Public Screaming

Today, I was walking through the parking lot of the grocery store when I heard a lady (and I use that term loosely) screaming at her child inside her car. At one point, I heard her yell "When I get you home, I'm gonna whoop you across the behind." I am by far a perfect parent but threatening your child with physical abuse is no way to get them to behave. Screaming and going on like that in a public place is unacceptable. (Screaming at your child is unacceptable anywhere but I know it happens.)

How is your child going to learn to behave in public if you as the parent act like that? I know shopping with anyone under the age of 5 is hard and we sometimes loose our temper. But before we raise our voice, we must stop, take a breath and figure out what is wrong and how to resolve it. Screaming at your child is not going to get them to behave and whooping their behind is not the solution either.

If you don't have anyone to watch them while you go grocery shopping, try to make shorter trips. Instead of going for a hour once a week, try going for 30 minutes twice a week. If that's not possible, have them help you by finding items and putting them into the cart. If they act up, warn them you are going to leave and follow through. Yeah, it sucks not getting everything on your list, but you can always go back later when your child can behave.

Z Is For Z-Word

I am tired and not very creative tonight, so for the last letter of the alphabet, I am choosing Z is for Z-Word. What the heck is Z-word, you may be asking. Did I just make that up? Nope. Have you ever seen Shaun of the Dead? Z-word is a paraphrase for the word zombies.

Ed: "Any zombies out there?"


Shaun: "Don't say that."


Ed: "Say what?"


Shaun: "The z-word."


linking to Jenny Matlock

Y Is For Yard Sale

It's that time of year when the yard sales start popping up. In this area you get two kinds of yards sales: the ones where everything is cheap but mostly junk or the ones that are great but want Ebay prices. If you want to sell your stuff for that price, sell it on Ebay. Most people shopping yard sales are either resellers or people who can't afford much. I doubt an antique collector is going to stop by your sale.

Anyways, yesterday we had to go to Mosinee to pick up a Wiggles car I saw on Facebook. I paid $12 for it.

It was Mosinee's annual neighborhood yard sales and there were plenty of participants. We decided to check some out. We pulled up to a very nice looking house and they had great stuff. Unfortunately, they were asking too much for their items in my opinion. For example, they had some MOMA puzzles they wanted $10 for. Yes, those are expensive puzzles but I doubt anyone would pay that much at a yard sale when your neighbor is selling similar items for $1 or less. I did purchase this Harry Potter secret box. It was marked $2. I asked if she would take $1 but she said no it wasn't hers. Didn't hurt to ask right?

The next yard sale looked promising. It had a lot of clothes and baby stuff. All their toys were marked .50 but I didn't see anything I liked, so I walked away empty handed. The next sale was a crappy little garage next to a church. I didn't think I would find anything valuable here. I went to the back table and looked at their coffee mugs and the one I found was not priced. All the others were .25 or .50 cents. I took it up to the lady and my DH yells from the truck, "You found a McDonalds Cup?" Yes, dear readers I found a 1960's breakfast promotional coffee mug. It was marked Fire King and I know some FK cups can go for big money on Ebay. I ask the lady how much and since my hubby had yelled what I found, she actually looked up from her table and said "OOOOHHH, that's an antique. I'll take a (wait for it) dollar. Ok so more than the others but I was fine with that.

The last two yard sales were neighbors. I got all this for $2.50

The giraffe is a toddler sit on toy. It has a steel frame and can support up to 140 pounds. I have never seen anything like it before. It is also the right height for a foot stool. Even though it has a steel frame, it is quite light, about 5 pounds. The other toys are security blankets (.50 cents each) that should sell well on Ebay.

linking to Jenny Matlock

X Is For Xylophone

Last summer, Ryker and I would walk over to the thrift store on a daily basis. He liked to play in the toy section while I shopped. There was always one toy he would play with: a xylophone. It was originally sold at Toys R Us and has Geoffrey the giraffe on it. The mallets were missing so I never bought it. Later in the summer, I found out the store was closing so I went and got the xylophone. I paid .50 He has drum sticks he pounds the bars with but most of the time, he pretends it's a vacuum. After all these months, he still loves his xylophone and even sleeps with it.

linking to Jenny Matlock