Weekend Top Five 8/10/09

No pictures this weekend.

Very out of character, I didn't take a SINGLE picture this weekend. We also didn't do a whole lot worth of taking pictures, which is actually okay.




5. Yard Sale
Deb and I held the second half of our annual yard sale on Friday. I don't have a whole lot left to sell, so I didn't make much money at all. I have pretty much sold everything else on Craig's List as I needed money and we have nothing left of value. Pretty sad.

But it was actually a pretty relaxing day, even with all five kids in the house all day. Noah and Hannah stayed glued to the TV all day, Aaron spent over two hours amusing himself in the little blow up pool in the back, and Deb's other two girls spent the day pretty much wandering around. Luckily, the energy level was subdued and it was a good day overall.



4. Christmas Shopping Begun
Crazy, I know. But last year, finances were just as dire as they are this year and I had a hard time justifying buying presents as I went. So we got to a few weeks before Christmas and I didn't have a whole lot for the boys for Christmas. Luckily, I don't think they noticed, but I am hoping to be a little more prepared this year. I am going to try to stick with the three gifts from us rule, but I am hoping Santa can be a little more generous this year. Which means I need to start now and buy a little bit at a time with each paycheck, rather than trying to do it at once.

So after the kids went to bed Friday night, I took the Great Big Profit I made ($29) from the yard sale and headed off to Target to get Noah the scooter he wants as one of his big presents for this year. It was on sale and I was glad to be able to use the garage sale money for it. Now the only problem is keeping it hidden for four months.


3. Chuck E Cheese
We spent most of the Saturday doing yet more cleaning, including taking apart one of the cabinets in our kitchen and dumping it, hoping to get rid of a yucky odor that seems to be permeating the kitchen (it worked). During the process, we moved all of our movies to the basement and cleared out our entry way (which still needs to be patched and painted at some point).

Since the kids were even more grumpy than usual after this adventure, we decided to take the piles of coupons we had building up in my email inbox and take them to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. Thanks to the coupons, we were able to enjoy the fun for under $20 and the kids LOVE the little styrofoam planes they got as prizes.

Next time I think it would be cheaper to go to the dollar store and buy the silly planes, but oh well..live and learn. Don't think we'll go there again for quite awhile.


2. Headache
I battled a pretty nasty headache all weekend, and tried VERY HARD to not let it damper our plans. It started centered behind my left eye on Friday, followed by moving into the back of my head and neck on Saturday, and just sort of lingering on Sunday. I was able to work my way down to much less ibuprofen by the end of the week and I think it may be on its way out. My brother and SIL were sick at the end of last week also, and all of our kids had the same Fifth Disease last week so I am wondering if it stemmed from that virus.




I have to admit, being sick has me a little concerned about the H1N1 virus that is supposed to take hold once school starts. But that's a story for another time.

1. Beach Trip
WOW!!! Knowing it was supposed to be a 95 degree heat index on Sunday, we decided to head to Grand Haven to Lake Michigan Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the rest of West Michigan had the same idea. It took FOREVER to get to the beach, where we then had to wait another half hour at the entrance until parking spaces opened up.

But once we finally got in, it was WAY worth the wait. The waves were 6-7 feet, and Steve and Noah spent over an hour out in them. Aaron had fun too, but much to my relief, even he succumbed to the waves and decided it would be better to stay closer to shore.

On our way home, a MAJOR storm blew in right on the beach we were just at, uprooting huge trees, knocking down power lines, and knocking out power. We were lucky we left when we did and not an hour later, or we would have been caught in it all coming home.

The week ahead:
I'm getting a little stressed about summer vacation ending. I fear that I haven't made the most of the time with the kids. It seems as if I spent the majority of the summer refereeing fights between two young headstrong boys. Now I am panicking that we haven't played enough and school is starting soon. So now I feel like I'm in "Hurry up and have fun!" mode. In addition to the usual piano lessons and bell rehearsal this week, my SIL is coming with her kids for the second half of the week so I really hope we will have some time together to play.

I am also REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping to hear from the school to which I sent a resume last week. If I don't hear from them by Friday, I will plan to call next week. I really want that job. It would solve a lot of problems right now.

Have a good Monday and let me know if you posted your weekend so I can come visit.