Which means we are selling and giving away a lot of things.
Selling things on craigslist is...
awesome
handy
helpful
and
a pain in the rear.
There's the whole "take a bunch of pictures" part
then write an ad
upload
field calls and or emails
or worry at the lack of calls and or emails
set up appointments
have them come or not show at all
sell your stuff
or
have them reject your stuff
I'm tired.
So lots of times I resort to just giving stuff away.
We do this a few ways here at the Hill house.
1. Savers-fairly easy. Load up the car. Drive 20-ish minutes to Savers and unload.
Done. Helped people with Epilepsy (not exactly sure how but that's what the sign says).
2. Freecycle- similar to craigslist in that I have to take pictures, field emails with questions, set up appointments and deal with no-shows. Works great for bigger items that I can't load into the car.
3. My church family- we have a yahoo group for our church congregation and I will sometimes post an email there saying I have these free things...who wants them? I almost always find a home for things. It's getting them to their new home that's the problem. Some things I take to church and have the person get it from me. Sometimes people come here. But either way it all has to be worked out.
It's a lot of work to give away your stuff!
I recently came across a platter that is quite lovely
but we just don't use it.
Like never.
I see it in the cupboard and always choose something else.
It has no edges so stuff can just fall off the sides.
It's pretty and I'm afraid to break it.
I don't want it anymore.
It wasn't quite worth a trip to Savers by itself
and I didn't want to keep it around until I had a carload.
Once I make these decisions, it's just best to act immediately.
So I went to a little shop nearby that sells things on consignment.
I've bought things there before...
it's a cute little shop.
I walked in and handed her the lovely platter and said
"can I give this to you?"
She was a little confused, since she isn't a thrift store.
So she asked me if I wanted to open an account.
Nope.
Just want to give you a lovely platter that you can sell for whatever you want.
In the end, she took it and thanked me for thinking of her.
And I drove the 2 miles back to my house with a smile and a sigh of relief.
Carter has been listening to classical music lately.
As we were talking about it, I was reminded of some tapes that we used to listen to in the car when he was little.
One side had the classical music played by an orchestra
and the other side had the same music but with kid friendly lyrics being sung to the classical music.
The idea was to introduce classical music in a fun way for small children.
We all loved these tapes and listened to them often.
Carter couldn't quite remember them but he has that sort of fuzzy memory of them
that you get when you do something when you are really small.
But I had a favorite one.
We sang it all the time!
We played it over and over and over trying to sing all the words just right.
And as I was talking to Carter I couldn't quite pull those lyrics up into my brain.
I started googling.
Nothing.
I couldn't remember the exact name of the tapes so I was just googling
"kid friendly classical music"
"classical music with lyrics"
and even a few of the lyrics I actually remembered.
There are some things out there, but none of them were my tapes.
I went to bed last night and apparently in my sleep, my brain was working on this problem.
I woke up at about 1:30 with the words and music running through my head.
Not all of it, but a good portion.
I tried to sleep but couldn't.
The dang song was just running on repeat through my head!
So I got up and started writing it down.
I slept again.
I woke with more words.
I wrote them down.
By morning, I had remembered the entire song!
A few words might be wrong here or there
but I definitely have the gist of the song.
I still don't remember the name of the song
but it is sung to the tune of
Johann Strauss' Radetzky-Marsch
I present to you
The Lyrics:
(feel free to sing along using the attached Youtube video)
Don't start singing until after the intro
Here's a tale I will tell if you listen well
of a boat thats afloat on a castle moat
and upon that boat
was a billy goat
in a grey overcoat
Did I mention
that the goat in the boat had a one page note
In the coat was a note that his mother wrote
and upon that note
she wrote
all the following that I will quote
What I bring to the king is a diamond ring
and the ring that I bring is for marrying
My son to your daughter
crossed over the water, long we have sought her
your lovely daughter
Oh king take this ring that we gladly bring
and all of the people will dance and they'll shout and they'll sing! The King heard the goat in the overcoat on a boat that's afloat in the castle moat and the king cleared his throat... ...and he said...
I'm afraid I must say that the goat can't stay
Then the king told the goat he must sail away
And the reason why
He did...
Little Billy Goat was just a KID!
Now you've heard every word
and my tales complete
every word that you heard
you must now repeat.
Hope you listened through, 'cause it's up to you
Do the very best that you can do!
The lyrics fit the first minute or so of the song
And I know there is something missing in the part about the King. I guess I better sleep on it!
I had a fun time singing this with my kids all those years ago!
If I wait until we are about to move then I'll have too much to do with too little time.
What a conundrum.
_____
I am having a lot of trouble with pain.
joints
muscles
head
It's doing me in.
I had high hopes for a positive Lyme test
(yes, you read that right)
but nope.
Negative. So why am I in pain?
_____
I still have a kidney stone just waiting to come out and hurt me.
I'm scared of it.
_____
My recently purchased fat jeans don't fit anymore.
What?
You'd think this would be enough to entice me to go to the gym
or stop eating
But, when I wake up in pain, all plans go out the window.
It's a lose/lose situation.
or gain...whatever.
You know what I mean.
_____
I'm starting the whole "posting things to craigslist" thing.
blerg
_____
I bought a dryer for my new house and the door opens sideways rather than up and down.
I really like that little table the door forms when it opens down...
easier to load the dryer.
That's what I get for buying online and long distance.
_____
I recently had my memory tested.
The results are:
I have a bad memory!
Wait, I knew that.
_____
Funny story (not really a complaint):
We had the Apple Blossom festival this weekend. Carter marched with the band as usual. I really wanted to get a picture since it will be his last one before we move so I got there early, camera in hand and was watching carefully.... and never saw him! How do I miss my own kid playing the drums? So I actually ran ahead and tried to look for him again. Nope. I went to the end of the parade and as they came around the corner, there he is with his drums. I could not figure out how I missed him. He told me he was watching me run around and look for him and wondering why I was such a goof. (I don't think he used the word goof but I can't remember his actual word... see previous item re: memory) Then after more questioning he admitted that he switched with someone and was actually walking backwards in front of the drum line when I was looking for him. Not playing a drum! Ha! I’m not going crazy. And it turns out I got a picture of him, accidentally! There he is walking backwards. (He's the backwards one on the left of the picture) You can barely tell its him but I take what I can get.
_____
I am the QUEEN of little notebooks.
As I open drawers and pack random things I am finding little notebooks everywhere.
filled with lists, random thoughts, plans, goals, journal entries, diet logs
you name it, I have written it in a tiny notebook and then promptly put it in a drawer and forgotten about it.
