I Sold Rachel ....

.... and I didn't mean to. :-(

This summer I sold a bunch of stuff in two different consignment sales. I have always been a pack rat when it comes to my kid's stuff. It seemed to me that if I kept the clothes they wore and the toys they played with, it would somehow make them growing up easier to deal with. Sort of like I'm not completely letting go of the past only to have pictures to look back at. Sounds crazy, I know .... don't know any other way to explain it. Anyway, I went through the bonus room for the first sale and rounded up lots of toys that I wanted to get rid of. Still, as I picked up each item, I could picture Austin or Chandler playing with it. There were a few things that just couldn't make the cut .... they are still here. Maybe next time.

Chandler sometimes gets involved when I'm organizing my things for a consignment sale. She'll suggest a price or comment on how she used to wear an article of clothing or play with a toy. After the first sale, she noticed that a little white wicker doll bed was missing. She inquired, I told her I had sold it. She then asked if I had seen Rachel? You know that sinking feeling you get when you know you've made an irreversible mistake? Your face gets flushed, your stomach gets a knot in it, you break into a sweat. Yikes. I thought to myself, I'm pretty sure I sold Rachel with the doll bed. Chandler no longer plays with dolls, but she does have a few items that she has been partial to keeping over the years. Rachel was one of those items and I just realized I sold her. I wanted to cry, but instead I try to cover.

Me: What did she look like?
Chandler: Mom, you know Rachel. She was about this size (holds her arms like she's cradling a doll). She was really soft. Her eyes close when you lay her down. She doesn't have any hair. And here are some of the outfits that fit her.
Me: Hmmmm. I'm not sure. (In my mind I'm going a thousand miles a minute. Can I call the person who put on the consignment sale and tell her there's been a terrible mistake? I wonder if it would be humanly possible to track down the doll. Oh My Gosh! What am I going to do?)
Chandler: No words. Just looking at me for an answer.
Me: No words. I'm shakin' in my shoes because I'm gonna have to come clean here in a minute, just trying to decide exactly how that's gonna go. Think, think, think. There's must be a solution to this problem.
Chandler: Mom. Do you think you sold her?
Me: No words. Still thinking. Nothing is coming to mind. I think I'm gonna cry. Pull it together.

I finally decide to come clean and I tell her the truth. I tell her I'm pretty sure the doll she is describing is the one I sold with the doll bed. She's not mad, but I can tell is disappointed. Seriously, I went downstairs and cried for a minute. Not because of the doll, but because I disappointed Chandler. I was so mad at me for doing such a dumb thing.

It's been a few weeks since "the incident" and I have been completely forgiven. Isn't unconditional love grand? :-) I hope Rachel has a happy family.

The Beat Goes On ....

The 40th running of the Peachtree Road Race was the 13th running for Andy and I. We (well I) thought it would be special to begin a new tradition this year by having Austin and Chandler join in on the fun. March - applications mailed; June - numbers received! We were placed in time group 3. Yay! I was so excited with our numbers this year.

As race day aproached, I put together our plan for wake up and leave time the day of the race. Also worked on the meeting plans for post race. Andy and I shared fun stories about things like Marta rides pre- and post-race and how pre is much more pleasant than post; the trombone player on the bridge who never actually plays a song just blows random notes; all of the cheering spectators along the race course; the run past Sheperd Spinal Clinic; the variety of cool bands playing along the way; and more. I was sort of anxious about being separated from Austin and Chandler during the race, and assured them there was no way to make a wrong turn or to be abducted from the course. They would be perfectly fine. Who was I trying to convince anyway? Me? :-) We went over the plan carefully and even reviewed the code word from daycare days. As a mom you can never be overly cautious. Right?

OK, so race day is quickly approaching and Austin's biggest concern is what our pre-race meal will be on Friday night. Austin and Chandler are not very happy and wonder whose bright idea this was when I tell them that alarm clocks need to be set for 4:30am and our leave time is 5:00am!! Race day: we left on time, made it to the race safely, finished the race, successfully met up at the end and made our way back home. The jury is still out on whether they will join us again next year .... and the beat goes on.

p.s. Recognize the title of this entry as a song? Give it a listen. Sonny & Cher The Beat Goes On or an updated version Britney Spears The Beat Goes On. Fun Song. :-)

Movin' On ...

Yippee!! I found them, I found them. Well, sort of "I" found them. The certificates are safe and sound still in the frames!! Much to my mother's chagrin, I still have many boxes of "stuff" at the trailer. For those of you who might not know, the trailer is where I grew up and where my mom stays when she comes to Georgia. It was another storage area during our move in 2006. Mama figures that after 2 1/2 years I must not need the items that are still there. She "reorganized" it all about a month ago and when I finally mentioned to her last week that I was searching high and low for the certificates ... low and behold she knew exactly where they were!! I'm so excited. What a relief!! Now I can move on.

Perfect Attendance ...

Here I am almost 3 years after we packed and moved from our old house and there's something I'm looking for that I can't put my hands on. Don't mind that I still have approximately 50 boxes in the basement that haven't been touched in over 3 years!! I've been on the quest to find some particular items for about a week now, and I'm actually losing sleep over it. So here's the deal - I'm trying to find Austin and Chandler's perfect attendance certificates. At one point, I had them in frames, hanging on the wall. Then there were so many that it looked terrible because I couldn't keep them all lined up. Took them all down. I think I actually wound up taking the certificates out of the frames and then donated the frames instead of moving them with us. I'm losing my mind over here!! I've been through so many scenarios about where those things could be. I even imagined that I forgot to take the certificates out of the frames and donated the frames, certificates and all!! That one literally makes me sick!! So I had (actually still have) boxes and boxes of Austin and Chandler's school papers. Seems as though I never threw any of their stuff away. Last week I tossed 3 trash bags full of papers that really had no meaning, other than having my child's name on them. I'm talking all the way back to Austin's kindergarten year in school!!!! Since Austin will be a senior next year, I had this fabulous idea that I should make a list of all the awards that he's ever received from the time he started school (even found some from daycare and Pre-K). This list will be good for what you ask? That I've not figured out just yet, but it sounded like such a good idea when I started. Now I can't stop!! Furthermore ... you guessed it ... OCD has taken over me!! I started the list, started going through boxes and boxes of paper, knew the perfect attendance needed to be on the list, hence my current situation. I'll let you know when I find them!!

Kids Say The Darndest Things....

Another school year gone. Looks like my 2008-2009 subbing duties have come to an end. Turns out, I really enjoyed subbing and I plan to remain on the "sub" list for the 2009-2010 school year. I subbed for 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades. Each was a real adventure. It's funny, really, the things that children will say. Thought I'd share a few memorable lines with you. Enjoy.

A few comments I received after introducing myself:

Are you related to General Bragg?
Do you live at Fort Bragg?
Do you like to brag?
I'm gonna be braggin' on you today.
That's a funny name.

Random comments from various times of the school day:

Can you tell us a joke?
What's your favorite song?
What kind of music do you like?
Why are you here?
Where did you get your shoes?
Are you going to make us do work today?
Are you someone's mom?
I'm going to irritate the sub today.

Have a fun summer!!

Happy Mother's Day....

Funny (and gross) real life mom story ..... It's approximately 1970. My mom was a young, working mom. At the time she worked at the IRS and she had just been laid off from her job. An important task that she needed to take care of was a visit to the unemployment office. When you don't have a job, you can't afford day care, so off she goes to accomplish this task with a 3 and 4 year old in tow. (that's my brother Gary and I) Once we arrived and were inside, she needed to get us settled in somewhere while she took care of business. She sat us in two chairs right beside each other and told us to stay there until she came back. We were never out of her site and stayed right where she left us. When she finished and it was time to go, she noticed that we were both chewing gum. We had not arrived at our destination with chewing gum and she had not given us any chewing gum, so the obvious question came to mind ... where did the gum come from? She asked the simple question and we gave the simple answer. We got it from the underneath side of the table in front of us. At that point, she did what any good mom would do ... she let us continue to chew the gum. Happy Mother's Day!

#happymothersday

My Jefferson Baseball Dragon...

Much to the dismay of my 11th grader, I'm still a doting mom. Here's the thing ... I still can't believe that (on the day I'm posting this) he's an 11th grader who is only 15 school days away from being a 12th grader!! It's almost unimaginable. I vividly remember the day we brought him home from the hospital. I walked through the front door of our cute little house in Auburn. I was wearing an outfit that was too small. I remember putting that dumb outfit on at the hospital and thinking to myself, why am I still this big? Somehow, I thought I would magically drop most of my extra weight between the time I went to the hospital to give birth and the time I went back home. I can be a little naive sometimes - good example of that, I suppose. Anyway, I stood in the family room holding our new creation in my arms and so profoundly I said (out loud) "what do I do now?" Andy suddenly wondered exactly what type of pain medication I had been given prior to being released from the hospital. He lovingly offered to remove his pride and joy from my arms.

We decided early on that baseball would be one of the sports that Austin should learn as a little guy. Andy was very good at baseball when he played in school, so it seemed a natural choice. We planned to sign Austin up every season while he was little in order that he would gain the know-how and experience should he decide to keep playing as he grew older. He began playing t-ball when he was 5 years old. You haven't fully enjoyed life until you have attended and watched an entire t-ball game. Cute, funny, confusing, stressful, loud. All that and more!

As baseball seasons came and went, Austin enjoyed every minute and continued asking each season to sign up and play again. I think it's important to add here that Andy was Austin's coach every season (with the exception of one fall season) until he started travel ball. The coach's son is not an easy position to be in. It's an early lesson in playing any position on the field, when asked, with no complaints. Austin could essentially play any position at a moment's notice and rather well, I might add. :-)

I'm proud of my favorite Jefferson Baseball Dragon and the contributions he has made to the team during the season. The Jefferson Dragons clinched the Region 8AA title last week against North Oconee.

.... Austin then ....

.... and now ....