Life Lesson About the Estate

If there is one thing I known for sure it is that I am a sucker for a yardsale. It's inevitable every weekend I see those homemade signs haphazardly stapled on phone poles, or rigged on the remains of a politicians campaign sign. I am a big believer in buying used because it reduces my carbon footprint and it just plain saves money. Every now and then I see the heavenly gleam of the mega sign "ESTATE SALE." With an angels chorus singing in the background it lures me in... everytime. My poor sidekick, Ace, has had the thrill of accompanying me on several of these quests. Why do I even get out of the car? I am certainly not in the market for more STUFF. My house is packed to the gills with STUFF. Here is what I have learned about myself through my estate saling. I AM NOSEY. I love looking through peoples homes. I love just imagining how our funiture would fit in their space and running through my mind what home improvement updates I would make. Often when my man and I go on walks I comment on every house about how they could improve the curb appeal (not that my own house is pristine). I very rarely leave an estate sale with a purchase. Honestly I think estates sales are best left to antique dealers and the rest could just be shipped off to Goodwill. Another thing I have learned is that most estate sales are the result of death. Usually an elderly couple has passed away and their surviving family members have been left up to the daunting task of sorting through all of their worldly possessions. By worldly possessions I mean all the junk they left behind. Sure there are a few momentos and trinkets that have sentimental value. Those are the things you will never see at an estate sale because the family has already laid claim and taken it home to fill THEIR house with junk. Without fail, whenever I rummage through an estate sale I am called to remember Matthew 6:19-21.

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

What I find ironic is that I can remember that scripture when I look at someone else's junk, but I still find it hard to apply in my own home. Why do I keep bringing stuff in??? I don't want to get to the end of my life and have it amount to a house full of "treasures" (which mean nothing to the passers by who come in my home to snoop around at an estate sale) I am certainly a work in progress, learning to live simply so the desires of my heart will be focussed not on stuff, but on His Kingdom. Remember, a work in progress thanks to grace. All this from an estate sale.

WAR EAGLE!!

It's official! Ace has been to his first Auburn game. The first of many I am sure. Let us start at the very beginning so I can properly set up our day on the Plains. At the start of the college football season I decided I would like to go to an Auburn game and do the whole tailgate thing. We had to pick the ideal weekend. On average I attend 1 college game every 2 years and I have a strict list of priorities. It must be a nice weekend, not too hot, not too cold and it must be against a bad team. The worse the opponent the better for me. That means more room in the stands and less crazy drunk people on campus. That left us Auburn versus Furman (homecoming weekend) Now understand when I agreed to this I wasn't as cranky and pregnant as I am now. Not that I prayed for rain, but I was more than willing to not go if need be once the day got here. You see, I don't like football, I don't like driving 2 hours to watch football and I knew it wouldn't be an easy day driving or watching football with a 16 month old. However, my man loves football and I wanted to spend the day with him. Turns out the weather was absolutely PERFECT. 70+ degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. Well, we got a late start heading out of town which cut into our tailgate time. The highlight was our delicious BBQ lunch from Byrons, quite possibly the best BBQ I have ever eaten. We didn't make it to our seats until the start of the 2nd quarter (and I was 2 steps away from smacking a smug faced "worker" who would not let us pass through some gates to get to our seats, but instead advised us to walk around the ENTIRE statium to get to them. We watched the 2nd quarter and shared in the task of corralling one very squirmy 16 month old. Thankfully those seated around us didn't seem to mind him patting their backs or eating peanuts off the ground below their feet. Low and behold we left at half time realizing that missing nap time was not working in our favor. That's right folks, we drove a total of 4 hours to watch 1 quarter of football. My mood lightened as we packed up the car and headed home. You see, I cannot describe myself as easy going. I don't go with the flow well. When I am uncomfortable or annoyed I have a hard time making the best of it. Though I know it was not the kind of day my man had worked up in his mind (due to my attitude) I know he loved taking his little boy to an Auburn game. I hope the next game they go to (which I will not be attending) is a great day on the Plains. Perhaps I will go again when Ace is a freshman at AU!! Here are a few pictures from the day. My mans dad, sister, her boyfriends and some other friends joined us to tailgate.

 

Trick or Treat

I guess I should do a post on Halloween for the 2 people left in my life who are not on facebook! What are you people waititng for, join already :) This October panned out a little differently than last year. There was no scarecrow party, we didn't get to stay long enough to be in the halloween parade, and it rained during trick or treat time. We did, however, have plenty to do and managed to get some cute pictures. We attempted to take Ace trick or treating to our neighbors house (mainly so I could take some pictures) but he wasn't really understanding the art of getting candy. That's works well for us because we don't allow him to eat candy yet. Maybe next year little one. He wouldn't hold his pumpkin so our neighbor had to put the candy in there for him. All he was interested in doing was taking it out. Then the rain started so we packed our little bumble bee up and headed over to our church for the Fall Festival. Being dressed in a sweatsuit topped with a lined bee suit, Ace quickly went from hornet to ninja. He spent the balance of the evening dressed up in all black. He had a blast running around playing games and winning candy for mommy and daddy. Hope you enjoy our little boy and his first offical trick or treating experience. Next year we might stay closer to home so he can answer the door. I really missed that part of the festivities this year.

Our little ninja knocking down some cups

Waiting patiently for his hotdog value meal at the fall festival

Trick or What? What is this all about??

The Five O'Clock Club

It's a novel idea really, the 5 O'clock club! I think someone (not me) could make a fortune heading up this exclusive club. Here is the idea. 5 o'clock rolls around every day of the week. At least 3 of 5 business days 5 o'clock is a nightmare in our home. From 5 to 6 my sweet baby boy turns into a monster. Whining, screaming, crying, OH MY! What I wouldn't give for someone to come to my house and steal him away for an hour and make him happy. It's the hour before dinner is ready, the hour I am trying to think of what to make for dinner and the hour between when daddy gets off of work and when he makes it home. No worries, the smiles come back out once daddy opens the door. It's like magic. All I can assume is that Ace is over me by 5 o'clock. Back to the club. I remember reading a series of books called The Babysitters Club back when I was a preteen and this is kind of a spin on that. I think some responsible highschool kids or even college kids need to set up shop on my street from 5 to 6 and gather up all the kids, which is no less than 25 or 30 on my street alone. Not every kid would come every day because of schedules, but who ever is causing their parents grief could be taken away for an hour of fun. Back home we have the Tumble Bus- an old school bus set up like a little gym. Do we have that around here? They could even park in my driveway! There are at least 10 nice swing sets on our street so that is another place the kiddos could go. I am sure the highschoolers could come up with a ton of creative ways to entertain kids from 3 months to 13 years old. I think $5 an hour is a fair rate to charge, though some days I might be willing to pay more :) By 6 o'clock when my sweet child comes home I would have a nice dinner almost ready to eat and maybe an appetizer to buy myself a little more time. I've got the plan, now I just need some suckers... I mean sitters. Oh 5 O'clock club, how I dream of you. Until that dream comes to fruition, do you have any suggestions on how I can make 5-6 a little more manageable?

The Longest 40 Minutes of My Life

Greetings to you on this cold and rainy October night. I am very happy to be snuggled up in my pj's on a night like this. Who am I kidding? I have been in my pj's early every night for the past 3 weeks. Are you wondering why??? Well, my man and I got the surprise of our lives about 3 weeks ago. I am pregnant! Exciting, but shocking. We both agreed that Ace needed a sibling some day, but someday sure came a little sooner than we expected. Was it planned? My best answer to that questions is YES- this baby was planned, but just not by my man and I. God must have known it was the right time and that is what I will be holding onto for the next 18 years. So back to the pj situation. This pregnancy has been a doozy so far. With Ace there was no morning sickness and very few issues in general bar some minor back pain toward the end. Well this baby has other plans. The last 2 weeks have been full of nausea. Thankfully God is good and created people that invented anti-nausea medications. Of course all medications have side effects. Drowsiness is the side effect for my evening dose so I have been hitting the hay by 10pm, which is way early in our house. There are other unsavory side effects that I will not go into detail on for the risk of losing my audience. All that aside, I am due on May 27th which happens to be the birthday of both my Aunt and my best friend. So onto the title of this post, the longest 40 minutes of my life. That happened today. About 2 weeks ago I had to make an emergency trip to my OBGYN for an ultrasound. I had a little suspect bleeding and we wanted to check it out because of my miscarriage history. An ultrasound at 5 weeks really doesn't show much, but it did show the beginning of 1 healthy fetus and possibly a second. SAY WHAT??? Possibly a second? Ummm, can I get a guarantee on that or are you going to send me home with that information so I can freak out til my 8 week appointment? Today was the 8 week appointment. My man and I waited 40 minutes in the lobby of my doctors office sooo ready to be called back for a second ultrasound. So ready to know for sure if we would have to turn in one of our cars and buy a minivan that would hold 3 carseats, so ready to know if the deal was sealed on me not being able to go back to work, and so ready to know if God really thought we were capable of handling 3 babies under 2 years old. My prayer on the way to the appointment was this "God, I trust that you know me and you know what I can handle, but I just want you to know I don't think I can handle twins... just so you know." After 40 minutes of agony we were called back and saw some delightful news- ONE healthy baby growing, growing, growing. I mean, you could literally feel the weight being lifted off our shoulders. My man just changed jobs, I am about to lose my job and a new baby is on the way. That is just about enough change for our home. We will be finding out the sex of this baby, but not until sometime in January. I will be sure to keep you posted on all the exciting times of baby #2!

Fall Snackies

Mmmmm is all I can say today. I was browsing through my October issue of Real Simple magazine today and I stumbled across 2 recipes that I can't wait to try out. I thought I would post them just in case you have a fall event that you need to take a treat to.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes
Hands-On Time: 15m
Total Time: 40m
Ingredients
1 18.5-ounce box yellow cake mix (plus the ingredients called for in the package directions)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
24 pieces candy corn
Directions
Heat oven to 350° F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Prepare the cake mix as directed but with the following change: Add the pumpkin pie spice and substitute the can of pumpkin puree for the water called for in the package directions.
Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Spread on the cupcakes and top each with a piece of candy corn

I am really excited about this next one. Each year when we carve our pumpkins I go through the trouble to clean all the seeds, let them dry out for days and then cook them up in salt and butter. This is a little twist on baked pumpkin seeds and you can make it right after carving the pumpkins.

Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds

Serves 8
Hands-On Time: 15m
Total Time: 1hr 30m
Ingredients
2 cups fresh pumpkin seeds (from 2 medium pumpkins), rinsed and patted dry
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
Heat oven to 300° F. Spread the seeds on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry throughout, 50 to 60 minutes.
Increase oven temperature to 350° F. In a large bowl, toss the seeds with the butter, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Return the seeds to the baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

Time for a Block Party

I wouldn't call myself a social butterfly, however this girl loves to organize. We have been talking about getting together a block party for our street and the next street over for years. It seems the first step, setting a date, was the hardest (did I mention football gets in the way of life- especically in the SEC) Once we got the date set everything else fell into place. With October 4th on the calendar the next step was to get a permit from the city so our shindig couldn't get shut down. Then, the plea for help. We live on an awesome street of mostly young families and I knew getting help would be easy. Everyone was willing to pitch in. Flyers were put in all the mailboxes asking each family to bring their own meat and either a side, appetizer or dessert to share with everyone. All done! Well, not exactly. In the weeks to follow my mind filled up with the details. We would need condiments, buns, chairs, tables, trashcans, forks, knives, napkins, games, drinks, ice, grills and men to grill. I woke up at 3 am a couple of nights ago thinking about what I might have forgotten. Two hours later realizing that to be effective the next day I must sleep I decided to assure myself that all the bases had been covered. So 5 o'clock rolled around tonight and people started showing up! Boy did they show up. I had no idea how many children lived on these two streets. It was so fun to see them just ride scooters, play with chalk, run and scream without parents worrying about kids getting hit by cars. We did get cut a little short due to rain, but we had a good 2 hours of fun and food. I hope to make this an annual event. I met a lot of new people and unfortunately remember very few names. Note to self: nametags next time. I love our community and seeing everyone get out of the house to meet up made for an awesome night!