A Day in the Life

5:30am
Lisa's alarm went off.  Ours is a nice gentle beeping that starts low and gets louder and louder until you turn it off.  Because I haven't been sleeping well lately, Lisa went down stairs to do her Bible study and I went back to bed.

6:00amish
Grant came in to the bedroom and bee-lined to mommy's side of the bed.  When he found out she wasn't there and was actually downstairs he happily headed down to her.  I went back to bed - more awake now with the sounds of Grant and mommy talking floating up the stairs.

6:33am
Grant came bursting in with mommy right behind, "Coffee, daddy!"  And, magically, a blessed cup showed up at my nightstand.

6:47am
In the shower and talking to Lisa as we plan the day.  Grant is playing with the iPad and TJ is still asleep.

7:41am
Lisa is out the door to meet her workmates for a trip to Camp.  She quietly slipped out while Grant was watching an episode of Mighty Machines, his new favorite show.  I put breakfast on the table for the boys - cereal and a banana - while making sure TJ had his lunch packed.

8:09am
Running late, I dropped off TJ with grandma realizing that his book bag and lunch are still in the house.  Fortunately, Betty lives in the same neighborhood as us so she was able to stop by later on and get it.

8:15amish
Dropped Grant off at day care with a piggy-back ride from the car to the classroom.  Grant wasn't giving out the love this morning and once he realized mommy had left got down right ornery.  At least leaving him off at day care he gave me a hug and kiss.

8:21am
Drove to Ft. Bragg to work listening to NPR discuss the situation in Syria - the latest developments of Syria offering to hand over their chemical weapon stockpiles to Russia being an unexpected twist.

9:06am
Work.  Ugh.

11:51am
Left for lunch with my buddy Charles to discuss the new budget, his migraine headache, and the latest machinations of the command climate.  The food court at the Ft. Bragg mini mall is a great place to people watch and the Manchu Wok serves a good helping of noodles and chicken.

3:47pm
Left for the commissary to buy some food for the house.  I have to admit getting my work done as early as possible in the office makes it easy to slide out a little early.  I don't mind doing the grocery shopping and taking advantage of the savings on post.  Meh.  I don't have gender based hang-ups lile who should do the shopping.

4:34pm
I received a phone call from an officer wanting to join my Reserve Unit.  I have to put it off because I am on line at the store.

4:45pmish
On the road home.  I conducted the interview and was buzzed by Lisa who is was on the verge of buying brand new furniture for the downstairs from two guys in a furniture truck.  Seriously.  The rest of the ride home was getting Lisa to negotiate with them.  Look - if you know my wife - it takes her forever to make a decision on big purchases so to have two guys show up with the stuff right there and right now...  As I pulled up the house the furniture was coming off the truck.

5:50pm
Picked up Grant who almost got overlooked in the furniture buy.

7:22pm
Cleaning up from home made fried rice and a teriyaki pork loin.  Lisa is enforcing the No-Playing-On-the-Couch and the boys play in the garage with their toys.  Lisa and I share the cleaning duties even though the house still smells like garlic, onions, and sesame oil. 

9:55pm
Somehow its 9:55pm.  The kids have been in bed for an hour or so.  The craziness of gettting them to bed is rather benign.  Neither of them fight it - although Grant is on our big bed.  We opened a new bottle of tequila and made a couple of margaritas.  

9:58pm
I am off to the new living room furniture to enjoy some TV.

Garage Sale 101

The results from the Fourth Brown Family Garage Sale is...(drum roll please)...$350+/- some change.

We held two garage sales in New York and, now, two here in North Carolina.  Each time we seem to make just a little more than last time.  It's a little work up front put totally fun on the day-of.

Thanks to Lisa who helped hang signs and engage customers and to Bobby who helped clean and get everything ready for the day of the sale.

Here are the Top Ten Tips (with generous thanks to Glenn Reisweber; US Army, Retired) for a good garage sale:

1.  Advertise!  Craigslist is your friend.  Put an ad with pictures and a map on the website as early as Monday before the Saturday of the event.  No kidding - people contacted us and bought items on Tuesday!  Be prepared for people to try to get to the front of the line by contacting you early.  They get to pay "full" price.
2. Re-post again on Friday night with more pictures.  Be prepared to have your dinner interrupted by "early birds" unless you specifically tell people only to come on the day of your garage sale.
3. Start at 7am but be a good spouse and work together to wrangle children, coffee, and do final set up.  This means being up at 5:30...okay, 5:45.
4. The only thing you are attached to is your spouse and children.  Everything else is negotiable.  You're selling your stuff, right?  Someone wants to buy it, right?  Okay - somewhere between the $10 you want and the $5 they want to give you is a dollar amount you can accept in order to get the stuff out of your house.  Right?!
5. Free coffee - advertised.  Dunkin Donuts.  Box O' Joe (just one).  Creamers.  Sweeteners.  Make sure you offer a cup to everyone.  Enough said.
6. Free parking - advertised.  It's whimsical but people remember it when they are making the rounds.  You didn't think you were the only garage sale that day did you?
7. Have singles on hand like you were going to the strip club (not that I know about that - I overheard it somewhere).  Be able to make coin change for the people who want to buy six 10 cent books.  Really.  People will hand you a ragged, rolled up dollar bill like it was the last one they have to buy just six books for a dime and want change back.  I don't know what they do with the .40 cents but I hope it doesn't break the bank.
8. Anything left over needs to go to the church - toys. clothes, small electronics - the church will put all of it to good use.
9. List any big items (like the 6'x3.5" mirror we were trying to sell) for FREE on Craigslist an hour after the garage sale.  Leave your address and that the items are at the end of the driveway.  Go to lunch.  When you return the items will be gone. Poof!
10. Have FUN!  Garage sales are great time to meet people - even briefly - and share some memories of good toys long past their age-range/usefulness in your home to a new life to be enjoyed somewhere else.  I learned that from Toy Story 3.  
11. (At garage sales there is always a bonus) And one final tip - have an idea what you want to do with your profits - it makes parting with old toys, household items, clothes, etc. much easier when you know there is a purpose beyond just clearing out the garage/basement/attic.

On Saturday, August 31, 2013 we made about half of one airfare to Hawaii.   Woo-hoo!