Goodwill soulmates, questionable drivers

Yesterday, my sister-in-law Cara and I traveled an hour and a half south to Corvallis with a car full of kiddos to watch our nephew play baseball. (His team lost their first state game and it was kinda sad, but it's double elimination and they played again this morning and 10-runned the other team so the Vikings are still in the tournament!)

GORGEOUS day for baseball in Corvallis!

ANYWAY. After the game Cara and I decided to hit a few thrift stores in town, which turned out to be super trendy consignment stores. As in, $15.00 and up per item. Not bad prices for the the types of stores they were and the brands they had, but not the kind of thrifting we were looking for. So we headed back to Albany to find the giant Goodwill we passed on the way down and after about 5 wrong turns it showed up! We were quite proud. 

Time we entered the store: 6:30 pm.

Time store closed: 9:00 pm. 

Time we exited the store: 9:07 pm.

Don't ever go to the Goodwill with Cara and I. You'll never get out of there. 

If I'm not on a time schedule, my motto is "We leave when the kids are done" and sometimes they'll last for an hour. But with cousins together, a well-stocked toy isle, and a great book section, the kids were just fine and dandy, so Cara and I got to shop the whole store, and then try on about 30 or so items each. 

Totally not what we normally get to do and totally fun!

Some cute new things! Also purchased: shorts for my kids, sandals for Kendall, and Pictionary - the best board game of all time.

Oh and this dress/swimsuit cover, which I wore today. (Trying a new hairstyle - don't laugh)

Total spent: $41.00. WELL worth it.

By the time we were done we were famished and ready to find Dairy Queen for a late dinner and dessert treat for the kids. After stopping at a Dutch Brothers coffee stand for directions, we only circled town 3 times, drove into one dead-end park, two dead-end streets, and took one accidental turn into a wrong-way lane before finding it! Again, we did ourselves proud!

Don't ever go driving in a strange town with Cara and I. You'll want to strangle us WELL before you reach your desired destination. Which you may or may not ever reach.

To complete our evening of misadventure, we missed our exit off the freeway to get back home because we were chatting instead of paying attention, and had to drive 9 miles further to take the next one. 

All the better for making our fun outing together last a bit longer, we say!

Dear Cara, 

Thank you for being my Goodwill soulmate.
I had a SPLENDID time.

Love, Jodi

10 Things (random edition)

1. A recent mini-project: fixing and painting this picnic table that Russ picked up last summer for $20.00. It has been invaluable to us since we got it, but not the prettiest thing. Or sturdiest.

Before (well, during)

We used this oil based paint/stain because it was leftover from a play structure Russ painted, and therefore free. Now Russ is going to drill a hole down the middle big enough to put a huge crank-open umbrella in it - so excited!

After

2. While I was finishing painting the table yesterday morning, Blake went on a mini run of terror. Within 1/2 an hour he had:

- scribbled all over our front door with a builders pencil.
- plugged our bathroom sink to play with toys in the water and then left the sink running and left the room, flooding the entire floor and underneath my counter, where apparently the sink run off hole empties into.
- left a nice skid mark in his underwear, decided to change himself into his swim trunks, in my bedroom, on the floor, and transferred said skid onto my carpet.
- Ewww.
- I was not pleased.

3. Tortilla Land raw tortillas - have you tried them yet? SOOO easy. After the 4th one Kendall was making them on her own. 30 seconds each side on a hot fry pan, no oil, no butter, nothin'. Super hot, super YUM.

4. My current guilty pleasure.

Hot mocha with a little creamer. I bough the creamer as a special treat for Sunriver, but when that trip didn't happen I couldn't let this lovely stuff sit all lonely in the fridge!

5. We spent the afternoon at the pool yesterday afternoon with Tricia and Cara and most of their kids. Thank you Safeway for free swim coupons on the back of our receipts! When we came back home my kids bee-lined it for... our pool. Oh, to be young and never ever swimmed-out.  

6. Last night Russ and I had nursery duty at church. 4 one and a half to almost two year olds. 3 boys, 1 girl. The three boys played and fought over every car/lego/toy hammer/ball you could find and the little girl found 4 dollies and held them tight all evening - while standing at the play kitchen.

Gender predisposition anyone? So funny.

7. Today we're off to my nephew's State playoff baseball game in Corvallis. Go Derek! (This will be the first game we've attended this year, so the hour and a half drive is worth it to make the last-minute attempt to look like semi-supportive family members ;)

8. Last night Mum and I went on a spontaneous late-night grocery shopping trip to the Walmart Supercenter in Woodburn. I shopped there for years before switching over to Winco & Target in Clackamas because it was closer to Costco, but last night was like returning home.

I forgot how HUGE there selection of EVERYTHING was. I Picked up so many things I haven't found anywhere else and several things I hadn't seen before... yet came under budget. Always a successful way to end an evening. (That and the mini Ben & Jerry's ice cream cups we enjoyed on the way home :)

9. And now I can't think of two more things to make it to 10.

10. So I'll call this good :)

Kendall stories

So close to 10 years old she can almost taste it!

Recently Kendall told me about the book of Revelation in the bible and suggested that I take a look at it.

"I think you'd like it, Mom."

Bless her heart, she thought I'd never read it. When I told her that I'd read the entire bible several times through, ever since I was a teenager, the look of astonishment on her face made me laugh out loud.

Retelling this story to friends yesterday reminded me of a couple of my favorite "Kendall stories" from when she was preschool age...

Kendall was about 3 years old and having a bath when she discovered a small clump of hair on the side of the tub that I'd removed from the drain after my shower and then forgot to throw away. I heard hysterical crying and ran into the bathroom to find Kendall frantically trying to reattach the hair to her own head... thinking all her hair had fallen out.

It took my quite a while to stop laughing enough to calm her down!

Sometime around the same age, I found Kendall in her bedroom looking out the window. I looked out with her and commented that there were no birds outside today.

"They must have flown south for the winter", I said. 

"No", she replied, "they went to Walmart."

When Kendall was 4 years old and painting on her little craft table in the kitchen she came into the living room and said, "Mom, I have a little problem in here..." so I came to see how I could help.

Turns out the "little problem" was that she'd PAINTED giant colored circles on my KITCHEN WALL. 

Oh Kendall... 

Cinderella Kendall age 3

Good thing she was such a doll, even back then!

I can't believe I'm going to have a 10 year old. That's a decade of life with Kendall... the sweetest blessing God could have ever given me :)  

Playing hard

We've had 80+ degree weather folks! Its an Oregon summer 2011 miracle. 

While it sure would have been nice to be swimming in the pool at Sunriver this past weekend, a little hitch in the works caused our vacation with friends to be rescheduled, and all of a sudden our weekend opened up.

Something doesn't look quite right, does it?

That would be the broken arm of Dylan, T.J. and Jana's son. The arm that he broke AS WE WERE PACKING TO LEAVE Thursday afternoon.

What are the odds?!! Poor guy!

It was an emotional day, not to mention chaotic, what with trying to help any way we could and also figure out what to do ourselves and whether we could get a refund or find another date to go. (Which we did, yay! The vacation plan lives on!)

But in the meantime, now what to do? 

Yard sale from 9-4 pm straight on Friday (I fear we have a real sickness) with the whole fam plus Emily, Dylan's little sister, stopping for coffee, quesadillas,  and a surprise visit to play with some puppies. 

Have dinner with Russ's parents and sister, enjoying a lovely outdoor steak dinner on the back deck. 

A little late night movie watching cuddled on the couch (saw Unknown. Liked it. Lots.)

Saturday morning... raspberry picking with Blake. A fun sidekick but not what you'd call "helpful".

the collages are back!

Then a lovely wedding in Corvallis that I was so glad not to miss after all.

Gorgeous church in Corvallis, Oregon

Hello, Mr. McHandsome!

So fun celebrating our friends Travis and Denae's big day with them, plus catching up with old friends.

After church on Sunday we had a BBQ lunch at my parents for my Dad's birthday, and then went and visited the little convalescent.

AND THEN...

While on the way to Walmart with Mum at 8:15 pm to pick up dad's birthday gift from us all, Russ called to see if we wanted to abort our mission and all go see Captain America with my cousin Linley and her new hubby Mike at 9:30 pm instead.

You betcha! Mum and I LOVE spontaneous fun!

Within 1/2 an hour we had returned home, called my Dad and had him come meet us, got a babysitter for Blake (who needed to go to bed) and Kendall (who didn't want to see the movie), and were on our way!

It's hard to say what Cooper loved more... getting to go out to a movie wtih us on his own, or the actual movie, which he dubbed "the best movie I've ever seen!".

I don't know if I'd go that far, but I enjoyed it... especially the ending, and the sneak peek after the credits were over, which I may or may not have actually clapped at (I got caught up in the remaining crowd's enthusiasm, ok?)

And that's how we played hard at home instead of at Sunriver and still had a GREAT weekend :)

God's goodness (and fun yard sale finds)

For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. (Ps 5:12)

What does God's favor look like for us these days?

- Russ needing a new archery target for his bow and finding this one... brand new, never used, worth $80.00 + shipping online, at a garage sale for THREE DOLLARS. 

- Needing a bike rack for our vehicle to haul our bikes on vacation to Sunriver, OR (the land of endless bike trails) and finding an awesome one that holds 4 bikes at a garage sale for EIGHT DOLLARS. The same rack that is worth around $100.00 in stores.

- Wanting a bigger bike for Coop because the one he had for the last 2 years was looking a little small under him, and finding this Mongoose brand one at a neighbor's yard sale for $30.00, when they cost over $100.00 new in stores. 

(all of the above items were found by Russell... the walking, talking, yard sale-deal-finding MAGNET.)

- Hitting a garage sale in town that just so happened to have new and near-new Nike clothing in both Russ and my sizes and getting a big bagful for $13.00. (The lady running the sale worked for Nike.)

(Russ was especially excited about this U of O jacket :)

- Falling in love with a cute Gap dress in a local consignment store, it fitting like a glove and husband telling me I HAVE to get it, only to be heartbroken to find that the side zipper is slightly broken, but showing the store owner and having her give me the dress. As in, FOR FREE. My awesome Mum fixed the zipper in five minutes flat.

Yay, for cute new dresses! (And mothers that can sew!)

- Getting a steady flow of people at our garage sale last Saturday even though it was raining on and off all day long, and making enough money to pay off another big chunk of my dental bill.  (The astronomical one.)

- Russ going to the dentist's office to pay off said chunk of bill, and then getting the remaining $900.00 we owe COMPLETELY WAIVED by our dentist.

My teeth are finally paid off! Woo-hoo!!

My point?

God is good! Give glory to Him!

A collage collection

Guess who discovered Picasa's collage maker and is having way too much fun with it?

This works out well since I've been feeling like it's almost pointless now to recap some of the fun goings on we had earlier this month... the ones I promised two weeks in a row to talk about and then never did, because, WEDDING MANIA! And then GARAGE SALE MADNESS!

But now I have an awesome excuse: collages need lots of photos... and I just so happen to have them! 
 
(Plus, there's always my dear Grandma in New Zealand to think of. She loves the pictures :)

So here we go. And remember you can click on each image to bring it up bigger in a new screen.

4th of July weekend

Freezer jam making with Kendall and her friend Katie.(This went amazingly well, despite the fact that Blake tried to "help" by reaching up to stir the bowl of crushed berries while I was wiping some splatters off the floor and ended up dumping half the bowl's contents on my head and shoulders.)

Church service holiday extravaganza with line dancing!

Yard work with Daddy's little helper.

Rodeo Fun

Hometown rodeo with Dave and Kelly, my parents, and my Aunt and Uncle who were visiting from New Zealand.
This was their first rodeo and we wanted them to enjoy it. 

So we made sure that giant elephant ears were provided. 

And that we stayed for the fireworks.
I don't know about them, but we sure had a great time!

Independence Day

Hometown giant street parade.

Family BBQ.

Splashin' in the pool.
Fireworks.
We love the 4th of July.

Mary Poppins broadway show (aka the purple panty story)

Girls night out! Jana, Kelly and I had a lovely evening at Portland's broadway, and we started the night out right with a stop at California Pizza Kitchen for dinner.
Thai Crunch Salad and fresh fruit smoothies? YUM.

When we approached the theater I saw a lady in a black sheath dress standing looking at the huge Mary Poppins sign out front. She was standing still and didn't appear to be with anyone, but what made me notice her was that her dress was torn down the back center seam from her tailbone to an inch or so above the bottom hem, and that the gaping hole revealed purple satin panties underneath.

I immediately pointed this out to Jana and Kelly in a hushed whisper and we quickly consulted as to whether we should say anything or not. I was for it, they were against it - being afraid of embarrassing her too much and citing the rule "if they can't fix it, don't tell them". (We later decided this rule applies to things like a tear in your stocking or a hole under your arm - NOT your rear end.)

Because she was standing so still I wondered if perhaps she knew already, and had sent a friend for a jacket or something to wrap around her waist. But just then a couple approached her and asked if she would take their picture and she was quick to oblige, walking confidently to the spot they wanted and then CROUCHING DOWN to get the sign above their heads in the shot.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

"I would DIE, you guys! I have to tell her." And I marched over and did so (in a very discreet manner though, after she'd handed the camera back its owners). Of course she was mortified. Who wouldn't be? But she also threw her arms around my neck in a giant hug and thanked me about 20 times, and then begged me to walk closely behind her the half block back to her parked car so she could immediately drive home.  I was happy to oblige.

And that's how I became best friends with the purple panty lady.

(Mary Poppins was delightful, by the way.)

Linley's Bridal Tea (aka the day I was an African princess)

Let the record show that my Nanna throws the fanciest bridal showers you'll ever attend. Amen. 

Reception shots from the wedding

Gotta give a shout-out to my friend Staci for helping me with a few pics after the wedding. I hadn't had my camera all day so was in a picture taking frenzy during the reception and she was kind enough to help out. 

Love the family shot Stace!

I can't wait to see the professional shots from before the wedding.

There were polka-dot rain boots and umbrellas involved.

Well that was fun!

(The collage making that is. I can't speak for your viewing experience.)

Scenes from a yard sale

We had a successful weekend, money and fun-wise. 

But boy, did running a yard sale wear us out! So much so, that we skipped church yesterday morning, slept in, and still took three hour naps in the afternoon. 

I never actually got out of my sweats all day. 

Or cooked anything besides pancakes and chocolate chip cookies - regular Sunday staples. 

(click to enlarge)

Some things to note:

- Russ was IN. HIS. ELEMENT. I think he enjoyed throwing the sale as much as he enjoys going to them. Plus, he got to play in his shop all weekend, sorting and organizing, and this made him very, very happy. 

- As it turns out, a happy Russell means a generous-with-the-yard-sale-earnings Russell.

- Fresh pedicure, here I come ;)

- Kendall and Cooper threw themselves 100% into their hotdog stand and employed many a sales tactic to draw customers, including sending their 3-year-old little brother to ask shoppers if they wanted to buy "wunch". (Which worked quite well.) By the end of the first day they had earned back their initial investment (we had them buy their own supplies). 

- Unfortunately, enthusiasm fizzled drastically on day 2, and if not for our own generous hotdog and soda consumption, they wouldn't have made a dime. Still, it was a good lesson and experience for them.

poster by Cooper

- My Mum did the sale with me while Russ worked on Friday and came back Saturday as well. She was a yard-sale working MACHINE! I loved her company and we had tons of fun together. 

- Including laughing until we died over our inability to add up a MASSIVE pile of shop items all priced within the .5 - .50 cent range that an older gentleman was trying to buy. Seriously, after attempt #6 I just said, "how does $7.00 sound, sir?" because we were so flustered and embarrassed by that time that we couldn't think straight.

Cooper fell in love with this Michael Jordan poster that my Mum brought over to sell and spent ages trying to copy it. He wasn't happy with his results and completely erased his attempt at the close up of Jordan's face (apparently his version was "too cartoony"), but I just thought he was so cute sitting there drawing so seriously, I let him keep the poster for his wall.

The background he added in for effect :)

Besides making almost $800.00, one of the best parts about the whole weekend was not having to cook. Chinese Friday night, pizza Saturday night, it's no wonder we made it till last night before realizing that we were officially out of bread, butter, eggs, oatmeal, cereal, cheese, and tortillas. 

And toilet paper. 

Off to the grocery store for me!

But first... I just realized that today is the one year anniversary of starting my blog! Yay me! 

I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. Or write so dang much. 257 posts? Yikes!

Thanks for reading and commenting my lovely friends :)

Yard sales are fun to shop at, not throw.

I'm a good 12 days behind in recapping most of the summer events that have been going on around here... the ones I promised I would talk about LAST Friday.

And I have pictures! LOTS of pictures!

But I'm also in the middle of setting up a giant yard sale because yes, it's happened again.

(And no, I'm not any better prepared than last time.)

So, to keep the wedded bliss that I now enjoy, I'm going to skip a cozy evening blogging at the computer in my nice warm house, and spend a cold and potentially mosquito ridden evening pricing items outside in the dark, instead.

I will leave you with a quick Blake story though, because they're always entertaining:

While checking out at the grocery store today, Blake informed the elderly gentleman bagging our groceries (in an unfortunately clear and loud voice), "You're fat!".

I died.

The end.

Monday confessional - wedding edition

Mike and Linley's wedding was so lovely. Quaint and unique, it was just what they wanted.

And I was honored to be a part of it.

Plus...

The weather was gorgeous.

The ring-bearers performed smashingly (phew!).

Nobody fainted.
And I felt pretty and slim.

(And more importantly... not too sweaty.)

In fact, things went off without any major hitches all day long and by the time we got to the reception, my only regret was that I'd left my camera at the rehearsal dinner the night before and didn't have it with me again until after the ceremony. 

So it was with real horror that I witnessed a shocking disturbance while the speeches were being given around the cake table. 

 

It seems that a member of the wedding party had a leettle too much to drink at the punch table... 

And proceeded to DROP HIS DRAWERS right then and there on the church lawn!

And to make matters worse...

It was MY SON!!!

Russell immediately ran to intervene...

But unfortunately he wasn't quick enough.

There was only one thing to do...

Well, that and laugh our heads off. 

Turns out, letting your three year old go potty outside at home because he's not very good at giving advance notice may come back to haunt you. 

In a very. public. manner. 

"Feel better bud?"

I'll be back...

It's wedding week! 

My cousin Linley's wedding. 

The one that 4 out of 5 members of my household are in. 

(Yes we're quite busy.)

The big day is tomorrow and the past couple of days have been filled with so much fun and craziness that I can't wait to write all about it... I just don't have the time right now!

So I'll be back, and when I am you'll be highly entertained with the tales I have to tell.

Tales of dresses ripped down the backside, showing purple panties to the world, with the wearer none the wiser.

Tales of spray-on tan catastrophes.

Tales of elegant bridal teas and delicious treats.

Tales of garage sale find AWESOMENESS.

And plenty of pictures to go along. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Fourth!

Hometown street parade, 2011 (gotta love a children's pastor who's always ready to throw up the ol' rabbit ears ;)

Our holiday weekend is going just swimmingly... hope yours is too.

Now, off to enjoy more good food in the name of patriotic celebration!

7-layer salad - Independence Day style

Part 2 - the shopping tale continued...

After yesterday's shopping story Part 1, in which I drove 30 miles to shop for over an hour before discovering I was penniless because my 3-year-old STOLE my wallet (that's the new story I'm going with by the way), I left you questioning what I was doing in West Linn.

Actually, probably nobody wondered that, but I'm still going to tell you.

I'd been invited to an after-hours shopping party at an acquaintance's upscale consignment shop, and while I hadn't planned on making it, I realized halfway into town that it was that evening and that I was child-free and already heading into town and thought, what the heck.

So you can imagine my embarrassment when I discovered that I had no money, not in a grocery store, but a shopping boutique full of lovely ladies. I went out to my car on the slim chance that my wallet had fallen out of my purse on the ride up, even though I knew instantly what must have happened, and then made the mistake of calling home to have Russ check to make sure the wallet was there. 

(A mistake because Russ assumed that since I'd gone grocery shopping, I would actually BE grocery shopping, and when he discovered after a very roundabout explanation that I'd been at a clothes store in West Linn for the past hour instead, things got kind of awkward.)

Have I reached the point of "overshare" yet?

Fully intending on walking back in the store and telling the owner I'd have to leave my purchases, who should arrive but my beloved Nanna and Grandpa Duke! Duke was dropping Nanna off at the party because she'd been invited too, and when they heard my sad (and to me, mortifying) tale, they immediately offered to make my purchases for me and insisted on giving me enough money to continue my grocery shopping trip as well.

Hallelujah for wonderful grandparents! I'm not ashamed to say I took them up on their kind offer, promising to return their loan the next day. Mostly because one of the main things I needed to buy was a gift for my cousin's lingerie shower the following evening and I really didn't want to drive back up into town again just for that. 

By this time it was almost 9 pm though, so I high-tailed it up to Clackamas and stopped at Kohl's to search for the shower gift. Sadly, they were totally lacking in anything either cute or within my price range, but I still managed to waste half an hour searching through the clearance racks for a matching set in my cousin's size - something that was not to be found. 

Next I went over to Target, only to discover they had no lingerie at all, plus they were closing in 15 minutes so no grocery shopping was going to get done there, and after racing up the road to Ross, I discovered they'd just closed 15 minutes ago. Noooo! If only I'd gone there first!

And that's how I ended up walking into the Walmart on 82nd Ave at 9:45 pm, with a suspicious looking group of young men dressed in gangster attire sitting out front, and me praying under my breath for my safety. All hopes for lingerie were gone of course, even if they had something cute there I could never have brought myself to buy a family member (or anyone else for that matter) bridal lingerie from WALMART. I have some standards. 

So I bought the few household items I needed on my list and came home in defeat, knowing I'd have to make my return trip the next day with 2 young boys in tow. And I can tell you that if you don't feel awkward at the discovery that you have no wallet when out shopping, you will certainly feel so at having to pick lingerie in the company of your 8-year-old son!

However, all was not a loss. If I hadn't gone to the shopping party Wednesday night, I wouldn't have got to catch up with old friends and check out a really cute boutique. 

Or buy this a-DOR-able top:

Love!

And if I hadn't gone back up into town yesterday to buy this robe for Linley:

(it also came with a cute little number for underneath - not quite appropriate to share here...)

I wouldn't have discovered that Old Navy was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, and picked up these!

So you see, all's well that ends well :)


Have a happy 4th of July weekend!