Saturday, May 22, 2010

I'm a Better Buyer than Seller

I did a yard sale on Saturday - my first! It was bloody hard work actually, so by 12 noon I packed up, put all the left-over stuff in my car and dropped it at the charity shop. And that was the end of THAT. Most people (customers) were lovely, but some were really annoying. I said I would start the yard sale at 8.30am. At 8.10am I had a woman tapping her foot, arms crossed, glaring at me as I tried to get stuff put out. I finally said, look, can you just come back later? Another woman bartered with me like a champion for something that was a $1 each. . .
She said 2 for $1. I said ok.
She said 3 for $1. I said ok.
She said 4 for $1. I said ok.
As she was leaving I was dealing with someone else and so she gave me her money and I said goodbye. She looked at me and said "I bought only 3 and gave you a dollar - you owe me 25 cents". I felt like saying, "Do you want them for free you old trout?" I really don't think yard-sales are my thing. Too many crazy people to deal with.

In the afternoon we went to Katy's 4th birthday party. I dressed Danny in a proper shirt and Craig said "Good grief, he looks about 3!" This boy is just 16 months old ...

He does this fabulous thing where he hugs you and then puts his full mouth on your cheek and blows a big raspberry. I must get some video of it before he stops doing it.

Jack had a fabulous time at the party but played by himself mostly. He only really knew Katy & David so I think he felt a bit shy. He's such a whirling-dervish crazy boy that it's hard to think of him as shy but he really is. Last year I took him to play soccer each Sunday 12-12.30 and he wouldn't even join in till 12.25. Hopefully his confidence will grow when he goes back to pre-school this fall.
On Sunday Craig worked on the bathroom - we now have a floor, a working sink and toilet! I helped out by taking care of the kids, although I did have an hour of emergency mummy-time when Jack wore me down to just a small nub of exhausted jelly. I also cleaned the toilet that has been sat in the garden for a month and was covered in soil & leaves. I can tell you with 100% conviction that scraping off the wax ring of a dirty toilet on an 80 degree day is not for the weak. Still, now it's all back in place and I no longer have to use the loo in the basement, scared I'll trip down the steps in my blind, contact-lenseless state.

Sunday night we went to the local park for the summer concert series.
I pictured this: Me and my family sat on a wool blanket in the rose garden, enjoying the warm evening sun, eating our picnic as we listened to the brass band.
We got this: Me chasing Danny all over the park as he looked back over his shoulder and laughed at me, Craig trying to keep Jack amused, lots of "shush" faces from people trying to enjoy the brass band, and soggy sandwiches all stuck together. Still, it was better than cleaning the wax ring off the toilet.

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