Julie's Mom•Logic: When I forgot about my son's classroom contest, I knew it would take a miracle to save the day.

"My 7-year-old son frantically ran up to me last week and said, 'Mommy, the deadline is next Friday! For the contest!' My mind was a total blank. What deadline? What contest? 'Remember, Mommy, the Box Tops for Education contest. You told me you would collect them!' Uh-oh. I had a vague recollection of some random flier sent home saying all the parents were supposed to collect these box tops, but it had exited my mind five seconds after I read it. And, besides, that flier was sent home in, like, September. It was now January. How am I supposed to remember something from September, when I can barely even remember last week? But this was my little boy, and I couldn't let him down. 'Oh, yeah, now I remember,' I lied. 'I've been collecting them.' He smiled and gave me a big hug. Now I felt even worse!

As soon as he went to his room, I raced to the cupboard, scanning every can and box for one of those Box Tops for Education logos. After a 10-minute search, I came up with three box tops. Now, no respectable Mom could send their son to school with three measly box tops. After all, I'd had five months to collect them. That wouldn't even equal one box top per month. Pathetic! I might as well just stamp a big L on my head, because I was obviously a LOSER.

After I tucked my son in bed that night, I started moaning to my husband. How could I be such a bad Mommy? Why hadn't I remembered the damned box tops? Then it hit me: eBay! Could someone possibly sell them on eBay? I raced to the computer and logged on. With bated breath, I typed in "Box Tops for Education," then hit Search. Lo and behold, there were 110 items listed! Yes! I quickly bid $20 for 200 Box Tops, and won the auction within an hour. They landed in my mailbox within four days. When my son walked in to his classroom Friday with 200 Box Tops in tow, he was the hero of his class. I even received a personal call from his teacher, thanking me for my efforts. Wasn't much of an effort, really, but I accepted her praise nonetheless. If she wanted to think I was a SuperMom, who was I to argue?"