Use punctuation, people!

I find it extremely annoying when people don't use punctuation. I know in the texting world it's a lot easier not to use periods, capitalization, and other various grammar rules, but seriously - they're there for a reason! Think back to 2nd grade. Remember the kids who read aloud in one run-on sentence because they didn't understand that you stop when you see a period, and pause when you see a comma? It's just as annoying as an adult to read when other people don't know how to use proper grammar rules! Here are a few basics:

• Capitalize the beginning of each sentence.
• Use a period at the end of each sentence. Sometimes, an exclamation point is appropriate!
• Sometimes, you have to use a comma.
• Put a space in between words - so thattheydon'tlooklikethis. Unless you're typing a web address, of course.
• If you need some help typing, practice typing so that your fingers stay on the "home keys". In time, your speed will pick up and you'll be typing as fast as you're thinking. You can even practice in a chat room or online somewhere. Here's just one web site that came up when I googled "typing help": http://www.berkeleyprep.org/lower/llinks/typing%20games.htm

Back Tracking: The Street Sale

The very minute I came back from vacation, I began the street sale project. I say project, because if you've ever done a garage sale, you know how much work it involves. But let me truly describe what it involved. This was no ordinary garage sale! I worked w/ a neighbor to coordinate the entire street/neighborhood sale. We ended up with 22 houses participating, which is really impressive since our neighborhood is so young (3-5 years old!)

As you know, the "garage sale corner" in my basement was growing, so I had to go through the items, haul them out into the garage, price them, and come up with a clever way to display it. That's the typical work for a garage sale. I'm not complaining. My dad also had a truck load of stuff to contribute ... which meant I went through each box, threw away a ton of junk, and put the rest of it on tables to sell. That stuff didn't yield a ton of money, but every little bit helps, and it's all part of the fun, right? My mom and 2 friends brought their stuff over, too ... but since they were responsible for sorting, hanging, pricing, etc. their own stuff it was a little easier on me.

Then there's the hot dog adventure. Mike and neighbor-man set up their tent in the morning, and grill hot dogs to sell. Sounds simple, eh? Not bad once the supplies are purchased, the signs are made, and everything is set up. One guy (customer) walked as fast as he could with his cane and yelled "those are the best hot dogs I've ever had!" He was referring to last year's hot dogs, and came back for more! At this point I'm thinking that we should charge a whole lot more than we currently are.

Did I mention that it barely made it to the 50s that day and we all froze? Or that because of the cold, the kids --and I mean a ton of kids-- were in my basement coming up with clever things to do with a giant box that contained my wedding dress?! And of course Hailey needed to be entertained for the day. Thanks Mom :)

The neighbors were really cooperative ... everyone contributed towards the advertising, and appreciated the blog I made so customers could see what items were at each house. Really, it was quite an undertaking but so much fun for the event-planner in me!

If you're planning on doing a garage sale, email me for a bunch of tips!

Don't Get Me Wrong

Isn't that a song?

Just because our vehicle shopping is done doesn't mean I need to stop blogging. If not to annoy the swarms of people who are reading this, then at least for a little distraction from everyday housework and things that I "need" to be doing.

Isn't it funny how when someone has an opinion they're all too eager to share it - even if someone else doesn't want to hear it?

Just a random thought of mine.

It is Done

It is done. That was a favorite saying/lesson/teaching of mine during Leadership Summit last year. It refers to not looking back to sin after you've been forgiven. No matter what, It Is Done, and we shouldn't worry about what God has already forgiven us for.

But that has really nothing to do with my real reason for writing tonight. I'm saying "It is Done" and I'm really referring to our minivan search!! It's done! Complete! Finished! That's it! In other words, we bought a minivan! I think quite possibly I'm more excited that the whole process is done rather than the van itself. Don't get me wrong - the space inside of the vehicle is quite exciting to me. The girls won't have to touch each other, Chloe can't take Hailey's binky and play with it herself, there will be no fighting over someone grabbing something out of someone else's hands, and Maddie will finally be able to buckle her own seat belt again. But on the other hand, there's a few things that I will miss about our three-ring-circus-squeezing-into-one-ring: the possibility of the girls holding hands, Maddie helping Chloe with a juice box and being able to hand it right back to her, reaching toys for each other, me able to reach pretty much anything that is on the floor, having the diaper bag so close it's usually touching someone ... should I go on?

All that said, God really led us to this vehicle and I -more than ever- am a believer of "God's timing." It's no coincidence that we found this vehicle on the very day that Maddie and I got baptized. It's no coincidence that it has the exact features we wanted (dual sliding doors, quad seating and a CD player). It's no coincidence that it was under, (yes, under!) our budget. So much so that we can start saving for our next vehicle. Or at least the large quantity of gas this one will consume.

And so let me sum up the past week. Last weekend, we were ready to buy a different minivan with a ton of creature comforts, as Mike puts it. I loved the seating arrangements, and it even had a VCR (and DVD hook ups) for the kids in the back. It was ugly, don't get me wrong, but it had some nice qualities. So we took out a bunch of cash and drove over to the dealership. There were some things wrong w/ the van and while the salesman could have taken a significantly amount less (cash talks, apparently), we would have been responsible for fixing the problems. Not really something I was interested in. Plus, the girls were driving me crazy and running all over the place. I wanted to escape fast. Then there was another one (almost the same vehicle) from a private party seller - little to no features. He was asking too much for the vehicle and when we offered less, he seemed a little offended and said the lowest he'd go was, well, more than we were willing to pay for it. We were disappointed that this was taking this long and our endless hours of searching the Internet, bidding on eBay, calling and emailing sellers, checking carfax, loading the girls into the truck to check out yet another one - wasn't yet done.

Meanwhile, the family we bought our Big White Whale from was preparing their vehicle - for us. Only they didn't know it yet. God's timing is perfect ... if only he'd clue me in sometimes, huh?

Hurry Up and Grow Up

I hate wishing my life away. Ever since I was a kid, I was always - and I mean always - counting down the days to the next big (or small) event. When I was 14 I started counting the days until my 16th birthday when I could drive. Seriously - I kept this up for about 700 days. It amuzed some of my friends, but I know it had to get on people's nerves.

And now as an adult, I do the same thing! For example, there's only 13 more days until Mike and I go on our anniversary-cruise-vacation. (Yep, I had to sneak that in there!)

But do I wish my life away? Am I wishing the girls' lives away? It's entertaining to me when I catch glimpses of the future - what the girls will be like, how they'll interact, the fun we'll have as a family, etc. I'm living for the moment, but let me just describe how fantastic life will be when I don't have to haul around a diaper bag stuffed with bottles, formula, diapers, extra clothes, hand santizer, etc. (Ok, so I will probably always carry the hand sanitizer, but you get the idea). And, how fabulous life will be when we no longer need car seats.

Am I living life on the greener side but neglecting things that will have to be maintained when I get there? Like, will the girls have to haul their own purses around, packed with lip gloss, a brush, cash, and maybe even a cell phone? Will they get along? Will they all want to share a bedroom? Will they have the same friends? Will they decline friends' invitations to events so that The Three can do something together? Will they have a sister-bond that I've always longed for?

Hurry up ... but don't grow up. It's making me old! Girly-girl, chickadee, baby girl ... you're awesome - don't change for anyone!

So close I tell you!

We're so close to finding the right minivan, it's sick! Over the past two weeks we've really stepped-up the search. And by stepped-up, I mean we've spent every minute practically looking online, playing hookie -er, I mean er, not working - so we can go out shopping, paying a babysitter a ton of money so that we can look without the girls, calling in favors to friends and family to watch the girls, reading reviews online, paying more money to get unlimited carfax reports on the various vehicles we think might be a good deal, driving all over the upstate area (ok, not quite, but still a lot of driving), bidding on some on ebay ... and whew ... are we there yet?

There were two today that are very good possibilities. They're both Ugly Vans, but they have my 3 criteria for our purchase:
1. It must have TWO sliding doors. Escape plans are always a good thing!
2. It must have bucket seats in the second row. We thought it wouldn't really matter, but let's face it, we can't have Maddie crawling in through the trunk each time!
3. I really really want a CD player. Not a tape player, because aside from my awesome INXS cassette collection, I have no music on cassette. I haven't purchased - nor do I intended to purchase - a cassette since the early 90s.

So that's it! Maybe we'll be stylin' in a minivan by the weekend! Seriously, did you EVER think you'd hear those words from my lips?

Garage Sale Frenzy

It's that time of year again. I know a lot of people look forward to summer vacation, a trip, the kids going back to school, Christmas, Halloween even ... but for some of us, garage sale is a season in itself. A season to begin the annual household purge. A season to get some extra spending cash. A season to cook hot dogs, put little stickers on a bunch of stuff I no longer want or need, have people over, and buy it all! Yes!!

The "garage sale corner" in my basement is growing rapidly. I've added a bunch of baby items I no longer need. Of course, I said the same thing 2 years ago and sold it; 3 months later when I found out I was pregnant again I had re-buy everything!

A good rule of thumb to have: when you're in a store, trying to decide if you should buy an item, ask yourself, "Can I see this in a garage sale a year from now?" This way of thinking has stopped me from buying a few things in the past, but usually I justify it all by saying "This will make an excellent garage item in the future!"

Well, I'm off to search high and low for treasures I no longer need; ahh, the exhilarating feeling of cleaning out! 7 weeks until the sale!