In that time I managed to volunteer nearly 20 hours at the consignment sale that I normally work and consign items in twice a year...I celebrated my birthday...I discovered the down side to drying laundry on a line outside...I've been working on potty training my 2 year old...and I've addressed and mailed Tyler's graduation announcements.
Let me start by telling you about this amazing consignment sale that I volunteer and consign in twice a year. Beth Dishner is the owner, and one of the sweetest people I've met! I "discovered" her sale about 4, maybe 5 years ago. Dean was driving through Fountain City one day and saw a little yellow sign in the median, and mentioned that I should check it out. When I finally made time to visit her sale, it was the last day of the extended sale (she had extended the sale due to rain...imagine that!). I remember thinking how nice Beth was and what a pretty place she had! I didn't spend but around $20, and when she encouraged me to consign, I wasn't sure that I'd shop again, much less consign items. It was a very very small sale, and I had come from a very professional consignment sale in Charlotte, which grossed $75,000 per sale! When it came time for her to have another sale, I received information in the mail and decided to give it a try. What the heck? I'd purchased most of the kids clothing off Ebay already, so all I really had to do was make a little bit of money. I was already working and consigning at a sale in Halls that wasn't quite as good as Beth's, but I'd made decent money and found some cute stuff there.
I consigned a small amount of items...probably around 70 or so. After all was said and done, I received a check for around $75! It was actually around the same amount of money as the other sale, but I had consigned a whole lot more at the other sale! After another round of sales, with an even bigger check from Beth's sale, I decided to quit consigning at the other sale and try only selling my items with her. Since that time, I haven't consigned, worked, or shopped at any other consignment sale! It's too much fun to work with and for Beth Dishner! Her group of ladies is fun, and her sale is managed in a gently sweet & professional manner. It's such a great "outing" for me, personally, because it's not convenient for me to take a preschooler out a lot...just easier to stay at home. This great sale is known as "The Picky Chic" consignment sale, and I encourage you to check it out! The next sale will be in August, 2009. It's so big now, she holds it at FountainHead College of Technology!!!
That leads me to my next "busy" moment over the past couple of weeks...celebrating my birthday! WOW! I've been incredibly blessed over the years and am glad to have had this time with family and friends. I received a few unexpected surprises for my birthday, which made it even sweeter! Flowers, bracelets, childcare, cards, a kitchen gift card, birthday bundles (one with a "key finder"...haven't misplaced my keys since!!! Thanks Sherry!!!!), and a new toaster (courtesy of my friend and therapist, A.N.), a date night & movie...MAKES A GIRL FEEL SPECIAL! And on my birthday card from my children, my beautiful & gracious Scarlett wrote, "Happy 29th Birthday, Mom!". MADE MY YEAR!!! Hahhahahahaaaaa..."29" never felt so good!!!More exciting news about my crappy washer/dryer...the dryer broke! Aren't you surprised?!!! The timer went out on the dryer. How do you make it with 7 people in a house and a super crappy washer/dryer???? My awesome hubby hung a looooong line for me outside so I could dry clothes until the part came in for the dryer. After the first day, I was ready to pitch the dryer...fixed or not! I absolutely LOVED hanging my clothes outside!!! The sun bleaches the whites to perfection, while the spring air makes them smell divine. And they dry really fast. I was enchanted with the whole process, until we were 3 days into the rain forest. I had been hanging wet laundry on my banister for those 3 days...
"Okay...I WUZ lovin' hanging my laundry!"
"Except for the rain?" My lovely hubby asked.
"Ummm...yes...drying loads of laundry off the banister isn't fun. They don't dry near as fast, there isn't any room, and they don't smell as good." I complained.
"So now you want your dryer?" he asked.
"Yes. But if it stops raining by dinner, I don't want it anymore."As I said...it's the "down side" to using only the great outdoors as a dryer. And BTW...on the 4th rainy day, the part came in. It was the WRONG PART, thus, I'm still using the banister!!!!
And for the final portion of my post today...it's a week's worth of frustratingly poopy potty-training accounts, crammed into a few sentences (RIGHT!). Here goes:
My intelligent hubby decided that I needed to "work with" Lukie baby on potty-training. Like the idiot I can sometimes be, I committed to do that this week, being that it was Erica's week to run the carpool. Pay attention, as this will likely be the ONLY time I EVER admit to my idiocrazy...and that's misspelled for a reason! Luke already had Elmo underwear, as he had teased me about 6 months ago, by pee-peeing and doing a stinky in the potty, only to regress when introduced to underwear. I even bought Lighting McQueen underwear to help us...Luke is ALL about "Lightin' McQueen!!!!! 
Day 1 (Monday) was mainly spent gently encouraging Luke to pee-pee in the potty. I was kind and understanding until he crapped in the floor. That challenged my kindness and tore up my understanding, but I handled it well. I scrubbed it up and moved on.
Day 2 (Tuesday) was spent telling Luke that if he pee-peed in the floor, he was gettin' a spankin'. Of course, when a 2 year old pees in the carpet, they don't exactly announce it. You actually don't realize their mistake until after you've stepped in it, or knelt in it, depending on what you're doing. And you can't really pop their boo-tay for that...they won't understand it unless you catch them in the act (like a dog). Luke was less sure of my feelings for him that day, but all was well by bedtime.
Day 3 (Wednesday) began with me firmly explaining the benefit to his boo-tay, if he peed in the potty. And then I scrubbed doo-doo out of the carpet THREE times. I lost count on scrubbing up the pee-pee, and we had long since run out of "big-boy" underwear. They were all hanging on the banister trying to dry. I told hubby, "If he's not potty trained by Friday, I'm putting a diaper on him, and he can wear them until he starts kindergarten!". Just when I thought I'd have to go rent a steam cleaner, Luke peed in the potty! Dean was already home and we (Daddy, Mommy, & Scarlett) ran to the potty and cheered!!! Praise God!!! This is THE break I've been waiting for, right?
Day 4 (Thursday) kicked off with extreme optimism. So when I stepped on a suspicious wet patch in the carpet, I had to put my nose to the floor to believe it was really pee-pee. I spent the day asking Lukie (every 10 minutes) "Do you need to go potty?". Of course, the answer was ALWAYS "No"...I take that back...sometimes the answer was "Lukie play with cars". By dinner, I realized we were light years away from having Luke potty-trained, and I am NO potty training expert...even with 5 kids. I was tired and the carpet was changing colors.
Day 5 (Friday...today) began with Luke in a diaper. Actually, he's STILL in a diaper. And I can accept that for the next 3 years, if that works! I think I'll recommend to hubby that he take his 5 days of vacation on a Monday thru Friday. That way, he can spend Saturday thru Sunday (9 days straight) "working with" Lukie baby on his potty training skills. And when they're done...I'll call Stanley Steamer..
During the chaos, I've been addressing Tyler's graduation announcements.
Back when I actually ordered the announcements, I expressed to him that I needed to know exactly how many he wanted, because I had a list of family and a few old friends that I needed to send them to. He insisted that he only needed "3" to send out to the other side of his family. Fine...3 is fine. Until you start addressing them and Tyler uses up 14 of them! Out of 30 announcements, all but 3 of them were sent to family!!! But that's the mild part of the story.
When the announcements came in, I carefully laid them out on my desk, along with the "inner" envelopes and the "outer" envelopes. Later that afternoon, I gave my 9 year old daughter some paper to write her thank you notes on...to her friends who had given her birthday presents. Then, I went to the consignment sale to work. The next morning, I noticed that Savannah had all of her "thank you" cards neatly tucked in envelopes with her friend's names on the front. But where had she gotten the envelopes? That became crystal clear when Tyler started raving about his missing announcement envelopes! Oh no! Savannah had used 1/2 the "outer" envelopes to put her notes in!!! At nearly $2 per announcement, I could certainly understand Tyler's frustration. But the damage was done, so I told him not to worry...we'd just have to use the "inner" envelopes as "outer" envelopes, and that our family would understand. After all, we ARE the Jones Crew! After I addressed the envelopes, I realized that the "inner" ones didn't have lickable glue on them...SO...I had to use the girl's purple glue stick to seal the envelopes!These accounts are only slightly elevated from a normal Jones Crew week. And I'd share further with you, but it's starting to rain outside, again. I've got to run and pull my clothes off the line. In the 2 hours of sunshine we've had today, I managed to hang 2 loads of laundry on the line!!! And none of it included Lightin' McQueen underwear!
