Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good deal!

Mary Karlee woke up very excited yesterday morning. Although, we'd been out late dancing the night before, she was up and dressed before Marielle had even stirred. "It's like Christmas," she declared with a big grin on her face.

For those of you that aren't local, yesterday was the Longwood Subdivision annual garage sale. Longwood is a large subdivision neighboring ours that is filled with affluent families that have at most 2 kids - that means their baby clothes and toys are in great condition. Last year, the place was packed and by 8 am, when the sale officially started, most of the stuff was already picked over. So we were out the door by 6:45, and by we I mean Mary Karlee in one car, and Marielle & I in the other.

My Mission was to find a plastic playset. These usually go fast, as there are people in big trucks who snap them all up and sell them for a markup. My back-up plan in case I couldn't find one at a sale, was to locate one of these trucks and just steal one. Thankfully, I didn't have to put on my ski mask because I found this Little Tikes Cube Slide:

The Loot

So although I think I went a little overboard, I had so much fun! I just love getting a great deal. I spent a little more than I was expecting, but hey, look how much we got! And now Marielle's younger siblings cannot complain that Marielle got everything new, because even she has hand me downs. :)

The great thing about this year's sale was low crowds. Generally they put up signs the week before and people come out in droves. This year the signs did not come out until Saturday morning and the streets were empty until about 9:oo am. Some highlights for me: an American Flag (I'd been wanting one as long as we've lived here but who remembers to go flag shopping?), gymboree outfits that look brand new, a swimming pool inner tube, a little tikes scooter for $2 (!) , our play place of course, and a baby doll stroller which Marielle LOVES. Oh and of course the FREE desk. Saturday was also trash day and somebody put a desk out with their trash. I of course snatched it up because it seems to be in decent condition and I was looking for a small table to set up an art station. All in all it was a great morning!

Just Missed the Dump!

(Ryan again) I'll finish up with this conversation I had with my mother-in-law:

Ryan: So, I'm just curious, does this garage sale gene come from you or Dad?
Mom: Definitely me. You get such good deals. And my mom loved them too. Though in her day they were called rummage sales.
Ryan: Groan. So you're telling me this is at least 3 generations deep. Marielle's probably infected, too. At least my son's will be safe.
Mom: I don't know. All my sons love Craig's List.
Ryan: Ahhhhhh!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail129.html

Can Babies Live on Cheese Alone?

Marielle is having a cheese only day. I am having a please stop screeching day. So if she screeches every time I bring out something that is not cheese, is it bad that her lunch consisted of nothing but grated cheese? Sorry five-a-day, I tried.

1000-pt Scrabble

Mary Karlee & I play Scrabble about once a month, typically on Sunday afternoons when Marielle is napping. Today, we tried a variation on the standard rules: reverse scoring. In this game, 1-pt tiles score as 10-pt and vice versa. (In fact, each tile scores as 11 minus the number printed.) As you'd expect this led to a high scoring game, which was in fact a lot of fun. I claim the high point word: 165-pt DIN on a triple word score with HI and RATION as cross-words, but it wasn't enough to derail the Mary Karlee Express.

The final score: Ryan 1119 - Mary Karlee 1123.

The Beginnings of Twilight

Are you in love with a vampire or know someone who is? I'm sure you've noticed, as I have, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series has become the latest teen craze. Maybe you're even a little embarrassed you loved the book so much in light of all the recent hype and teens pledging their undying love to Edward. As the book grows in popularity with women and annoyance with men, I have to laugh because it was my husband who recommended Twilight to me. For a little of the back story, back in 2005 way before Edward started appearing in gushing blog posts and Barnes and Noble's Prom Parties, Ryan saw an article in the Daily Universe about a new book written by a BYU alum about a vampire. Since Ryan loves fantasy, he asked for it for Christmas. He read it twice in one week and then passed it on to me with rave reviews. I loved it too and we both looked forward to the sequel. Since then (and with increasing frequency recently) Ryan has had to defend "his book." (I call it his book because he feels since he read it first he is responsible for it's success.) Ryan loves the book not for the love story, but because he likes superheros, which is essentially what "vegetarian" vampires are. In fact he doesn't think Bella is really in love with Edward, but rather addicted to him purely because of his ability to intoxicate prey. (I have to agree: think of New Moon, wasn't Bella unnaturally depressed when Edward left??) But most of all he just got to the book before it had a stereotype around it, so he was able to read it with an open mind. After all it's just a great book: fun to read, suspenseful and clean. Who knows, maybe even your husband will give it a chance. :)

PS Meyer's new book The Host comes out on Tuesday, we'll be picking up this week, will you?