No Average Mom

A friend was telling me that she knows a woman who buys clothes at places like Old Navy when they are on clearance for just a couple of dollars, then resells them on EBay.

It sounded like a good idea to me, but then she said that she actually thought it was illegal to buy retail merchandise with the intent of turning around and re-selling it online. Is that true??? It doesn’t make sense to me, but I don’t want to do anything illegal, so that I’d ask “the experts”, who read this blog, what they have heard.

This morning I had to go up in our attic to search yet again for paperwork that I couldn’t find elsewhere in the house. Our new attic is nowhere near as spacious as the one in our old house. I had to laugh as I moved my husband’s box of well used cds for the millionth time in my life. These cds are a collection he has had for almost 15 years and rarely listens to but refuses to part with. I have suggested a bunch of times that he sell them but he just keeps hanging onto them. I just don’t understand it at all. Until I do I guess I will just keep moving them.

Our new town doesn’t have a place to get decent coffee. Maybe I just haven’t found it yet but other than McDonald’s my coffee cup is running on empty. What I really wish someone would open is a Tim Horton’s franchise. Maybe that is what I should do? Right now it is just a pipe dream but I would love to have my own coffee shop. I would probably drink so much of the coffee that turning a profit would be impossible. I once looked into buying a Subway’s franchise that was for sale in our old town. The time it takes to run a restaurant is just not something I can do right now with so much on my plate. Maybe in another 5-10 the time and economy will be right. Until then would somebody please bring decent coffee to my town?

Just this week I was having a conversation with a friend about the state of the world around us. It just feels like everyone is caught up in a negative state of emotion. Daily we are inundated with news of rising prices, economic downturn, and countless global crisis issues. This seems to have created a general state of anxiety in so many people and a desperate need for more joy. I believe that the greatest joys in life are simple and unexpected. I further believe that joy is contagious. Why not bring a little more joy into the world around you starting today with a simple act of kindness to those around you?

“Ghosting” is a fun Halloween tradition of doing something nice for your neighbors and friends. In the spirit of “paying it forward”, everyone needs more positive touches in their life. In our current world filled with constant negative news, Ghosting It Forward is an effort to spread some positive touches to neighbors locally or friends virtually. Whether it is an anonymous note of thanks to your neighbor, a bunch of flowers, a bar of chocolate, an inspirational book or movie, or just a smiley face, Ghosting It Forward will energize people who send and receive the positive touches.

To learn more about “Ghosting It Forward” visit CLICK HERE to find instructions and all you will need to get started “Ghosting It Forward”.

Three weeks in a hotel with my kids watching television excessively was the perfect reminder for me as to why we chose to forgo cable television. By the end of the first week I noticed an ever increasing amount of begging on the part of my son for products he was exposed to by watching television. Suddenly, he was interested in ipods, video game, snow cone makers, and candy of all sorts. My son naturally likes to ask questions about the world around him but watching television clearly shifted his priorities from wanting to know about to materialism. I have to admit this mom loved being able to watch the Food Network, Animal Planet, and Discovery. I don’t however like the fact that television makes my children think “things” are the answer to joy and happiness.

I just finished reading a book called “Every Good and Perfect Gift”. This is book ended up being not quite what I expected based on the cover. This book depicts the life long friendship between two women. The story centers around a pact they made when getting married to their husbands )who also happen to be best friends) that they would never bring children into this imperfect world. Well, at the age of 40 one of them suddenly decides that she wants a baby. This of course is not an easy road to hoe and requires infertility interventions of all types. I thought this might be where the story ends but it only begins here. After the miracle baby enters the world strange things begin to happen to the mom as her memory begins to fail. Thus ensue a journey no one expects that tests the limits of friendship. Read it.

In preparation for shopping for a new home we have started to make a list of things we want versus things we need. One thing that is an absolute must is to have our own private driveway. Currently, we have a shared driveway which has been a huge hassle this last year. The good thing is that my husband and I are on the same page for most of these things. We would love to find a home with one of those tankless water heaters but it isn’t a deal breaker. Having two bathrooms is almost a must have item. We are finding that getting the entire family out the door on time can be a real pain with just one bathroom. For the most part our needs are very simple. A bit of land in a quiet area is all we really need at this point. After the chaos of living in this neighborhood sharing a bathroom is a small price to pay for regaining your sanity.

There are some things I never in a million years thought I would find myself wishing for but I secretly am at this point. Now that I am working part-time once again I simply cannot keep up with my house work. This has left me secretly wishing I could hire a maid. It seems that every minute of the day that I am not working is spent attending to someone or something around my house. Granted my house is far from being a pig sty but it could use a more serious cleaning that I can give it right now. It would be divine to have someone come in and scrub the nooks and crannies like one of those luxury homes you see in magazines. Being the weirdo that I am I probably would feel like I had to clean before the maid came so she wouldn’t think badly of me.