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Friday, April 30, 2010

Garage Sale, Dentist, and That's Not My Name

I've been busy since my last blog. Gee, why do I feel like each time I blog I'm going to confession...Bless me father for I have sinned, my last blog was April 13, 2010. I have ignored mine and all other blogs 17 times...

Last weekend I had a garage sale at my house. Two other families went in on it & it was HUGE! It took the whole week before it to get ready for it. It ended up raining on garage sale day, so we couldn't put any of our stuff outside on the driveway, so my garage was packed. The people who went in on the garage sale came over & helped out all day Saturday. We had a good time. We each sold about $100 worth of stuff, of course making money off of each other. You know it's a good garage sale when you start buying each others stuff. We sold our trampoline and bought our neighbors outdoor basketball hoop. Towards the end of the garage sale, we were giving away things free to people who even just spent $1. We closed it up & I took Monday off of work to tear down & hauled off 2 van loads full of garage sale rejects to Goodwill. All of the big ticket items that did not sell, I took pictures of and posted on Craigslist. So this week, I've been busy coordinating Craigslist pick-ups.

The garage sale was part of my 2010 house cleaning and organizing project. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate over the years. The kids are getting older, so we can have nicer stuff. But we had to sell off the old stuff to pay for the new stuff. Well...new to us..but gently used. Although, tonight I did build a bookshelf for my bedroom that I bought at Wal-Mart for $25 That was a sweet deal. Now I have room to put more books on, which clears up space in other places, which of course clears up stuff in other places.

May is turning out on the calendar to be the month of the Dentist. I had my 6 month teeth cleaning appointment a couple of weeks ago. They took X-Rays and turns out I have a filling that has come loose from the tooth and I have a cavity starting between the filling and the tooth. So I have to have a filling replaced. Kevin has a braces adjustment in May, and both kids have a teeth cleaning appointment with the Dentist. I might have to take notes from my big sis and do some retail therapy after my filling. Of course I'll probably just come straight home and go to bed as I'll be recovering from a cocktail of good meds for relaxant and pain.

This last month we have been dealing with Sam not liking his birth given name. Nope, he doesn't like it. He likes even numbers and Sam is an odd number of letters and so is Samuel. I told him he could spell his name S-A-M-M, which would give him 4 letters, is unique from any other Sam at school (and there are a few), and he still gets to use his name we picked out for him when he was born. Nope, he didn't want that. He'd do that at school, but at home, we are to call him "Cat King". Hmmmm...now that is an odd number of letters, but I guess since it has the word "cat" in it, it is somehow O.K. for him to use.

He loves cats and he is the king of all the cats at our house. So Cat King it is. Sometimes we forget and he reminds us. He received a birthday post card from the hospital he was born at. He was quite upset they did not know he had changed him name from Samuel to Cat King, so he took a pencil, scratched out Samuel, and wrote Cat King above it. There, now it was fixed. Luckily, his name changes rarely last long. Eventually he goes back to letting us call him by his real name. Which is good, as I believe this is about the 3rd or 4th time he's changed his name. He's been Snot Rod, Number 44, and now Cat King. Those have been the longest lasting ones that I remember anyway.

I think Snot Rod was the most memorable, as at a family reunion, he told some family members that we really did not know (distant relatives, of a relative, who belongs to another relative) and he introduced himself to them as Snot Rod. I admit, Cat King is much better than Snot Rod!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Guilty of Blog Neglect...Once Again

Seems to be a bit of a theme with me…Hmmmm.... nor did I win any of the radio contests...maybe next time.

I joined Fitness 19 (a workout club) a little over a month ago. So far I've been pretty faithful at going 5 times a week and getting a work out in. I can tell I'm starting to build muscle. Things are shifting, but nothing that is noticeable to anyone else yet. These things take time as my fitness trainer that I got to work with told me. He said "Stay off the scale for a while, as you will be gaining weight while you build muscle." Building muscle, but burning fat and muscle weighs more than fat.

I only met with the fitness trainer one time. I got that as part of my club membership. It was a good deal. He was very informative and got me on the right work out path.

After I joined the club, I did some motivational shopping. I bought a bikini, a skinny pair of jeans (my goal size), and a size small shirt. I have them hanging on the back wall of my closet, so that every time I open my closet door. There they are, staring me right in the face. It's good motivation. I need that.

I have found that working out is quite fun. Odd, I thought I'd NEVER say that! I get alone time. Hmmm…alone time…now that is nice! Alone time & get in shape, BONUS!!! No, "Mom, when's dinner!? Mom, are you done working out yet?! Mom, he won't stop bugging me!!" That is what I got when I tried the in-home work out DVDs. After I was done rearranging furniture, and was just getting into that work out zone…queue in kids yelling. No, I just say "Mom's going to the gym, I'll be back in a while!" And out the front door I go.

The club is very convenient too. It is just about 5 blocks from my house. Couldn't get much closer than that! Did I mention it was cheap. Close, cheap, alone time…Jackpot!!

In March I hosted a "Purse Party". It was fun. I had a lady come into my house that sells replica handbags, scarves, jewelry, ect… I invited all the girls and had about 10 show up. Not too bad of a turn out for something like that. My house looked like a purse warehouse threw up in my house! Wow, she had quite the inventory. My kitchen table was filled with jewelry. My living room was covered in handbags, purses, and wallets. It was crazy.

Purse Parties are the new "thing", although, it's not the multi-level marketing thing. There are no pressure sales, no sales pitches, and no pressures to become a purse consultant. She just brings her purses and sets them all out & away you shop. You like it, you grab it, you buy it. Simple as that. She stays for a couple hours. That's it. Pretty easy! She does have hostess rewards, so it was worth it. And, I'm turning into quite the handbag hoarder. I'm addicted. I decided it was so much fun, that I might have to make it an annual thing to do. Two things women can't have enough of…purses and shoes!

For our Easter Festivities, we went to a nice Brunch with Ken's side of the family. It was really good. I indulged and blew my diet that morning! I don't think I've been to a buffet that large before (except at one of those Buffet Restaurants). They had this lovely chocolate fountain. Endless flowing chocolate…what's not to love about that!

After we stuffed ourselves silly (no one left hungry) we all went to the MN Zoo. It was a gorgeous day and it felt good to walk some of that brunch buffet off! At the Zoo we saw the grizzly bears (one of my favorites at the zoo, I could watch them all day). One of them was having fun playing in his little lake, playing with a stick and his toes. Ah the life..

Then we went to see the Farm Babies in that section of the zoo. We did see two cute little goats. As we were leaving the veterinarians, brought a pair of newly delivered goats to the barn. Back in we went after the mama goat and babies got put into their pen. They were so funny trying to walk right away. Their little tails were wagging and their little legs were shaking.

Last week Bon Jovi played at the Excel Center in St. Paul. I went to the concert with 3 of my girlfriends. Ken & Kevin went to the concert on a dad/son event. Ken was the coolest dad ever that night. Kevin was grinning from ear to ear and he enjoyed it a whole lot. It was a great concert! They put on a great show. We had pretty decent seats too. Ken & Kevin's seats were directly across the stadium from me and the girls. We girls went out to dinner before the concert and then when the concert was over, we all stayed overnight at one of the gal's house and sat in her hot tub. So we made it an entire day out. It was a pretty fun girls day/night out.

Spring has come early for Minnesotans, and I am really enjoying all this nice weather. We seemed to have a pretty mild and short winter. Boy, I sure could get used to that!