Productivity

Today began EARLY and surprisingly cold!  I got up to get things out for a garage sale.  First I had to rake the driveway because we had huge piles of whatever an oak tree drops that is covered in pollen.  Then I had to sweep the driveway of the leftover ick from that.  Then, I emptied the foyer and the garage of all the stuff for the sale and got going!

By 8am, we had not a single sale!  I wasn't SO surprised, though... because being a person with children, i know that other people with children are likely much like me and don't want to get out of the house until well after 9am :)

By the time we closed down around 1 we'd sold almost everything!  All the BIG stuff had gone-- swing, exersaucer, a jump-a-roo, several of the big toys that James brought with him that he's now outgrown (can you believe it's been 10 months already!?), a high chair, booster seat, lots of toys, and probably about half of all the clothes.  The remainder of the clothes and toys and the few other odds and ends I sent home with my parents (who were a big help today!) for them to use at their garage sale next week.

After that, yes, I was exhausted... but I still had quite a bit to do!  You see... I had taken EVERY toy out of EVERY room of the house yesterday and deposited it all in our living room.  I then sorted through it all as 'garage sale' or 'keep'.  Then I sorted the 'keep' stuff into stuffed animals, electronic toys, non-electronic toys, and Kristopher's toys that aren't for the other kids to get a hold of.  Then I went through each stack and determined what more could disappear!  We ended up with a pretty good amount of stuff :)

I also went through four big bins of clothes that 'someone' in the house had outgrown.  There's often a break between kids in the sizes so they get put up in bins, but I also don't always save everything for the next kid.  So, I went through all of those and put out a ton of things that Lynae and the little boys had outgrown since there's no one smaller as well as several things between Emma and Brianna or Brianna and Lynae that just didn't get worn much or I didn't like them so much LOL.

Which brings me back to... our living room was an absolute mess with piles of clothes and buckets of toys all over it!   Then, while I was doing that, I had to let the kids do something, so I gave them some newspaper and a few sheets of tissue paper.  They had a BLAST shredding it!  Since the playroom/porch was empty of all toys, no big deal to clean up later (or so I thought).  Of course this morning when I dumped two bins of toys that were going back out to the porch so I could have their bin... well, that changed that story.  Anyhow, the porch was then a mess covered with newspaper and tissue paper as well as the dumped toys (which by the time the garage sale was over were distributed throughout the entire playroom and family room).

So... I came in from hours outside (making a decent amount of money but nothing outstanding... but getting rid of most everything which was the idea!), I cleaned the porch, then the boys' room, then the girls' room, then changed kids' sheets (still to be re-bedded!), then the family room, and the kitchen sink and living room are still awaiting my attention.  And the guest room.... and our room... and of course bathrooms... well, those are ALWAYS needing my attention and I don't think they make the list for today!

Now it's time for baths x7 and pajamas and then... bedtime.  And maybe some popcorn.  Or ice cream.  Maybe an episode of Castle.   Yep, life is good! :)