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.

This morning, as I tried to pick out my shoes for the day, I realized that my life is a constant battle between sensible and sexy. Bear with me here, this thought my take a while to fully form.

My shoe bin holds two very different styles of shoes. On the lower level live the sensibles. These are your basic black, low heel, closed toe shoe that have nice arch support and comfortable soles. Since I am a public transportation girl and find myself standing on the bus since chivalry is dead —mental note to blog about that experience later— and I have to hoof it a good couple of blocks each day, I find that my sensible shoes work wonders. I can be on my feet all day and not feel a thing. The only problem is that, well, they’re sensible.

The upper level of the shoe bin contains the sexys. These shoes tend to have nice high heels, open toes and little straps and buckles that are all shiny and purdy. These shoes hurt like hell but when you meet up with your girlfriends, they all say “ohhh, cute shoes” which somehow makes the pain ok. These shoes are fun to wear and will garner admiring looks from men and women but after more than 5 minutes, you have to sit down and relieve the pain. Probably my favorite pair of sexys are my boots. After watching The Long Kiss Goodnight one too may times I decided I *needed* a pair of black boots. Whenever I need a real boost, all I have to do is slip into my boots and I’m a power house. Isn’t it sad that shoes can have such an effect on my personality??? But my boots, well, lets just say I have yet to wear them and not get some form of compliment. If you need a pick up, I highly recommend a good pair of boots.

So each morning, I have to ask myself, “Self, what do you want to be, sensible or sexy?”

Now that I think about it, I find myself facing that question on a daily basis. Glasses or contacts? Glasses are quick and easy. But when I wear my awful, painful, contacts, I get compliments even though I spend most of the day blinking back tears. Sports bra or push up? Knee highs or control top hose? Frizzy and wild or blow-dry and straightened? Sleep another 30 minutes or get up and do the makeup thing?

If I could just decided on either sensible or sexy, life would be so much easier. Today I went with a pair of the sexy shoes and after standing on the bus, I’m beginning to regret it. Hopefully I’ll bump into a girlfriend & make the whole experience worthwhile.