Its been a busy weekend

Sorry for the little silence. Just absolutely been bogged down with things.
My brother which we all ready knew was coming to town this past Friday, decided to pop in our place around 9pm to crash.
He closed up one of his houses and brought every thing down to his storage unit. Well, he has been making home brewed beer, and brought us a case. OMG !  It was good, the fire pit was lit, and we all stayed up well past 1:30 am  Saturday morning.
Saturday by the way was our garage sale. We were awoken by my brother at 645 am by him setting off our home alarm...yes again!  Poor Senior ! 
While here my brother planned a vacation for he and my parents, he rented an RV and took them camping on the beach. Gosh what a son!

Garage sell went okay, but you know people want something for nothing. I had a box of old shorts that were the boys, they were marked 1.00 a pair, and some lady told me that was too much to pay.
Then I had a pair of ladies jeans marked 2.00 and a lady said she would give me 1.00. 
Geez Louise People!
Senior had for sale an  Alice pack with frame, and a two man tent..neither sold.

After that, we had to get busy on NW 3rd grade science fair project. He chose "Magnets, and linear acceleration" so we did a Gauss Rifle. Finally got it done last night.
Then today ( Monday) Senior I had to lay down 98 bales of pine straw, along a tree line in one of our communities... *SIGH*  now you see why I have been MIA. 

Then tomorrow ND has a field trip planned to a farm..only it is supposed to be rainy and windy..I am chaperoning..can't you tell I hope it gets cancelled?

During my absence our good buddy ROB became a grandpa.. A big congratulations to his daughter and family.  What a wonderful thing to be blessed with this Thanksgiving.

Now, the boys are ready for bed, and I am going to soak in a hot tub of water, with an ice cold REDDS Apple Ale...   Yay me!

-JUGM

HealthCare Update ..And Other things..

Basically "It is what It Is" and we have to deal with it. Our local tricare office under no circumstance's will allow us to go to a civilian Orthopedic Doctor.
So now I am calling the specialties clinic every day, to see if we can get Senior an earlier appointment then Mid- December. Today he is taking MAMA BEARS advice and picking up some of that Blue-Emu sore pain rub.  I hope that helps him a bit.

So please" "fingers crossed" and lots of prayers for us.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two kids, two different schools...two days of Thanksgiving Luncheons. Which I thought both were on the same day so therefore I missed one of the luncheons. Little ND got in the car with tears in his eyes because his mommy and daddy were not at the luncheon.
OMG---"Was that today? I thought it was tomorrow the same day as your brothers" ?
"Nooooooo !!!!   Every other parent was there"
" Oh holy cow! "
Now I am the worst mother in the world!

This is what happens when schools don't keep proper communication with parents. I was not the only one thinking both lunches were on the same day.

So, Today Senior and I are making it up to him, we are bringing him lunch at school....   : )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another community wide garage sale is tomorrow. I am going through every thing. And what does not get sold, gets donated !   I do and don't like garage sales, the economic times trickles down and people want you to just give your stuff away.  It does get frustrating....
We are doing something different with the boys though, we are letting them take charge of what they want to sale and they can keep the money they make.
And kids are funny because now that  I am putting stuff in a staging area, it suddenly becomes important..even though it has not been played with for a year.

Now I must get back to going through closets, and cleaning out toy boxes...  Even Senior is going through his stuff.....

Happy Friday All! 
-JUGM

Garage Sale Day

The morning started off sticky. You could cut the humidity with a knife. But I was up at 7 sharp. Had the coffee pot going and getting my items out in the driveway for our Bi-Annual community garage sale. NW and ND were up getting in on the action as well, they were ready to go to work.

By 8am the steady line of cars started streaming past. Most were not stopping. I guess the newest thing in garage sale shopping is doing a “drive by”.  It does start to frustrate a person who is trying to sell things.

How does a person actually know what is for sale unless they get out of the car and go look? NW asked me how lazy can people be to not get out of a car.

Then there are those who want you to just give your items away. For instance I had a crystal bowl for $2.00. A lady inquired about the price, she said “well, I don’t want it that bad” and walked off.  A bit later, an elderly single gentleman stopped by, He loved the bowl and had no problem giving me my asking price. The nice man chatted a bit with me; he had a kindly face, very southern and reminded me a lot of my Good Father in law. I was pleased my crystal bowl went to him.

We also had the diamond plated tool box from Seniors truck for sale. We just purchased it last year for over $250.00 and any one who has bought one, knows how pricey a good one can be. We have ours for $125.00.  Many inquired about it. But my favorite was the person who asked if $125 was the lowest we could go.

Now, you must know my Senior to understand the look he gave the man.

Fortunately for the customer Senior was wearing his sunglasses so he couldn't see the look he was getting. I kept my mouth shut and let Senior do the talking. I could tell behind his shades that he was pondering the question, he looked off to space, twitched his mouth a bit...then came back with a flat "A yeah" . After the man walked off, Senior commented "Damn tire kickers"

 

We had lots of the kid’s toys out for sale as well, and as always those did well. But isn't it just like kids to not ever want to play with something until you have it for sale?  Mine do just that. All of sudden because you want to sell it, the toy becomes important and they just can't part with it.

 

 We have had a changing table since ND was a baby.  I have not been able to sale or even give it away free. Nothing is wrong with it, It just loves our house and doesn’t wish to leave it.  Look at the above picture the changing table is to the left. I had it all but thrown out in peoples faces, and still no one looked at it. It is like there is some sort of force field around it preventing it from leaving. I have also used it for other things then a changing table. Now I would just like to get a little cash for it and have it out of the house. But still...it stays. 

Our total take today was not the best we have done, but any time we can make a little profit is better then not. So I was grateful. I was happy any wet weather that was predicted held off, and I am extremely grateful that it became over cast and breezy. The day was not bad.

 

-JUGM

A little bit of this and A little bit of that...

It's Wednesday. I have been a bit under the weather which is why I have not posted much these past couple of days. But, Now I am feeling much better.
It has been very hot here, afternoon storms kick up and provide much needed rain and a lightening show for us.
The other day after dinner, I mustered the energy to go out to the beach with Senior and the boys. First time this summer. Moo-Moo can't believe we have not been yet...but as I told her.. "ummm I have a life"...lol
Caught some good pics, including this one :

Every time we see the horses on the beach, Senior and I joke about who picks up their "poo"  lol 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This morning I saw something I have never seen. I had taken the dogs out, and saw a bee flying around my cucumbers, it landed on one of the blooms and did what bees do to flowers.
Which leads me to my next question. The other day I was buying some local honey for my dad.
but, there were so many types.  I picked one that said "wildflower".   What is the difference? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday we got to meet my nieces Fiance, he is a really nice guy. We like him. How in the world My niece hooked him is beyond us!.  That same day I also worked up a trade. I traded my Ruger 10/22 for a compound bow. I know I probably got the short end of the deal, but I grew up with the family of the young man I traded it too, he is supporting a young wife, and 2 small children, and could not afford to buy something that nice out right.   But, now I need to get my new bow a tune up and adjusted for me. He had it at 55#s pull, and that is a bit too much for me.
Senior is getting a "diamond" brand. It comes in the mail today..he is "Over the moon" excited about it too. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I am on the search for boxes, another community garage sale is this weekend. the proceeds we make will go to giving my Cherokee a tune up, and changing of his fluids. My goal is to out right sale my Subaru to carmax, and drive the Cherokee a while. How long the while will be I am not sure, but I am hoping to cut in to some of our debt, and this is one way to accomplish that- We will flip that car payment and put that money on something else so we can pay that item down faster.
 Then when we see where Senior will land a job in logistics, we will go from there with the purchase of another vehicle and keep the Cherokee as our "fun/ project" car.   We have been looking at the Nissan Xterras...and No way will I buy anything new.. 

Okay, so that is that. Have a happy Wednesday ! 

-JUGM

Garage Sale Saturday

Today was the Saturday I have been planning for a couple of weeks now. Our community wide garage sale.
The weather was dreary, cloudy, and incredibly windy. The wind was so strong that Senior and I both have headaches now.
All week I battled the boys about selling toys. Everytime I put something in a box, little ND started to cry...Oh how I felt awful !. I tried telling him we need money so we can buy new ones...I don't think he cared. They were his toys, and he loves them. Then I thought how I felt when I traded in my Jeep. I could sympathize with him, and I caved.

So today, I got up early, made coffee, dressed warmly and set up in the driveway. I had lots of old halloween costumes, some scrapbook supplies, toys, boy clothes,and other odds and end. I don't think I sold one odd or end. It was mainly the clothes and toys people were after. Which was a sign of the kind of economy we are in. I even had some pint and jelly canning jars out. Only one person looked at them and then she thought my 8.00 for the entire box was too high.

Then Senior added some more guy appropriate items. Most of those sold. I was surprised by the men who were out shopping..again-you can tell what kind of economy we have.

In the end, it was a good day for us, we brought in 80.00, didn't sell everything, donated what we had left over. Which always makes me feel good to be able to make a charitable donation and help people out.