Garage Sale - The Aftermath

This weekend I learned, like many others have probably learned before me, that having a garage sale can be too much pain and not enough gain. However, I am still glad I did it. I got some stuff out of my house, made some people happy with their finds, and actually sat down - for the better part of 4 full hours - and read a magazine I had been meaning to read for months and months but never found the time to do so. The girls also had their own rainbow loom bracelets and used toys sale, and actually managed to make $6.

My goal in having the garage sale wasn't necessarily to make money, although that was a desirable side effect, but rather to ensure that our stuff went to a good home where it can be useful all over again. Unfortunately we had a lot of stuff left, so we ended up doing exactly what I didn't want to do in the first place: Taking it to St Vincent de Paul. I am convinced that time and time again people donate good things, but they get destroyed when they are thrown in those giant bins. So it wasn't my first choice, but I know I only did it after I tried a different way.

Hosting the garage sale was a bit of a roller coaster, from feeling excited about the prospect of decluttering the house ... to feeling exhausted getting ready for it ... to feeling worried about not enough people coming ... to feeling happy when some people did show up ... to feeling sad for those who said they could only afford used stuff ... to feeling tense watching the time left and the pile still left ... to feeling relieved that it is finally over and you will probably never try doing it again.

Order please!

NO, NO, NO!

YES, YES, YES!

Goddard Carnival

And this is how we spent Friday night, at the Goddard Carnival. The last picture has Lionel and Sofia walking back to the car, with the sunset in the background. Too bad the picture turned out so dark.

Garage Sale 2014

In a serious effort to declutter our house I decided to have a garage sale this weekend. I have been working hard at getting ready for it, so I hope it goes at least Ok. If nobody shows up I am going to be seriously disappointed. It is not that we need the money from it, but we do need somebody to take the stuff and give it a good new home. Even after taking out all the stuff for the sale our house doesn't seem decluttered at all, so God knows I don't want to bring all those things back to where they were before.

The Towers

Today I took these pictures on my way back from lunch. Pretty views of the P&G towers and gardens.

The trees of spring

I love my walks with Zoey during the spring because there are plenty of beautiful trees around here. Instead of leaves, they are made of tiny little flowers. If you look close enough, you can see all of them.

One way conversation

I often find myself talking to the dog. It is not that I don't talk to people during the day. In fact, I talk to people all day long. Maybe it is because I like her so much, or maybe it is because she is such a great listener!

27.1

It appears that this month I have run 26.1 miles so far, just .1 short of a full marathon. And based on my current mileage, looks like early next month I may get to 1000.

Easter 2014

Today was a quiet and yet busy day. We went to mass in the morning, I then struggled to get a decent picture of the family, we had lunch, cleaned, I went grocery shopping, the girls and I went to visit my parents, and Lionel and I gave the girls a late egg hunt. It was go go go until dinner time. The day, and the entire weekend for that matter, definitely flew by.

Miss attitude

On our way to the birthday party from the zoo Bella fell asleep in the car ... Like this.   It appears she displays attitude even when asleep.

Frozen party

This afternoon, after our visit to the zoo, we went to the birthday party of the daughter of friends of ours. It was a Frozen theme party, with princesses and all, and the girls had a really good time. It wasn't so much because of the party theme itself, although Sofia loved the stuffed Olaf, but because the weather was nice and they got to ride bikes and run around outside.

The Zoo!

I LOVE the Cincinnati Zoo in the spring. Seeing all the tulips, with their beautiful bright colors, makes me extremely happy. It is such a beautiful view!

A fun day off

Today Lionel and I had the day off, and I think we used it wisely. It was a beautiful day so we went running in the morning, picked Bella up from preschool, went out for lunch, had ice cream, and came back home. Bella and I then went out again to do a little shopping while Lionel picked up Sofia and took her to piano class. We then met them at the park, including Gabi, Tio, and Diego, and had dinner all together at Betta's. It was a fun and sun filled day!

Compliment

Today I got an unexpected compliment from somebody at work that is about to retire. She stopped by my desk and told me that she thought "I was one of the good ones", that she hopes I continue to move up in the company, and that if she still had her career ahead of her she would love to report to me. It was a nice thing for her to say. All I could say back was "Thanks, I will continue trying my best". Not very inspirational I guess, but what was I suppose to say? Certainly not something along the lines of "I know right? I am definitely the best".

When one door closes...

They say that when one door closes, another one opens. In the case of the Flying Pig, it looks like that is exactly how it is going to go down for me. I have been bummed because my leg is still not 100%, and as such I can't run the entire 13.1 miles for the Half. But it looks like I just got myself a relay team. I may not be able to run 13, but I do have 7 miles in me!

Horseshoe Casino

I have never been a big Vegas fan, and yet in the past I ended up there time and time again for work conferences. I haven't been there in at least couple years, but I spent this past couple of days at the Horseshoe Casino here in Cincinnati for a Project Management training. Since it is a casino after all, it still had the same vibe as those conference centers in Las Vegas. But unlike my Vegas events, I just got out of here and will be back home within the hour. 

After the snow

After waking up to snow on the ground, we at least had a sunny day. That helped the snow melt, even though the cold weather stuck around all day. Despite the cold I decided to take Zoey for a walk, partly for me and partly for her. Upon close inspection it looked like the white trees didn't suffer from the snow. That was good news in my book.

April snow

After a gorgeous weekend, when we easily reached the mid 70's, today we woke up to discover snow on the ground. Ridiculous, I know! It made me particularly sad to think about all the tulips at the Zoo. We missed the tulips last year, and this year we haven't had a chance to be there yet. I sure hope they are not all dead.

My Birthday Gift

This year Sofia got a whole bunch of beanie boos for her birthday, but my gift was a bit different. A few weeks ago Sofia, Bella and I made couple dresses for their dolls, and Sofia showed a lot of interest in it. So when I went to TJ Maxx the other day, and saw a mini sewing machine in the kids section, I just had to get it for her. We haven't opened it just yet, but I hope that it works ... and that it is safe.

Happy 9th Birthday Fifi!!

For her actual birthday Sofia asked me to bake her a cake, so I did. In fact, I went all in. I didn't make her a cake from a box. I made it completely from scratch, with chocolate icing and raspberry sauce in the middle. 

When Sofia and Lionel came back from the Reds Game Tios stopped by for a little bit for our traditional cake cutting. Sadly, since it was already kind of late, we forgot to take a group picture before we cut the cake. But at least I got a picture of the birthday girl.

Teddy Bear 5K

On Sunday, during Sofia's actual birthday, she and I participated in our very first ever 5K together. It was downtown at 9:00 am, and the weather was still perfect! I was hoping we would run at least half of it, but Sofia mainly wanted to walk - so we did. The good news is that since the weather was beautiful it was actually a pretty nice walk.

The 5K started and ended by my work, and took us through Eden Park, so we had some nice views. It took us 48 minutes to finish, which was Sofia was excited about. Apparently she thought it was going to take us the full hour. On a side note, my bib number was exactly 1000. What are the odds...