Garage Sales

I have been wanting to clean out the furnace room (our general storage room) for months. I knew I wouldn't get around to it until the summer. Last week I finally went on a cleaning jag. After two days of work I got it finished (I also cleaned out the refigerater and the stove including moving them away from the wall an cleaning the floor underneath--eeeeuuuwww). In the process I thought why are we keeping all this stuff? I decided we were going to have a garage sale to get rid of things like Dennis' old bowling ball, my skis & boots and lots of other silly stuff that was just taking up space. (There's still plenty of stuff left in the furnace room.) We also made chocolate chip cookies and lemonade to sell. I told the boys any profit we made they could keep for the trip to Hawaii coming up.
We put signs up around the neighborhood and even listed the garage sale on craigslist. We held it this past Friday and Saturday from 9am to 1pm each day hoping that our junk might just be other people's treasure. Turns out our junk is pretty much other people's junk too. We did sell a few things each day but I would have to say that about half our profits came from the cookies and lemonade ($40--but still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick as my mom would always say)! Still it was a fun adventure and something I have always wanted to try (although it is NOT on my "list").
It was very interesting to watch the different people that showed up from the "professional" garage salers to the neighbors just stopping by. Some people didn't even get out of their cars they just drove by slowly. Both days the weather was very nice so we just sat in lawn chairs and enjoyed the sunshine. I actually finished reading two library books.
Saturday afternoon when we were done, we just chucked the whole caboodle in the back of the van and hauled it to DI. I'm not sure all the work setting it up was worth the $40 profit. I don't think it is anything I will be doing again anytime soon or if I clean up the furnace room again. It does however always feel good to purge! Until I need something I got rid of that is!

Mama Mia!

Okay, I freely admit that I am and have always been a huge ABBA fan. Not too surprising considering I came of age at the same time they were internationally big (mid 70s to early 80s). In fact the ABBA Gold CD is one of my favorites to listen to whenever I have a long drive (like to Idaho). It really chews up alot of miles and keeps me awake because I am signing along. We have even endoctrinated the boys to like them too. By we I mean Dennis & I of course--although he may not be quite as big a fan as I am. There's alot of teenage/early 20s memories tied up in that group! Which by the way did you know that the name ABBA came for the first letter of the names of all the members--Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid (although she generally went by Frida)? I didn't, I just read it on Wikipedia.
A few months ago Dennis & I went with our good friends the Radfords to the 5th Avenue Theater in downtown Seattle to see the musical, Mama Mia! (written by Benny), that is based on their hit songs. I have to admit that we were a bit skeptical going in but boy was it fun! I laughed so hard in some parts that tears were streaming down my face! Part of the fun was knowing they were about to break out into song and trying to guess which one. Sometimes you could totally tell which one was coming and it was so campy & corny that you wanted to groan but you laughed instead. It was such a fun production complete with these amazing, tight, florescent-colored, spandex costumes at the end. It included a sing-along.--and boy did Peg and I sing along! The performers were excellent and did a great job.
So now there is a movie based on the muscial starring Meryl Streep. I don't know whether it will be as good as the theater production or as fun. I have my doubts. If you love ABBA I would totally recommend the stage production for sure. Peg and I have already vowed to go see the movie. It remains to be seen if it will live up to the stage production.
Meanwhile if you haven't listened to them lately or if you never have--you should (and I mean the original group--not all the really bad pop remakes that have been done in recent years!). It will make you smile

Many Partings

These are our friends the Dittos--Julia & Logan and their three children Lucy, George & Jane (the cutest kids ever!) Logan was Tucker's Home Teaching partner since we moved into the new ward (congregation) when Tucker turned 12. Logan has been a great example to Tucker and very vigilant about doing home teaching and including Tucker and welcoming him into their home and family. Julia and Logan just moved to Spokane where he will be starting a dental career. We invited them over for a last dinner before they left.

The nature of the area we live in in Seattle is that the wards that we have lived in are constantly changing because there is a large student population. The ward we are currently in has the biggest population and makes big changes every fall and summer. This summer saw a really big exodus of families who had been in the ward since we moved in. One of which was the Dittos.

We are extremely blessed to have these great young families in our midst but it is always hard to see them go. This one was particularly hard for the Chandlers. (Tucker was almost sobbing as he said good-bye to Logan that day.) We are definitely greatful for the positive influence they have been for our family.

Not a few days after the departure of the Dittos we got a phone call from our pals the Roches' letting us know that they would be heading to South Africa!! Neal and Steph have been a part of our family for about five years. They were our Home Teachers in our old ward and we never let go of the connection when we left. They have been to countless family functions, ran the Whidbey half-marathon with us and Neal's family owns the now infamous Cupcake Cabin. They too have been a positive influence on our family and will be greatly missed. They both left for South Africa on Thursday, Neal to stay and Steph will return in about 10 days to wrap things up and head back in September. Thankfully they will only stay there for a year--at least that is the current plan. A grand and exciting adventure for them that will be fun to hear about when they return but they will be sorely missed.

There have been many other families that we have made friendships with over the years who have moved on to other areas of the country and I am thankful for their positive examples and influence for my boys. Nevertheless it is alway sad to have the partings!