SSPOM Babies & Kids Sale recap

I.  am.  exhausted.


The past few weeks have been non-stop busy for our family.  The Chix have had swim team, volleyball team, and track team practices.  We've had choir rehearsals and choir performances.  Sapper has been out of town frequently.  I knew the Southside Parents of Multiples' sale was happening at the end of March, and I knew the girls had items we could likely purge from their closets, but I also knew I didn't have the time or energy to clear, hang, tag, and sort their things.  I was right!  I didn't have the time or energy until late Friday night.  And then, of course, we found out the Chicklets have been growing like weeds!

Sapper elected to have the girls perform a fashion show of sorts.  The Chicklets would pick out items they have spurned, thrown to the bottom of their closet, buried in their dressers, etc, and try them on for us to evaluate fit and fashion.  We started out with this much 'to sell' at the Fall Sale.

I had the girls try on oodles of stuff that turned out to be a teensy bit too small.  Or a tiny bit out of fashion.  Or that they just plain didn't like.  We ended up, Friday night, with this much MORE to sell at the Fall Sale.

And then on Sunday I found that Crab had been stashing some tiny-bit-too-small stuff in her dresser.  Capris (that fit her 2 years ago too small).  Skirts.  Shirts.  Tights.  So we'll add that to THIS pile.

Anyone in the market for girls' size 7-8, 9-10 clothing?

How silly of me to think we didn't have 'enough' to sell.

Anyway, the sale was a HUGE success.  The Chicklets and I showed up at the sale at 7:15 'to help' where we could.  I sat down to help cashier after 15 minutes of 'shopping' and din't get a breather until 10:30.

Non-stop shoppers for 3.25 hours.  The LOWEST sale I checked out was $18.  The highest was a little over $200.

Comical story:  a lady marveled at the number of twins and triplets she had seen at the sale.  Another member and I informed her that 'the club' was hosting the event, and that we all had 'at least' twins.  Hearing three or four other women gasp "ohhhhhhhh" was pretty funny.

True story:  One woman came from Wisconsin to shop at the SSPOM sale.  I thanked her.  That's a long trip to go second-hand shopping. 

I'm very thankful I was able to help at this colossal fundraiser.  But wow, I wish I'd cleaned out my closets just a little sooner.

Best (non-English) Email Ever

The Chicklets went to my mom's yesterday after a brief visit to the Indiana Historical Society. I haven't heard what they were doing -- probably made jello & learned some more sewing skills -- and as luck would have it, I received this right before I went to bed. ::sigh::

---

From: Crab

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:30:03 +0000 (UTC)

To: Suz

Subject: Goodnight!

Just wanted to say goodnight, mommers!

God bless you I love you! Fe te bolev shettem o plumrsee (those are the French words that I can't spell) I love you mommy goodnight! I'm now blowing you a kiss! Mwa whooo! :)

XOXOXOXOXOXO

LOVE, CRAB ^.^

---

I absolutely LOVE her attempt at writing in French.  Though it makes me think I may need to read some picture books to her (again) as she obviously has NO IDEA what the language looks like anymore!

Spring Break (on a budget)

Geez, you'd think we never feed these kids.

Turtles!

Sapper

YellyBird

Crabbycat

We had a very peaceful (if short) spring break, courtesy of friends from church.

Fave memories include:

• trying on hats at a toy store in Nashville, Indiana
• eating a Lenten Friday dinner at Harvest Moon Pizza
• listening to and watching birds on Cordry Lake
• reading books in the marvelously pleasant weather
• hiking in Brown County State Park
• drying off Yell after she overturned her kayak and fell in the lake
• watching kids chase each other with water guns
• just being with friends

Thanks M family!

Saving Money & Winning Stuff

This week I've been reallllllly concentrating on saving money on the stuff we need and use on a regular basis. Cutting coupons, checking ads, checking what BargainBriana has to say, and...not eating.

Because I've had this stomach bug since last Friday. It was painful, had Sapper worried about me (while he was out of town), and has resolved itself into leftover diarrhea (blah) and a nasty head cold. But yesterday I couldn't bring myself to eat the banana I had brought for breakfast. The thought of it made me feel all gaggy. Blech. I have enough sinus drainage filling me, so I skipped breakfast. Then lunchtime came & went. I couldn't bring myself to eat yogurt - thinking dairy could upset my stomach AGAIN - so I skipped it. Then dinner was a major rush because the chicklets went to a friend's house to practice for a music presentation & I was all

• lets rush to get an eBay auction sent
• lets get the Kroger list/coupons ready
• lets put away all the stuff we just got at CVS (where I saved $11.26 using coupons AND got $16 extra care bucks, woot!)
• lets give the girls leftovers because Lord knows there are enough of them in the fridge to feed half of Kenya
• lets get out the door quickly because these grumpy kids need their sleep so I'll have to pick them up in about an hour
• bye love you, see you in an hour
• Kroger Kroger Kroger Kroger (where I saved $27 using coupons/Cellfire/Shortcut$)
• come on, we've got to go, Mattie needs to go to bed, stop singing, I heard you from downstairs, get your shoes on, lets go!
• unload the car, put away the groceries, put the bags back in the car
• Whew!

so in case you were wondering, I never had dinner.

Maybe that's why I had such an atrocious dream about one of my cousins last night? Or why I totally forgot about my chiropractor's appointment this morning? I have no idea. But I did eat my banana this morning. And I found a second one in my purse courtesy of my little Yellybird. I may eat the yogurt for lunch, but I may have the banana instead. My stomach still feels queasy, but the diarrhea hasn't come back so far today. So maybe the day off from food did the trick?

Who knows.

Also this week, I won a giveaway from TwinHappy where I participated in the weekly TwinTuesday by blogging about our choice of names for the twins. Go me!

Last, but definitely not least, today I found out I won a What's In The Bible giveaway from Mami and the Multiples. I'm thinking I may have a really cool video to share with Scooby and Niece-ling on their next visit. Shazam!

Though I still have a nagging cough and my eyes look like I've been punched in the face, I'm feeling better about life in general. Not too shabby a week (if you exclude the part where I've been working on our taxes...oi...lets just skip that conversation).

What do you think? Is the week looking better or what?

Crab and Yell, the reason behind the rhyme

Way back when...a million or so sleepwalks ago...we found out we were pregnant with twins. Twins run in my family. Rampantly. My great uncle & his brother were twins. My aunt & uncle are fraternal twins. My cousins are fraternal twins. And when my doctor told me we were having twins, I assumed fraternal.

We found out the gender of Baby A. She was very accommodating.

Her twin was not. She carefully hid her 'parts' for the duration.

So while we were able to settle on a name for A, B was rather nameless. She was an idea, a thought, a kick in the gallbladder, but nameless.

Since the babies were conceived on the date of Princess Diana's funeral, and Mother Teresa's death, I thought briefly about Teresa Diane for Baby B. A name she spurns. ::sigh::

But Baby A's name means, "Father's Joy." And that she is. No matter how grumpy she is in the morning, how obstinate, how hateful, she can wave her little finger at her daddy and be in his good graces. We chose Crab's name because we liked it, but it suits her perfectly.

Baby B, at two days old, was given the name of my sorority sister. A sorority sister who had to have a complete hysterectomy before age 25. My Chi Omega sister is unable to bear her own children, but her caring, fun, giving, generous nature lives on in my daughter. My daughter whose name means "Fierce Warrior." My strong little baby who could stand at six weeks old. My fierce little Yellybird who fights to protect her sister.

I never imagined their names could be so wisely chosen, or so special.

We Catholics Believe in Sharing

My uncle shared this story with me.  I wish 'Our Lady of Hospitality' would have gotten video. 

Believe it or not? 'Our Lady of Hospitality' came home from work today and while standing at the counter in the kitchen heard a noise out back on the deck. So she went to check it out and noticed an opossum. I had seen one in the yard the day befor but didn't make much of it because they are plentiful around here but had never been seen on the deck.


The funny part ... the varmint had found a bottle of chardonay cooling out there, chewed the seal off, got the cork out somehow or other and proceeded to have an afternoon libation. 'Our Lady of Hospitality' stood there watching the critter drain the bottle, licking it up as fast as he could.  He had tipped the bottle over on its side, and when it stopped flowing out he put his paw on the neck of the bottle and continued slurping it up until no more would come out.  Then he climbed off the deck and went over and laid down on the grass next to the house.  Guess he was a little under the influence. 

There went a good bottle of wine, but he was probably a happy camper the rest of the day.  He had wandered off by the time I came home, but 'Our Lady of Hospitality' was well entertained for a while.

So much for a short story?

Pop/T J/Uncle Popeye 

Thanks for sharing, Uncle Popeye!  And Our Lady of Hospitality, thanks for sharing your wine --  I'll bring a bottle next time I'm in town & we can commiserate over your loss  ;)

Hi!

Wow, it's been so long since it's been above 20 degrees! It felt like summer when I first came out of school today! Yeah, thank you God for sending us warmth!

Aaaaaagh! (yes, I'm a teensy bit FRUSTRATED!)

I just repeated myself 3 times.

To the same person.

And the listener insisted, "I still don't understand."

What part of: "He would like a copy of the memo you released to the public on such-and-such-a-date" is so impossible to understand?!?

GAH!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Junior Stole My Heart

Junior
Originally uploaded by crabnyell

Oh my gosh, look at THOSE EYES! This little guy came to visit us a little over 2 months ago. He's small, silly, sweet, and loves cars. And he loves Cars. He personally asked Santa for "Fwo an Doc an Wamone" not just once, but twice.

He lives far away from us -- with his parents as it should be -- but having him here overnight was the best Christmas present I could have had.

Yell drew his name in our 'cousins gift exchange'. She knew he 'loved Cars.' She also knew that she had to stick to the $ limit. I think God smiled on her the day we went to the store. She found not just Doc, but also Wamone and Fwo for just UNDER the limit.

And as soon as he opened his Cars, he was the happiest little boy in the whole world. Fwo an Doc an Wamone didn't leave his sight the entire 24 hours he stayed at our house.

At the tender age of 3, he hadn't spent the night at anyone's house without his parents. God smiled on me that night. His younger cousin, Nallie, had a wretched cough that kept me from sleeping much. Junior snuggled down into his Lightning McQueen sleeping bag (thanks Uncle Ralph!), between his two 'big cousins,' and was asleep before 9:30. Yes, I know that's a really late night for such a little guy, but geez, he doesn't see his cousins that often, he lives all the way across the country, and I was trying to soothe the cough of a 2-yr-old who was crying for her mommy, so just give me a small break!

In the morning I managed to get all six kids (yes, I tripled the number of kids I normally get out the door for church on Sunday) to church BEFORE mass started -- GO ME!!! Two 11-yr-olds, two 5-yr-olds, a 3-yr-old, and a 2-yr-old. Whew.

The one thing he requested was if we could go to Grammy's so he could "play with my Papa."

::sniff::

My little nephew loves his Papa. Hearing him say that was quite a gift.

But having my little Junior for his first overnight was quite possibly the best gift I could have. Thanks for trusting me Nacho & Carnie. I miss you all -- but especially the beautiful eyes on this little man of yours.

(I call do-overs!)