As I stood scrubbing at a sticky puddle of spilled Agave Nectar in the cabinet I was cleaning out, I had what I like to call a “Cinderella Moment”. For any of you who have seen the Disney film, one of the first scenes is of Cinderella greeting her morning with a smile and a song as she embarks on her daily chores in the company of her happy animal friends. Sure, she’s a little harried and somewhat snippy — even Miss Cindy can’t always be perfect — but for the most part she’s in good spirits and looking pretty glam, for a chambermaid. While I worked up a bit of elbow grease, I found a sense of pleasure bubbling up inside; despite the rigors of major household cleaning, there is something satisfying about having a fresh, clean slate to work on. Not that I’m rushing to open a maid service or anything, but at least I can muster up some positive energy about the whole Passover prep thing.

While still on the fence about the “To New York or Not To New York” question, I gave a ring to my mother-in-law, who had a good suggestion. If we leave on Sunday and break the trip in half, staying overnight somewhere and finishing the last leg on Monday, it may not take as much out of me. All of my siblings-in-law, save one, are at the house, so there will be plenty of people on hand to help with Yonah, and I won’t have to do any of the cooking. Plus, my mother-in-law’s best friend is an OB and will just so happen to be home in the unlikely event that I go into labor. So, I’m hoping that this is an arrangement that will work for me, because I want to do the right thing by going without tapping out the energy I need to conserve for the Big Push. I am meeting with my midwife, Becca, tomorrow, and will see what her thoughts are about it.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the simple pleasure of bargain shopping. This morning, Yonah and I popped into Marshall’s to pick him up a new pair of spring sneakers. It being Marshalls, the perfect pair I found had neither a price nor a security tag, but I figured that since I picked them out they were probably the most expensive item on the shelf, I wagered around 20-25 dollars. But when I brought them up to the register, Surprise! They were only 12 bucks! I don’t know about you, but when I pull off a purchase like that, I feel like stroking my whiskers and lapping the last of the cream off my lips.

But then I was faced with the bargain shopping moment of truth: “Since I saved so much cash,” I thought to myself, “Maybe I should go back and see if they have anything nice for Yonah to wear on Passover”. This, my friends, is the lure of the bargain store, and how, despite their low prices, they are manage to be some of the most powerful companies in the world (Wal-Mart, anyone?). You innocently fill your cart with a slew of cheap treats, but when you get to the register, you realize you’re blowing next month’s rent. But hey, you figure, it’s worth it, since you’re getting so much stuff. Well, today, as the siren song of discounted Kenneth Cole baby clothes lured me back, I held myself in check, remembering what my friend Julia said about her recent trip to Target: that she can never go in without spending at least 300 dollars. Instead, I pocketed my change, went out to the car and patted myself on the bag for resisting a woman’s basic need for a full-scale shopping spree.

Ah, life’s little victories.