Collin and I have been home alone for the last few days since Wyatt went to Las Vegas-Lucky Dog!!It is actually the first time I have had the baby all to myself for more than a day since we have been home. Being home alone with him has its positive and negative aspects. It is always nice to have a second pair of hands but I enjoyed having all of the cuddle time and not having to share.
I shouldn't really say I had him the whole time because my mom was kind enough to take care of him while I did my baby sale rounds this weekend. I LOVE going to the baby sales. I can clothe Collin for the whole season for under $200. I even loaded up for my neices-2 full trash bags of clothes for $160. My favorite sale is the Grove City Nazarene Church MOPS sale. They have TONS of clothes,all in great condition, most look new! They have lots of brand name clothes and the prices are great. I actually was a seller and a shopper this year. They solicit sellers and the church gets 25% of your profit. They do all the work you just tag your items and drop them off. They send you a check a week later.
This sale is a very big deal. Maybe some of you know about this but it was all new to me last year when I started checking them out. Think of Black Friday but with a bunch of pregnant ladies and moms. People line up long before the doors open. Then when they open the doors people make a mad dash with thier trash bags in hand and start grabbing everything. Forget your manners and forget you are in church this is mommy competition!! I even took my own bags so I wouldn't waste any time.
They have a deal that sellers can volunteer 6 hours and they allow you to pre-shop on Friday night. PRE-SHOP..that means before everyone else!!! I don't have to elbow pregnant ladies and grandmas to get to what I want. Sounded good to me so I signed up. Friday I volunteered from 8 am until about 3pm. That is a story in itself. I was so excited when I saw a Step 2 Sand and Water play table! Only $20!!It was exactly what I was looking for-it HAD to be mine-I mean Collin's! I returned early so I would be the first "pre-shopper".
It started at 6:30pm so I was going on 10 1/2 hours. I earned my pre-shopping benefits-I worked my tail off!! SUCKER!!!!! First thing the lady running the sale says..."lets go over the rules before we get started". WHAT!!!!There are no rules in baby sale shopping! "You can only pre-shop in the clothing room, no large item purchases and you have a 20 item limit in the clothing room".UUUUGHHHHHGHGH!!!!!!! I wasted an entire day, got up at the butt crack of dawn, missed a night and a day with my son and now I can't even bring his sand and water table home for him??? And what is this 20 item crap??? I'm shopping for 3 kids!! Even if I was only shopping for Collin, 20 items is nothing. I was SO not happy!! I went in and got my 20 stinking items. It took about 5 minutes and I was done. There went 12 hours of my life I will never get back. 12 hours with a bunch of church ladies I don't know rocking out to Christian music-I almost cracked! Watch out pregnant ladies...I'm going home to stretch!
Needless to say I was on a mission the next morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep and I woke up feeling like I had the flu-again! But, nothing was going to stop me!! I didn't arrive until 7:15am so there was already a line. I had pretty much given up on getting anything good and there was no way I would get the table.
Finally the doors opened-Game On! Forget being nice, I busted past all of them-they were too slow. I spotted the table across the hall and took off in a full sprint. Out of my way grandpa! Don't even think about it! I cut him off and snatched the sold tag, threw him a quick victory smirk and took off for the clothing room. I dare you to be at the 18 month boy table!!!
I hit the girls 4T and 2T tables then the 12-18 month boy tables. I filled up a trash bag for one kid,threw it in a corner and started on the next one. The secret is to push your way up close to the table then put your elbows out and swing them wildly so no one will get too close to you then you grab anything that looks decent. Fill the bag, dump and do it again. When you are finished you find a spot on the floor, dump out your bag and evaluate the booty. Not everyone has what it takes. Someone says "excuse me" and I just laugh-haha LOSER-and keep loading up! I was a woman on a mission, not only a woman, A MOM ON A MISSION-Watch out!
Is this what they refer to as maternal instinct? I wouldn't have been caught dead at Filene's Basement fighting for a wedding dress or standing in line in the freezing cold all night for the $10 DVD player on Thanksgiving night so what is the deal? Who cares... I got the table!! And today we went and bought sand and filled it up and played for hours-he loves it!! And, if I wouldn't have gotten it at the sale I would have gone and paid full price for it because I knew he would love it!!
It was 65 degrees and sunny and we were so glad to be out of the house. We spent the day at the zoo and then came home and played until dark. Now that is a good day!
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Guatoberfest Cruise 2009
My soapbox about the Advent Conspiracy
I came across this video on another blog. I have to admit I only looked at it for entertainment value. I assumed with a title like that, it had to be some wacko conspiracy theory and who doesn't need a good laugh. Suprisingly enough it really touched me and made me think. It didn't grab my interest because of it's religious value, because that's not really my thing. I am not the type of person that flaunts religion or believes in pushing your beliefs onto others. It touched me because of it's human value and because it shows me how quickly I forget.
When we were in Guatemala it was truly a life changing experience for a myriad of reasons, only one of which was bringing home a baby! We saw poverty that we could never imagine in this country. I remember thinking when I was there that despite all of the stress of the situation, I was more at peace than I had ever felt in my life. Among other things, there was no pressure to have more...there was nothing to have. People just lived their lives. Families worked together, lived together in cramped housing-if they had a roof over their heads at all-and they were happy! We were forced to enjoy eachother without our "creature comforts" and I loved it. I now remember hoping that once we got home, I would never lose that idea that we don't really need much at all. I realized our society makes us think we need more but we really don't. And after watching the video it makes me realize that I have failed miserably.
I had made up my mind that in order to honor my new found attitude and our sons heritage, we would sponsor a Guatemalan family every year so that they could have food and heat and their children could go to school-things we take for granted on a daily basis. For some reason I can never seem to find the money to do that- BUT- I can find the money to buy coffee every day, sometimes several times a day, Collin will see a room full of gifts on Christmas morning, I can go out to eat, I can do whatever I want for the most part. My priorities have gone right back to where they were before I experienced Guatemala and it makes me sad. That is the reason that I am posting the video in a permenant spot on the blog, so that I am constantly reminded, not only during Christmas but all year to give PRESENCE to my friends and family not PRESENTS and to give back to something that I feel very strongly about. I don't write this to push Guatemalan charity or any charity but to encourage anyone reading this to slow down and take a look at your life and see what means the most to you and see where it takes you.
When we were in Guatemala it was truly a life changing experience for a myriad of reasons, only one of which was bringing home a baby! We saw poverty that we could never imagine in this country. I remember thinking when I was there that despite all of the stress of the situation, I was more at peace than I had ever felt in my life. Among other things, there was no pressure to have more...there was nothing to have. People just lived their lives. Families worked together, lived together in cramped housing-if they had a roof over their heads at all-and they were happy! We were forced to enjoy eachother without our "creature comforts" and I loved it. I now remember hoping that once we got home, I would never lose that idea that we don't really need much at all. I realized our society makes us think we need more but we really don't. And after watching the video it makes me realize that I have failed miserably.
I had made up my mind that in order to honor my new found attitude and our sons heritage, we would sponsor a Guatemalan family every year so that they could have food and heat and their children could go to school-things we take for granted on a daily basis. For some reason I can never seem to find the money to do that- BUT- I can find the money to buy coffee every day, sometimes several times a day, Collin will see a room full of gifts on Christmas morning, I can go out to eat, I can do whatever I want for the most part. My priorities have gone right back to where they were before I experienced Guatemala and it makes me sad. That is the reason that I am posting the video in a permenant spot on the blog, so that I am constantly reminded, not only during Christmas but all year to give PRESENCE to my friends and family not PRESENTS and to give back to something that I feel very strongly about. I don't write this to push Guatemalan charity or any charity but to encourage anyone reading this to slow down and take a look at your life and see what means the most to you and see where it takes you.
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