GRRRRRRage Sale Day

It's been a long day.  But, it's ending well. 

This is what our garage looked like on Thursday.  Can you say overwhelming?  I sure could, and I did - again, and again, and again.  We all have our weaknesses, and while there might be things I can do when it comes to planning or organizing - this is NOT one of them.  I get paralyzed when it comes to garage sale prep - (much less moving....we don't ever intend to leave this house!).  

Because of the installation of the new HVAC system, we had to clean out our attic and that led to a whole lot of possessions being allocated for a future garage sale.  So much so, that we actually had to get a PODS unit and fill up our boat with the no longer wanted junk stuff.   As we would really like to NOT pay for additional storage each month and it is almost time to get that boat on the lake, it is now time to eradicate!

 So, at 4:45am, we awoke to have this area ready for 7am visitors.  Yes, that is the sun rising...

Brayden manned the entertainment table (at least for a while).  In the background, there's John's mom, giving us the prices on some of the antique items we no longer have use for - making sure we don't give a priceless possession away for a quarter!!!

Mikayla manned the refreshment stand.  Shockingly, she went through four 9x13 pans of them - selling them for $ .50 - $.75 depending on who asked the price.  =)  I'm glad we suggested doing this - it blessed some folks' day and made us some extra money!

The hours of operation for the garage sale were from 7am until 1pm - and beginning at 6:45, it was steady traffic until we cleared out the driveway to haul anything left to Goodwill at about 2:00.  Thank You Lord, there was very little left.  It was a very successful sales day and towards the end, because we knew we'd just be donating it anyway, hopefully we were able to bless some folks with arms laden with goods for practically nothing.  Despite that success, though - it will be many years before I ever desire to go through this again!

We had some incentive to get a nap in, and get the interior of the house looking as good as the garage now looks as our evening held some fun plans....much more fun than putting together a garage sale!

At our last bbq, Michael requested our "crew" set up another date bowling.  Tonight was the night.  Unfortunately, Kenjon couldn't make it, but we brought another friend named Drew in to fill his spot.  We also decided, upon gathering, that none of us were really in the mood to bowl, so we opted for some time playing basketball, Papa's Pizza, sports on tv, and homemade chocolate chip cookies instead.  Definitely much more fitting to my energy level!

 

 

 

Heather's not scared of dogs (much less Sydney) - nor was she really punching Michael in the face in the earlier pic.  We just happened to catch her in some peculiar poses.  Sydney was being very "moochy" for both attention and any food someone was eating tonight, so Heather was shying away from her.

Travis, on the other hand, will give Syd attention at any given moment.  (He's the reason she's on the couch in the first place). 

This is Drew.  We all know him best through his friendship with Kaela, so the rest of us were giving him the third degree in an effort to indoctrinate him into our "extended family" that love to hang out together.  (He passed the test...GREAT guy!).  In these next two pictures, Heather is confronting Drew.  She's been holding a grudge that at the Superbowl Party, where they hung out last, he was a fellow Patriot fan, but didn't offer his support to Heather when it felt like she was the only one rooting for them.  Of course, it was all in jest, but this second picture cracks me up as Heather is getting this burden off of her chest. 

 

While I'll admit, my normal nature after a day of forced people-interaction would be to retreat to the couch with my Kindle and just our family, but I'm SO GLAD we made this evening happen with everyone else.  LOVE these guys, and it's been too long since we've all hung out together.  Unlike the garage sale, hopefully, it won't take that long for THIS to happen again! 

A Marvelous Mother's Day

I've been way too absent here on my blog.  It's been a bad headache week...I dealt with them over the weekend and due to some extra exertion exercising (try saying that five times fast!) - it turned into a major issue yesterday.  Fortunately, Mom was able to help me out - along with some Flexeril - a muscle relaxant which has me already desiring to go back to bed this morning.  It's unfortunate timing as I was supposed to be subbing at Yolanda today....hopefully getting a chance to say good-bye to some of those 5th graders I adore.  Sigh....getting tired of the headaches winning.

So, back to Sunday-

Here's how our day started: Special cards/gifts from our husbands and kids, Russian Tea at our sides, sunlight streaming in, and watching "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" at Michael and Michele's.  Yes, not a bad way at all to start the morning.

Then, it was off to a local park where the flowers were blooming in such a way to create a beautiful backdrop for a photo shoot.  No one was really in the mood, though - particularly Mikayla who acted like visiting the dentist would be more fun than this:

 

Next stop:  Woodburn Outlets.  We didn't spend a ton of time shopping, but enough to satisfy with some good enough deals....

Finally, our adventures ended at "Famous Daves" about 45 minutes further north.  That restaurant has so many different foods I enjoy - anything from their onion strings, to honey cornbread muffins, drunkin' apples - and of course bbq'd meat.  You walk away so stuffed, because you just can't stand to leave anything behind.  We were able to move outside to sit and enjoy the 80+ degree temps.  PERFECT!

 

Upon returning to the Schillings, we watched "Thor" (after seeing the "Avengers" the previous weekend, we were determined to catch up on a little bit of backstories of the key characters....Friday night we watched "Iron Man 2").  Then, our Riley family packed up and headed home.  It was a MARVELOUS MOTHER'S DAY!

Mr. and Mrs. Kau

Remember that bridal shower I hosted a few weeks back?  Well, the time has finally come for Miss Bobbi George to become Mrs. Bobbi Kau!  Hoo ray!!!!

The wedding was set at 2:00 pm up in Portland, so after arriving at the Schillings the night before, we left the kids with their cousins and set off north.  John and I were both in really good moods (the weather was spectacular) and it was so nice to just be able to chat with my best friend the way up and back - not to mention sit together in the chapel as we waited for it to start - recognizing by our body posture we were snuggling only taking up one and a half seats vs. the two we were supposed to. 

Becky was one of the bridesmaids - she looked STUNNING!

I love the expressions on these kids' faces...

 
Bobbi, with her mom and dad - so priceless!

 

Do you like Justin's shoes?  Courtesy of the UO Cheerleading dept.!

Justin is hugging Bobbi's mom, but he's only got eyes for Bobbi....love this pic!

The reception was downstairs in the church's basement.  Instead of toasting with champagne or sparkling cider, they passed out "real sugar" Coca Cola bottles - the bride and groom's beverage of choice.

The cupcake (in lieu of wedding cake) table:

This happened when the maid of honor, Bethany, Bobbi's 16 year old sister, was supposed to give her toast.  She had written it out, however, when she went up to give the speech, she lost it crying so she ended up having her brother read it.  Given it was written from a girl's point of view (i.e. lamenting not sharing clothes anymore) it was quite a bittersweet funny moment hearing her words come out of her brother's mouth!

First dance (last three pics courtesy of Kaela - we left right before this began). 

Our date ended up at Willamette Valley Fruit Company east of Salem.  We had a Groupon for pies from there that was about to expire.  Given that they were giving out free pie slices to mothers on that Saturday, we figured it was a win-win stop.  John was very impressed with the business and I eagerly anticipate the day we'll cook up those freezer-bound marionberry and raspberry-rhubarb pies for celebratory consumption!!