If it's Tuesday, that must mean it's time for another post.
I really did mean to start posting more, but last week was sort of a cluster**** leading up to Memorial Day Weekend when we were insane enough to have our first ever yard sale.
We decided to sell everything. Well OK, not everything but damn near! We had intended to have a pretty massive yard sale anyhow, but because our financial need was pretty huge, and the house we're moving into is pretty small (think tiny house living, except with maybe 500 more square feet than the Tumbleweed I linked to. For us, that's a huge deal because we went from 3700 sq ft in Maine to 2200 sq. ft. here in NY and now we're moving into a home that's roughly 900 sq ft. Thank gosh it has a full basement and garage - something we don't currently have!) and we have a lot of stuff that we don't need and had to get rid of, including...
Our dining room table and 6 chairs that we bought less than two years ago.
Solid Oak futon and brand new mattress .
Dressers.
Book shelves.
Coffee table.
Entertainment unit.
night stands.
200+ DVD's.
150+ books.
4+ years worth of baby and toddler clothes.
Brand new swing that Gaby used once and hated.
Pack N Play.
Nealy new car seat and high chair.
And hundreds of other things that we've accumulated over the years and really have no use for.
We just had no clue what we were in for when it came to organizing something like this, especially when the weather was iffy and we had furniture that was cumbersome and heavy to move. I can tell you, without hesitation now that it's all said and done, I won't ever undertake anything like this anytime soon again!
Don't get me wrong, we needed to get rid of everything we did. Not only will we not have the room for a lot of this stuff, but we hadn't used a lot of it in ages. Most important of all, by selling it to people who could use it, we made up almost all of the financial need we still had, outstanding. We're only a little under $300 shy of where we need to be and I have faith that we'll be able to pull the rest of it together.
Despite the stress and strain, not to mention utter brain and physical drain of the weekend, we were blessed not only in a financial way, but a huge blessing came in the guise of meeting someone who can only be described as an angel. A very funny, very generous (she bought ALL of our big ticket items...even when we put out new stuff, she bought it!) , kind and serendipitous soul who happened to come across our yard sale, but who was really more of a kindred spirit than anything else. "AC" not only helped our family out in a huge way, but she put my mind at ease about the new school district we're moving into and helped reassure me that even though we were moving out of one of the best school districts in NY, the school system we are moving into is just as good!
AC also confirmed my impression of our new neighborhood as one of little to no pretension and very friendly. That's the one thing we have not had here and the thing I think has made my adjustment to life in NY so hard...too much pretension and zero sense of neighborhood where we live.
I wish you all could have met AC. There's just something wicked-special about this woman that you can't help but be drawn to. She has a charisma and joy that I haven't seen in a long time and one that I'd love to be able to emulate myself.
The weekend also brought out the entrepreneur in Gaby!
She wanted to have a lemonade stand during the yard sale but I was hesitant to do that so I suggested she sell bottles of water, pop, and fruit flavored water packs. And ya know what? The kid has some mad sales skills!
I made a deal with her that she could keep half of the profits from her "Icy Cold Drinks" table. Well that was the original plan. I gave her $22 on Sunday and she was so excited to "feed her pig" and I was so wooed by the huge smile on her face, that I gave her all of the profits...all $44 were hers to keep. She did such a great job on both Saturday and Sunday with absolutely no coaching from Gareth or me. She asked almost everyone she came across how they were. She smiled and then she asked them if they'd like a cold drink...it was such a hot day and she had lots of icy cold drinks. I don't know about you, but I would be hard-pressed on a day when it was nearly 90F outside, to resist the smile on her face, or her charm.
I also let her make the choice to either take her money and spend it on two of the new Monster High dolls she doesn't have but wants, or save it for a while and get something even better down the line, or keep saving her money for however long she wants. I reminded her that once she's spent her money, unless she does something to earn more money, it's gone. We've really been trying to instill financial prudence in Gaby because this kid wants every thing she sees! She is especially interested in the above mentioned Monster High dolls, and lately, clothes!
So, what did she decided to do...?
Take a look!
She loves her pig and wants to it grow fat and big and healthy!
Gaby also told us that she wants to take her pig to the "big people bank and put it in a giant pig there!" You have no idea how happy that made us, especially considering up until the past couple of years, Gareth and I were a couple who always had a healthy cushion in the bank. We hope in time, to rebuild that. I can't even, nor do I want to, begin to imagine how much worse things could be for us if we didn't have that cushion there when we did. Especially after Gareth lost his job and in the midst of ongoing medical bills, a move and adjusting to the outrageous prices of everything, here in NY. While there was absolutely nothing that could have prevented us from being where we are now (well, that's not true...we threw good money after bad by trying to keep the house in Maine despite a poor market, no rental market and having to pay rent and expenses here in NY at the same time!), we were fortunate that the money we did have, held out until the end of 2009.
So here I sit, late at night, sun burnt from a weekend spent hawking a lot of stuff (because seriously, that's all it is! It's stuff. Stuff we don't need and that someone else who doesn't have a lot of money to spend, could use!), sore from moving incredibly heavy furniture, and wondering what life without a table to eat on is going to be like...but I'm happy. Most of all, I'm blessed. Blessed in a way that I haven't felt in a very long time. More than that? I'm blessed because I'm finally regaining the ability to realize that I am blessed in ways that are so much more important than the material, superficial and outward.
**********
As a small aside, yes I did take down the "ChipIn" widget after only one...ONE complaint from "Savannah" in or around Saint Meinrad, IN. It was enough to make me not really want to deal with anymore "Savannah's" or anyone else that might have come over as a result of me calling out a certain prolific blogger for her lapse in judgement and potentially careless and reckless handling of animals.
This particular blogger who has stated over and over again that her goal is to be as Christ-like as possible and to live a more Godly life, then went and mocked the people who commented out of a genuine concern for these animals (one of which was less than TWO WEEKS out from major surgery) she was taking on a willy-nilly road-trip across the US, and openly allowed her commenters to use obscenities when describing those people who were expressing their trepidation over her judgement - including myself. You then come over here in the droves (I deleted most comments as they were demeaning, defamatory and a couple mocked my older children), and judge me for reaching out and asking for help?
Rather than deal with any more of her devoted followers, I took the widget down. I have enough stress and don't want to have my own ethics called into judgement. I was skeptical about putting it up there in first place, especially when I had witnessed the vitriol slung at other writers and bloggers who had done something similar. Those close to me said I should have left it up and perhaps they were right. However, I took it down anyhow.
Gareth and I are so incredibly grateful for those who "chipped in" not only because of their generosity, but because they know the in-depth story of everything that's gone on and why the need was there in the first place, unlike the "Savannahs" of the world, who don't know jack shit about my family's life or what led us to be where we are.
At the end of the day, it's all good. Whether it's God, The Universe, or The Powers That Be...we're going to be alright. Every little thing is going to be alright.
