Showing posts with label soap box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soap box. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2012

Selling my crap = awesome.

Nic and I have decided we simply have too much STUFF. It's amazing, the things we have collected in the (almost) 5 short years we have been married and lived in this house.

A 1950's freezer that still works...
A pool table...
A matching set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls...
Chandeliers, mismatched chairs, 3 aquariums, a mountain of kid toys, an extra sewing machine....

The list goes on and on. What I am amazed at, is that I keep selling it off, and it's WORKING. To me, it's useless. To other people, it's worth paying for. I love it. I've always enjoyed buying other people's crap, but now I understand the rush of the other side. Making money off what you can't or won't use. Ca--Ching!

I haven't even scratched the surface of our garage which could possibly hold the key to the lost city of Atlantis or a chest of pirate gold. There are boxes that haven't been opened since we moved in. Who knows what I will find in there? Some of it is as simple as listing the item and waiting for a reply. Other things are more fun because I get to re-paint, spruce, and otherwise put my mark on before adding a price tag. Old awesome frames that have no pictures? Repaint and sell as photography props! A whole collection of old glass bottles? With a little acetone, I'm working on turning them into glasses and candle holders (which will be the start of my etsy shop if I can get the method down.) I tell you, with each thing I sell, I am becoming more and more giddy and less enamored with the things that clutter my home. It's a game, and one I'm sure to continue to enjoy until I have all that STUFF out.

I think I finally understand the love of minimalism, the idea of living without things you don't need, for which I will now preach like an evangelist. Do we need a pool table that we play two or three times a YEAR? No. But we do need the space in our garage so we could maybe actually park a car in there. Does Lily still need her huge play kitchen that takes up the WHOLE extra room downstairs? Not really, but we could use the room as a place where I could play craft mama  or as a bedroom for Sage someday. We always complain that our house is too small, but I am starting to think it's just because we live with so much.

So if in the next while, you notice me randomly posting my stuff for sale online (LOVE the Beg, Barter, or Sell group I belong to on FB for this), it's not because I'm broke, going crazy, or harboring a secret etsy addiction. (Ok, that last one might be close to the truth, haha.) It's because I am now in love with finding the right person who thinks my trash is treasure! :)

Friday, May 11, 2012

Three things...

Number One:

I would like it stated for the record that when I get a sunburn, I expect it to be on a hot, sunny day. Not when I have been standing out in the wind and cold for 5 hours.

Yesterday was Water Festival at the park and I volunteered to help, along with a few other students, to do one of the stations. We were a big giant plant and students got necklaces to turn them into "water molecules" to go through the process of photosynthesis and other watery fun in a plant. It was a blast and so clever. Haha. There was over 19 schools of fifth graders that came through and for those freezy five hours I repeated over and over, "Welcome to the CHLOROPLAST! This is where photosynthesis happens...." and so on. They say teaching is the best way to learn and I know for sure that's true because I have the photosynthesis process burned  into my brain forever.

Number Two:

The front cover of this month's Time magazine really bugs me.


I saw this yesterday and it's been stirring in my mind ever since. I can't say that the idea of extended breast feeding is wrong. I have to figure that it happens enough in other cultures that it must have some merit. For me and my kids it wouldn't work. I would be too weirded out. If the child is old enough to drink from a cup and I was that serious about it, I'd give them breast milk in a cup. I absolutely love nursing baby Sage. It's our time to snuggle and coo at each other and bond. I could not do that if she was 3 years old. I would feel awkward. What really makes me mad about this cover is that the mother and child don't seem to have any connection in the picture. They're not embracing in any way or even looking at one another. This picture is for shock value and I think the magazine should feel shameful when the article is supposedly about attachment parenting. I also can't help but feel mad at the mother. Her poor son is never going to get away from that image. He's 3 years old for god's sake. He doesn't have any idea of the consequences of the idea that he will now and forever be known as "the boy on that magazine cover."

 Perhaps it's important. People will be talking about it. And by talking about it, they'll be looking into attachment parenting and other positive, alternative ways to raise their children. There are better ways to raise our kids than is the societal norm these days. I like the ideas of parents actually raising and nurturing their children. I may not ascribe to all of them, but I do have to admit I agree with many of them. I don't see how this cover will be positive in the long run though.

Number Three:

The latest Lilyisms.....

Lily told her grandmother that she didn't want to grow up because kids get to eat whatever they want. She went on to explain that adults can't do that because the food would go straight to their hips.

Lily brought me home a planted sunflower as a Mother's Day project they did at school.
Lily: Mom, I planted you this but it's not growing yet. It makes me sad because I gave it all the love I could. That is how plants grow: water, sunshine, and love. I guess it needs both of us to love it.

Awwwwwww......
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