#@*!!*#

I am not very happy today - I took a carload of clothes/shoes/toys, etc to the Johnsonville Sally Army Family Store and was treated with disdain... the two young women behind the counter were interested when I said I had a load of things to donate - until I mentioned that a few of the toys were left over from a recent garage sale. I was told 'we don't take ex-garage-sale stuff as it is mainly poor quality and we have to end up dumping it'. They seemed to presume I was giving them a carload of junk apparently. This was insulting to say the least! Sure, the toys were a bit the worse for wear and I was happy to chuck them myself, but most of the things I wanted to give them were clothes culled from my wardrobe, and clothes and shoes the kids had grown out of...not stuff I would consider junk. I decided to leave - I told them I would not be back to their store and they smirked bemusedly - and I went to the Mary Potter Hospice Shop in Tawa instead where I was greeted with smiles and delight by the dear little old ladies who worked there. They helped me take the things from the car and thanked me sweetly. I recommend this place!!

Unfortunately I still have a bad taste in my mouth from those Sally Army tarts, hence I am blogging my frustrations out. I have since heard from another friend who had poor customer service from the same place. Sorry about the whinging, people!!

Hello Lilli

Bella is saying Hello to her cousin Lilli, in Boston. Although it was actually late at night in that part of the world and little Lilli was in bed - she's a few weeks older than Bella. Fraz doesn't catch up with his little bro much so this phonecall was a welcome one.

Today I had my Garage Sale. The weather was pretty dreary and it rained on and off all morning. The first punters only arrived half an hour before the advertised time and carted off $40 of stuff straight off so I was happy with that. A friend came over to help me out and Lockie was dropped at another friend's house as Fraz went to work - so it was just the 3 girls doing the biz. Bella pottered around the garage and got a bit underfoot at times - she just said 'sorry' a lot, very cutely, and nobody minded. We must have had at least 70 people come through over the next three hours and sold quite a bit. I made about what I expected, so it was all good. The rest of the stuff will be given to charity next week, and the de-cluttering will be complete! Feels good. Now I just have to go out in the cold to remove the signs I posted around the streets...brrrrrrr. 

Queen of the Castle

Here's Bella at a friend's house. She adored this castle at the bottom of the garden, built by my friend's father, for the kids. A step up from your regular cubbyhouse! The picture doesn't show but it really looks like a castle.

This morning I looked out the window to see our front lawn littered with much of our neighbours' recycling, released from its green bins by a helpful stormy night...yuck. That's the trouble with living at the very end of a cul-de-sac - the wind blows rubbish into our garden on a daily basis. At least the rest of the street looks clean... On a brighter note, the recycling collectors actually did clear much of the stuff off our lawn.

Bella appears to have fallen for one of The Wiggles - Murray. Maybe he's just the easiest to say - she calls the yellow one Egg, although most of us would know him as Greg.

Thinking aloud

Somebody wants to read my thoughts! Thanks Jess :)

Yesterday I had a cord of firewood delivered and spent a while stacking it into the garage. A friend came over and helped - although I wasn't keen for her to help as she is pregnant. Later in the night Fraz and I finished off the job and he even got the axe out and had a chop - 'just to see what it's like' - come on love, it's wood...what do you expect? Feel smug now that we will stay warm and cosy this winter, and even fed the fire last night way more than it needed...

I am part-way through the list I had of jobs to do for Lockie's health - Day 1 of the Food Diary is complete [and what a crappy diet he has - not a fruit or veg in sight!], and we have handed over a sputum sample for luck, although still haven't tackled the other end one. Have also managed to miss only one dose of his Augmentin in the last week - he even takes a tablet to school for lunch. They are BIG tabs but he's such a trooper - I know some adults who would have trouble swallowing pills this big, but not our Locks.

I am one step closer to the Garage Sale - Lockie will go to his Nana's in Otaki for the night [or two], so now I need to book a newspaper ad, or maybe just make a big cardboard sign to hang near the shopping mall - seems to be the done thing around here.

Better go wake the kids - I hear Bella chatting to the toys in her cot but Lockie is bound to be sleeping in - what a great idea...it is Saturday after all. Sigh. Today we are hanging out with a friend who is a single mum with a son in Lockie's class. Not sure what we'll do - Lockie suggested we could 'go to The Warehouse and then McDonalds', but I'm sure we can do better than that. [These are activities that Fraz sometimes does with him on a Sunday and it's win-win for Lockie!]