Ring-a-ding-ding.......

Last night the kids and I spent 3 hours at Winn Dixie bell ringing for the Salvation Army.

This was our second year trying our hand at this particular service.

Ethan avoided all but the last 20 minutes or so due to a baseball obligation and to Kevin dragging his feet in getting there.

Last year was at Publix and was very close to miserable.

I think it was closer to a 5 or 6 hour stint and it was FREEZING COLD!

I know this is Florida, but it was miserably cold that night.

Rainy, windy, the whole bit.

Tonight was at a much better location, bell ringing wise, didn't feel like we were in the way at all, but I was a little nervous about the weather again.

On the way over it was starting to rain, and blow a lot harder....I was getting ready to dread the next three hours.

Instead....keeping a good attitude as an example to my kids....I suggested we say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to stave off the rain for a few hours so we wouldn't have to be miserable while attempting to do a good deed.

Ryker said that it was not right to pray for Heavenly Father to hold off the rain...it would never work.

It is not a big deal and he does not care, besides, there are probably many other people 

that are praying for rain.

Well, come on Ryk...could you just lend me your faith on this one??

We can't worry about what other people are praying for....this is worth while to ask for.

Would you mind getting on board?

Ok....so we did.

The rain stopped.

It was a little blustery and a little nippy....but a pleasant spring day compared to last year.

Overall it was a successful night.

Many generous people.

Many people who would not even make eye contact or acknowledge our presence as well,

 but they were the minority for sure.

Several people driving by just stopped to run over and drop in money saying they loved the team effort, and thanks so much for being out there.

That was a thrill.

But the very best was seeing our little friends stop by to drop their own money in the red kettle.

This is William....Tina's little guy.

He dug deep into his wallet (several times) to give all that he had.

He was a fine example of generosity.

 Vanessa dropped by with a few of her kids.

She had not told them that we were out there....it was fun to watch their reactions when they realized....

that wait a minute....that's McCauley, Lawson and Ryker out there!!!!

They helped us bell ring for a bit and put on a little show.

Here is a little snippet.

This is blurry...but Kev finally manned up and showed up with Ethan.

They did not have the best attitude for the service at hand.

Especially Ethan was a disappointment.

Come on...one half hour of your time!

Please tell me you've got it in you.

When Kev arrived at 7:30ish...I turned over the apron to him and the boys.

M and I ran inside to get milk and Eggnog.

When I came to check out the boys come bumbling into the store like buffalo...all crazy and wild.

This was NOT what I was hoping to encounter at all.

Why the heck were they not out with Kevin finishing their service?

I got in a ticked off disappointed mood very quickly and ground my teeth down a notch or two in the process of trying to get out of the store and to control and demand my kids act like 

decent bell ringers for crying out loud. 

Kev said, just go....I will finish....take them home and get them in bed.

My PLEASURE.

Please guard the kettle with your life...return the sign, stand, apron, kettle to the service desk.

The night was good.

The kids were kids and were basically good.

I just want them to have opportunities to give a little.

Is it too much to ask for a measly 3 hours of your time w/out whining, and complaining to go?

I did present the kids with a major talking to on the way home.

I want them to actually do something hard sometime.

I want them to see something hard.

They do not understand all that we have.

Neither do I....

we have no clue what it would be like to actually be in a position to be a recipient of these kettle funds. 

I pray that we never know first hand what it would be like.

But I also pray that we can figure out how to have compassion for those that do.

The rain started up once we were back inside our warm home.

Giving Thanks......

I can't believe Thanksgiving has been and gone, 

THANK GOODNESS for leftovers!

This pie was not pretty enough to take to the Feast....actually I just made it yesterday...

(the day after the feast) but I will get to that.

I just posted a zillion pictures....I don't want to write a book today....just acknowledge the wonderful day we had on Thursday and GIVE THANKS.

One of our favorite family traditions on Thanksgiving morn 

is to get up and run the Turkey Trot  in Suntree.

I have been the only one running up until this year....but happily this go round 

we got the whole gang involved, except McCauley, who stayed with friends during the run.

In years past the boys have always handed out water and Gatorade w/ the scouts.

This race was started about 4 years ago in honor of Dr. Brent Gooch.  

He suffered from Juvenile Diabetes, the procedes from the race go towards help in finding a cure.

There is a 5K and 10K.

Believe it or not, last year our family was on a cruise during this time.....

we were bummed to miss it, and break tradition....but we managed : ) !

The best thing about running this year is that we ran not only with each other....

but also with our dear FRIENDS!!!

Whoohooo!

Ethan made sure he would start strong by stuffing his face w/ a powdered doughnut.

There is Kate, one of my Ragnar girls.

V was pumped....I loved seeing her all nervous and excited for her first run.

Look at these guys go!!

It makes me emotional to see them and cheer them on.

Tina who just finished her battle w/ thyroid ran the whole way!!!

Vanessa has just recently got the running bug and in finally getting it!

She is GETTING IT!!!

I love it.

Nate was rocking the house (V's husband) until he pulled or poped something....but he kept at it and held his own.

Kev kicked hiny. 

But this is the ultimate finish shot!

One day I want a shot like that of myself.  All stretched out and just going for it!

You can see Ethan's leg on the other side, there has been much controversy over who won between the two.  It looks like an even tie to me.

On a side note, Ryker was actually very sick.  He woke up with a major headache.

When he got to the race he threw up.

Poor guy...I could not bring myself to post any of the before pictures I got of him....he looked awful.

He was determined to be a part of this race. 

Good job buddy.

As the day went on, he took a long nap and felt much better.

OK....let the second race begin.

THE COOKING OF THE TURKEY!!!

oh my heck.

This turned into panic time.

We got home around 10:00am, turkey was still in the sink.

I had a smaller turkey, but then got afraid it would not be enough so I went back and got a 23 pounder.

For some reason I volunteered to bring the turkey to the festivities at the Quigley's home.

They took pity on us and invited us over for the feast.

Tina called to see how the turkey was going.....um, it is not going yet.  

What?

What time are you supposed to eat?  3:00.

She said they were eating at 3:00 also, and hers had been in since 6:00am.

Let the Sweat- fest begin.

I solicited some helpers.

Lawson was in charge of chopping the onions and celery for the stuffing, 

(hence the goggles because his eyes were burning).

Why don't I ever think of stuff like that?

I think Ethan really enjoyed breaking the bread.  I know for a fact that he was imagining him self doing the sacrament.  Which I think is wonderful.

The amazing news is that the turkey got done pretty dang quick...I have a convection oven, I am sure this shortened the time considerably.

Now...

I am not a turkey expert.  I have done two my entire life....my mom always did her
stuffing like this....  

she would stuff the bird and then pack the rest around it.

Tina was shocked to hear this and tried to make me dig all the stuffing out of the pan and bake it separately.  By the time I finally got it in the oven there was no way I was touching it.

When we got to V's house, she and her sisters were also not loving the dressing in the turkey pan,

I felt like I was out of my mind and making up the details I had remembered.

When we dug the stuffing out of the bird, I thought it looked normal.

I think I saw V have a little gag reflex going on....but I'm not positive, 

but they were insistent on putting what stuffing was in the Turkey into a pan to bake and dry out,
and the rest "we" 

threw in the garbage!

So, needless to say there was a scant supply of dressing....but I loved it....rebaked and all.

For your information.......when my mother called later that night and I was telling her of my dressing faux-pa....she said, no my dear...you did not have a mix up...

there are TWO stratagems for doing dressing....

WET   and    DRY

Your grandmothers have always done wet.

So I have always done wet.

So you to were doing wet dressing....if people are used to dry.....then it may be a huge turn off for them to attempt the wet.

HA!

I knew it!
DISCLAIMER: I really do think I will switch to dry from here on out...the possibility of bacteria could be a concern w/ the stuffing in the turkey.
I just felt I needed add that in support of the nay sayers....they are probably right.

Yes, the turkey looks remarkably dark....but it was decent.

Kev did the honor of carving.

Here is the crew.  I think we just got done toasting to Hayward's mustache in the photo below.

Loving the bubbly...the candles, the mini tables, the people.

Hayword (another invited guest from our ward) insisted on us singing 

"Because I have been Given Much"

so glad he did.

Because we have.

PS - Tina, there was a huge puddle in the oven from the turkey.

I guess my juices did flow over....I just didn't know it until the next day when the oven started smoking like mad as I was baking my pie!

McCauley kept saying the pie smelled like turkey.....sure didn't stop me from eating it for breakfast, lunch and snack.

Ragnar Report......yes I did it...I used the song....I couldn't help it....

Wow....it is hard to believe the Ragnar has been and gone.

We will all be moving on to other things.

It was a fantastic experience from beginning to end.....including the building up to it with training, the physical discoveries made along the way, and all the way through to the end.

LOVED IT.

Here are just a few highlights from the last three days and nights.

These are just the photos off of my camera....there are many gaps and holes that will be filled in later when other team mate photos are posted.

We are the "Sole Sisters" team number 63

This is almost our whole team, van 1 had just finished our first leg, I had just come in before this shot, and had passed the wrist band off to Gina, and for some reason Jessica is missing from here.  Aubrey on the far right is the designated driver for van 2.  She has been on the team from the beginning, but during her recent marathon really messed up her knees.

We were super happy she was still able to participate. 

We had a bit of a rough start, 

the bike was reeking havoc on our plans.

It was important for us to take a bike so that we could pace our night time runners.  We wanted to be sure to have it to be able to keep our runners safe on the long lonely trail runs in the getto.

We were going to take our van, but the rack that Colleen brought would not fit into the hitch...sooooo we moved to her van.  Still having trouble getting the bike situated on the luggage type carrier we were tying to use.  After some valiant effort on her husbands part, and an hour later into the night....we finally found a neighbor to borrow an actual bike rack from and we were on our way.

We picked up Melissa in Cocoa and headed to Clearwater.

We were attempting to use our Tom-Tom, but it kept falling off the windshield and turning off and, and, and, it was just a huge pain.

I will just get to the point....we ended up missing our exit and had to back track about 45 minutes.

DISCLAIMER:

Yes, I was driving...but BEFORE the trip began I stated clearly that I would not be a good choice to navigate....I am a good driver, happy to do so....but I would need directions on where to go.

I am taking only partial credit.

It was a collective effort.

  

Our van 2 team mates enjoyed a night out to dinner as we fumbled our way through the night....

The next morning we awoke at 5:30am, to be there at 6:00 for our safety orientation, and to get Melissa off for her 7:00am start time.

UNFORTUNATELY......

we got lost on our way to the park, which was approximately 2 miles away.

I was NOT driving.

We finally made it, we rushed in got checked in making it through steps 1, 2, 3, and 4....

We were milling around....and the next thing we hear is 

5.....4......3....2.....1 

????? 

Whoooohhooooo.....screaming, cheering, and clapping.....HUH?

We race out of the blow up tent we are in and see the runners round the bend.....

Melissa is frantically trying to get her safety gear on, and untangle her head phones as we push her onto the starting track and tell her to kick it into high gear to catch up.

(Nothing like stretching out and gathering yourself before a run)

We were all kind of nervous for Wilson. 

(what I will call the other Melissa from here on out to eliminate confusion)

Melissa....I mean Wilson is one Awesome Chick!  She is my coupon mentor, the girl that got me started.

If there is a deal she will find it.

They are more prepared for the future than anyone else I know...meaning food storage.

She is a runner extraordinar....has done several marathons, etc.

She is a genealogy buff, and just started schooling her children at home this year!

Amazing....I don't know how she does it.

We were a little nervous about getting to the first exchange....weren't really sure how to read the map yet and were not convinced of the dependability of the stinky Tom-Tom.

So as we were pulling out to try and find it, we saw another van from the race and decided to just be smart and follow them to the exchange.

Whooohooo!

Nice one.

We followed them straight back to our hotel.

Oh my gosh....nooooooooo!

yep, they were just seeing their team off...this was their van #2.

(nice thought)

Anyway, they assisted us in figuring out how to get to the exchange.

While Melissa was running the rest of us were having the time of our lives.

We were watching for her....THERE SHE IS, she caught up!!

....we knew she would.

She was booking it so hard.  She was scared half out of her mind 

she would get lost, good motivator to catch up.

Emily is up.....Go Emily!

Emily hooked up w/ Bobby, one of the FishTail team girls.

These two were fast friends and had a great time running throughout the different legs.

The FishTail team girls are all wives to professional Bass fishermen that have their own show.

These girls had a camera crew with them the entire time, filming their every move.

It was an interesting added element to the whole experience.

Sounds like a pretty fun, adventuresome life.

Emily is a sweet heart....she and her husband have one cute as heck little boy,

about 15 months old I am going to guess.

They have been in the ward for a year??  Guessing again.

Em is my visiting teacher partner.  We have had some good, and interesting times together.

Looking forward to many more.

This is she and Jessica's first experience with running.

They have trained together like crazy.  

We are super proud of the two of them.

Jess is next, she has the two thumbs up.

She is a TROOPER!

She has had some knee trouble....it has been swollen throughout her past few weeks of training.

She does not complain, or whine AT ALL.

Sometimes I wish she would...so we could know how to help,

 but no.  She just goes on.

Jess is a fairly recent convert to the church.  She is a strong young lady.

Solid.

She was the first to bring up having a prayer for a team mate we were worried about, and made sure we got a quick scripture in before dozing off to sleep the night before.

Thanks Jess!

She has been one of our beloved teachers in primary for the past year or so.

She passed to Colleen ..... and Colleen to Kate.

KATE - Kate loves a good competition.

This race is right up her alley.

I credit Kate for getting me into running.  

She invited me to run with her in a Disney half marathon 4 years ago.  

I surprised myself and said yes.  We have had that sweet connection ever since.

She does not enjoy getting lost.

My turn!

Runner number 6 for our van.  I will hand off to the first runner of van number 2.

at my exchange it was a rip - off because they would not let any team members come up the hill to where we were to make the wrist band hand off.

They did sneak up to click off a few quick snap shots though.

My first leg was 7.9 I think.

I wish I had that Ragnar Bible now to look at and be able to give the accurate 

names and places we went through.

I am sure I can look it up online....but that sounds really hard.

This was a decent stretch.  Not super exciting.  It was on a running trail next to the highway.

The other side was county farms, mossy trees, and black berries.  

It was definitely beautiful,  

just no honking, waving, and cheering on from my team or any other passerby's.

After the exchange was made we went to this super yummy bagel deli to eat.

This is a "picture" Colleen took for us.

She has pretty bad eye sight....Love you girl!

Here is my cute running partner Shell (Gina is right behind her)....and Michelle - who is the last runner for van 2....which means she will bring the whole race home.

She has got to be one patient lady to be able to wait, and wait, and wait for her turn to finally 

roll around each leg.

She did an awesome job!

During our first break we took advantage of some R&R....it was a beautiful day.

We played some Phase Ten,  ate a ton of Veggies w/ the most delicious dip on earth, and a bunch of Energy bars....the chick pea ones, this time w/out the juice (much better).

This is Colleen our wonderful little Captain.

She got this thing started.

This is what Colleen did.  She planned and prepared and studied the Ragnar Bible and course.

She was constantly adding numbers and figuring out stuff.

She worried and fussed like any good mother would do over both vans.

She was so sleep deprived....kinda got scary toward the end of the last leg.

She started having some bad chest pain....after the race she finally got checked out in the first aide tent.

Her blood pressure was extremely low.  They prescribed sleep!!!

She is one of the best ladies I know.

She is a counselor in the primary with me.

She is the most patient person on earth.  I have not ever seen her get frazzled or shaken or upset.

She has a heart of gold, and deserves a truck load of blessings for all that she does.

Night time came and with it the "scary" runs.  

It was pretty cold.

I can't remember exactly what happened, but it seems like we had to boot Melissa out again, because of running late or getting lost and trying to get her to the exchange.

All I know is that the rest of us were counting our lucky stars at not being runner #1...we never had our barrings pulled together.  We were always sending her off in a panic of some kind.  

HURRY....RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.....GOOOOOOOOOOO......

We finally did find Wilson on the trail....and dang good thing we did.

The handy-dandy head lamp I had graciously loaned her was not worth dookie. 

 She could not see a thing.

She was the one person that said she could absolutely not run a trail run.

She would take any other leg....just NOT an off road run.

She has twisted her ankle and gone through tons of therapy.  She was told she would never run again....well she is lucky, she has worked very hard to be able to run, but is naturally very cautious.

Surprise and low and behold, she had the longest, worst, rockiest trail run of any of us.

When we found her we stuck with her.

We pumped the tunes, and she rocked her 8 miles, or whatever it was pretty hard.

Lots of gaps here.

We used everyones cameras...so I don't have every runner (yet).

But hehe....I have mine right here.

This was so fun.

Felt amazing!  I took it slow to stay w/ this Fishtail - Stacey.

No way did I want to run by myself at night.

The team came by and we jammed out as we ran.

So much fun.

This was the time I would have wanted to keep on running....  Felt very good.

This was only 4 miles, or there abouts.

After our night runs we headed over to Wilson's inlaws home for a hot shower and a 3hour nap.

Deliiiiisssshhhhh.

Slept like a baby, except for when Kate was giving me running commands 

and speaking in gibberish to me.

Got up with the text that told us van 2 was w/in 40 minutes of the next exchange.

5:00am I think.

No prob.  We got up, and got moving.

We made it to our exchange seamlessly.....too seamlessly.

That had us really worried.....Where in the heck was Melissa....she should be here by now.  What is going on?

OH MY HECK!

We were at the wrong exchange....no wonder it was so perfect.

Emily got a late start, she had really wanted to run w/ Bobby...it was not to be for this run.

We stuck by her and cheered her on every few miles.

Got her water and kept her pumped.

Fast forward again...this is my last leg.

When I saw the map of my run I saw that I would be running around a lake for almost the entire time.  7.8 I think.  I was super thrilled with that.

The run started out pretty pathetic.  Leap frogged several busy streets, jockeyed my way onto the highway shoulder and found myself running, yes, along side a body of water.  But almost completely obstructed by unattractive shabby trees and over growth.

great. 

I found myself waiting and wondering when my girls would be by, honking, screaming, and waving.

Kept waiting for the beep, beep, beep......

they came at 1.56 mile.  I was ready for it.

Click - turn on the turbo boost.

Music up two notches.....

adrenaline running.

This is when my last run began to get FLIPPING AMAZING!

The trees went away and the view opened up to Gorgeous.

You cannot tell in these photos but it was so, so perfect.

One of the funnest sights was a HUGE convoy of motorcycles....they were led and followed by a police escort...headed to a funeral I was guessing.

There had to have been over a hundred....team...am I over shooting???

That is what it seemed like to me.

They were honking and cheering.

After they had finally all passed, one couple came back.  They pulled up right in front of me...facing me about a block off.  Hmmmm...... it was an older couple, 

they said they just wanted to wish me luck for my race.

Really?

That was pretty dang sweet of them!

The water was calm and smooth. Lots of duck families, boats, and contented fishermen, 

smiling and waving.

 It took me back to my own Satellite Beach.

My water....we have been here 10 years...it does feel like mine now.

I thought of all the running of the causeway and watching the sun come up on the water.

I remembered all the times of marveling at the beauty that surrounds us. 

I felt very happy, grateful, and amazed.

My team went by several more times....each time I pumped it up.

Tried to put on a little side show for them.

Do the strong man run...that sort of thing....a mini comedy act.

But I gotta tell ya....a person only has so much turbo available in one run.

I was getting scared they would come by again and I would not be able to live up to my teams expectations.

They didn't....I only had the exchange with Gina to go.

Just after the run....that is all for van 1.

Now we wait.

We headed off to find a Chilli's.

After gorging.....we decided to go find Shelly.

We were completely shocked to actually pull that off.  This was one of my favorite parts of the run....

hooking up with and cheering my little buddy on.

Since we were in different vans we really didn't hang at all....just a quick hi five here....a text there...and so forth.

Here she is coming in for her exchange.

We headed all the way to Daytona after that.

We cleaned out the van and settled in for the Grand Finale.

We had time to kill....literally time to plan a murder and kill.....Kate and I settled for a movie.

The rest of the crew wanted to do their own thing, but this was just the ticket as far a I was concerned.

Kate took some convincing.  She was extremely nervous about us missing them coming accross the finish line...she was REALLY wanting her metal.

I had to promise w/ my life that I would keep my phone on vibrate and not take 

my hand off it the entire movie.

Done.  

The Next Three Days was the only show that was available to us.

Neither of us had ever heard a thing about it.

The ticket girl did not have a clue, or anything to offer us in way of a hint as to what it was about.

But it had Russell Crowe, so we went for it on a leap of faith...and a little desperation for anything to pass the time besides dancing to the live karaoke band.

watch trailer 

I will tell you here and now...

THAT WAS HANDS DOWN THE BEST SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN.

I swear it.

It starts out a little ify......do not give up.

Stay the course...but go see it.  I am taking Kevin this week no matter what.

You can watch the trailer if you want....but

I suggest going in blind like we did.  It was pretty sweet that way.

After the movie got over we hussled down to the rest rooms.

Before Kate went in she asked me to please give van 2 a call to see where they were.

Sure...no problem.

hmmmmmm, what's this.....my phone if off....?  huh?  Dead...it will not even turn on.

I am dead meat.

I had to tell her the truth....we beat it out of there lickity split. 

Ran down the stairs....and found our team calmly chatting away....gasp, sputter....are we too late??

No, they got lost.

one of their runners got off trail and ran 2 1/2 miles in the wrong direction.....ohhhhh.

They will still be A WHILE.

Let me just say now that we were the last team in. 

The second we ran through they tore everything down around us.
Most people were already gone.

It was quite the ending.
It made no difference to us what place we came in.
The difference was in the finishing....and we did it!
201 miles under our belts.

Michelle had a wonderful experience w/ her run and an answer to prayer.

She received a little escort through a very rough part of town and through to the end of the race.

An 11 year old kid on a bike was her new best friend.

It was a pretty cool experience. 

I would do it again in an instant.

We learned a lot from this first attempt.

I am thrilled my wonderful husband supports my hopes and dreams.

He is happy to let me go off and have some fun now and then.

Love you!

Love you to Sole Sisters......please send your photos and your thoughts on the trip.

Van 2 - you guys rocked so hard.

You had a way tougher race than we did....and we knew it.

We were singing your praises non-stop!!

It was fun to meet and hang a little with you all.

Love, M

P.S. if you have not had enough and want the perspective from van 2 -

go to Shelly's blog.  I am sure she will be updating soon.

I think I'm ready.....

I have been cruising around the house cleaning and making sure everything is set for Kev and the kids while I go off on my little adventure for the next three days.

I think I have things pretty well set.

I have the basic necessities for the trip as well.

Been doing my stretches.

Picked my three running outfits.

Charged the phone, camera, Nano, and Garmin.

Made a new cd and uploaded fresh music to make the event more special.

Burned a cd for the van ride up and back to get us pumped.

Finally got my shirts ready.

What a disaster.

All I had to do was to come home and iron my name on the back and our team name on front, and then wash them once (these look like they are a thousand years old).

Well, I was unaware that the paint from the back was not completely dry when I stacked them and set them aside until I had time to work on them.  

Whooopsie.  They were all stuck together where the paint had seeped through.

I will just have to hold my head high and not worry about it.

You know....I would think I would be feeling all 

MEGA EXCITED AND SUPER PUMPED RIGHT NOW....

but I have been feeling a little sad today.

Maybe it is not sad, maybe scared, nervous, apprehensive.

Feels like I am leaving for a year long sabbatical or something.

Got me looking around a bit and I felt like documenting a few of the things I came across today.

Herbie's filthy face.

She has figured out how to pull the gate open and escape recently.

She has been returned by numerous neighbors, as well as a police officer yesterday.

I said to the family.....can't we take a hint....if she is soooooo desperate to leave let her go already!

and what was the police man thinking....you don't teach a family a lesson by bringing the dog back to the door....you take them to the pound.  How are people going to learn to control their pets if you just give it right back?!

There is our friendly cockroach, probably the one that was on my pillow a few weeks back that we lost track of.  This is in-between the screen and the window of our bed room...

can't tell if it is trapped or not....

maybe I'd care more if I was sleeping in here tonight!

Look at this pile of mushrooms.

It is the only mushroom in the entire yard.....why here?  what brought on such a cluster?

 Another reason I wanted to take a walk about was to document how the house 

looked and smelled before I left.  You know....

 I do love this old house and all of its oldness.

I think it is beautiful.

I get tempted to complain about its smallness from time to time....but truthfully

it has been a good home....I am sure it will continue to be so...

 Look at this...

M was getting out the play dough the other day and said, 

Oh wow!  Look at this, it is all sparkly and crystally...it is beautiful.

Hmmmm, yes, that is amazing, I wonder....

then I saw something that jogged my memory about the last time we had the play dough out.
The kids (Deklen) were eating pretzels.

Pretty neat find. I have been using it as a paper weight on my desk.

I will catch you on the flip side.

Wish us luck.

Love, M

Sweet Haul....

I really should not be doing this right now.  

But, the race is in three days!  This may be my last chance to get a post in....I have a bunch I need to report on.  Before I start though... I heard something really surprising today at the library.

I was standing at a book shelf in the YA section, pulling some patron requests for the day, 

when Ellen, came up to me.  If you go to our library you know who Ellen is...one of the head Librarians, sometimes, and always randomly, she seems totally ticked off at you.

Like you have done a grave wrong....but you are not sure what you have done exactly.

She is a little intimidating.

At other times, you could not meet a nicer person.

So anyway, she came up to me this morning and says, you know, 

we have another name we call you around here.  

K - shockfest.

I had a second or two to let a few names run through my brain.  Something to do with red maybe?  

"Book Monger"....below is a sampling of what it looks like every week after my shift when I check out...and this is me being very selective.

no,....she said that I would likely not hear it from anyone else, but they call me...

......brace yourself.....

"Quiet Strength"

(I had to write it down immediately because I knew I would never be able to convince myself later that that is what she had actually said)

Surprise!

Wow.... I had not anticipated an indian name, but that is way better than I had hoped for.

It hadn't crossed my mind that they even really knew I was there at all....

so yeah, I guess I get the quiet part...it is after all a library.

She said that they just love that I set them up so well for a strong start to their day.  

Everything is caught up and ready to go.

So that was pretty interesting.

Now, to get on with the post....Saturday, was the grand event....the much anticipated yearly 

Sanctuary Garage Sale!!!!

Let the hordes of people come through the wrought iron gates to buy our cast offs.

Tina lives in the Sanctuary....and I happen to be on her permanent list so I can get in any time I like....

ooooooohhhhhh!  I mention this because she suggested I come and pre-shop her neighbors sale...they are moving and pretty much selling everything but the kitchen sink.

Sure why wouldn't I?

The gates were to open at 8:00am...I rolled up at 7:30...and saw the line of cars ready and waiting along the side of the road.

I gotta tell you my morning started off right.....the gate guard may as well have said to me....

while bowing low...."Enter my lady"..... 

I'm not saying I am better than all those lined up people...it just felt like it.

What a rush!

 I spent $26 dollars and I brought home a HAUL.  I felt that I scored big time.

We have a small nutcracker collection that comes out at Christmas....however, every nutcracker that we own is broken in some way.  The kids have always played with them as real soldiers so there is a leg off one, an arm from another, and so forth.  

This does not stop me from displaying them each year.  

They are battle wounds.

Today I was able to DOUBLE our meager collection for $10....aren't they so gorgeous??? 

This lady had tons more...I didn't want to get too greedy, so this was all I bought,

but really now I wish I had gotten more.

This woman was a talented florist or interior designer or something, she had box after box of expensive floral and fruit stems, vines of all kinds, bagged moss and styrofoam balls!!

It was a bit overwhelming.....especially knowing that that hoard of outsiders was going to be barreling in any minute...I was so confused as to what to pick.

I finally did choose a beautiful bag of green moss, two green fern type picks, and these two big bunches of fruit...I figure I will use them in a wreath or something, as well as two very nice berry garlands 

(can't see in the picture)

All for $7.

Definitely the right price.

Had I not been so pressured I would have scooped up way more...duh!

 I also brought home 3 very nice necklaces and two sweaters.  

AMAZING!  and so much fun!

So Tina lives next door to this lady, 

and she is having her own garage sale on a much smaller scale.

There was a little something that caught my eye.

A paint it yourself tea set for McCauley.

She had it marked for $2.

I thought I would have some fun with her husband Derek and offered him .10

....he countered my offer by calling me a criminal, 

and going and telling Tina that I was trying to steal stuff. 

OK.

I will go ahead and not type my thoughts on this....but I will say I to have a second name I use for Derek....but only in my mind.

Needless to say,

I had to go re - group, gather my wits.

I sat on a folding chair and ate some of the "energy" bars I brought...the ones w/ the chick pea juice in it.

Those bars have been quite the adventure.  They have been shared with many....some not as appreciative as others, but for the most part have been well received.

It got to be time where the kids and I had to leave....I was taking the boys to finish scouting for food.

(by the way, our van picked up 74 bags of food!!  way to go L, M, and Braden)

It was now or never for the tea set....I told Tina I would give her a dollar for it.

She was like, just take it.  I have had it for years....I am worried the paint is all dried up.

Anyway, I ended up giving her .50

What FUN M and I had.  

The paints were actually in perfect condition.

One of the plates was broken though, so that made me feel a little better for getting it for so cheap,

but then McCauley told me she had accidentally stepped on it and broke it herself.

Hmmmm.....who cares...we got it for .50!  Break another.

We painted them that same day, and then had to bake them the next, so they could cure, and then it was go time.  M used them for Sunday's dinner.  She had to refill the tea pot a few times, not sure she ever did get her thirst quenched since it holds about as much as three sacrament cups.

But it was sure a blast.

Thank you Tina!!

 Here is the icing on the cake....BELIEVE THIS.....

later in the day after all the deals, and wheeling and dealing was done.

I was dropping one of the friends off......look what I found on the curb w/ a free sign on them.

Are you kidding me?

These are gorgeous!  They are heavy and sturdy as can be!

I saw many of our friends there milling around the Sanctuary,

what did you end up with??

Hope you found some sweet deals to!