Last day of 2005.

And I am happy that I have more friends than I have in a long time. Trish...she and her kids were here for a while today. Rachael and her kids....they are over here often and Rachael & Chuck were here tonight for a while. THe Tuesday coffee moms...Beth and Alex, Kim Lyle (who has invited us to a party next Saturday), Suzanne and Charlie, Robin and Cath, plus Cindy and Will. Not to mention the other moms I am getting to know...Megan, Lori, Gwen, Vandy, Linda and Leslie, Emily Berg, Julie Rhame. I also went to Lynda Adamson's blessingway two weeks ago and got to chat with some of the moms there, one of whom is a homebirthing, nonvaxing, homeschooling doula.

May I be motivated to walk four times a week, spend more time with the boys, volunteer at Oakhurst, make more friends, and have success with my eBay business in 2006. Happy New Year.

Will-ism.

"I made three stinkies. Is dat awesome??"

Will weighs 50 pounds; Michael weighs 60.

I converted Will's car seat to a booster today; he is very happy and it makes my life easier.

Miss Leslie of Atlanta Gymnastics/Varsity Gymnastics died of a heart attack on Sunday. I felt very sad about it. She was such a nice lady and both boys really liked her, and she them. She had two sons in high school that she talked about often; she was very proud of them. She was so good with the kids. I hope she knows how much everyone loved her.

The Tuesday coffee group met over here today - me, Robin, Beth, and then Kim Lyle and Suzanne Miller came also. Cindy couldn't come because Caroline is getting over pinkeye. We had a really good time sitting around the kitchen table talking and gossipping.

I am very underwhelmed...

by the bottle of pumpkinseed oil for which I paid $15 and change. Blah. It smells like the inside of the jack-o-lantern when the candle flame gets too high.

Two Will-isms.

"R2D2, ha ha ha!"
"Pop goes the piss pop!"
We have no idea where he got the last one from, but we have to hide our faces every time he says it because it is so funny and we can't help but laugh.

Test.

Finally feeling better, though my gut is still not quite normal and neither is my energy level.

No auctions running right now, though I am going to launch one tonight.

Cold, rainy, windy.

Breezy & chilly tonight.

It's like we skipped an entire month. Last week, like four days ago, it was warm and sunny and I had to turn on the air in the afternoons. Now all the sudden it's cold. I like the cold, but a little transition would have been nice.

I painted the nasty north kitchen wall on Saturday - it's a sunny straw-yellow. It looks fantastic. The rest of the kitchen needs to be the same color. In painting it, I did something to a muscle between my shoulder blades and it was quite uncomfortable. Lee massaging it helped, and so did heat, but it didn't go away. Then yesterday I dug up those clumps of daylilies and my lower back hurt. Today Will stayed home from preschool with a cold, so I decided to go see Dr. Kerry. After my adjustment, that pain between my shoulder blades was GONE. What a relief!

Sales are ROCKING. Those Born mary janes went for $76 and change. My Seven jeans with a hole in them are at $63.50 right now. Even those tired old J. Jill cottage cords went for $22.50. I only need one more item to sell for more than $15 and I will bust $1000 in sales for the month, something I haven't done since May.

I NEED Will to get over his cold and go back to preschool on Wednesday.

I got a ton done today.

Got up, got dressed, got Michael up. Made our bed.
Got ground turkey out of freezer for supper.
Walked him to school with Will in the jogger (Lee helped me get him up and dressed).
Went to the village and had coffee with Julie, Cindy, Robin and another mom who I just met but whose name I don't remember. She had her baby, Cindy had her Will, and Robin had Catherine. Stayed til about 10:00.
Walked home, Cindy walked with me part of the way, parked Will in front of TV.
Wrote several listings - got one thing in the store, one thing scheduled. Also moved one unsold and one store item to auction tonight.
Printed three shipping labels and got the packages ready to go.
Made the boys' beds.
Did a load of laundry and went through my spring bins. Pulled a few things to put in the store.
Made a double batch of pumpkin muffins.
Photographed a few things (though I have to retake a few photos).
Took a shower.
Left Robin a message that we would be going to the zoo with them this afternoon.
Fed Will and myself lunch.
Ground the flaxseeds in the food processor (this takes forever. I obviously don't have the right tool for the job.)
Got snacks & water for the zoo. Got Will cleaned up & ready to go.
Tried to drop packages at PO, but there was nowhere to park. Dropped Robots in library drop slot.
Parked & got Michael from school. Drove to the zoo.
Spent an hour & 45 minutes at the zoo with Robin, her kids, and Robert Lyle.
Drove back to Decatur & stopped at PO - Michael took packages in.
Drove home - banished Will to his room for five minutes for spitting.
Fixed the boys a snack while Lee unloaded the dishwasher.
Sent invoice to winning buyer of Chico's boucle sweater (the one that Trish called "pilly")
Decided that since I was tired and turkey was not fully thawed, that we were going to Mojo's for pizza.
Got shoes back on Will, went to Mojo's.
Ordered & ate, people watched out front. Will chattered the whole time and I was dying for some silence.
Lost shit in car because of boys spitting.
Got home, washed muffin dishes. Made Michael's lunch (pb&j made with two toaster waffles, fruit leather, apple slices).
Folded a load of laundry, found Michael's lego ships.
Got his clothes out for tomorrow.
Took out contacts, brushed teeth.
Gave Will a pep talk about preschool behavior & read him a story. After he fell asleep, got out his clothes for tomorrow.
Clipped the McMahon dollar that I found in the dryer to Michael's school folder and set the muffins by the door.
Uploaded photos from camera. UPloaded cat sweater photos to SD.
Went through emails. Unsubbed from two.
Printed two sheets of logo labels and made myself a note to pick up more priority envelopes.
Dug through bins to find some items.
Packaged up all the stuff that one person bought & paid for today, printed the shipping label for it, and sent her an email.
Put pizza & thawed bagels in fridge, took fish oil & vitamin c caps, and closed all the windows.

No wonder I'm tired.

PTA and volunteerism

I volunteered to help out with the fall planting, to be on the school garden committee, and to help with the distribution of school t-shirts in a few weeks. I've been wanting to get involved, so we'll see what happens.

I baked a pie pumpkin last week and made a big batch of pumpkin bars and two loaves of pumpkin bread. I have to say, they were both pretty spectacular. I bought another one so that I could make a batch of pumpkin muffins for Michael's class.

The light is fallish...the oak out front is starting to drop some leaves....the beautiful red maples by the high school are starting to change....now if the temperature would only cooperate.

Lee's got some kind of bug.

He's feverish and achy, but not throw-uppy or coldish. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. He's been sleeping on and off all day and I've been policing the boys. Will is especially rowdy today - throwing things, hitting, and tackling anyone sitting still.

I took both boys with me on my walk this morning. Michael went on his bike and Will went in the jogger. We stayed gone for about an hour and a half. We stopped to pick pecans from two trees, picked up trash on the path, went by the school and watched a crew of tree guys take town a huge section of a tree on Patillo. We had a really good time - Michael was a great listener and Will didn't grumble at all.

I have a crockpot of beef Stroganoff for supper, and some really awesome pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing for dessert. The pumpkin bars were made with a pie pumpkin. The results are pretty spectacular.

Tomorrow, assuming no one else is sick, is IKEA. Yeah!! I have to stop at Sev first, then to Ikea, then I need to leave there about 12:20 to get Will at 1:00. Michael has a dentist appointment at 4:15, then I have a focus group at 7:30. It's gonna be a busy day.

So tired.

So over Will and his threeishness, but feeling bad about not saying goodnight to him.

Pizza meatloaves for supper, from Cooking Light 2004. Yummy. Must make a bigger batch next time.

Dad has bladder cancer - yesterday they were waiting to hear whether his bladder removal surgery would be done at Emory, Duke Univ. Hospital, or Sloan Kettering. Supposedly it is on track to be done early next week, but I haven't heard anything today, so I don't know what the status is.

I am in a pissy mood this afternoon.

Lee is gone to Chicago. He still hasn't gotten a percentage check, which makes me think he's not going to be given a percentage of the opinion letter fees. Of course, I don't know that they have gotten paid for that, I'm sure he's clueless, but of course he hasn't asked for it. ARGH, this makes me crazy.

What I've eaten today (trying to eating higher protein, less carbs and grazing):
1/2 whole wheat bagel with earth balance
couple spoonsful of peanut butter
two cups coffee with silk creamer
1 piece pumpkin bread
1 bowl bean & turkey chili with 1 piece cornbread and sour cream
1 crunchy granola bar (leftover from Will's snack) and one trail mix bar
glass chocolate almond milk

I am also pissy because the weather forecast keeps promising rain and cooler temps, but it never happens. It's still hot and fairly muggy, and the rains have been brief, light showers. I am sick to death of the hot weather. It is making me perpetually cranky.

Tomorrow I need to:

deposit paycheck
go to Farmer's Market (don't forget fruit for preschool, and stuff for guac)
mail two packages

Michael is being a horrible pill tonight.

I have no idea what his deal is, but he seems unable to get a grip.

I took them to Stone Mt. playground today; it was quite hot and crowded.

I am seeing lots of GREEN in my auctions. I wish they would always do so well! Plus I have been having pretty regular store sales.

Tonight for supper - sundried tomato pesto spaghetti.

Boys are in school tomorrow - HURRAY. I am getting a pedicure tomorrow morning and I can't hardly wait!

I got a lot done today.

Will was well enough to go to preschool today, so I had Michael do some worksheets and I made a pot of chili for the crockpot, two loaves of pumpkin bread, and a batch of egg salad. I also made the beds, put a load of clothes into the dryer and a load into the washer. I packaged up three things to be mailed tomorrow, paid bills, and did my online banking.

The windows are open because it has been overcast all day...it's still and a little humid, but cool enough. I am about to make a pan of cornbread to go with our chili.

Trish, god I love her, but she drives me crazy.

Went to the Finders Keepers bag sale this morning - she called me while I was there and was just chattering away while I was trying to shop.

Then I called her back when I got home and she was jumping from topic to topic like a pea in a frying pan.

We are going to that damned birthday party this afternoon at American Adventures - ugh. Why did they have to have it so far away?

And school is cancelled by that moron Sonny Perdue in order to "conserve fuel". What a jackass. I am pissed. The only thing that could make it worse is if preschool is cancelled.

I had a great lunch today.

Big salad - romaine, cherry tomatoes from the garden (about all that's left out there), grated carrots, cucumber, crumbled turkey bacon & blue cheese dressing.

Will had a mini bagel with Earth Balance, strawberries, 2 slices turkey bacon and some peach soy yogurt smoothie.

Finally today we have some relief from the scorching sun. There's some nice cloud cover today which makes it bearable in the house without the a/c. We need some rain so badly...and some cooler temps. I swear I am sick of the sun.

I got out our T. Rowe Price mutual fund statements today finally. It turns out that they are IRA's. I registered to access them online and they seem to be doing well. All of Lee's is in Science & Technology; I have one account of a thousand or so dollars in that fund. The rest of mine is in Mid-Cap Growth. It also turns out they only require a minimum of $50 to deposit, like Clark Howard was talking about. I feel much more in control of things now that I have done that.

Saturday night.

We ate at Zocalo tonight. It's my curse to go there every time when I am not that hungry. Now I feel hugely fat.

Went to the Goodwill today, spent about three hours shopping. I was trying to stock up so that I can list this week - maybe I'll go on Friday, but I have enough to keep me busy Monday and Wednesday. I got a pile of stuff, though the lady overcharged me for some of it. I got it all sorted, inventoried, and all the stuff I am going to list this week is photographed, edited & uploaded to SD.

UGH.

I am having such a bad day. It started out nice, Robin Hentz invited me to join her and Beth Thompson at Jupiter Coffee, but it's been all downhill from there. When I checked my email, I had an email from the slow=paying lady who won my brown Chico's skirt that I had sent pants instead of a skirt. I had a bid on the pants auction and I had to cancel it. I was doing my sweater shaver over a Chico's tunic sweater and found a tiny hole. I was unable to salvage the Harley-Davidson sweater with the missing jewelry in the sleeves. I looked over my Berek, drying on a towel, and discovered that some of the colors had run. I went all the way over to Kroger to get gas and they were out. I am so darn tired I could hurl, after playing musical beds last night. Tomorrow is the preschool picnic, one of my least favorite things to do. I need to go thrifting SO bad, because I am so low on inventory and we are so broke. Plus, it hasn't rained in over two weeks, and everything is dry and brown, and the relentless sun is wearing me out. And all this is on top of Lee being gone all week. Please let my luck change soon!

Am I making the right decision...

shutting down my other blog? Probably, but I think I might miss it, for a while anyway.

Been doing pretty good w/the AC - I'm able to turn it off in the morning when I get up, and leave it off until noon at least. The upstairs gets pretty warm in the late afternoon, so I have to shut the windows then and turn it on.

Low on inventory - MUST get to the thrift. I've got some stuff in bins, but not enough.

I'm worried about Will's two front teeth. Are they decaying? If they are it's very subtle, but in certain lights, it looks like they are chalky white with a little bit of brown near the gum.

Nice day, yummy day.

As Will would have said a year ago. Warm and sunny, but with a nice breeze all day. I've had the air off all day. I also didn't go anywhere in the car - walked to the PO, then to school to get M.

Sold my first Misook for $70.99; listed the one I found at the Last Chance yesterday, today, and it is already bid up to $43.

Will starts preschool tomorrow. He is very excited but he keeps asking if he can bring Sir Jayko to share.

Today at the playground I chatted for a few minutes with Vandy and she said that Lucey, her daughter, said that Michael and Lily were the "smartest kids in the class". He sure does love playing with Corbin and the other kids after school, yet he is just as happy playing with Elizabeth too. I am so lucky to have such a smart, sweet, personable boy, and such a handsome one, too. He's so tall and slim, with such a sweet face, nice blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes.

Got lots done today.

Including a bunch of computer stuff - backed up photos and documents, then deleted them from the hard drive; disk cleanup and defragging; ran adaware; copied six months of my blog into WP, then onto CD. Then I entered a bunch of items into my spreadsheet. I also folded and put away three loads of laundry.

Tomorrow morning: Last Chance Thrift.

Live and learn.

Never again will I buy inventory from someone else.

I bought twenty pieces of inventory from Laurie. I paid $60 for 20 pieces, so $3/apiece. It finally came today, after my having bought it five weeks ago.

Not only is most of it stuff I would not have paid $3 for at the thrift, it all REEKS of cigarette smoke.

There is only one piece I am very enthused about, and that is the Quacker Factory 1X pants. They have the tags on, but I have to wash them to get the smoke smell out, so I won't be able to sell them as NWT. There are a couple of other pieces with the tags that need washing.

Most of the stuff she included is nice, but not stuff I have any luck selling - like a Venezia dress in size 14, a Sweet Jessie dress & jacket, a banana republic skirt in size 4, a Talbots jumper in size 14, etc.

Two things went directly into the donation bag - a very frumpy Elisabeth shorts set, and a hideously dated Adrienne Vittadini quilted dress with a big bow on the back.

Another set she sent is very cute, but the brand does nothing on eBay. That one, and several other items, are going to the consignment store.

She only pays 25 or 50 cents per piece, so for those prices I probably would have bought some of this stuff, but definitely not $3/piece. Especially since I have to try to get the smoke smell out. :-(

my auctions are really tanking.

I feel so discouraged. They've never done this badly before! I have one item out of, I think, six ending tonight that has a bid. And that's a damn 2T shirt that's up to $4.25!

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Why they are doing so badly. They've barely had any watchers, either!

I feel like giving up. I have all this inventory to deal with, too. Why am I even bothering? I should just chuck it all in the donation bag and quit.

Dang, I was sure about that Carole Little tank and skirt set and the Eileen Fisher linen two piece, and it looks like both are going to end w/out bids. I feel so crushed.

Feeling discouraged.

My auctions are not doing well. February was great; my best month yet. This month has been very slow. I feel like all my stuff is crap. The other FFSG ladies keep finding wonderful stuff and I don't find anything good. Wondering if I should give up. I want to focus on selling good stuff, but I don't have the time to spend on thrifting like they do!

Too much time on the computer.

I veg here and forget about all the other things I want to do. I need to finish my book. I need to read The Ga. Fruit & Vegetable Book. I want to bake. What is wrong with me! Get up! Your butt is going to be chair-shaped!

Holy shit!

Jess wants $80 for the two templates she made for me ARGH!

Number one, she could have cut me a deal because (1) we've been online friends for a couple of years and (2) when she was pregnant, I sent her a breast pump and some books and she offered to pay me for them but I said, nah, don't worry about it. I guess I ASSumed wrong.

Number two, I told her what I wanted in a template and she still didn't make exactly what I wanted. Plus, she changed Trina's logo after I told her that I wanted to use it and when she resubmitted the template to me it STILL wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Number three, I told her I wanted two identical templates but one with 'click to enlarge' photos. I naively assumed that since they were pretty much identical she wouldn't charge me for two separate templates.

After I had asked her to do it I was thinking that what I had was fine, but decided since she was already working on it, I'd suck it up and buy it, but I did NOT count on $80 worth of templates!