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Category Archives: Rants & Gripes

DC dinner with friends!

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Friends from South Carolina came to DC for the weekend and we grabbed dinner with a bunch of other friends at a pizza place.

Of course, the kids were watching TV. (Guess how old the boy is. Just guess. Nope—he’s 6.5 and in first grade! I know, right? I told you we grow them big. 🙂 )

Owen’s cool crayon sculpture!

As a sidenote. We had a perfect example of why I say I hate people. Parking in downtown DC is always a nightmare, but we were thrilled to realize there was a parking garage right next door to the restaurant. Except some asshat parked next to us in a NON-PARKING spot which necessitated a 23-point turn to exit our space. ‪(Parking is tight in the best of cases, so with him there it was ridiculous.)

I didn’t expect weight loss to cost this much.

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So, my tension-mount wedding ring is falling off and needs to be resized from a 7 to a 5.5.

We’ve known since we bought it that if it ever needed to be resized, it wouldn’t be your typical easy resize job. I remember them telling us it could be around $100. Fine. So fast forward to now when I actually need it resized and I contacted a few local recommended jewelers.

Ha.

Two places won’t even touch it because of the style, one won’t touch it because we didn’t buy it there, and one says “We can try and see what happens.” 😮

So I contacted the jeweler where we bought it and, long story short, they just informed me it can’t be resized that much [due to the style] and it will have to be remade…at a cost of $1200. TWELVE HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS. I can’t live with the cheapo $5 plastic sizer piece on it forever, but we can’t very well afford $1200 to fix a goddamn ring. FML.

A few people have suggested maybe it’s time to upgrade…especially because we hit 15 years this year. But I don’t really want to upgrade!! I honestly can’t imagine finding anything I like more than my ring. I still LOVELOVELOVE it after 15 years.

I knew there would be costs associated with this new body, but I honestly never thought about my ring.

I really REALLY wanted to. But…I just can’t. This is hell.

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It’s MUCH easier to create things if you’re not searching for colors. But they come like this (cheaply):

perler

So I tried. I really did. Because I really like organization and making things easier…but it just takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R. The completely full bins were colors bought separately. The other beads are the ones I sorted. What you see is about 15 minutes of work.

perlertimememe

So I saw a doctor today.

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Yeah.

She was nice enough, but when we were talking about why I wanted a general chem panel run (in addition to my thyroid levels) and I casually mentioned that I had recently lost 80 pounds, she didn’t really even bat an eye. Instead, she asked what I was doing for exercise. And when I told her that I was walking about a mile 3-5 times a week she kind of gave me a look, saw my FitBit, and asked how many daily steps I was getting. I told her about 7,000 and she said “You need to get that up to 10,000.”

Gee thanks, lady. Thanks for showing me any kind of positivity about LOSING 80 F***ING POUNDS.

And on top of that, I shrunk a damn inch. I am no longer 5’10”. What the bloody hell? At least Tom and I are shrinking in tandem (he lost an inch as well).

* Sidenote. I had complained about this to my friends, saying “That’s the problem being military…you get a new set of doctors every few years so no one is ever really invested in you long-term. And even while on station, you might not see the same doctor each time (unless you specifically make sure you are).” And they unilaterally said no way, I had a bad doctor. That any doctor should be THRILLED with that amount of weight loss, new patient or not. So I got a dud. I knew my friends would make me feel better. 🙂

I’m a monster, I know.

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I wanted to throttle both kids by 6:45am. 

Owen went downstairs to play on the iPad—which he knows he’s not supposed to do. And then got mad at me when he got in trouble for it. (I’m a monster, I know.)

Katie had wandered around this morning and gone downstairs to find Owen and consequently couldn’t make it to the potty in time (when it was actually time) so peed all over the stool and the rug and her PJs…and screamed when I took her PJs off because she still wanted to wear them. (I’m a monster, I know.)

Owen had tried to clean up the pee—with toilet paper, so it was a sopping mess (but at least he tried!)—but after I dumped the TP I tried to clean the stool off in the tub but Owen had left the shower knob on so I got a head and shoulders full of water instead (which normally wouldn’t have been too awful but my hair is currently straightened so that messes that up).

Needless to say I lost my shit just a little bit. Dealing with that crap is never fun, but even less so before 7am. 

Women’s clothes sizing drives me insane.

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I’m trying to figure out what I’m wearing to the birthday ball this year. I figured since we haven’t gone in a few years and I’ll have lost almost 75#, I deserve a new dress. 

So, let me recap today:

  • I tried on a beautiful size 16 fancy dress at Nordstrom Rack. It almost fit. I couldn’t get it zipped but it was damn close. (I was kind of glad because it was $140…but I loved it and would probably have bought it if it had fit.)
  • I tried on a size 18 bridesmaid dress at David’s Bridal. It was a hair loose (and not really my style).

  • I tried a size 16 bridesmaid dress at David’s Bridal. It was too tight; I couldn’t even begin to get it zipped.
  • I came home, tried on an old bridesmaid dress, size 22, which I wore in a wedding 12 years ago when I weighed 10# more than I do now (!) and can’t get it zipped across my back!
  • I tried an old size 18 nice (fancy, but not ball fancy) dress and it’s loose. 
  • I tried two size 22 ball gowns (new with tags in my closet!) and they are both passable without alteration (though they’d be better with alterations).

GAH!!!! What the hell? The one that amazes me the most is the dress that I wore for the wedding 12 years ago. It was for my best friend Angi’s wedding and I had just lost 60#. The dress fit perfectly. So when I was thinking about ball gowns, it was in the back of my head that worst case, I’d just wear that one because it would obviously fit. Ha. WTF body? What’s going on?

And this is why I typically try to bag my own stuff.

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Or have enough bags that I can tell them to just shove it all in (I only had one bag today—not pictured). 

The bag with the milk and cider was even double-bagged so everything could have easily fit in there. And the Mio drops? Those obviously could have fit anywhere else. I like the commissary but this is a huge waste.

So I won’t be a member of Gold’s Gym. 

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So, after some more thought—and another day in the high 90s with humidity—I thought I’d better at least check out the gym. Just in case I might like it. Because A?C and childcare.

Well, I may have enjoyed being a member, but I’ll never know because I was SO turned off by the crazy spiel covering all potential costs.

So, HOW was I was given all the pricing breakdowns and options? On a brochure or even a nicely printed sheet of paper with details and prices nicely organized so I could make a fully-formed decision? HA! Try frantic scribbles on an index card while furiously talking about each program level and all the different options, annual fees, one-time fees, how fees differed for miltary vs. regular memberships, different fees for month-to-month vs. a 2-year agreement vs. a 1-year agreement, yada yada yada.

SERIOUSLY? You can see where I tried to make notes after the fact while it was still fresh but an hour later I was confused. JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN PRICES ON A HANDOUT.

I decided that I REALLY wanted my own treadmill instead. I’d asked Tom a little while back if we could get one, but he hates them and would rather get an elliptical or rowing machine; I hate ellipticals and wouldn’t mind a rowing machine, but I know I’d get the most use out of a treadmill. So we were at an impasse.

Until today. When he came home from work and I showed him the insanity I’d experienced—and he agreed we could look for used treadmills. And then an hour later he said none of the used ones were rated well and he’d rather have a new one instead…so he found one at Costco online and it will be here within two weeks! 🙂

The last straw. 

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Owen pushed my very last food button tonight. From now on he eats what we eat for dinner. And I predict he’ll go hungry for a few days.

That’s what I posted on Facebook after an extremely frustrating dinner. What happened? Well…as you all know, we’ve had issues with Owen and food since just about the time he started eating real food, but really about the last three years. We’ve tried SO many variations of feeding and mealtimes over the years that I’m honestly just at my limit.

So.

As per our current normal dinner rules, all Owen has to do is eat a tiny piece of what we’re eating (there’s a promise we won’t give him something we know he hates or won’t like (like pasta salad or sushi)).

So tonight was grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread. I know he doesn’t love chicken but will eat it. I know he doesn’t really like broccoli but he has eaten his one piece before without too much issue. And I know he loves the bread. His “extra” favorite foods were his yogurt and fruit.

Of course he saves the broccoli until last so it’s cold. And then when we remind him he needs to take his bite, he whines and takes the minutest nibble ever (I think I saw a tiny green speck on his tongue). We remind him he needs to eat the whole bite (it’s only like a 1/2″ piece). We go through the same spiel about how it might not be his favorite food—or even one he kinda likes—but he needs to take his one bite because that’s our current deal. Then he whines that he doesn’t have any yogurt left to dip it in—and we tell him that’s why he should eat it first. He then proceeds to play with it to avoid eating it and drops it in his water.

Well, I’m condensing the story a bit, so by this time Tom and I are at our limit so we fish it out and and say he still needs to eat it. He throws a fit so we take away his video game privileges for a day. He keeps on and then loses video games for the rest of the week. He loves his weekend video game time with daddy, so that causes a tantrum and he says he’ll eat it. I say it’s too late—he had plenty of time to eat it before now.

Now, I normally never reverse a decision, but after some quick back-and-forth we said if he ate it, he’d just lose his game time tomorrow. He said okay, so we were nice and gave him a fresh, non-water-soaked piece. And you’d have thought we were asking him to eat dog crap for all the gagging and whining he was doing. There was more drama about the stupid piece of broccoli…and that was the final straw.

We had already had this talk (months ago) that he had to do the one-bite thing or else we were switching to the eat-what-we-eat plan. That he was getting older and mommy was tired of making multiple meals at each meal time and he was old enough now to eat what we were eating. So he had been warned it would come eventually…so it just happened a bit sooner than planned.

We told him there can be foods he absolutely hates and doesn’t want to eat—and we won’t make him eat those—but they’ll be limited to a small list. If he doesn’t eat what we’re eating, he’ll be hungry. Plain and simple.

Oh, and Katie will be following the same plan, too. I’ve been thinking about it, and I just can’t go through three more years of this with her. And since Owen is doing it, it makes perfect sense.

Tom and I still need to discuss the exact terms, but we can decide specifics as we go. All I know is it is not going to be fun.

A snag with the dealership.

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So it’s been 20 days and my car STILL has not been paid off AND we haven’t gotten any information on how to pay for the new car. Tom has been calling on and off the whole time but was never able to talk to anyone (he was out or with a customer, etc.). Today, FINALLY, on about the fifth attempt, he got some answers.

Yeah.

They are missing two forms we need to sign and it wasn’t caught until the audit…which happened TODAY. So hence, we technically have not even bought our car from them yet so they haven’t been able to pay off our car.

WHAT THE CRAP? How incompetent are these people? We were thrilled with them until this. Needless to say Tom is LIVID.

So obviously nothing has been started with our registration or plates or anything, so I’m guessing we’ll need a new temporary plate since the current one expires in two weeks. We were supposed to start paying for this car in May, but who knows if that will happen now.

JUST UGH.

Lego ruined our night. 

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So every month, Lego offers a free mini build at their local stores. We saw it advertised on both a flyer and our Lego calendar so made plans to go. I made sure to check the website to see if there was anything else we needed to know. And there wasn’t. This is the entirety of the information about the event:

legominibuildsite

So let me just share with you what I wrote to Lego when we got home:

I am very upset and also have a very upset little boy right now. We received the monthly Lego calendar and saw the “free monthly build” advertised for tonight so we told him about it and made special plans to go (our first time ever!) and he was super excited. I happened to check the website to see if there were any special details I might need to know and didn’t see anything. So off we went. We arrive, wait in what I thought was the line for the free kit (which I expected to have to wait in line so no big deal), get to the front pretty quickly (I was actually impressed, but how long does it take to hand out a pack of Legos?), and was stopped dead in my tracks: “Oh, you don’t have a book? That’s the other line.” Which I then noticed out the other side of the store—and was, of course by then, way too long to even think about getting in and receiving the free kit before they ran out since the line was crazy long. So then I had an upset kid because he’d been looking forward to this for days. So a big fat thanks, Lego, for advertising the crap out of this free build but giving NO MENTION WHATSOEVER (even on the minibuild website!) that you need the special Lego “passbook” in order to get it. I’m extremely disappointed and would hope you can rectify this in some way.

Truth be told, I had seen a few kids carrying these blue passport-looking books around but didn’t think twice about it since I never saw any mention of it. I googled when I got home, and see that the passport is a fairly new thing—but technically it’s just for marking visits to Lego stores. There is a place to stamp that you were THERE for the mini-build, but I saw no mention of it being REQUIRED to get the mini-build. So now I’m wondering if this wasn’t a corporate decision, but a store-by-store decision. Regardless, I was pissed.

The next day I received this response:

Dear Jen,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

We’re sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing experience when you visited one of our LEGO® stores! The LEGO Group is dedicated to providing excellent, consistent service in all of our stores. It is only with your honest comments that we are able to improve our services to better service the needs of our valued customers, so thank you very much for your email.

As a one time exception, I have sent out the parts you need to make the March Mini Build! Please allow 7-10 business days for delivery as they our sent from our warehouse in Denmark.

So I’m very happy they are sending us the kit, but still disappointed they didn’t even mention the passbook issue. I’ll definitely be asking at the Lego store the next time we go in.

Changing rooms!

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So, remember about two weeks ago when we set up Owen’s new bunk beds? And I thought we made a huge mistake because they were really low? Well, Tom fixed that part and gave Owen more headroom…but then it came time to change the sheets. And…I came to the conclusion that buying the bunk beds quite possibly ranks up there as one of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life.

Hoo boy.

Of course the kids love them—Katie runs in there every chance she gets to zoom up and down the stairs and loves being on the top bunk…and Owen loves his “double decker” bed (like the double-decker couch from The Lego Movie). I, on the other hand, pretty much hate them with every fiber of my being.

The problems started when I realized that I couldn’t use the bed skirt that goes with the sheets. That wasn’t SO bad, but it was just the first strike.

Then I came to realize that I literally COULD NOT make the top bunk. The mattress is too hard and too heavy to lift (from the ground) to wrap the fitted sheets around. The way the bed has to be placed, there’s not enough room for me to walk around the other side—even if I could lift the mattress. (Come to find out later after talking to friends, the mattress we had placed on the top was really meant to be on the bottom; a much lighter and more flexible mattress was supposed to go on top. So I briefly thought about buying a more appropriate mattress—but decided against it as time wore on because I mostly didn’t want to spend any more money on something I already disliked.)

The bottom bunk was somewhat easier to make, but still annoying—because of Tom having to lower it, it sits directly on the floor…which means any time you’re dealing with the bed (changing sheets, folding clothes) or dealing with your kid in bed (reading books, kissing him good night), you’re on the floor. Which obviously I can still do but it is so much more comfortable with a regular size/height bed.

But still, I honestly thought I could power through it. And Tom helped me make the top bunk. And the kids were SO happy playing on it…

And then the cat puked on the clean sheets and I had to change them again the very next day and I decided that even though I love my children, I just don’t think I can live with these damn bunk beds for the next X number of years. I mean, I could easily see myself getting more and more bitter every time I had to change the sheets. I had talked to Tom about selling them, but he didn’t much want to do anything because he just hauled them all up there and set it all up and “fixed” them. But then, he’s not the one that needs to deal with the day-to-dayness of it.

So I made the decision to just list them and see if we had any interest. I posted them on a Facebook sale group, saying we just bought them off the page, they just didn’t work for us, asked for just what we paid…and crossed my fingers. I had a response within two minutes and three more people after that who wanted them. We made plans to pick them up in a few days (today) since I wanted Owen to have them for his sleepover.

Of course, Owen was bummed when I told him we were getting rid of them. I had to explain that it just wasn’t easy for mama to deal with making the bed and it really took up too much room (not really, but at least a decent reason he could understand). He was sad but eventually shook his head and said “Mama, I understand. But I’ll miss my double decker bed.” Awwww. /sniff

But, I promised him we’d do something special in his room when the bed was gone…and let him put up the Despicable Me decals I’ve had for ages but had just never gotten around to letting them put up. (Yes, it drives me absolutely insane that they are placed willy nilly, but I’m saving my objections for things that really matter.)

2015-02-11 08.27.36

And then we let Katie put up more Doc McStuffins decals that we’ve had for awhile but have just been holding on to until we needed them for a good reason. They were actually a bunch of duplicate decals from what she already had on her wall, but there was a life-size Doc that was new that she was enthralled with (she likes saying that Doc has a big head!):

2015-02-08 16.30.32

2015-02-08 16.30.34

I am so pissed at myself and at Tricare.

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Granted it could be worse, but still. Ugh.

I recently got a bill for $109 for two of Katie’s appointments…where we didn’t see her primary care provider (though I didn’t know that at the time). You see, when we moved, I dutifully went to the Tricare website and picked the clinic/doctor I wanted AND THE SITE LET ME PICK the one I wanted, so when we got the confirmation letter, I admit I didn’t look at it closely because WHY WOULD IT BE ANYONE OTHER THAN WHO I PICKED? (And also, by that time, I think we had already seen the doctor.)

But apparently the letter confirmed the REAL doctor Tricare had assigned me (that I didn’t get to pick). And when I called Tricare to ask about it, they assured me I was covered and it was all taken care of, even though it was a point of service appointment. Phew, okay. But calling them today, I find out that, well, I WAS technically covered, but only for X amount and the rest was from my own out of pocket expenses. Lovely. That’s a big chunk of money I wasn’t planning on spending on something that could have been 100% covered.

Continuing peds office inefficiency.

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So I called the pediatrician’s office this morning to ask the status of Katie’s medical records since they never called yesterday like they promised.. Um, well, hang on, let me look…no they’re not here…the nurses are in a training so I’ll call you when they’re out at lunch.

Fast forward to 2:30 (!) and I get the call they’re done. I drive straight there (so, maybe 15 minutes) and go to the desk and the lady was totally clueless, as if she couldn’t remember me from YESTERDAY (though I’m not sure if she was the one who called, you’d think she’d remember me). And it was a whole debacle again, with someone else needing to step in to handle it and me ending up pissed because they didn’t have copies of the x-rays—they just had the results form. Ugh. I thought I was pretty clear when I asked about copies of the x-rays—I never said x-ray results. Sigh. At least that part was rectified with a quick call to the imaging place who handed me the x-rays on a DVD within two minutes of me walking in their door. No cost, no stupidity, no drama.

The next update will be Thursday after her appointment with her new doctor.

Katie’s Ankle Update (GRRRR)

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I’ve about been at my limit with the pediatrician’s office. We were supposed to get a call almost a month ago with the referral appointment. (We did get her blood test results a ways back—I thought I posted but maybe not?—and there was nothing definitive so the doc wanted her to see a specialist.) Since they were supposed to call me, I kinda forgot about it. Then once I realized they hadn’t called, I called—and one of the phone tree options is “for referrals” so I left a message there. I didn’t hear anything after a few more days so I called back again (to the referrals request number) and gave more explanation. Days later, still no call. So I called back planning on just talking to the front desk because I’ve been patient long enough…and surprise! They’re having problems with their phones so all calls are being routed to their sister office who can’t help because Katie isn’t their patient. I call back repeatedly over the next two days and the sister office is still answering. Then it was the holiday weekend. It’s been over three weeks. RIDICULOUS.

So fast forward to today, when it’s time to get this figured out. Come to find out, they weren’t authorized as our PCM (completely unbeknownst to me, of course!)—but the kicker is they got the denial letter on AUGUST 25 and apparently no one felt it necessary to LET ME KNOW (and I didn’t get any denial letter from Tricare, either). GRRR. I asked why no one bothered to let me know. “Uh, um, stutter, stammer, I’m not sure.” Lovely.

So I called Tricare to find out that it’s MANDATORY we’re assigned to the army hospital WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW A MONTH AGO. Their online system let me pick a civilian PCM back in July and I even double-checked afterward to make sure it was confirmed (it was). I asked why I hadn’t been informed and she said there should have been a letter. Well, if there was, I either missed it or didn’t pay attention because I ASSUMED IT WAS CONFIRMING THE DOCTOR I PICKED (why would I think otherwise?!). So, basically, no one has any idea what happened. But now I get to wait NINE more days for the first available appointment for the new PCM and then likely have to wait AGAIN for the referral from him (and I get to pay to have Katie’s records copied for the new doctor). I AM PISSED. The only silver lining is that Tricare still paid for (or the doctor’s office accepted the lower payment for) the first two appointments even though we technically weren’t assigned there.

What a mess. But, from the looks of it, even though I liked the doctor we saw, it appears the office staff isn’t that great…so maybe it’s a good thing we’re no longer going there.

Boo Hoo Breakfast

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The breakfast was put on by the PTO for all of the kindergarten parents. And what a nightmare it was. It was scheduled for 9—which I understand because it’s at the beginning of school, and I guess they figured you’d likely be dropping off your kid in person so you’d already be there…? But trying to get there was awful, even though I drove straight there and was in the general vicinity at 8:50.

I was using the GPS because I’d only driven there once, and it took me to the back of the school where there is no parking (only Kiss-and-Ride and bus areas) and all the side streets were packed. I tried to reroute to the front of the school but the GPS wouldn’t do it and I couldn’t figure it out (it’s in a subdivision). I finally figured out how to get there, stupidly assuming that the small parking lot might actually have a space for people STAYING at the school instead of just dropping kids off. Ha. HA HA. There was literally NO parking space there or on any of the side streets for a half-mile radius. And it was already 85 and I was NOT walking that far with Katie and I was already late…so I said screw the breakfast. On the way out, I pulled over to calm down and think—if I waited just a bit longer, a lot of the parents would be done dropping their kids off and I’d hopefully be able to get a closer parking spot. So I waited until 9:15, turned around, and got a spot a block away.

The breakfast was…awkward. People were already at tables and chatting and there was nowhere for me to sit so I just stood there letting Katie play for a few minutes. It was also HOT in there—I asked if they didn’t have A/C and they said yes they did but in apparent Halley tradition the A/C was out the first day. 🙂 But they liked Katie’s school spirit—dressing in black and yellow! 🙂

2014-09-02kids019

Then I got us a snack and grabbed a seat and both other people were buried in their phones. Yay. 😐 I chatted for a brief minute with a mom from the pool but she was talking to friends. I hate these kinds of things but I had pushed myself outside of my comfort zone…and it was a bust. Lovely. So we listened to the welcome and the PTO president and I didn’t learn much. Katie was having a ball eating her apple and running back and forth to the stuffed animal area. Afterwards I talked to the PTO president about possibly volunteering a little and she was very nice. Then I saw Katie playing in another section so I went over to grab her and there were some other parents over there. I recognized one set as the parents of the twins in Owen’s class so I chatted with them briefly and they were very nice and we exchanged numbers.

It’s going to be an interesting year.

Is it time for my nap yet?

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If Katie doesn’t start sleeping past 6-6:15 I might lose my mind.

Yes I’m thankful she sleeps soundly through the night, but 6am kills me. (It can be anywhere from 5:45-6:30 but mostly it’s 6:05-6:10.)

She has learned how to open her door so we’ve turned her knob around so we can lock her in, but that causes loud crying when she can’t get out. But if we don’t do that she gets up and wanders the house and I have to get up anyway to keep her out of mischief. Owen sleeps consistently to about 6:30 so I have to get her quickly to shut her up so she doesn’t wake him (their rooms are next to each other). Then she always says some variation of “Want to get Owee” or “I want to play Owee.”

And of course Owen won’t have to be at the bus stop until 8:30 so it’s not like we’ll need to be up earlier once school starts.

We’ve tried exhausting her (skipping her nap, running her ragged) and it didn’t have an effect. We tried putting her to bed early—no change. The only thing left is putting her to bed later…which I hate but we might have to just try. (She slept in regularly on vacation at my mom’s, and the only differences there were a bit darker room and sometimes staying up later.)

Owen definitely spoiled us…he’d just play in his room quietly until we came and got him. He’d stay there for hours if we let him. But her? NEEDS ATTENTION.

Is it time for my nap yet?

School Supply Shopping

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So, what does a kindergartner need to start school? Here’s Owen’s list. I know you’re wondering about the boys list vs girls list and it took me a minute to find it—but the only difference is that boys have top bring gallon bags and the girls have to bring quart bags.

2014 school list

It didn’t look too bad, but from experience (when I worked retail) I always heard parents bitching about how specific the lists were—like if it said “3 red, 3 blue, 3 green pocket folders with clips” you had better bring in those exact colors. If it was Crayola crayons it had better be Crayola and not some off brand. So I’m wondering what things on the list are exact and which are likely just general suggestions. I can’t imagine for KINDERGARTEN it matters that much. The open house isn’t until August 28 (five days before school starts) so I’d rather not have to wait until them to ask the teachers (though I could).

The things I most wondered about are:
(3) Clorox Wipes, Disinfect, Bleach-Free, Lemon Scent, 35ct — Lemon scent? Really?
(4) Dry Erase Markers Chisel Tip Low Odor Black — I’m hoping these come in a four-pack.
(12) Glue Stick, washable, .77oz — I assume .77oz is a popular size but I also assume any washable glue sticks are fine.

So, this morning it was time. And it was somewhat painful.

I literally stood in front of the disinfectant wipes for 10 minutes debating wipes. As you can see, they requested “3 Clorox Wipes, Disinfect, Bleach-Free, Lemon Scent, 35ct.” Do I get the three pack off brand with two lemon scent and one fresh scent 35ct for $4.24? The three off brand lemon scent singles 35ct for about $8? The brand name Clorox lemon scent 75ct buy 3 get 1 free for $12? Or just send in Kirkland wipes I’ve already bought? I opted for the $4.24 set. And don’t get me started on glue sticks.

It took me almost two hours to find and decide on a list of 11 things—and that included two stores because one store (Target, where I started) didn’t have everything (though some of that time was just from being in brand new stores where I didn’t know where anything was).

But now he’s ready! 🙂

Unloading day damages!

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We had no idea if we were actually going to get our stuff today, and we gave ourselves 50/50 odds. So we were thrilled when the movers arrived about 8:15!

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They had four guys and were pretty speedy and overall very good. Unfortunately, however, we had some damages. (This was the worst day for damages that we’ve had—even if we combined all our moves.)

Katie’s high chair got dropped (I think) and the counterbalancing weight broke out of its plastic braces. $240

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A fish tank wasn’t packed properly so that when another box fell into it, it broke. (The movers said it should have been in a crate instead of just a regular box with padded paper around it.) $300

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The plasma TV’s tipping sensors were tripped so we’ll see what happens when we plug it in. $3500

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One of Owen’s Ikea dressers. $100

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A standing room fan. $50

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Our dining room table.

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And the coatrack.

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Ugh.

Sigh.

They should fully reimburse us for the broken things but I’m not sure what they do for damaged things (like the chipped table and bent coatrack hooks). We’ve never had to file a claim before so this should be fun.

But the guys were all very nice—even when I mistakenly had them take the crazy heavy buffet upstairs because I was sure it was a MBR dresser (it was wrapped)…and then of course they had to bring it down again. And they moved that crazy big and heavy Ikea kitchen cabinet twice because once we got the table in the kitchen it was WAY too crowded. Oops. Needless to say we bought them lunch, kept them well-hydrated with pop, water, and Gatorade—AND tipped them each $20. They were very appreciative of everything.

And they were done and pulling away about 4:15.

More trying house issues.

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  • No hand towel hooks in the MBA.
  • No drawers in the MBA vanity.
  • No hand towel hooks in kids bath.
  • Kids bath tub doesn’t drain for shit. (Which reminds me we need to check our tub.)
  • Kids tub faucet is all or nothing—no way to get drizzle of warm water. A drizzle is cold. Full force only for warm.
  • Half the outlets in the house are loose and plugs barely stay in (how does that even happen?).

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  • Wood railings outside are dangerously loose.
  • The last step is too high off the ground.
  • MBR has double entry doors but one of the two locking mechanisms on the secondary door is broken and the other is missing completely.

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  • There’s no key for the garage/kitchen door.
  • When Tom went to change the burnt out shower light, the ring fell off in his hands—it was broken but just perched precariously.

    • Sigh.

    I just keep reminding myself that none of this stuff is a deal-breaker and can be fixed. It’s just the growing pains of a new house. And it will get better. 🙂

    Extreme moment of panic.

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    When we left to go to the grocery store this morning I just took the garage door opener and no keys—what we’ve been doing. So we get home and I open the garage door, but wait—the inner door is locked. Shit. Yes, I did lock it last night—something I never do, but new house and all… And the front door is one of those that opens even when locked (I HATE THOSE) so I walked out and locked us out. And I knew the back door was locked.

    Shit. Shit shit shit.

    And I knew I had the only house keys because the landlord told me yesterday to make a set because those were the only ones he had.

    F***

    F*** F*** F***!!!!!

    PANIC.

    Then for some reason I tried the garage door again and it pushed open. I obviously hadn’t shut it tight. Stupid me…but hallelujah.

    Today has been trying at best.

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    Everything was such a rush this morning that I left without even taking a final look back at our house. We were in it for eight years (combined) and have lots of memories…

    The drive was long(ish) and my back hurt most of the way—even with using the lumbar support. Even now it’s killing me. I should have taken a pain pill but then I’d have to get out of bed to find them.

    At our first stop, I grabbed the diaper bag to change Katie, rushed to get everyone inside because Maggie was stuck in the car without air, and discovered there were no diapers in the bag! WHAT THE—?!?! I know I put some in there! GRRR. At least she hadn’t pooped. So I had to change her on the front seat after digging for diapers in the trunk (I couldn’t even change her in the grass like I’d normally do because it was all fenced off). And it was hotter than hell. (We figured out later that Katie had taken them out while she was playing earlier. Tom found them in the drawer where we normally keep them…so she was putting them away!)

    The house seems to be cooling okay (I was worried because there’s only one unit for whole house; we’re used to a dual system) but no ceiling fans is killer.

    Maggie pooped in the house within 10 minutes of being here, even though she just came in from being outside and peeing.

    Katie got into meds again. I debated taking her to the ER but I really didn’t think she ingested much, if any (there were lots of pieces all over which led me to think she spit them out when they didn’t taste like candy). I’m still watching her for symptoms. She is so much more evil—I mean inquisitive—with stuff like that than Owen ever was. It’s hard to re-train your brain.

    The landlord is nice but can drive you crazy. I had to call him because the alarm was beeping (not an alarm beep but more of an “I’m not really turned on but you’re setting off room sensors” type of beep). He ended up unplugging it and disconnecting it entirely. (Apparently it was something the last renters put in.) Then he walked me through the house systems (which I had asked earlier to wait for Tom) and he’s just not very personable. I try to comment on things and make chit chat and he just doesn’t get it and/or doesn’t respond.

    I didn’t pack the bath stuff well enough and shampoo got all over everything—even the stuff that was in bags—because the bottle was so tall the spout stuck out. Katie’s toothbrush got thrown away. Their sound machine got some inside (it twists to leave openings to make it louder or quieter). Just a yucky mess.

    The MBA toilet doesn’t work, which of course I didn’t realize until I peed in it. I’m sure it’s a simple fix but it’s not what I needed to discover at bedtime.

    And there’s lots of little annoying things about the house:

    All the blinds are the cheap crappy metal ones and about half are broken somewhere or don’t open right. (We were spoiled as our house had all nice plastic wood-looking ones.)

    There are TONS of colored stains on the carpet. In almost every room, in all sizes, and in all colors. It’s awful. It’s almost as if the carpet cleaners didn’t even try to clean it. (We had carpet people who got out red nail polish…so I’m thinking his cleaners sucked.) We’ll try to clean some of them because I really don’t want to look at these for three years:

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    Flat paint. Off-white. Everywhere. Need I say more?

    No curtain rods. I’m so glad we get to buy these AGAIN.

    Round toilets. This takes some getting used to after having the elongated ones. They seem SO tiny.

    No door to the basement.

    No room for a deck, even if he let us. I finally get a nice tree in my yard and it’s in the way.

    Street noise. Ugh. Cars going by, cars beeping/being locked, dogs barking. I know it’s typical for this many houses this close together…but it sucks. I guess it’s better that our room overlooks the street instead of both kids’ rooms.

    We need shower caddys in each bathroom.

    There’s no light above the kids’ tub.

    The kitchen is bigger…but the way it’s layed out there’s NO room for any of our current kitchen storage pieces (the island that holds the pet food/water, the big IKEA cabinet that holds all the big kitchen stuff, and the other cabinet that was in the laundry room). Some stuff might fit in the current cabinets…but not all. I don’t even know where the garbage will go!

    Our sectional couch is too big for the living room. Or the dining room. Or even the den space. Hell, it will barely fit downstairs. We obviously have other pieces to use (like we did at the last house) but we had hoped to be able to use it full time again (like in Troy).

    And of course the kids’ bedtime saga.

    But I know it’s not all bad…

    • I like our neighbors.
    • I like that we have sidewalks.
    • I like that the landlord will let us do things (of course, it benefits him—painting the garage, putting in a digital thermostat, putting in a peephole, putting in a few ceiling fans).
    • I like that it’s a house and not a townhouse.
    • I like that we have a two-car garage.
    • I like that we’ll eventually be getting a fence.
    • I like my gas stove and bigger kitchen.
    • I like that we brought our awesome fridge with us.

    And add crazy heat and humidity on top of everything.

    Blurg.

    Lorton, here we come!

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    Well, me and the kids anyway. And Maggie. Right on schedule at 10:00. With the Prius packed to the hilt with a crap ton of stuff for two nights (pillows, air beds, sheets, towels, stuffed animals, blankets, sound machines, night lights, food, snacks, drinks, kids’ med kit, toys, books, iPad, laptop…and Maggie and all her stuff)! Katie is back there, too, but I was lazy and didn’t take my phone out of the dash holder to take the picture.

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    The kids were really good—Katie watched Despicable Me 2 on a continuous loop and was perfectly content…and Owen alternated between playing on his phone and just watching the road. He did enjoy watching my mapping app (Waze) and kept notifying me of “yellow triangles” (road hazards like stopped cars) and police. When this came up he was like “WOW!! Look at all that stuff popping up!”

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    Katie had fallen asleep about 1:00 and Owen was adamant he didn’t need a rest. This was taken at about 1:15. 🙂

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    There were a few slowdowns around Stafford (when aren’t there?) but we made it in good time, even with the traffic snafus.

    Welcome home! Amazon packages were waiting!

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    And the kids had A BLAST running around the house.

    And they saw COOKIE MONSTER in the garage…so it had to come in immediately. 🙂

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    It was hotter than hell (and humid) so unpacking the car wasn’t fun. Katie also kept opening the garage door and coming outside—leaving the door wide open with Maggie right there. We’re going to have to put some kind of lock on the outside of the door, I think. Probably on the inside, too. (I’m not sure why these doors are so much easier to open than ours were—she could only open our lever-handle door, not the knobs.) She’s going to be a 180 from Owen on just about everything, escaping included.

    Dinner was an escapade. I’d been planning on PB&J…except I apparently forgot the peanut butter and the bread I brought was moldy. Panic! We were all STARVING since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was almost 4! I ended up pulling pizza bagel bites from freezer (that we brought up two weeks ago). There’s lots of pantry stuff but it’s all packed away in the hot garage and not immediately accessible. There’s always take-out but that will be tomorrow!

    They were happy, though!

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    Well that was certainly a comeback.

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    I was honestly surprised when the packers arrived at 8:36…but of course that didn’t mean they started at 8:36. They brought in some more boxes and as I went out in the garage to tell them I would buy them lunch they were smoking in the van. 🙄

    But then they started packing in the garage—something I wouldn’t have ever wanted to tackle—and it took a long time but they got it done (with a lunch break—we got them subs)! They even had time left to work upstairs, too! It was an easier day for me because there weren’t many questions and they were outside so the kids and I just sat and watched movies all day. I did have to do a few things, but it was mostly restful.

    They left about 4:30 saying they had about another hour and a half of work left so they’d just do it in the morning. Which is fine…but…I really wanted to say IF YOU HAD WORKED A FULL DAY YESTERDAY YOU’D BE DONE TODAY. But I was still happy with what they had done, and I even complimented them. See, I give credit where credit is due. 🙂

    And we’re off to a…crappy start.

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    This move has been annoying since the beginning…

    We didn’t get the move dates we wanted but we got our second choice which wasn’t too bad. But even then there was a miscommunication and while we thought we were getting our stuff DELIVERED on July 3 (what we asked for and told was scheduled), we later found out they were LOADING on July 3 and since there were no deliveries on July 4 delivery would be July 5. Not awful, but NOT what we’d been thinking of and planning on.

    Then the moving company sent a person to do a walk-through to estimate how much stuff we had and how long it would take to pack…and he gave me a weight estimate which sounded about right…but said something about his two packers. Wait, what? Two? I then related our past few moves—one which we had 4-5 packers and they were done early both days…and the other which they mistakenly sent only two packers and everything ran late and caused mayhem. He said his two girls were GOOD and there were three days scheduled for the packing so so he wasn’t worried. Ooo-kay. Sorry but I have zero faith in that.

    So you’d think they’d try to get as much done as early as possible to avoid having to do much, if anything, that third day. But NOOOOOO…8:00 comes and goes…8:30…9:00…9:30…SERIOUSLY? The ball of anxiety in my chest was growing rapidly and I seriously contemplated taking a Xanax (which I had my doctor prescribe for just such an occasion). They FINALLY pull up at 10:00—and yep, only two women. And after they sat there for a few minutes, they literally SAUNTERED to the front door like they had all the time in the world. I wanted to scream.

    So Tom gave them the quick walk through and honestly, they were both duds personality-wise. Most people in the past have been super nice and personable and they’ll chit chat with you and what not and make you feel at ease. These two looked like they’d rather be anywhere else doing anything else—like we were putting them out. Definitely not a good first impression.

    So they haul in the boxes and packing material and then—THIS IS RICH—they told me they were going to their van to finish their breakfast and energy drinks. ARE YOU F’ING KIDDING ME?! You don’t show up until 10am and you still need time to finish your breakfast? Oh, and apparently take a smoke break, too. So they didn’t actually get started packing anything until 10:30.

    And within an hour, I heard something crash and break. Ugh. THE FIRST ITEM THAT HAS EVER BEEN BROKEN DURING PACKING OR DELIVERY IN ANY OF OUR MOVES. So I got called in to see a 24″ x 36″ picture frame shattered on the floor. She wasn’t careful when she was taking pictures off the stack and they slid and tipped over and there you go. She apologized, but then just stood there. Oh, I guess I have to clean it up then? She has no responsibility for it?! So I was picking up shattered glass while she just stood there. The picture—the mosaic print of our wedding photo—was ruined as the glass cut a bunch of places over the whole thing. Not a good way to start the experience.

    And then a mere 2.5 hours after they started? A smoke break, which turned into a THIRTY MINUTE BREAK for one of them and a 15 minute break for the other. Seriously? I MEAN SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

    And then. AND THEN!!! They decided to wrap it up at 3:30. After just 4.5 hours of work (since they took that 30-minute break). YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! I’m guessing they know there are technically three days allotted for packing so are slacking on the front end. I’m NOT happy AND I predict they run out of time…at which point we will be VERY unhappy.

    I was debating calling the moving company when they happened to call to check on the progress (ironically about 10 minutes after the packers left)! I let them know we really weren’t expecting a five-hour work day and she was surprised when I told her they didn’t arrive/get started until 10:30 (she said she’d check on that but I’m sure nothing will come of it). But she assured us it would all get done. We’ll see. I will sing their praises (for the most part) if they do get it all done…but right now I’m not feeling hopeful. At all. They only got the first floor done today—they barely got started on upstairs (they did the kids’ rooms) and they have the entire garage (which has all the household stuff that was in the pod!) plus the living room (with the storage areas) left. Can you see why I am not hopeful?

    Unfortunately, this is the busy season (we’ve never moved in the summer before) and I think we’re lucky to have what we have on the approximate dates we asked for. I mean, that’s the basic attitude we seem to be getting. I’m not happy but it could be worse. /knock on wood

    Stay tuned.

    P.S. The kids were actually VERY good. They watched movies all day and were well-behaved for the most part. Katie didn’t take a very long nap but at least she took a nap. Owen has been bribed with a Star Wars Lego book… 🙂

    Our looooong day. Yay?

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    Today Tom and I did a long round-trip to the new house to drop off a FULL 14′ U-haul. Why, you may be asking?

    Well, we somewhat recently found out that our last move was about 5,000 pounds over our allotted weight limit. Technically we could have been charged for it—but weren’t—so we didn’t want to take any chances this time. We’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff (see the #40bagsin40days posts) but it still just felt like A LOT. Yes, we likely wouldn’t have been charged…but this way, we can make 100% sure AND we also get paid to do a “partial move” ourselves (they pay gas plus a per pound price, if I recall correctly).

    So we had loaded up all of the small heavy things that we could—everything from his garage cabinets to pantry goods to tools to golf clubs to cat litter. We even took the garage freezer (so we wouldn’t have to empty and defrost it) and our new refrigerator (we were NOT leaving a $3000 refrigerator for our potential renters/buyers). We managed to stuff just over 5,000 pounds in the truck (quite impressive, I thought).

    The original plan was for Tom to go up himself and unload then drive home. But once we decided to take the refrigerator and realized we needed to upgrade to a full truck vs. just a trailer, that meant Tom would need a way home (since it was a one-way rental). I could follow him up, but it didn’t seem to make much sense to drive if we could tow the car instead. Loooong story short, we ended up with a full trailer (vs just a tow dolly) which likely ended up to be more difficult than the dolly would have been…but it was nice not having to drive two cars.

    So this is how we traveled to Virginia.

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    Unfortunately, the whole road trip part SUCKED. With such a beast of a load plus towing the vehicle, our speed was limited—and then of course we hit traffic around Stafford (the parking lot that is 95) so it took us 6.5 hours to get there (best case scenario the trip should take five hours). So, ugh.

    The unloading didn’t go too badly—it was warm but not ungoldly hot. We met a neighbor who was very nice and has a 4yo and 2 week old and was excited someone was finally moving in (it’s been empty for like six months). She told us the street is mostly Army and Air Force—we’ll be one of the few Marines. We met with the landlord to pay our rent and pet deposit. We asked about the fence (as it wasn’t up yet) and he told us he was just waiting for the association to approve his request. It’s been 1.5 months since we signed the paperwork so either he didn’t ask right away or the association is slow—neither of which is a good thing in my mind.

    I had also taken some measurements of our stuff to the new house so I could see just how things would fit—and some stuff is going to be TIGHT. The space looks big, but once you put our big stuff in it, it doesn’t look quite as big. Our table and chairs will fit in the eat-in kitchen space, but it’s going to be close—and we may not be able to open the leaf…because our huge sectional will be taking up ALL the living space. (I’m going to have our real estate lady go back and check measurements of a space in the basement to see if there’s room for the sectional there instead. We may end up selling it if it won’t fit nicely. We bought it for this house with the HUGE bonus room…which most houses don’t have a room that big and it’s very hard to fit.) Our table would fit fine (with the leaf, too) in the actual dining room space, but I honesty don’t want to eat there every day—it’s not convenient to the kitchen at all plus it has white carpet. There’s also no room for our current island (where we have the dog and cat food) in the kitchen…so not sure where we’ll be putting that food or the island. It’s just bizarre that this house is SO huge but the space isn’t allotted quite how I’d prefer (like our master bedroom is twice as big as it needs to be). So, time will tell on all that stuff. It will all work…it will just take time.

    So then, the ride home. Ugh. It was worse than the ride up. Apparently there had been construction on 95 South so traffic was already backed up. Then there were storms farther South so that had backed up traffic even more. And then there was an accident somewhere along the line… The parallel road (Route 1) which we can sometimes take to escape 95 was also backed up due to trees down from the storm. It took us almost two hours to go 38 miles…and took us seven hours to get home. We had hoped/planned to be home by 8 but it turned into 10:30. At least the kids were in good hands—Virginia was babysitting. 🙂

    It’s garage sale time again! Yippee.

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    I know, I know…every time we have one I say I’ll never have another…but I can’t stand the thought of losing out on some cash so we inevitably have another when it’s time to move.

    It didn’t seem like quite as much work this time, though—maybe because we’d already pre-sorted lots of stuff while getting the house ready to list. It was still work getting it priced and set up, of course—and things got hot and sweaty more than once—but it just felt like less work overall. (It also helped that a mommy friend came over to help me get started—I had just been STUCK.)

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    We had advertised the hours as 7a-2p with NO early birds, so of course the first people showed up about 6:15.

    Tom: Sorry, we don’t open until 7.
    Earlybird: Can I just look around?
    Tom: Sorry, we’re not selling anything until 7.
    Earlybird: But I have to be to work at 7!
    Tom: Sorry.

    Guess who then said they’d be back at 7? 🙄 I think we turned away three people. We gave up at 6:50 because the street was full.

    The haggling wasn’t TOO bad—I actually expected it to be worse—except someone wanted a discount on the very first item that I knew would go quick. Nope, sorry. (It sold full price about 30 seconds later.) And the people who would hold out an item to you asking how much it is when the price tag is right in plain sight. Or the people who just hand you money trying to shield the tag just hoping you’ll take the money. Or the people who asked for a bag for stuff they were carrying, then tried to bury other little stuff underneath. Or the lady who asked “How much for the whole bin of clothes?” And I said “Well let’s count them and then I’ll give you a deal. I can’t give you a fair price otherwise.” And she refused and said she just wanted a price. So I said $30 (there was probably 50 pieces in there and they were $1 each). She looked at me like I was crazy. Oh well. I don’t have time to deal with stupid crap like that. And I know it doesn’t make sense, but I’d rather donate it then take the pittance I’m sure she wanted to pay—which she never even offered anything! Frustrating.

    The only other bad thing was the weather sucked. It was humid from the get go, but at least it was overcast. But about 10 or so the clouds disappeared and it was hot. as. hell. You could stand in the garage to get out of the sun, but then there was no air movement. If you stood outside to hopefully catch a breeze, you were in the blazing sun.

    And as usual, some of the things that sold/didn’t sell just baffle me. An old swimsuit of mine that I put out on a lark sold…but a ton of kids’ toys didn’t. A St. Augustine koozie sold…but a Little Tikes slide didn’t.

    Even though we said we’d go until 2, it was dead at 12:30 so about 1 we started packing up boxes to take to the donation center and we were all done by 2! The back of my car was FULL with about four huge boxes and a huge lawn waste garbage bag of kid clothes. There was even stuff in Owen’s car seat! I think that was worth at least six days of #40bagsin40days. 🙂