It’s been awhile but I’ve returned to the blogiverse with lots of words and plenty of pictures to go along with all of those words. My only excuse for a short hiatus is the garage sale. Whoa. I always seem to forget just how awful they really are. I sit here in the recliner with my hips and knees aching, a headache from the sun and not eating or drinking and a week that I can’t get back. With all of that said, I would like to add just how glad we are that we put on our big girl and boy panties and did the darn thing. Every extra second I had was spent in the garage this week surrounded by tables and a bunch of STUFF.
Although the garage seemed to be my home this past week, we did manage to sneak in a few other things. Tuesday was a very productive day as I had the help of Nanny to keep Hal occupied while I priced a sky-high pile of clothes. Just as it started to get hot I noticed it was time for lunch. I joined Katie, Carmen, Nanny and Hal for a nice lunch. Well actually my sleeping beauty snored through lunch and I actually was able to get my hands on baby girl without the risk of making Hallie jealous. She just cuddled up in my arms and slept. Baby fever?? Nah, not yet. But she’s making it hard not to. ;) Hallie was rustling around in her crib so Aunt Katie went to round up the little piglet. She happened to notice all of Hallie’s gnawing marks she’s so graciously made on Nanny’s crib. Sharpening her teeth for biting momma, I’m sure of it. Hallie filled her belly with some lunch and soon we were in the car headed for great grandma’s house. It had been a month since I took Hallie for a Shattuck trip and I know for a fact that great grandma was having some Hal withdrawals. No longer MeMe. She made her presence very well known once she arrived. She made not a peep on the ride there and was full of her silly spirit and laughter all the while we visited. She handed out kisses like they were candy and made sure to give great grandpa plenty, and I mean plenty, of smiles. The walker was a source of entertainment as usual…..
Great grandma knows the way to Hal’s heart and shared some puff snacks with her…..
By the time we gave kisses, said goodbye and drove home it was time for a NAP…for Hal, that is. I made sure to sleep vicariously through her though as I priced and sorted a ginormous pile of clothes. Katie and Carmen stopped by to browse through the garage sale items and found enough to fill up her car! I got some more snuggle time with Carmen as she slept in my arms while Katie sorted through things. Along came Riley who was in a big hurry to get changed, fed and out to the football fields to ref some Kids Inc. football games that evening. Hal must’ve sensed that he was home because she woke up immediately from her nap in a chipper mood. Kisses were being handed out and guess who was the recipient of most of them???
Yep, that’s right. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…or cousinship. Whatever you wanna call it. Hal stood beside her carseat and rocked it back and forth when she heard Carmen start to cry.
Despite all of the cuteness going on, the clock was telling me that we had very little time to get out to watch daddy at the fields. We hurried and got dressed, fed and ready for some football. Ok actually I’ll be honest. I couldn’t have cared less about the actual games…we just wanted to go have fun laughing at silly Riley trying to remember how to ref a game. He was practicing his hand motions and signals the night before while watching Monday Night Football. HILARIOUS! Ok, now I’ll be honest again. Once we got there and found some friends I didn’t even end up watching the field. I was too busy laughing at the kiddos playing together and sharing Goldfish out of my hands. That was when I wasn’t digging lemons out of my drink to pass out. Hallie had a blast with her friends Jack, Haley and Paige….
"Hey big kids. My name's Hallie"
Oh and she got to hang out with dad for just a second….
"Is this how you blow this whistle?"
Wednesday came quickly and only reminded me that I was running out of time to deal with the mess that continued to accumulate in the garage. We had one final trip to make to our storage shed to purge anything and everything. But before we made that fun trip, we took a nice little jog. Did I say nice? What I really meant to say was miserable. Besides a quick visit from Heather and Raenell, Hallie screamed the entire jog. Even when I let her escape the stroller and walk alongside me…..bad idea mom. Once we got back from our scream, I mean jog, she was happier than a chipmunk in a pile of nuts. See what I mean….
I guess my torture with the stroller didn’t leave her too scarred because she was offering up kisses as she played on the porch while we waited for Katie and Carmen to come by to pick up some stuff. The girls continued their newfound friendship with some more kisses and more rocking of her carseat.
"Kisses"
"It's ok baby"
Ok, so back to that trip to the storage shed. It felt so nice to just grab everything knowing that in a couple days we would be rid of it. Yes, we could have just been rid of it then and there by throwing it in a dumpster but like I said “one mans trash is another mans treasure. Here I’ve captured a man sorting through his trash trying to find pieces of treasure…..
Might I add that this entertainment was the extent of his help in preparation. Hey, I’ll take it…he’s great comic relief late at night when I’d rather have been relaxing in front of the tv with the computer on my lap instead of sitting on the dirty garage floor covered in pricing stickers. Friday came quickly and brought about exactly what we expected: chaos. People were parked in the middle of the street, blocking traffic. The first thirty minutes was very crazy as we tried to haul everything out of the garage all the while being bombarded by people pilfering through tables as we tried to move them. Vultures I tell you!!! Really though, they were swarming around our house driving in circles as early as 3:00 that afternoon. People don't mess around. Coin purses and trailers to load their finds....I'd say we saw plenty of "professional garage sale goers." We closed up shop around 9:00 after Papa returned our long lost lady for bedtime. Aunt Ky and her boyfriend Justin came by to say hi and by that time the driveway was empty which meant time for bed. ZzzzzZZZzzzzzZzZZ.
I was up and at 'em early Saturday morning grabbing breakfast for a busy morning. What do you eat for breakfast when you are exhausted and know that you probably won't eat the rest of the day? A breakfast of champions, of course.....
Garage sale = only excuse to eat McDonald's
Miss Hallie Grace helped us empty the garage again and greeted the herds of people making their way into our driveway. Soon it was either nap time or bike time, so her and Nanny hopped on the bike for a ride around the trails. A hooded ride of course...gotta protect those fragile ears....
Somebody seemed exasperated when they returned to find loads of people still at our house....
"When does this thing end?!"
Or maybe all she needed was a refreshment.....
"Coke or Dr. Pepper? Decisions, decisions"
Our little bike riding hood took off for Nanny's house to partake in some playtime, lunchtime and naptime. Riley spent the morning trying to rid the flatbed of the mounds of unwanted rock which he had dug out of the flowerbed in front of the house. All it took was a sign that said "FREE" and people were oooing and awwwing over these silly rocks. We ended up with no rocks to haul off and only three boxes of "stuff" leftover. Talk about condensing!!! We finished up our sale of the century around 1:00, dragged the tables back inside and plopped on the floor to count our earnings. Hello, isn't this the most fun part of the whole process?! Riley kicked back in the recliner behind me and watched as I continued to count until I was ready for a drumroll and the big announcement. Drumroll please.......$1815. WHAT?!?!?!?! After I pried Riley's mouth from the floor I informed him that we were spending our hard-earned money on a vacation...just the two of us. I think I finally have him convinced. So needless the say, all the hard work was well worth it in the end.
Against my better judgment, I was being drawn toward the sun so I went for a long run while Riley and Hallie snoozed. The afternoon flew by and soon it was time to head down the street for the March for Babies. After we marched our hearts out it was time for what I'd been dreading/ignoring all day....OU/FSU game. Good thing I kept busy all day otherwise I think I would've ended up in the ER after having a stroke. So. Nervous. Three and a half hours later I was able to relax and kick back with a smile on my face. Meanwhile Riley sat next to me spouting off phrases such as "Sooner Magic" and "Stoops Troops"....mockery is the highest form of flattery, isn't that the saying? Lol! Hallie caught the first part of the game with me and loaded up in her car and decided to drive to Tallahassee. Ok, more like she drove straight to her crib for bedtime....
"I can stay awake til halftime, I promise mom"
We had one tired cheerleader on our hands. Good thing too, because I can't always be responsible for the things that fly out of my mouth whilst watching an intense game. We avoided the unspoken predicament of having overlapping games to watch....the weather helped us out and solved the problem for us by bringing storms into the Tulsa area making it impossible to begin the OSU/Tulsa game until after midnight. One happy momma + one happy daddy + one smiling baby = the PERFECT SUNDAY.
Church, a delicious lunch ready in the crock pot when we returned home, a two hour nap and some quality relaxation time with just the three of us was just what we needed. Hallie was thrilled for some play time at Nanny and Papa's while I helped Aunt Katie set up her new blog (I'll give you the website when she is finished with her first post...the blog name is just precious). After the blog was created we went to pick up daddy and load up the bikes for a much anticipated family bike ride at Boiling Springs. Perfect weather. There's that "P" word again. The day was just perfect. This is why.....
Beautiful.
Beautiful.
Beautiful.
P.S. - this was our last garage sale. Ever.
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