had a lovely visit from tom’s parents and brother this weekend. it was great to show our second-ever group of visitors around town.
somehow this weekend also began my birthday fun, too! who knew a birthday could start a whole week early?
apparently the visiting fam and my sister knew.
and who might that be peaking out of the bushes? that’s right it is johnny 5! in wide screen. woo hoo! you never know who’s going to show up in your mailbox these days.
today there was a “free meet” at a local school in honor of earth day. everyone brought items they no longer wanted, but didn’t want to throw away. in return, everyone could leave with any items that would be of use to them. basically, it is a stuff exchange.
we brought stuff and, of course, left with stuff:
some of the highlights are: a decent dell laptop, a pile of children’s books, a brayer and block printing manual (1950ish) that states it is “for use of u.s. armed forces personnel only” to assist the “army handicraft program,” and a garbage bag full of mega blocks and mega block accessories. the amount of blocks you see pictured is approximately 1/20th of the total amount in the bag. after a sanitizing trip through the dishwasher, they are ready for building!
adam, landry, cora and lily are going to have plenty to play with and read when they come to visit tom and tina’s house (aka “la casa del cheap-o”).
we went to a bike auction in a neighboring town this morning. at 9am the mayor and some city hall employees stood on the steps of the building and auctioned 45 bicycles to an eager crowd of locals. it was fantastic.
the bidding began at one dollar and went up in dollar increments. (like i said, fantastic.)
in fact, this cutie came home with us for only one dollar:
it is a smidge short for tom, but since he got outbid on the bike he wanted, it will do for now and then will be great for sharing with shorter-legged visitors.
by comparison, this bike was crazy expensive:
we won it with a bid of five whole dollars.
they both need a major tune up, and a cleaning, but for a total of $6, they will be perfect for getting us around the local trails.
since we were out and about so early on a saturday morning, we also took advantage of the beginning of yard sale tag sale season and searched for some bargains.
we came home with a bulletin board for the craft room, some nice note cards, some books, an impact driver:
tom’s favorite find of the day, a box full of computer goodies:
the box said, “free, take all or take none, please.” what’s a boy to do? take all of course!
and a very important buy, a new old air popper:
we already have one, but live in fear that it will some day stop working. and who knows when we might have to make massive amounts of popcorn quickly. better to be prepared, especially when preparation costs only two dollars.
here we witness old old popper welcoming new old popper to the cabinet:
is it just me, or does that picture remind you of the mummenschanz? ewww. so creepy.
some good stuff and a fun morning, all for under 20 bucks.
