4 Generations

As the holidays approach, I always get this melancholy feeling and I think about my dad. I think about him a lot. I think about how proud he would be of his grandchildren. I think about how much he would love his great-grandchildren. But he's not with us anymore and hasn't been for a very long time. He died from a brain tumor at the age of 52. It was called an astrocytoma. He died on a Friday, the 13th, not that I am superstitious but that was the day. This photo was taken during his chemo days. In the photo is me, my daughter Jen, my dad and his mother. 4 generations. I think it is an incredible photo although I doubt that we gave it any thought of how important it would become at the time. In fact, it was taken with a Polaroid camera with instant results. It's a photo that brings me great comfort on days like this.

Four Generations

Ed's Confirmation

Today was my nephew, Ed's confirmation. There were only two kids who completed the final test and so the ceremony was quite intimate although it does occur during the regular church service.  Ed's brother, Stan was excited to be the acolyte during the service. It made him feel like a big part of the day too.  After the church service, we took some photos with Pastor Mortenson (P.J.). It was a very nice ceremony.

Greg, Ed, Kelly and P.J.

Selling Clinique

All of a sudden I am really digging eBay.  In the past I have sold things like Christmas ornaments, fabric, clothing and lots of shoes and boots. Another item I've had lots of success with is cosmetics. I don't really use that many cosmetics but I do love Clinique lipstick and lip liner and also their face soap. Since both Boston Store and Macy's will have Clinique days sales, I only buy what I need during those sales.  That means I get lots of make up bags and many samples. Most of which I will never even try yet use.  So I sell them on eBay and they are surprisingly popular. Sadly I have been hoarding 18 of those things. If I do the math (2 stores with 2 sales per year = 4 divided by 18 = 4.5), I've had some of these cosmetic bags for 4 and a half years! It is definitely time to let them go so I listed 12 of them on eBay. Amazingly, all of them are going to sell. The bidding is going well and I am happy that I will be making some extra cash off of them and I am happy that someone will use these nice products.

Considering all that will sell, I still have quite a few items left.  In fact, I put together a makeup kit for my granddaughter. Kind of crazy and a little decadent that a little girl's play will include some Clinique.  Even after that I still have some great stuff left. And I only kept the stuff I think I would definitely use, even if I can't justify how to use 6 new makeup bags.

It's a little bit of work but worth it, it's like getting some of my money back to pay for the ones I like. Since I have bids on all the items listed on eBay, I better start digging up some shipping boxes!

Selling Baby Stuff

As a family we try hard to help our daughter who is a single mother.  Our adorable granddaughters are one of the best part of our lives. However, they need and go through a lot of things.  So in order to help our daughter, we have rummage sales in both spring and fall. This year our spring sale was extremely successful, but fall was not so great. I'm pretty sure it would have been better if we would have had our sale in September instead of waiting until October.  But weekends get booked up and things fall where they can whether we like it our not.  So on an overcast October day, we tried but didn't make as much cash as hoped. More importantly, we didn't get rid of as much baby stuff as we would like. I did take the leftover baby things to New To You Kids and they bought a lot more than I expected which was a pleasant surprise.

We were left with some big ticket items; a stroller, car seat, babycook, and a breast pump. So I used a Facebook local sale page to try to sell things. It worked for the stroller and the car seat will probably never sell, but I was not ready to let go of the babycook (retail $149) or the breast pump (retail $269) for cheap so I thought I would try eBay.

I used to sell lots of stuff on eBay but I haven't given them much thought in the last few years. Craigslist was working pretty well for me for things that were too large to ship; these items were small enough to ship and I thought I could get a good price with a wider audience on eBay.  So I listed the items and wouldn't you know it, within two minutes of hitting post...the breast pump was sold.  Incredible. Love the Buy It Now option.

The babycook is still on the auction block but I am pretty sure I will get top dollar for that like I did for the breast pump. So hopefully by Sunday, it will sell high. Wish me luck!

Custom Privacy Fence Panel

I've been following Pinterest for quite a while and I seem to constantly return to the same photo.  It is a picture of a pergola and a privacy wall covering a nice patio.  That privacy wall is built out of two-by-fours forming a grid and there are random glass blocks in some of the grid openings.  I wanted very badly to use that idea.

We recently installed some fence panels on our lot line to give us some privacy.  In the process of doing that project, we had our fence post hole guy dig two extra holes next to our hot tub.  So here was my chance to use that Pinterest inspired idea.

My husband and I installed the 4x4x10-feet long posts into the ground next to the tub. After a few days to ensure the cement footings were firm, we filled the dirt back in and cleaned up the rest of the piles of dirt left over from the dig.  From there I got out my graph paper and measured and re-measured the opening.  I drew out the plan down to every little detail. On Friday morning I went shopping for glass block.  

On Saturday morning, he went shopping for the lumber and we started to build the grid that would hold the glass block.  Between the shopping and laying out the grid and the frame, we used up most of the day. On Sunday morning, we installed the grid-frame structure to the fence posts.  It went up quickly and easily, thank goodness. Then we spent the day cutting the boards to fill in the bottom half of the fence.  On Monday I installed the glass block permanently by using silicone caulk to hold them in place.

I am so excited to see this project completed. We discovered together that we can do our own thing without worrying too much about having an expert draw up a plan - we can do it all ourselves! This was one of the most rewarding projects I have ever completed!

Thank you, Jeff for your fantastic woodworking skills, we make a great team.

At the Racine Zoo

Today was Chloe's first day of school.  So I rode along with her mother to pick her up. We didn't do all the hoopla most moms do on the first day, after all, it's preschool. Besides, the photos of graduation day in about 14 years will be much more important.  She was waiting on a bench with the other kids and didn't even notice when I walked up. I think she was looking for her mother. She was excited when she noticed me.

Chloe's First Day

We drove from school over to the zoo.  The Racine Zoo is rated as one of the top 10 small zoos in the country.  I can see why.  Everyone there is very personable and it feels cozy enough that it seems like we are closer to the animals than we really are. There aren't many moats or boundaries and the amount of walking distance between exhibits isn't terribly far.  Obviously there aren't as many animals there as the Milwaukee County Zoo, but this quaint little place is truly wonderful. 

While we were there we fed the giraffes.  That was a fabulous experience and I am glad I got the opportunity to do it. Chloe loved the tigers as well as the giraffes.  Funny thing though, her very favorite thing is the play area.  There are slides and a huge jungle gym for play. She loves it there and she's there often enough that she has a favorite tiger that she sits on. I had to take Avery down the slide a few times.  She's too little to figure out how to do it herself so I rode with her.  Her sister wasn't crazy about hogging grandma so we all had to go down the slide together.  What a great time!

After that we went to Dairy Queen for some ice milk treats.  It was a perfect day at the zoo.