Yard Sale Finds

I used to be quite the garage sale junkie. You never know what you'll find there, and being the designated discarder of our family (see the last post), I have the power to walk away without buying useless junk. Nope, it must have a purpose and a good price to entice me into plunking down my cash. I hadn't been to them in years, though. Many, many years. I don't even know why we stopped going, other than having to drag Shona around and constantly chase her out of the freebie toy bins set up to trap unwitting parents into taking home junk.

This weekend, though, we decided to venture out just to see what we would find. Katy made out the best with stacks and stacks of clothing, mostly jeans. I love that she adores faded, worn clothing...actually, she prefers her clothing not to be new (not my child!)...so she's pretty well outfitted for school now. She even fell in love with a coat at one place, so that is taken care of. Katy is definitely the bargain shopper of my two. Shona, on the other hand...well, let's say she won't be a millionaire if early signs are any indication. She kept trying to give away all her coins and overpaying for every little thing she wanted. I do think she looked adorable by the end of the second day strung full of mardi gras bead necklaces, new shades and a straw hat with a lace bow. I wish I'd had my camera. My favorite find of the weekend was this mirror. We have been looking for something to go above the sideboard John inherited from his grandmother. I knew I wanted something of significant size but we were having trouble finding something that would compliment the wood. I think it was intended to be used as a bedroom mirror on a vanity, but I think it works quite well in our dining room.

Self Realization Time

First, a rant. Apparently, I have special powers in my household. For some reason, I am the sole occupant of this home that is capable of putting a new roll of toilet paper onto the roller. Either it's far too complicated for everyone else or it really does take special mom powers to make it happen. Another special power I have is cleaning the bathroom. Everyone else in this house can overlook a disgusting pigsty of a bathroom and never lift a finger to clean it. I suppose they think it magically cleans itself, which in their worlds it does when mom gets enough and can't handle the dirt any longer. Ah, my kingdom for a maid. End of rant.

I did discover something about myself today. Now I'm not a neat freak, never have been, and I can live with a certain amount of minor dirt and non-cleanliness around me. That I know. Clutter, however, is my mortal enemy. I can't function in too much of it and I finally realized today that in large enough quantities, it has the ability to completely overwhelm me. I am speaking, of course, of the plethora of boxes and junk in my garage. I cannot walk in there and even begin organizational efforts because I am so overloaded with...stuff. It's everywhere and it overloads my brain to look at it. I am the discarder of our family. DH is a packrat to the extreme but when we bought this house, I laid down the law. Everything must find a use and a spot or we get rid of it. Period. I'm tired of having stuff in storage. If it's been in storage for years, do we really need it? I suppose that's why the flurry of shelf building happened when we first moved in because he can't bear to part with his book collection. Now he's pining for a curio cabinet so he doesn't have to give up some of his trinket treasures. I'm fine with that. So long as it has a designated spot and I can tolerate living with it in my house (I recently nixed the idea of any dead animal heads EVER being displayed on the walls....think sudden, mysterious disappearances there) we'll work with it. Time's a ticking on the remaining boxes. I need tidiness, I need order in my world and I never even knew it. Who'da thunk it?

Blah blah blah

I think this has been one of the busiest summers of my life. I never seem to be home, and when I am home, things are a constant blur of motion. I suppose that's not a bad thing, but I can't seem to feel rested lately. Gee, I wonder why. I can't believe there is still another month until vacation time is over. I might not survive that long.
Today, though, was one of those days it might have been better not to have climbed out of bed. I was a grump from the moment I got up until dinner time. Bad news in the mail, or rather really aggravating news that set me off. Then I got a call from John saying he'd been in an accident. At least it was very minor and the other driver drove off saying "It's an old car, don't worry about it!" but still...I was such a grump that when my mother called I all but yelled at her. I get so tired of hearing from her on a daily basis when she has absolutely nothing to say. I miss when I could actually have a conversation with her. I really miss having a mother, period.
At least the evening turned out all right. We went to a new restaurant in town called El Sombrero and it was delicious. After last night's fiasco with finding what is probably the worst Chinese restaurant in Springfield for JOhn's birthday, it was nice to find a good place to eat. We'll have to keep hunting for a decent Chinese restaurant. We haven't found one yet after living here a year.
And speaking of John's birthday, I actually managed to surprise him. During our weekend getaway to Branson, he'd pointed out a bagpipe chanter set he was interested in and I snuck off to buy it our last morning there. He'd been wanting one for years, so he was very happy to open that gift.

Another Catch Up Post

We had a great Fourth of July, very relaxing. Well, maybe relaxing isn't the right word. The hubster and I spent the day shopping, then we picked up the kids (we had an extra one for the night) and went to the base for fireworks. We tried to stop in for a bite to eat, only to reach the doors just as they closed. Instead of leaving to get food and possibly missing the fireworks show, we opted for convenience store food and you know what? It wasn't bad. The show was great and we had a nice parking spot just up the hill from where we sat.

After the holiday, we escaped for a weekend at Celebration City in Branson. It isn't as big or as crowded as Silver Dollar City, which made me very happy. The longest we waited in line for any ride was 10 minutes. That's it, ten minutes at the peak of their tourist season. Life was good. I got some great shots, like this one of my three favorite people.
However, since it was my birthday weekend, I insisted on everyone taking an old time photo, a family tradition we hadn't been keeping up with lately. I love this photo.
It's going on the wall with my other old time family photos, dating back to when I was about 13. Such simple things make me happy.

Speaking of things that make me happy, or in this case don't...I was trying to get a good picture of myself tonight so I could make a DT page to send Felicia. It's going on display at her new brick and mortar store. I took at least two dozen shots and had Shona try to get some. I finally realized it wasn't the lighting and it wasn't the angle...I just don't like my face. *sigh* Maybe I need a new haircut, but somehow I still don't think I'm going to like my face. I would say it's a face only a mother could love, but she did remark on what a homely child I was. Then again, she is legally insane....

....and on that note, I'm off to scrap this face.