This weekend we developed a new rule. Kevin is no longer allowed to rent movies. Now wait, before you start saying I

Today is Kevin’s birthday so wish him a good one!

When asked what he wanted to do today, he replied that we wants to go to an all-you-can eat sushi place and then rent 10,000 Miles to Graceland. I figure, it’s his birthday so he can do whatever he wants. I was mean and didn’t give him his presents this morning. Gonna make him wait all day long before he gets them. Am I mean or what???

I’ve been reading alot online today about what has happened but this article is one of my favorites so far.

I am heartbroken.

I watched the news all night long and even though I have seen the pictures over and over, I still just can’t seem to get my mind around what has happened.

I am enraged.

Seeing the celebration in the streets – children laughing and throwing candy, happy at this death and destruction. I cannot understand how this can be seen as a victory, as a celebration of death on such a massive scale.

I am anxious.

I keep hearing words that worry me. The second Pearl Harbor, declaration of war, attack on our own soil, if you attack one you attack us all. I worry about what has been started and where it will end.

And when I could not watch or hear anymore, I turned off the tv and had a little one-on-one with God last night. No answers yet, but I’ll keep you posted…..

Until then, you can help out here. $500,000 and growing….

The garage sale was a huge success. We easily had over 100 people stroll through our driveway and we managed to sell almost everything. Actually, Josh & Kev managed to sell almost everything. They were amazing. Josh in particular was quite the wheeler and dealer.

For those of you who don’t know, Josh is a very old buddy of Kev’s from high school. He is the quintessential “good guy”. I can count on my right hand the number of times I have see Josh without a smile on his face. Now, one would think such a sweet person would be a push-over in the dog eat dog world of garage sale haggling – but you’d be dead wrong.

I watched Josh as he sized up each person who stepped out of their car. He’d watch what they were looking at, gauge their interest, and then move in for the kill. All smiles and friendly, he’d slowly drop the price until they couldn’t say no. If he couldn’t lower the dollar amount, he’d start throwing in free bonus items like coffee mugs or vases until they had to say yes. A big fan of “service with a smile”, he’d bag the items and then carry them to the person’s car. The man is a genius. If he ever decided to join the dark side and opened his own used car lot, we’d all be in trouble.

We managed to net, after expenses, a whooping $350 bucks. This total becomes much more impressive when you realize that 70% of our items were priced at .25 each. Now the question becomes, what to do with our new found wealth…..

Kat & Josh are heading over tonight and we are setting up for the mother of all garage sales. Our little house spewed forth boxes and boxes of junk mostly marked at the very reasonable price of .25. I figure if we get 100 shoppers who all buy 10 items each, we’ll sell everything. If not, well, Good Will is going to be very very happy on Monday.

After sorting, marking, and moving all this stuff, I have decided I need to downsize my life. Less is more. I remember the good old days when everything I owned and need fit into one dorm room. My room was my livingroom/dining room/guest room/bedroom/study and storage area all rolled in one. And I lived quite happily.

I think the funniest part of marking the stuff was when Kat filled a box with knick-nacks and wrote – “.25 each or 3 for $1”. Kevin looked it and said, “so they’re more expensive in bulk?” See, this is why we keep him around – he’s the only one who can do math properly. I think this means we won’t let Kat make change tomorrow. Sorry cinquo.