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!

My Monday

Yesterday I took the day off from work. I stayed home and slept and tried to get rid of the miserable headache I had. Spring is here, I spent a lot of time outdoors on Sunday, so Monday my allergies kicked my butt. Oh the joy of seasonal allergies.

Monday afternoon the little cavemen had dental cleaning appointments. They were both the dental hygienist's dream. Or is it nightmare? She definitely earns her money on those 2 boys. You know how well a 10 year old and an 8 year old cave child brush their teeth. I nag and I nag and I nag, but they don't listen. So maybe the dentist telling them again how important it is will finally sink in this time? I sure hope so. I try to get in their mouths with a toothbrush when I can, but they usually give me the usual, "I can do this on my own, geez Mom" attitude. With all that, we only have 1 cavity between the 2 boys and have sealants to put on both their molars. So a good visit indeed.

After the dental visit we went to visit all the pets at the pet store. Oh, how they would love to bring every animal home with them. The littlest caveman even goes as far as talking to all the animals, memorizing their names, and what they look like. It is usually hard to get them to leave the pet store. But I did manage about an hour later to finally leave empty handed I might add too. Although, we did leave with about 10 pamphlets on which kind of lizard we should get for a birthday someday.

After the pet store I took both my kids to the grocery store. Something that happens, well never! That was just affirmation as why I leave them at home while I grocery shop.

The oldest caveman had to taste test the deli meat to make sure I was making the right decision on which type of deli meat to bring home even though I buy the same stuff all the time.

Also, I had to buy at least 3 kinds of fruit that they tell me they like, but each time I have bought it in the past they tell me "we only like it at school". So they convince they will like it at home this time. Now I have a whole pineapple sitting on my kitchen counter and I have never cut one in my life. I tried to get the kind in the can, but was told that the real pineapple is much better, they will eat it for certain. Ok, how can I argue with that? Fresh is always better than canned.

I also had to put the kabosh on all the snack food in my cart back onto the shelf. Amazing how fast stuff ends up in your cart. I also had to put things back into my cart that I originally intended to buy.

It never fails, one if not both of the cavelings has to go to the bathroom every time we go to the grocery store. I'm not sure what the effect of a grocery store has on the little one's bladders, but it is almost like the moon effects the tide. And it normally hits when we are no where near the bathroom and have to dash like crazy to get there.

It is amazing I walked out of there with my head on straight. They both shriek for me to "look at this mom!", "we need this mom", "why can't we get this mom?".

We get to check out and I'm not sure how I managed to spend a bit over $100, I only had just a few (Ok, a whole cart full of crap we only really need about half of) things. I ask the zit faced bag boy for paper bags and he gives me all plastic. Dork. I despise plastic bags. Unless they are being used as the trash bag in my van.

And I had a headache when I got home. ARG!

Tomorrow is D day

No, not anything you are thinking. It's Dentist Day. I HATE going to the dentist. I'd rather give birth to a litter of kittens than go to the dentist. I'm only going for a tooth cleaning, but still it's dental work. I'll be sitting in that big vinyl chair, with my mouth wide open, the smell of rubber gloves, then someone poking and prodding at my teeth. "Does this hurt?" They'll say. Well, hell yeah, that hurts, you are stabbing my gums with a metal poker & trying to rip my teeth out of my mouth. Of course it hurts! Oh never mind the fact that I have to hold my mouth open for an hour. Can you say Lock Jaw? Then they'll give me a toothbrush and a flower (yes, that's the real reason I go to the Gentle Dentist), and tell me they'll see me again in 6 months.
I get horrible anxiety when I see the dentist, I cling onto the big brown vinyl chair for my dear life. I tense up and my knuckles turn white while I grip the chair as they stab at my mouth and all I can say is "Ah ha, uh ha, ah ha".
And to make matters worse it is Food Day at work. Who is the evil person who invented Work Food Day? So I will have to make sure I get my fill in before I go to the dentist. Make him work for his money. LOL...
But one thing is for sure...going to the dentist does help with the diet. I probably won't eat anything for the rest of the day because my jaw will be sore for the rest of the day & I will wallow around feeling sorry for myself, but happy that I survived yet another dental cleaning.