Garage Sales

Frog Story: We walked down the court to our neighbors garage sale and while I was talking to my neighbor Annaliese started looking around. She picked up this frog, held it up and asked, "How many for this?" The kid is not shy. It was a quarter. Perfectly within her price range.

I'm a garage sale addict. This is a new thing that started right about the time I moved. We have an arrangement that on Saturday's I get the morning "off" from the kids, so it doesn't matter where I go, I just have to get out of the house. So I'd get in the car and drive, then I'd see a garage sale sign, so what the heck I'd just follow it. Then it wasn't long before I developed a habit where I'd research them and write down directions ahead of time. (I really started learning the area that way.) Some houses there is just nothin. I discovered you have to get in about 8-10 to really find treasures. I'm blown away at just how many new things, still in the package or with tags you can pick up. And if there is something I'm in need of, I usually can find that exact item within 2 weeks of garage saling. So I have a stash going that I keep in the garage for Annaliese. It's toys that have never been opened. So far I have a Belle Barbie (when she play's princesses, she has to be Belle), a tinkerbell, the cartoon Alice in Wonderland DVD, The 1st Chipmonks movie DVD (she watches the sqeakqual all the time!), and a princess game still in the package. I can save things for Birthday/ Christmas or if I need a present for her doing something special, I can whip something out.


At Christmas and her birthday she got a ton of really nice gymboree clothes. Within 2 months she outgrew all the tops and within weeks, she had holes in the jeans and had pretty much worn them out. It hit me when I walked into a cute little second hand store downtown called Savvy Seconds. It was gently used name brand stuff but displayed cute but priced still about 1/2 off the original. (which in my opinion was still high for something used.) I thought, this is just name brand garage sale stuff! I'll just find it myself. So I just started looking at garage sales for clothes for her and have found so many cute things. Usually for a dollar. Then if she trashes it or gets holes in it, or out grows it in a month, I don't worry about it because I paid a dollar. It's so fun to hit the nice neigborhoods where you find cute Gymboree, Janie and Jack and Gap outfits. I also pick up shoes that are in really good condition. She destoys shoes the fastest. Usually within a week they are toast. This is so the way to go if you have a kid that goes through clothes like mine does.
She's such a tom boy it's crazy. Last night on the way home from Nanny's she held a bug the entire way home. She wouldn't put it in a cup. I knew she would drop it when she fell asleep and she did. So sure enough, mom had to fish it out of the car later. Fun! At least she's a tom boy that likes to wear the occasional princess dress.
In this picture she is wearing her official Disneyland shoes for our next trip. Wearing those shoes she is exactly 41 inches and can go on almost all the rides. Although she'll probably grown another inch by the end of summer anyway. She's also wearing cute little gap capris. I saw the exact style at target earlier this week and thought, Annaliese would be cute in a pair like that. Found a gap pair at garage sale just yesterday for like 2 dollars. And when she gets holes in them next week, I'll be okay with it.