Recovering

Did not much on Monday - took a nap in the afternoon.

Did more today - but still took a nap this morning.

It's the post-sale hangover. I feel like I'm starting to reclaim my house. Kitchen is cleaner, if not cleaned up. Went to the grocery store to get all important Honey Nut Cheerios. Paid the bills, and only one was overdue (oops!).

Tomorrow is probably cleanup day. Every floor in the house is filthy. But I have to dig them out first.

Done!

Blogger just ate my whole post, so now you get the abbreviated version. Grrrrr...

Consignment sale is over. Mostly. A few odds and ends to deal with, but the counting cards job belongs to someone else. In a week or so I'll help check the count, and deal with mailing the checks, but that's no big deal. And can all be done sitting down (I'm SO tired).

We had a good but not great sale. Reasonable crowds, but we didn't have as much stuff as sometimes, so that hurt us. And we went a week after another big sale in the area, so that definitely hurt us. And we have to get back to a regular schedule, so people are looking for us. That would help immensely.

So our gross was down slightly from last year, but hey, our net profit will probably be equivalent to holding 4 spaghetti dinners, so that's not bad! And we benefitted two charities who were THRILLED with what they got. So that's good!

I am SO tired. Did I mention that already?

The end is in sight

Consignment Sale day! We had reasonably good crowds, not the huge rushes of people we were hoping for, but a good flow (more than a trickle, mostly) throughout the day.

I am REALLY tired and my feet are killing me. Falling asleep tonight will be murder - whenever I'm on my feet too much or wear tight shoes, my neuropathy goes nuts when I first go to bed. It's like my feet are on fire, tingling, just overstimulated I guess.

So tomorrow is half price day, and cleanup. I should have plenty of volunteers, and we'll just have to hope for lots of shoppers!

Then the fun part - counting the money. :)

Ya gotta be kidding me

Monday, I put up a large sandwich board sign in front of the church to advertise the sale. It blew down. Monday evening, John staked it so it would stay. I'm thinking, ok, troubles over.

Tuesday evening, one of my friends and co-consignors asked me, "Are you aware that the times on the sign out front are wrong?"

Nope, hadn't even noticed.
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Hoping this is not a bad omen.
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It's fixed now. Hopefully not too many people will show up at the wrong time for the sale. Oy.

The final countdown

Well, my consignment sale (the one I'm running) is this coming weekend, and I think things are coming together. I got the signs out today, although I had to take down the ones for the other consignment sale and take them back to that church. I wouldn't have minded except I worry that people won't really notice that it's a different sign and may tune it out. I've given fliers to a couple of reliable people, so hopefully most of the major grocery stores in the area are posted. We made the community news section of one paper last weekend, and have placed our ad for next weekend.

I always worry that we won't get enough customers - and often we don't. We have only broken $2000(net) for the sale once in many years of doing it, and it makes you wonder if its worth the effort. But I have to remind myself that it is also a ministry to low-income people in the area, and that's a good thing. It's not just about the money.

That said, I ended up taking an hour nap this afternoon because I was just exhausted. With John gone for 10 days, I always end up going to bed later than I plan. And while I didn't have to get up and work the other sale at 7:30am like I usually do, I did bagging and cleanup which is very physical, and had me on my feet for over 3 hours. And then Sunday I took fliers (and some junk) to the local free-4-all and ended up being on my feet for another 2 hours. And then I was up late on Sunday night finishing my last sign. This morning was not pleasant, but the nap helped.

FYI, a free-4-all is an event sponsored by a freecycle group. Freecycle is an online organization that encourages people to give away unwanted items instead of throwing them in the garbage. Usually, you post what you have to give away, and people reply with requests. The free-4-all is a "live" version - you bring your stuff, and let people take what they want. I filled the back of my car, and came home with one small bin. And I only picked up 3 things from other people. Pretty cool!

Makin' it work

I can't believe this week is almost over. John comes home tomorrow, the first consignment sale is this weekend, and things are coming together. I have all my cards printed out for the dropoff tomorrow, I just have to pin them on the clothes tonight. My sale is relatively organized. I have to work on making more signs, and also getting more people to put up fliers. We got through all the games, practices, performances, and sickness. Yes, I had two kids home sick two different days. Oy.

So instead of getting my stuff done so I can go to bed at a reasonable hour (which I haven't all week), I'm blogging. Back to work.

Havin' a Monday

I'm having that paralysis-inducing anxiety again. I'm participating in a consignment sale this weekend, and I'm RUNNING one the following weekend. I need to make signs to put around town (no, can't delegate, I own the tools and have the skills), make sure fliers get out to be put up(trying to delegate), still recruit more consignors (aagh!), make sure the nursery school that uses our space knows all of our timing (to move their stuff), get volunteers at the times I need them (another aagh!) and oh, yeah, tag MY stuff to put out at the sale this weekend.

So I'm blogging instead.

It's all doable and will get done, except for pulling consignors and volunteers out of my hat, I'm just having that moment. Take a deep breath, ask for and accept help when offered, and just have faith that God will take care of us. If we help one family that can't afford nice things for their kids, we've done a good thing. It's not supposed to be just about the money.

Keep reminding me of that, ok?

Pitter patter?

Whoever said that cats are graceful never met my two. That whole "little cat feet" thing is a crock, as far as they're concerned. I'm sitting downstairs and they are chasing each other, full speed, up the stairs, down the hallway, making the turns (four wheel skid on that one!), back down the stairs...

I dragged the kids off to the stamping show today. They took it pretty well. We were lucky there weren't more vendors, and that I wasn't shopping for stamps. I know, a stamp show and I'm not buying stamps? I was really looking for some specific tools and materials, which I found most of (yea!), and ideas. JC was predictably bored, I actually let him go to the computer show next door first, although I think that would have been more interesting to him if John had been along. But JC brought a book and did reasonably well at waiting. William and Rachel were a little more into it, although they weren't interested in quite the same things I was. I don't know if their favorite thing was rummaging through the unmounted rubber (I let them pick a couple of stamps to buy), or the Moveable Parts booth, where the owner was stamping the most charming cats and dogs you can imagine. She stamped a couple of cat faces wearing Harry Potter glasses for Rachel. William was in heaven because I bought a couple of spools of wire for him. I saw pretty much everything I wanted to see by the time the kids reached their limit, and my friend who came with us also had maxed out, so it worked out pretty well.

After we came home, we had an hour or so before JC's roller hockey game. William spent much of the time making sculptures with his wire. Mostly snakes - very very thin snakes...

Not too shabby

57 words

Speed test

Actually, the first time, I typed 62 wpm with no mistakes. Then I didn't copy and paste the html correctly. So I retook the test and did worse. And messed up the copying again. So this is the third try, worst of the bunch, but I copied and pasted it correctly! Moral - wait a while between re-testing, my fingers are definitely tired.

Committed

I am now committed that I will go to the Allentown Stamping convention tomorrow. The kids agreed to be bribed to come along, and JC actually got an advance on his that he is spending at the gaming store this evening. And I called my friend who wanted to come along and said, "we're going."

I've been on the fence for days - JC's first roller hockey game is Saturday. The time was originally posted for 1pm, which really meant we couldn't go, and then got changed to 4:15pm. I'm still hoping for a rain-out, but we can stay 'till 2pm, which gives us 4 hours at the show. That will probably be more than enough for the kids, anyway.

So we're going, and I'm hoping the kids can keep it together, and I'm looking for inspiration! Wish us luck!

Finally, A Miss!

You Are Yogurt

Modern and streamlined, you prefer a breakfast that's quick and healthy. You live a fast paced life, and you get breakfast only when you're lucky. And while you are strapped for time, you are still a hardcore foodie. You often eat the best that your money can buy. You figure you're worth it.

What Kind of Breakfast Are You?

So, my sister and I have been sort of taking turns posting these quiz things on our blogs, when I find one, she does it, then she finds a new one, and I do it, etc. And it's been a little wierd sometimes that they often seem to hit the mark pretty well. But this one, well, there's no way I'm yogurt for breakfast.
1. I ALWAYS eat breakfast. And while I try, "healthy" is not always my preference.
2. I like food, but I'm not a foodie in the "snob" sense this implies.
3. "the best that money can buy?" Hardly, if it's on sale, that's a good thing.
4. "Modern and streamlined"? I wish!
5. I really don't even LIKE yogurt very much. If I buy it, 80% of the time it goes bad in the fridge.

Not sure what THIS means...

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic. You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything. You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests. You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time. Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to. (But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.) You excel in: Inspiring people You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Itty Bitty Kitty Brains

George is not the brightest bulb in the bunch, I'm afraid. It may just be that he's still a kitten (6 months), but last night was not impressive.

He's developed a habit of following me around the house, especially into the bathroom. From his point of view, I'm a captive audience who will sit and scratch his head, and anything else I'm doing is irrelevant. So last night he joined me in the master bathroom. It's important to notice that there is only one recessed light in there, so shadows are quite distinct. George noticed that there was a shadow on the floor that was moving - his tail. So, being a kitty, he chased it. Around and around. And around. And around. Quite clearly, it was the shadow, not his tail. He would stop for a moment, then notice it again. Both directions, but it didn't help. This went on for quite some time (even after I left the bathroom), and when I was brushing my teeth he finally came out. With a distinct stagger and a lean, and he clearly had to sit down for a few minutes to stop the spinning.

I have NEVER before seen a cat make himself dizzy. Perhaps he's secretly blonde?

This one is funny too

see more loldogs ask - i can has hotdog?

Too Funny

see more crazy cat pics

(The last word is "sepia")

Not So Much

Inspiration, that is. I didn't go to the convention. Driving that far by myself was not very appealing and I have so much stuff I'm NOT using right now, it didn't make much sense to buy more. And I would have, of course.

So the day was spent puttering around the house, cleaned a bit of my stamping room, JC had a playdate, John got laundry done and started on the taxes, and we all played outside for a while.

The kids and I watched "Labyrinth" this evening. The special effects looked a little dated, but they all enjoyed it. A little scary in parts, for Rachel and William. It had more David Bowie music than I remembered, but I'm sure that's how they got him to star in the movie.

Inspiration

I'm going to a rubber stamping convention tomorrow. At least, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go. None of my friends are able to come, and it's an hour and a half drive. I'm a little hesitant because it is more fun to go with friends, but at the same time, I'm really craving some inspiration. I haven't MADE anything in quite a while, and I'm really hoping to get kind of a creative jump start from the convention.

Do I have "time" to go? Well, I have a HUGE backlog of things to do, most importantly the consignment sales are coming! But will I work on it tomorrow if I don't go to the convention? Maybe. Maybe not. Might be more productive to play hooky for a day.

We'll see. I'll let you know.

Let me 'splain...

I find myself explaining pop culture references to my children. All the time. Some of them are understandable, from before they were born. Some of them... I don't know, maybe my children lead a sheltered life?

A recent example is the song, "If I Had $1,000,000" by Barenaked Ladies. I have it on my iPod, and they like it, so we listen to it fairly often. But there's a line about "I'd buy you some art. A Picasso or a Garfunkel." It took several tries to explain who Art Garfunkel was and why this was funny.

This isn't even counting the idiom references. Dial a phone? Sounding like a broken record? Mommy, what's a record? That's guaranteed to make you feel old.