How I Talked My Friend Neighbor into Hosting My Yard Sale

When I half casually mentioned on Facebook that I would pay a person to come host a yard sale for me, I thought I'd get a few likes, a couple of funny comments and the moments would pass.

However, within 15 minutes I had a buyer.  Srsly.

So for anyone trying to play this game at home, here is my step by step instructions to DIY this at your own house.

Thrown together in 24 hours, this yard sale is ready to go!

Step 1:  Have really awesome friends on Facebook

Step 2:  Have a great location to have a yard sale.  Also have plenty of stuff already in piles in your guestroom.

I was told there was a Ph.D in those boxes...

Step 3:  Make sure that your Facebook Friends are already planning yard sales. (I skipped this step, but found out later that this was vital.)

Step 4:  Sweeten the pot by offering to pay not only part of the days earnings, but also homemade pickles and fresh eggs.

A sampling of what I picked while the yard sale was going on.

Step 5:  Be incredibly thankful that you have wonderful people around you and toast to a day's success!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  This morning I mentioned to Marco that I feel like we've been going for two solid weeks and then I realized that we have.

Not a lot of crafting or home making, but a lot of family and friends.

Between New York City, three Thanksgiving dinners, a wedding, a baby announcement (not ours), friends stopping by and preparing to do it all over again in the next few weeks, we're ready for a nice nap but that's what January is for right?

Here's to the holidays!  Hope they are happy for you and yours too!

**P.S.  Marco and I are running in the Santa Run in Tupelo on December 1st.  The money goes to Big Brothers Big Sisters and you get to run 3.1 miles while wearing a Santa hat and beard.  If you too would like to run- more info here at racesonline.com.**

Weekend Outlook

This weekend I am hoping to get a little more work done on our median here in the neighborhood.  A few months ago I wrote a grant to help develop this:

That's our giant median in the middle of our community.  Notice that greenish grassish stuff?  That is probably the most green I've ever seen it.  I'm sure it's a trick of the light or something.

Anyhoo- I wrote the grant, we got it, and now we have some extra money to spend in order to make this space really nice.  We're already really close to finishing laying the stones we bought for our new patio.  And we've moved all of our recycled bricks for our new fire place and grill.  Very soon we will be installing a new bike rack and a bike storage area.  I am very, very excited to see these things coming together and I hope this weekend will be a great success.  Also, I'd like to have this entire project checked off my to-done list...

But since that picture isn't really inspiring- YET.  I thought I'd share another picture from last weekend.  This is part of Lake Saint Joseph in east Louisiana   Marco and I went down last Thursday to stay with some friends and enjoy a nice relaxing weekend.  This tiny part of the lake was the only picture I took in 4 days, but I think it makes up for all the ones I didn't.  

Happy Friday!

Get Control of Yourself

As I prepare myself for the responsibility of actively teaching others, I am going to try to share some things that have been taught to me more recently.  

A few weeks ago Marco and I were invited to an adult birthday party.  It has party hats and balloons, but there were dirty words on those hats and balloons, so that made it adult.  Also there was beer- and adults.

The birthday boy is actually the husband/father of some ladies who are very, very special to me.  So special in fact, that right now I'm thinking about not seeing them three times a week when I do eventually leave the library and I'm getting a little weepy.  So special that this is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding:

I love that picture and I love that bunny in that picture.  She is cheesing it up in that picture but I still love her and that smile and how she ended up eating most of my nachos that you see to the side there...

Anyhoo- at this birthday party, that little bunny was running around like, well, a bunny.  A bunny on crack.  And you know what her mother said to her?  Her mother told her to sit down, cross her legs, put her hands on her knees and take control of her body.  And she did.

My bunny's momma didn't know it then (though she will now- hey girl!) but that moment taught me more than I could learn from any Mommy Blog or book or therapy session.  She treated that bunny like a person- not a child to be coddled, or an inferior who needed things explained to her... but as a person who was capable of controlling herself through awareness.  And the awareness thing- whoa.  In that moment I realized that I could probably use some more awareness myself.  Awareness of my own body and my own thoughts and those whispers in my soul that have been so long ignored.  

So when I find the panic climbing up my throat or the backs of my knees start to feel weak- I sit down, cross my legs, put my hands on my knees and get control of my body.  I ask my body what it's looking for- what is it afraid of?  I ask the whispers to speak a little louder, I'm still practicing.  I pace my breathing, it doesn't pace me.  And then I thank the universe for the people who unknowingly have given me so much.

Just Feel Like Sharing

I was going through our digital photos and deciding what to have printed when I came across this picture from our wedding day. I love this picture for so many reasons. It is completely candid and truly captures our honest feelings on our faces and it is a reminder of how much our friends and family love us. Laura Beth snuck everyone those flower petals and they had this whole exit planned out. I never saw it coming...

What a wonderful reminder as to what beautiful things can happen when you trust your friends to take care of you.

I just felt like sharing that today.