Eat your heart out, 99 cent store.

I'm always surprised when I see pictures of families with kids and I notice that they have nice things in their house. Nice things? With children? Really? How the heck do you do it?

I gave up on nice things oh...about five years ago. Why bother? The second I'd bring a $1,000 couch into my living room, someone would climb on it and use it as a uncapped marker holding station. I can already see the black and blue streaks everywhere...probably because I have matching streaks on my couch.

My couch is a beauty. I love my couch. It is orange, holds three adults and even folds out into a hide-a-bed! How great is that? What is even better about my couch is that we got it on the side of a road. It was at a church garage sale and the sign said "Free!"

I know my taste is different than other people's taste...but how could they not think someone would want to pay for this couch? Heck, I would have paid $10 for it. Maybe even $20. But the fact that it was free cemented the love I have for my couch even more.

When we first moved to Arizona, we needed a lamp for our living room. We bought a lamp from a big box store, which promptly broke. So, we bought another one...but having spent over $1 on it meant...the kids broke it.

I don't think the world's supply of duct tape could hold this sucker up. It hunches like a drunk in a bad wind storm-- you never know what is going to set it off and make it topple.

And then, I saw it. Our new lamp. It was at a resale shop we frequent and I had my eye on it. I want to say, originally, it was $10 or so. And then it was listed in the half price sale. When it didn't go...it went down to 99 cents.

99 cents for a lamp, people. That's less than a dollar!

I bought that lamp and brought it home. I couldn't stop raving about my awesome new red lamp to sit next to my awesome orange couch! The only problem was that my husband wasn't down with me about the lamp. He worried how long it would last in our house-- this being a large breakable lamp next to the couch...also known as our "diving board."

If something has ever screamed "break me" louder than this, I'd be surprised.

Even better? My 99 cent lamp is sitting atop a 50 cent table I bought at a yard sale. My entire living room set cost me less than $2. 

As I sat and admired my beautiful orange lamp, I turned and looked at my husband. "Who cares if they break it," I said. "I'd be sad, sure. But it cost less than a dollar. At that price, the kids can break as much furniture as they want."

Because, when something costs $1,000 a little crumb on it is a big deal. When the entire set is less than a Starbucks latte...you could drop an entire crumb cake on it and I wouldn't even flinch.