big fight about it, eventually, and I got him to stop buying things, but it was quite a while before our finances recovered.

Over the years I've managed to teach him some of the fundamentals of smart shopping. He'll come home every so often now, excited and proud over some purchase on which he managed to avoid overpaying.

"Look at my new watch! It was only $10!"

I always try to encourage him. "Wow, what a great job! That's a really nice watch and what a great price, dear!"

So, yeah, he gave in to temptation. At least he didn't pay the $40 he almost got charged for buying two of them.

Oh, and my review of the One Sweep? Pppbbbllltttt. Worthless. Not worth two cents in my opinion, much less the $17 we paid for it.

We'll see how tomorrow goes.