Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for shopping
Thank you, Christopher Columbus
We all know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding Christopher Columbus and his “discovering” of America. He, according to most accounts, was a bigoted, self-centered jerk who was only looking for glory as opposed to a man exploring for the sake of science or discovery. I can’t really say that giving him credit for finding one of the best countries in the world seems really fair.
However…that being known, there is still one day every year I absolutely love ol’ Chris. You got it, it’s today…Columbus Day. Columbus Day (or our first real day off of school) always seems to get here just when you need it most. The newness of school has worn off, and the first quarter is almost done, and the day-to-day routine has become just a little bit too routine. Then comes this glorious three day weekend, just when we need it.
Today I took the kids to the babysitter in order to have the day to “get stuff done”. I felt guilty about it, but I knew that it was necessary in many ways. I had a million errands to run, laundry to do, and I really needed to sort through the kids’ clothes to get all of the summer clothes put away and all of the winter clothes inventoried, washed up, and put into their dressers. None of those things could have been done with the kids here. So, I dealt with the guilt and set out. I did get all of the previous chores listed, and I even had time to make an apple pie with the apples we picked at the apple orchard. It was a great feeling to get so much done.
Although the guilt never did completely go away, today was a really great day. Thanks, Chris…I needed it!
It’s a yellow day
Today was yellow day at preschool. You would think that would be cause for great celebration to have a special day already, but alas, it again caused Mommy preschool stress. Ben did not own a single article of clothing that is yellow. The closest thing we had is a black t-shirt that has the Batman symbol on it in yellow. I didn’t think that would do the trick, so of course I was off to find him something cheap and yellow to wear to school.
Here’s the real gist of the problem…almost anything made for a boy in yellow includes navy blue, and I just can NOT put my son in Michigan colors. I know, I know…it may seem ridiculous to many of you, but for me it’s a real commitment of hatred to all things maize and blue. Blech! So, really, it’s just easier to avoid yellow clothes at all costs. Thankfully, after only three stores, I found (on clearance at Target) a dark yellow t-shirt with dark gray lettering that said “Camping” and had a red tent on it. Perfect.
Thankfully, my preschool stress was relieved rather quickly again. I’m not sure I can handle this kind of constant pressure. I need to relax about this school, or I won’t make it through first semester!!
The big garage sale, day 2
Today was a very different sale day. First of all, the weather totally changed overnight and it was freezing today! Ok, freezing may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was chilly sitting out there. It was overcast, breezy, and it started to spit rain a couple times. That definitely had a bit of an effect on the crowd, I’m sure, but I certainly can’t complain. While it was not a steady stream of people all day, they were on a mission, and we had a lot of buyers come through. I was so excited to sell the rocker, and I did so very early on this morning. In fact, almost all of the big things sold, and a lot of the little things (including some things that I thought would never sell) went, too.
The biggest disappointment to me is how many clothes we have left. I really thought that baby clothes would go better than they did. Man, some of the clothes we still have are in fantastic shape! It really surprised me, to be honest. At this point we’re not really sure what we’re going to do with all these clothes we have left. We definitely have some things to go to Good Will, and obviously we could take all of the clothes there, but I’m just not sure if we’re ready to part with all of them that easily. I guess I just need to give myself a little time to decide what I’m going to do. I’m sure that Dave and I will begin to box things up in the morning, and hopefully I’ll have a better idea then.
Oh, I haven’t even mentioned the money yet! We made a killing!! Well, maybe not a killing to some, but let’s just say we surpassed my goal of $500 profit with ease. Sure it was a ton of work, but seriously…having our house cleared out of a whole lotta stuff and getting a wad of cash for it all? Totally worth it!
The big garage sale, day 1
So today was the opening day of the big sale. I got everything out into the garage, but I’m telling you there was not a single solitary empty spot on any of the eight huge tables I had in there. In addition to the garage being full, I had at least 15-20 things out on the driveway, as well. Needless to say I was hoping for a huge turnout.
Grandma Judy came down to help with the kids and the sale. Thank goodness she was here, because there was no way I could have done it being the only adult here. The kids were all excited for the sale and were very interested in people coming to buy things from us. However, we had a box marked “FREE” with a bunch of little toys in it. There were mostly things in it that the kids had gotten in Happy Meals from McDonald’s. You get the idea…it was a box full of junk that I was sick of picking up in our house. When we were collecting all of these things, Ben was all about getting rid of them. But then, the morning of the sale, he freaked. He didn’t want anyone to have anything in that box, and he “just wanted to take it all back inside!!!” It wasn’t even that the stuff was free…he didn’t even know that part. It was just suddenly harder for him to part with his “treasures” than he thought. After several minutes of trying to convince him that we weren’t keeping any of that crap, he spent some time on the couch crying. Eventually, he got over it and for the rest of the day he was all about people getting things out of the box. Go figure.
All in all, it was a great sale day. We had a lot of traffic in and out all day. I had a few people negotiating prices, but not too many, so that wasn’t too annoying. There is still a lot of stuff to get rid of tomorrow, so I hope that we have just as many come through. I still need to get rid of the rocking chair…that’s the one big thing I really don’t want to have after the sale is done. Keep your fingers crossed that we’ll get rid of more tomorrow!!
More garage sale woes
Ok, this thing is getting out of hand. I can’t even put into words…just look.
I know it’s only Tuesday, but there is still a lot of work to do to get this thing ready to open on Friday. Wish me luck!
Garage sale woes
Next week we’re having a huge garage sale. We’ve decided that we’re done having babies, so we’re getting rid of all of our baby stuff. This includes baby clothes (of course I’ve picked out some things from each kid that I just had to keep), bouncy seats, a pack ‘n play, the high chair, the double stroller, the jungle gym, the rocker glider and footstool in Emma’s room, the baby bathtub and a million little baby related items like bottles, sippy cups, silverware and burpcloths. Then we move to toys. I don’t feel like our kids are totally spoiled, but when you start sorting through them, the stuff they’ve outgrown or don’t play with anymore adds up really quickly. Throw in some random household things from the basement and office and stuff that Dave brought from the farm, and we’ll be lucky to fit it all in the garage!
Of course it’s been a lot of work pulling stuff out and hauling it up to the garage, but I’m afraid that the real stress is ahead of me. I’m having a hard time figuring out how to price things. I want stuff to sell, and I’m really not doing it for the money, but yet it’s hard to just give away nice things that were hardly used or worn, too. I’m struggling a bit. Right now I’m thinking that I’ll put most of the clothes on a table with a sign that says “All Items $1.00″. Then on another table I can put the more special or nicer items with individual prices on them. I haven’t decided for sure if that’s my strategy yet, but I do think that would probably be the easiest. It would also make for an easy check out with my math deficient brain!
I know that this is all a process, but it’s been more difficult than I thought it would be, and I think that has a lot to do with my pricing dilemmas. Getting rid of all this stuff is just so final. We’ll never use a bouncy seat again…or an infant bathtub or even a high chair for that matter! It makes me sad, even though I’m thrilled to have the space we’re freeing up in our storage area. I have a feeling that next Friday will be a challenging day for me.
The fast pants
Ben and I have been having some struggles in the morning. He’s becoming very picky with his clothes lately. But, of course, as is everything with Ben, it’s not the typical pickiness. It’s not a certain color, or even a specific style of clothes he wants. No, my darling little boy wants the fast clothes. Yes, I said fast. Today, he literally screamed, “But those pants are NOT FAST!” pretty much at the top of his lungs while I was trying to get him dressed.
I kind of know what he means. Several of his shirts have a car, a train, a motorcycle, or some other vehicle on them. Those things are fast…thus, they are fast shirts. I’ve even been able to convince him that his two dinosaur shirts are fast because, in my words, “Dude, have you ever seen how fast a dinosaur can run? They are SUPER fast.” He was skeptical, but it did work. The problem really rears it’s ugly head when we get to the pants or shorts…because I’m not really sure what fast pants are. He absolutely freaks about jeans…they’re definitely not fast. Sometimes wind pants, or “squishy pants” in his words, are ok…sometimes not. Typically he’s fine with his knit athletic pants, but again…sometimes not. And now that we’re moving into shorts weather, we have a whole new wardrobe to categorize. It’s exhausting.
I try to let him help in the choosing so that he feels a little more ownership and is less upset about my choices. But by the end of the week, when it’s closer to laundry day and all the favorite shirts and pants have been chosen and worn, it gets tough again. I don’t want to cave in and let him not wear perfectly good clothes that we already own, but I really hate the fighting in the morning. I really hope this is just a phase, or that someone can get me a whole bunch of truly fast pants quick!
Just bringing clothes
Grandma Judy is all over preparations for us to come to her house. She’s borrowed a pack ‘n play, a high chair, a booster seat, and a stroller from people in her complex! It’s awesome that we don’t have to worry about packing up and hauling any of those things. In her words, all we need is to “just bring some clothes and you’re all set!”
It sounds good in theory, but the reality is I’ve been working almost all week on getting us organized enough to leave tomorrow. Tuesday night I organized all the toys and what I affectionately refer to as crap that we’re taking for on the road entertainment. Wednesday night it was shopping for and preparing snacks. You may not think that would take up a whole evening, but trust me…we’re taking a LOT of snacks. Then tonight was finishing up laundry and packing our clothes.
As I look at everything sitting in our kitchen and dining area waiting to be loaded into the van, I can’t believe how much we’re taking. Thank goodness Grandma is hooking us up with all the big stuff…otherwise I’m not sure there would be room for both kids back there!! 
So much to do
Holy cow, there’s a lot to do to get ready for a vacation. We’re leaving on the 20th for Spring Break at my parents’ condo in Venice, Florida, and I am not even feeling close to being ready. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we’re going somewhere that will be a totall different season weather-wise, or if getting ready for every vacation makes you run around like a chicken with your head cut off, but either way, we’re doing it! I do think that the first item makes this a little tougher. Since we just decided that we were for sure going, I had to get out and do some shopping for the kids. It’s not like they needed a ton of clothes since we’ll be at my parents’ house, but at the very least they both needed warm weather jammies, a new swim suit, spring jackets, sandals, a few short sleeved shirts and shorts. Then you have to factor in all the stuff we wanted to get for the trip itself. We’ll be in the car for at least 20 hours, so we wanted a lot of entertainment. That meant much of today was spent getting some new movies and hitting the dollar store! Let me tell you, we loaded up on little toys, stickers, and books. We also used the kids’ Toys R Us gift cards that they got from the State Farm Santa to get a couple of bigger toys to open in the car. We’re hoping that we’ve gotten enough.
We’re super excited to go, but we’re also very nervous. It’s our first real family vacation, and our first car trip longer than two hours. We’re making a plan with the understanding that it’s all just an outline for the trip. This is really a play-it-by-ear situation. Let’s hope we can do it!
One Christmas tradition I don’t love…
…is being sick. I am almost always sick at Christmastime, and I know it’s all due to a lack of sleep. This tradition started in college, I think, when I would spend finals week cramming for those silly tests. I’m sure that was because of my incredible dedication as a student and not due to a complete lack of preparation throughout the entire semester. Either way, I inevitably came home with a horrible cold, or the flu, or bronchitis (only one time, but it was memorable). Now, it’s the same old story. I’ve heard “Honey, why are you still up?” from Dave at 11:00 or later more times in the last two weeks than I can count. There are just a million things to do. And while I love all the planning, shopping, baking, wrapping and partying, it’s taken its toll, and again I’m sick. I have that deep barking cough that I just can’t shake, and my voice sounds like Kim Carnes after a concert. It could be worse, I know, and I’m really trying not to complain. I finally got some Nyquil last night, so I had a great night sleep, and there really isn’t much to do today, so I’m taking it easy. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
I hope Santa brings you all what you’re hoping for the mostest!!
