Our week was busy, except for when it wasn’t because of the pouring rain and flash floods. But mostly busy.

Sunday:

I mean, I only have three doll houses, why not buy another one? (I did not)

Caroline is destined for music videos with lots of mind machines

I appreciate how the trees on the point hide most of the nuclear power plant. More scenic.

Monday:

I’ve never actually seen the state capitol before

Confucius say: Give a man $120 and he will give you an LLC.

Sometimes I take pictures of stuff I want to remember to keep on my phone, but then I forgot to leave them on my phone.

Tuesday:

The local tax office is located in part of an old TB hospital.

HUGS

We love the sunflowers

Wednesday:

Really excited for gymnastics

Playdates make me hungry, and this was super delicious

I told Evan he is my photography assistant, and he said that means he has to push the stroller.

Thursday:

Grocery store in the pouring rain

Destroying the house and having pillow fights in the pouring rain

Watching Thor in the pouring rain

Friday:

Princess Sadface returns

Five kids under a table.

Despite that face, the rainbow ice was delicious.

Saturday:

Home run!!

I never should have showed her how the front-facing camera works.

Restarted C25K. This time I am determined to finish.

The urgency to do as many things and have as much fun as possible before summer is over has hit. I was actually grateful for a rainy miserable day to stay home and relax (even though we ended up having friends over and totally wearing out my kids). July is almost over and August is going to FLY by and then Evan starts 5 days a week morning pre-k, which I am both totally ready and not at all ready for. They grow up so fast, etc etc, but I’m looking forward to a new stage where I have a lot more time to focus on things I love (especially photography) instead of just being Mommy.

This is my haul from two separate shopping days in the past couple weeks. Actually, the flea market was a “shopping day” but the garage sale was “30 minutes of chasing two kids around a school gymnasium while also shopping”. Whatever you call it, I was pretty please with my finds.

First, the Jewett City Flea Market:

Total cost: $7

Metal Tonka fire truck
3 Little Golden Books
Chinese Checkers board

Printed in 1939!

I replaced three little white plates with the fun board and I love it! I can still take it down to play :)

That Chinese Checkers board was a super lucky find. I grabbed from the floor in front of a booth and asked the lady in charge how much she wanted literally 20 seconds before a guy came running up saying “Whoa! That’s so cool! It’s a collector’s item! It’s old and in such good shape!” He went on and on about how it might be valuable until I said “I’ll give you an extra dollar for it if you want” but the lady told me she got it for free somewhere so she didn’t care.

And this is what I found at a giant indoor garage sale at the local charter school on Saturday:

Total: $4.50

Three milk glass vases (for my collection!)
Two children’s books
Vintage short sleeved baby sweater
CAT digger toy
1973 edition of BH&G Baby Book

This digger lights up and makes sounds too!

Once I get a chance to read this, I'll share some of the "best" advice. (Sample: Your husband should just go back to the office while you're in labor, since it's going to take a long time.)

When Amy over at Baby Baby Lemon suggested we do a blog hop of our collections, my first thought was that the only thing I’m collecting these days is dust bunnies. Seriously. I have quiet a variety under my couch and some of the specimens under my bed are practically antiques. They’re quite impressive.

Fortunately, I did plenty of collecting in my previous life. You know, the one where I actually read Country Living as a source of inspiration instead of laughing at the white-on-white color schemes and artistic arrangements of seashells left on coffee tables. HAHAHAHA Oh designers. Don’t you know my coffee table has been in the basement for a year? Where are the foam square play mats and bouncy chairs?

But thanks to baby gates and a certain little man’s shortness, I’ve managed to hold on to several groups of useless crap collections, even if I’m not actively adding to them. All of them are made of glass.

There are these:

Useless

These:

Currently Useless

These:

A tiny amount of a much larger useless collection

But I decided I should stick with something I collected deliberately, not accidentally. Something I really love and am always excited to add to. Something still totally, totally useless. And glass.

My chickens

I have no idea why I collect glass chickens. It started with a plastic rabbit, made in the same style, that I bought at Target to hold Easter candy. I think my mom mentioned Grandma used to have a glass chicken that looked like the rabbit, so when I saw one at a flea market I picked it up and put it in the china cabinet. Then I found another. And another. Then Mom gave me the ones from Grandma’s house. And then I was Someone Who Collected Glass Chickens and people started saying “oh I have one of those, do you want it?” I always kept my eyes open at garage sales and antique stores for interesting colors or sizes. I may have gone so far as to start cruising Ebay for more chickens – although I never actually bought any (the shipping was always outrageous – one of the benefits of collecting something so pointless and common is that they’re cheap).

Over the past few years, a few non-chickens have slipped into my collection…

Cock-a-doodle-doo Moo Quack Gobble Gobble

…But I try to keep the invaders to a minimum.

I don’t know what they’re for – eggs? chicken salad? candy? – or why they were once so popular but now end up going for $3 in crappy flea markets. But I do know one day my kids are going to be telling their kids that Grandma used to collect those funny glass chickens.

And then they can fight over who has to hold on to them.