; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-6252405-9'); In the Mommy Trenches: Weekend Update, Garage Sale & Unexpected Sadness

Monday, June 14, 2010

Weekend Update, Garage Sale & Unexpected Sadness

We've been fairly busy this weekend what with getting ready to have the mother of all garage sales Saturday morning.  Untrue to form, we actually got ourselves up at 6 am and were fed and out the door by 6:30 to start setting up well before K's parents even arrived. 

It seems that we were incapable of caring for three kids while conducting a garage sale at the same time so they insisted on showing up to help.  Which when you consider the amount of mess they left behind, as apparently they needed to use every dish in the house to serve three kids breakfast and the fact that MIL insisted on having the blinds all the way up so the kids could stare and cry over every toy they saw being carried away and that E and J ended up with us anyway having a lemonade stand... you can see how useful their presence was.  Bitter much?  Not I.  Could I turn this into a Not Me Monday and claim that I never get offended by the fact that they fail to acknowlege we are grownups and are capable of handling ourselves?  Oh no, they don't insist on treating us like children.  They never once admonished my husband not to clear out the gutters on his own.  He did not have to wait for their presence and assistance before doing so.  Do I need to remind anyone that he is 37 years old? 

Okay, I got that bit of grumbling out of the way.  The main thing is that the garage sale was a success.  We made over $500.00 and most of the big stuff sold.  It was a little disheartening to bring a lot of stuff back into the house but then I figured that stuff was mostly junk anyways. That and the fact that we had no tables so a lot of the great things like all the great sheers and curtains got over looked.  So we'll donate it or recycle it.  One or the other. 

That was Saturday.  What I did not expect was that last night as we lay in bed, I suddenly recalled the pooh couch and asked Hubs if it had sold.  He said yes it had.  To my surprise, I started to cry and said I hadn't really wanted to sell it.  Which I hadn't.  It was something that hubs had added to the pile last minute and although I had said okay at the time I hadn't really had time to think about it as we were busy.  Then I started to recall all the other neat toys we had sold and started to cry as well.  Why? He asked.  Well those particular toys had a lot of great memories.  I have tons of photos of the kids curled up on that couch and the games they played with it and the turtle sand box... well that was given to E for her first birthday.  It's silly and unpractical.  They were outgrowing those toys anyways but still... for the first time I felt like a truly mean mom.  After all didn't my daughter stand up in her bedroom window and sob through half of the sale?  My husband, practical man that he is, pointed out that she got over her sadness pretty quick when we set her up selling lemonade. 

Still, I sort of wish I knew who had bought the pooh bear couch so I could ask for it back. 

8 comments:

  1. I have kept the important toys (my son is 11 years old) the Buzz Lightyear and Woody that he wouldn't leave the house without from the time he turned 2 until he was 5 or 6, yea I still have em, and a sword that he stuck in the back of his shirt to pretend to be "He-Man" is in my closet.

    I just can't part with certain things, I have an attic full of them from my childhood too!

    Sorry for the sadness, I'm here from SITS!

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  2. WOW! $500 is great. I am dreading our annual garage sale, especially when it seems to take so much energy and we come away with about $100. Just doesn't seem worth it. We should just donate it all!

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  3. *hugs*

    It breaks both my and their hearts when we give toys to charity. I do manage to secretly stash the most favorite ones, same with a few choice outfits. I do plan on grandkiddos and figure I can pull them out again then. If I have no grands (please, God, I want grands) I can sit an wallow in memories once in a while.

    So sorry about the couch.

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  4. There are toys I have fought my husband over keeping, I'm so much more sentimental than he for these things so I know how you feel - I empathise with you on this one

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  5. It's hard to part with those sentimental objects because they become intertwined with our memories. I'm sure whoever has it now will love it just as much as your kids.

    Stopping by from SITS

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  6. They say we moms are much more sentimental about things than even the kids. *hugs* You'll always have the memories.

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  7. I totally get this! There are certain things that I can't part with, either, but a lot of it is my girls' clothes. There are some outfits that I have kept because I remember how they looked in them so long ago, or I can even remember what they smelled like after a bazillionth washing with the Dreft. What a sentimental mess I am!

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  8. Aww, this made me sad for you, then happy for you, and then sad for you again! It's sometimes so hard to part with things... and like you said, not because we need those things, it's just that we're attached to them! Though, by this time, the kids are probably over any feelings they had and have easily moved on. Sometimes they are the best teachers. Sometimes. :)

    ~Tabitha

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