Big Arrival

I was so excited today- there, delivered to my front steps, was the Superyard XT Play Gate AND Extension Kit! And Swistle, you were right. This thing is fabulous. I never thought I would be so completely thrilled to have a plastic chain-link prison yard set up in the middle of my living room, but priorities tend to shift when you've stepped on the same freaking Lego ten times in one day. Now all I want is a place where I can put Addy and her toys and walk around the house and do things and not hear her screaming/whining from the playroom, which for some reason she seems to view as a Pit of Doom.
Heretofore, my only other options were, 1., to allow her to roam free throughout the house with me, which ends only in dog food munching and falling into sharp things and dragging out DVD's and decks of playing cards, or 2., to put her in her playpen, which she is usually fine with as long as I put in a movie, but which I end up feeling a little guilty about. Lying in a Pack'n'Play staring at Baby Einstein for hours a day does not seem the most mentally or physically stimulating thing for an eighteen month old child.
I am hoping the play yard, which takes up roughly half of the floor space in our living room, will be the solution. Plenty of room to walk around and play with even large toys, but no chances for falling into the TV or fireplace or sneaking off into the bathroom to play in Mommy's makeup bag. And also, hopefully none of the abandonment issues which the playroom seems to bring up, since the living room is a place I pass through often, whereas the playroom is kind of off in a corner of the house. I can see where one might feel lonely there. (Mind you, our house is probably not even 2000 sq. ft., so I use the term "off in a corner" loosely. It's not as though I can't turn around from the computer desk, three rooms away, look down the hall, and still see into the playroom. It's just that it's not a room which is in the main flow of traffic, so to speak.)
So geez, could I be having a better week or what? All my dreams are coming true. A tiny penis and a play yard! I'm the luckiest girl in the world!