Garage Sale Shopping

This morning I got to go garage sale-ing! I'm not one of those people that goes to garage sales every week hoping to score the best deals or find something unique and amazing that you would never find any other place. Not that I don't mind scoring rockin' deals or finding amazing things I would never find in a store, I just don't purposely go for those things. I'm not one of those competitive garage sale shoppers either. I hate going to a busy garage sale and women are grabbing everything in site and they try to get to clothes before you so they get the better thing... I think it's annoying! No, I go garage sale shopping for my babies!

See, I think most boys clothes that manufacturers make now days are mostly just plain ugly. Then, if you do happen to find something that you think is cute for a boy they ask outrageous amounts of money for it. Josh and I have never made a lot of money. We can't afford to get a ton of clothes for our children especially with the way that they price things now days. I mean, really, $10 (that's the cheap stuff, it can be a lot more!) for one t-shirt that I don't even think is cute? Seriously, it's ANNOYING! That and I'm not going to go buy one shirt in the store for $10 that I don't even like when I can go to a garage sale and get 6-7 shirts (that are perfectly good) that I may or may not like (usually I like them more then what's in the store at least) and pay the same price. I never go shopping in stores for my kids unless there is a sale and they really need something. I do buy socks for full price though, bugs me that 2 pair can be like $4 or more and the only ones that stay on children are from Old Navy, but whatever :) So, every summer I go garage sale shopping in hopes to get my children everything that they will need for the next year until I can go again!

This year is a little difficult for me. I'm nine months pregnant AND I have a toddler. Going shopping with a toddler is never easy, especially when there are people at every garage sale you go to who try and get your child to fall in love with a toy so that, they think, you have to buy it. Then when you leave the sale (and the toy they tried to force on your child) behind you feel like an awful parent because your baby is crying for a toy that some random person told them they could have! Oh dear! People should not try to push their stuff on me or my kid, if I want it, I will buy it, other wise they are just asking for a crying babe at their sale which isn't fun for anybody, especially me!

It's also difficult because since I'm due any day now, I'm not going to go garage sale shopping after I have the baby, so I had to get it all done before now... and boys clothes is never easy to find! I've only actually gone two days this year. Once to the Esko community sales and today at the Wrenshall community sales. I love it when towns have their community days. That means that I only have to go shopping for one day and everybody will have their sale on that day and I can hit five times as many sales as I would any other day! It's fantastic!

So today I got all of this and some toys and books not shown....

... for probably only $40 at most! It's a tiny bit of baby clothes, a couple of 2T things for now, but mostly 3T things which Gabriel will most likely be in come fall and be in for the next year, and maybe a couple of shirts in 4T. It's all mostly name brand too, which I never care about (don't really get the fuss over it) BUT my point is, IF (that's a big IF) I had boughten all of this brand new, I totally would have spent over $250 on it if not way more then that. I'm OK with saving a good $210plus on boys clothes. 100% OK with it to be completely honest... like BEYOND OK with it ;)

I got some clothes at the Esko sales too, so I'm thinking that I have enough in his next size. If not, well I guess I will have to drag myself into a store and pay a bummer load of money for whatever it is we may need at the time... I just won't be very happy about it :) Anyway, thank God for garage sales, Gabriel now has clothes for his next size and Mommy is happy about it!

Update!

Well, since I haven't blogged in forever, I thought it was time for an update! So, what is new since I last blogged back in, what, January was it? Well, a lot!

I am due to give birth to our second son any day now! My actual due date is June 18th, so 7 days away! We are super excited for him to arrive. I have had a few issues with this pregnancy but I've made it to the end and I'm anxious for him to come! I am beyond nervous that I will have to have another c-section, it is all I think about when I think about labor. I have done a lot of research in hopes to prevent another c-section and I try to calm myself over the thought. It's just that the first one was definitely not my cup of tea and I would rather just never do it again. None the less, I cannot wait to meet our little man!
*Just a little FYI. I have major pregnancy brain and I think I make a ton of mistakes when I write things... so if a few things are misspelled here and there or something doesn't make the most amount of sense, I am truly sorry. I am hoping my brain decides to come back to me after I give birth!

Josh got a job back in March at United Healthcare in Duluth. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to get but he has been enjoying it and he is top of his team when it comes to things like production and things. He is the only one so far to have been 'promoted' on his team. I have to say 'promoted' like that because it's not like his job title changed or anything, it's a little hard to explain... it's like his limits are getting increased or something like that... he's tried explaining it to me and it doesn't make a ton of sense but none the less, I'm proud of him for his achievements! He is still looking for work else where, but we will have to see what comes up!

Gabriel is growing so much! He is learning more and more every day! He talks a lot! I can't always understand what he says to be honest, sometimes it just sounds like jibberish and other times I can kind of understand what he is talking about. He does have some issues with the word 'fork' though... it doesn't exactly sound like 'fork' if you know what I mean... ;)

This is him in his beloved rock pile after it rained one day...

We are still living at my parents which was not planned but we are moving out in two weeks and I am so excited! I can't wait to have my own place again and I can't wait to have more alone time with my husband! We are forever grateful to my parents for letting us stay here as long as we have. We really just had a heck of a time finding an apartment once Josh found a job that we could afford and was in a safe neighborhood.

I know many other things have changed since I have last blogged but it would take a great deal of time to mention them all and you would probably get bored with all the little things I have to say, so I will just have to stop here for today!

Oh, and we still don't have a name for our baby boy so if you have any suggestions that are different I would love to hear them!

I decided that it's OK...

I haven't blogged in a really really long time. Like a reaaaaalllllllyyyyy looooooooong time... and I've decided something about that. I've decided that it's OK!

I used to think that I had to keep up on my blog all the time and if I didn't blog for a week or two then I was letting down any readers that I had or that it was just pointless. Then when I did want to blog and it had been forever I thought 'what's the point, it's been so long that people have probably forgotten that I have a blog at all'. But I've decided that it's OK not to blog all the time. I will just blog whenever I want. Now, that might mean I do three blogs in a day or one blog in three months, and it will just have to be OK because, well, that's just what I've decided :)

So if any of my readers are still out there from back in the day, I haven't disappeared or died, I'm still here, and will continue to be here for some time, so check back now and again, I might surprise you that I posted something!