Martins

So I am a little 'blog happy' tonight after making my $58 at the yardsale... but I do want to pass on a little bit of friendly advice...

I went to Martins to get some groceries this afternoon and of course I had my kids with me as Dave was working... why does it always happen like that anyhow, the day you run out of everything is never on a day when the kids are at school, when I could do a quiet grocery shop??? OH NO... anyhow, I thought "If I go to Martins, at least I can put the kids in the treehouse and have a quiet shop, even if I have to pay a little more than Walmart prices, its worth it for the sanity as a week ago I did a Martins shop and the treehouse was closed, so I had to drag my kids around for an hour and a half (because I don't know where everything is in Martins still), which was a nightmare...theres only so much "go and find some go-gurts kids" you can do before they get bored of "helping" and start to play tag around the store, much to every shoppers annoyance... so anyhow, when I went to Martins today, lo and behold the "closed" sign on the treehouse was up again.... I nearly lost it and was about to walk away and just "deal with it" when a little fuse inside me went off and I decided the best course of action was to 'complain'... so after waiting 5 minutes for a manager to finally appear, I told him what a friggin nightmare it was to shop with 2 kids and the ONLY reason I come to Martins is for the treehouse sanity or I might as well go to Walmart and drag my kids around, at least it is cheaper... I couldn't believe I was quite that blunt, but it worked... he was very sorry and immediately pulled the "treehouse girl" from one of the registers to look after my kids (I guess they make her work the registers if they are really busy and seeing as its Saturday...well you know) In fact she was relieved too because she said she needed to keep her hours up in the treehouse and hates being on the register...

So about an hour later, after trying 5 different tasters throughout the deli and carefully selecting which Brie I wanted to get, I still had only got about 3/4 of the way through my grocery shop and I pass the register area at the front... there are HUUUUGE long lines at the registers because they are obviously short staffed and they pulled 'treehouse girl', so I felt a twinge of guilt, but then I caught a glimpse of Sam and Abby playing in the treehouse and realized that they were having way more fun than if they were shopping with me, and I was having fun too... hey, its not my job to manage the place, I am only a consumer after all... tee hee... so my advice to anyone who sees the closed sign on the treehouse - complain, and they will open it up just for you (and your sanity)!

Yard Sale Madness

So Erika, Mildred and I had a yard sale today, which was full of laughs...of course... how else do you get through a yard sale where people are trying to bargain the absolute bottom dollar from you for all your nice junk? So after getting up at 6am, I finally swan over to Erikas with the kids for 7am, of course all the early birds are out poking through everything, even though it wasn't supposed to start until 8am... anyhow, Erika and Mildred were practically giving their stuff away.... I had to vocalize a price of one of Erikas toys when someone asked as I could see her just about to say "10 cents" and we didn't have change for anything less than a quarter, so I shouted "thats a quarter" to the lady who still went ahead and bought it... I love making my friends money ;-), what are friends for?

When I think of the hundreds of dollars we all must have spent to buy all this stuff new (and Mildred had some really nice name brand clothes), it is kind of horrifying, but hey that's the wonderful world of yardsales... one mans junk is another mans treasure.... I took my $58 that I made, went to Martins and bought Brie cheese and all the food 'treasures' that I don't normally get in a regular shop.... so while I am pigging out, I would like to thank all our yardsale customers for making it possible!

Citizenship Update...

So I finally had a letter through from the INS saying that my interview date is on the 19th Sept. I am thrilled because it actually means that if I pass the civics test and seem like I can somewhat comprehend the English language, I can get sworn in that day, renounce my green card, become a citizen of the United States and actually be able to vote in November for one of the muppets running for election this year... I need to get studying...