What to do?

My to-do list is so long that I don't know where to start.

Cleaning the kitchen and starting some laundry would be a good beginning, I'm sure.

But the bathrooms need to be cleaned.

I need to take a huge load of stuff to Once Upon a Child.

We're all still recovering from the yard sale on Saturday. I couldn't sleep, so I got up at four, went outside, and started setting up. I worked straight until 4pm. I just barely broke even. My mother-in-law made $200. Was it worth it? Yes, I suppose so, but it was awfully disappointing. I had advertised a bunch of children's clothing, and I really expected young mothers to come. I had NONE. I think I sold maybe five articles of clothing. Woohoo.

Meanwhile, I unpacked 14 boxes of my mother-in-law's books for people to look through, and then we had to pack all of the left-overs up again (maybe 12 boxes? or more?) for Bob to take to a used bookstore up the hill. (No. Let's be honest. Bob packed all those boxes at his mom's house. Hauled them to our house. Schlepped them up the hill to beside our front porch. I unpacked them. Then he packed them, schlepped them down the hill, loaded them into the van, took them to the bookstore, and unloaded them again. I had the easy part of that job...)

After the yard sale, it had been my intention to give all the left-overs to a friend of mine for a yard sale to raise money for the LLS Team in Training, but since what was left over was junk (except for the clothes), I just took it to Goodwill as soon as the sale was over. The immediate closure was very satisfying. I would have gone to Once Upon a Child immediately, too, but there wasn't time. So I have tubs and tubs and tubs of clothes on the dining room window seat, and apparently those tubs are calling to my children, "Come and play with me! Throw me all over the floor! Momma won't care!" Except I will. I promise.

I just finished rearranging the guest bedroom to make room for an antique oak dresser that my mother-in-law doesn't have room for anymore (and that Bob and I love). I like the way the room looks so much that I'm tempted to go ahead and paint the room to make it lighter & brighter ... though, honestly, I really should finish the chair first. Yes. Must finish chair.

And I need to bake muffins for Caroline to take to school tomorrow for snack. And I need to locate and fill out the form for Picture Day tomorrow.

And I need to find babysitters so that I can attend my mother-in-law's two closings this week, plus Bob's fraternity reunion Friday night, plus maybe an evening out for me on Tuesday? Bob's going out of town, which is horrible timing since he'll actually be out of town when his mom moves, but it's been scheduled for months, way before she had any idea she might be thinking of moving.

This move has been really unsettling (I know. Shocking.) for my mother-in-law, and for us, too. We'll all be happy when she's settled in to her new place. I think she's going to love it there, but initially, I think just some stability will make her happier.

Goodness. I'd better stop talking about doing things and start actually doing things...

First things first: give Caroline a refill of cranberry apple juice. Then: prioritize the to-do list.

Time's a' Wasting

So I think I'm on something like Day 47 with the chair now. Please don't tell Bob. I really am making progress, and I'm beginning to enjoy it. This is the fun part! Pulling staples out and removing the nasty old upholstery fabric was definitely not much fun. Retrieving someone else's candy wrappers, silver chains, and loose change from the depths of the stuffing was pretty gross.

But putting new fabric on and seeing it fit nicely? That's fun.

The chair's on hold, though, for a couple days.

I'm having a garage sale tomorrow. My mother-in-law is moving and downsizing, and her neighborhood doesn't allow garage sales, so I told her we could sell her excess at our house ... and that gave me a good excuse to round up all OUR excess. And apparently, we have a lot. Like tons of clothing that the girls have outgrown. Like 50 pairs of pajamas. Fifty! Crazy.

So I stayed up late last night, sorting clothes, making price lists, putting price tags on the non-clothing-items. All of our stuff is ready to go. Today, I'll work on my mother-in-law's stuff. About 2/3 of it is on our front porch, and I need to go pick up the rest of it today. (Except for her books, which Bob will get later. I packed two boxes of her boxes the other day, threw out my hip, and started having contractions. I'm only 22 weeks pregnant. It's a little early to go into labor without due cause.)

So, that said, I better get a move on.

I know I've mentioned before how much my grandfather enjoyed making money. Well, apparently, I do, too. I'm excited about this garage sale, in a way that's fairly abnormal, I think. I always wanted to be a cashier but never was, so there's that part of it. There's the organizational part of it, which I enjoy. And there's the profit! Woohoo.

Bob's hoping we make at least $100. I think we'll fly past that number, but we'll see.

Off I go to take a quick shower before the little'uns wake up.

P.S. Anyone want to make a guess at our profit number? And, should I bake and sell cookies? Or leave that to the end and only do it if there's time?