Slacking. . .

Sorry for the delay in posting.  It has been a long couple of days and then I took a day computer free to relax and recoup from friends visiting.

Since the last blog we have done Sesame Place for the Hip Hop Harry concert, the park with friends, several days of school, dance class and finally yard sale-ing.

Can I say I LOVE yard sales?  Not only do I love yard sales but I LOVE town-wide yard sales.

Twice a year, the town right next to us holds a town-wide yard sale.  You pay ten dollars to post your yard sale and the money raised is donated to charity.  For the ten dollars you get listed on a map that shoppers can pick up at city hall, the fire station and a few other key locations throughout town.  Then from 9-4 you navigate through the insanely crowded streets of small town Metuchen looking for bargains.  It is insane, crazy, packed, even dangerous but oh so much fun!

Normally we are just looking for any great deals but this year we were on a mission.  First up - crazy garage sale lady (that is how she is listed in our Garmin).  She is the lady at the end of a dead end street whose daughter is exactly one year (in sizes) ahead of Chloe and always gives us amazing deals on clothes for her.  She even saves them in bags for us so we get first pick.  After scoring lots of nice warm sleepy pajamas and a few small other things for ten dollars, we are off to look for pants for Belle.  While we have a slew of clothes for Belle from Chloe, we realized that unfortunately everything for this age is for warm weather - I think we have two pairs of pants.  Found a huge sale of baby clothes - slightly on the pricier side so I couldn't go crazy but I did find several pairs of pants, two "outfits" and two dresses - one of which you will see in Christmas pictures for only a DOLLAR!  YAY!

Struck out on finding an outdoor playhouse for a friend from Chloe's dance class but found a hidden treasure when I stopped to buy pink lemonade for Becca and Chloe from a foursome of tweens who decided to take advantage of all these thrifty deal seekers.  Cups of pink lemonade in hand and two dollars shorter (had to tip the great servers!), I peeked at the deals their moms were offering and found six plastic horses.  Chloe is OBSESSED with horses right now but they are freaking expensive in the stores and I am not willing to pay twenty dollars for what might or might not be a phase.  I picked out the four I thought were in the best shape and handed over my three dollars (only wanted 2.20 but I had no change and they were being sold by the aforementioned tweens.  Something about the kids makes me lose all my bargaining abilities - Tip - if you want to make extra money at a garage sale, send your cute kids to collect the money - works EVERY time.). The mom felt bad and handed Chloe and Becca the other two since I had paid extra - it was nice all around.

Finally up on the list, swing by a yard sale on the corner who was selling a Graco swing for ten dollars. We already have a very nice Fisher Price swing that Belle loves but our crib room at church has none so when Jo saw this one for ten she thought we could get it and donate it to the church.  Belle will get a ton of use out of it and then they can have it for future babies.  Then home and officially time for naps for all of us!

Rebecca and Chloe hanging out
at 123 Sesame Street 

On a side note, Miss Belle has truly come into her own with cooing.  She has a new sound that sounds a bit like a rolling of an r mixed with a growl and a coo.  It is soo adorable.  So cute in fact that I made Belle sit in her bouncy seat while I let Mom watch her on Skype and talk to her.  For those of you who don't know what Skype is - it is basically a video phone through your computer.  For those of you who don't use it but have relatives far away I advise you to download and use it often. It is free if you have internet.  I swear by it.  I believe that it is one of the reasons that Chloe had none of the shyness issues with my mom when my mom would come visit after several months of being away. She had talked to her Nonnie several times a month (or week depending on the week) in between visits so she ran to mom like she had seen her the day before.  It rocks! Check it out - Skype!

Good night for now - off to head to bed - church in the morning, then the Count's Halloween Spooktacular event at Sesame Street and then packing for West Virginia for Chloe to visit and Belle to meet the family there!