CPSIA * Bloggers Unite

Please read the VERY IMPORTANT post I just did on my cREaTe blog...

http://createbyret.blogspot.com/2009/01/cpsia-bloggers-unite.html

January Yard Sale

Libby wanted to sit in here to eat her breakfast.  One last hurrah, I guess!

Kyle captioned this photo, "Baby not for sale!"

So here's how our "January Yard Sale" came to be.  

On Monday, I was attempting to put away our Christmas decorations & hit a road block.  We had stuff EVERYWHERE and looking at all the bins & things that we DIDN'T USE was making me sick.  So I started to go through ALL the bins... Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Valentine's Day, Fall, Beach/Pool, Home Decor that we're not using by have in the past & may in the future... and so on.  The pile turned into a nice mountain & I knew it was just the beginning.

That night we saw on the news that the weather was supposed to get up near 70 degrees on Thursday.  I put 2 & 2 together... and talked Kyle into a January Yard Sale.  I brought up a few good points to him...

1. We could keep the momentum going & just clean out EVERYTHING over the next 2 days.
2.  Spring weekends are always tied up with SOCCER.
3. The boys would be in school on Thursday.
4. We had a ton of baby things ... our baby is almost TWO.
5. The weather.
6. The $ for strangers to haul off our stuff for us would be nice.
7. And last, but not least... a) Yard Salers have had a few months off & are going to be itching to score some bargain and b) There will be no competition, so there will be no saving their cash & change for the "other sales".  

Number 7 proved to be a lot more true than I 1st thought.  Lots of people commented on how fun it was to go to a Yard Sale in January [and the temp did get close to 70!].  Several people said they did double takes when they saw our "Yard Sale" signs & circled the block to come back.  Many people were on their way to appointments or work & decided one Yard Sale wouldn't hurt.  I heard one lady on her cell phone say "I'm actually at a Yard Sale - if you can believe that!"  My theory proved to be true! We made about $400 if that's any indication of the kind of traffic we had.  

BARGAINS:

We had some bargains like  Graco Baby Swing for $2 because it was missing the battery cover [got lost in the move].  A light up snowman house decoration thing that was $5, but when I discovered it didn't work because 4 light bulbs were busted, I made it FREE.  We had other things marked 0¢ just because I'd rather someone take it if they wanted it.  People liked the freebies.   I figured if I couldn't charge somebody 25¢ for it, it got a 0¢ tag.  I liked watching people's faces light up.  :)

BLAST FROM THE PAST:

On my last trip home to my parents I got a box of all my Archie Comic Books.   I kept about 10 but I set the rest out there as 3 for 25¢ or $5 for the whole box.  A lady took the whole box to give to a 80 year old woman who loves comics.  :)

RANDOM STORY OF THE DAY:

Yard Sales always leave you with funny & random stories.  You meet all sorts... I'd say our "Random Story" of the day, was a girl (age 21?) that came on her bike.  She had just gotten off one bus & was supposed to catch another, but it drove off before she got on.  She came to our Yard Sale to take a look... she bought 2 bamboo beach mats that she's going to use as window coverings.  She only had 75¢ to offer me (instead of $1), but I told her not to worry.  She told me she was going to maybe come back after work [after she got paid] to buy a few refrigerator magnets.  (?)  I told her just to take them.  She was very grateful.  She was wearing 2 layers of pants & asked if she could take the top layer off somewhere because she had dressed for frigid temps (?).  Kyle came out & got in on the conversation, he heard about her bus/bike/getting to work story & he offered to TAKE HER TO WORK, not wanting her to be late.  She again was very grateful [just like when I told her she could take the magnets :) hee hee], but did ask if there was a way we could fill her water bottle up (?).   So, I took it from her & she followed me in to the house (?) where she asked if she could take off that top layer of pants.  So after she took off her pants (?) & I filled her water bottle, Kyle helped put her bike in the car & they drove off to Hen House (the 2nd closest to the house, not the 1st like we thought). 

Yard Sales leave you with interesting stories that you look back on & think ... "that was sooooo RANDOM!"  But it also left us about $400 richer.  And I got a little sun on my face.  :)  Ahh there's nothing like a Yard Sale.

ABCD Pushy Bottom

Poor Libby.

Working so hard on singing her alphabet.

And her song gets hijacked by her pesky brother...

who has forgotten that HE once wore diapers, too.  :(

Fun with Cousins

The kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins over the holidays! I absolutely love that the kids all get a chance to grow up together! Here are some darling photos of all our little darlings.
All 8 of them.


We had our "Twenter Christmas" on 12/21. It started with a nice breakfast {kids got pancakes!} then we moved on to presents! They got lots of good loot!

B D & L with cousin Roman. Cookies, Hot Chocolate & Flannel PJ's. :)


Cousin Eli had a rough holiday. [RSV, pink eye, etc.] Bless his heart. But we did get to play a bunch & we even went swimming together! Kyle had a St.L overnight - & instead of staying at the paid [SWA] hotel room, he stayed at my parents house with us. But we did go to use the hotel pool and had a little snack up in the room.

I love all these little munchkins!!! :)

P.S. I'm still here. I just joined Facebook. If you're a FB'er, you understand what the 1st few days are like. ;)