Rambling and Rummaging

Call this a "hail Mary" blog entry so that I don't look like such a slacker for the month of February. My excuse is that I've been busy. Also, every time I sit down at the computer I wander off into passiveaggressivenotes.com and then forget why I sat down at the computer in the first place (yes, I've gotten to that age). I also recently discovered a site called Regretsy - Where DIY Meets WTF. So yeah, productive time at the computer has mostly fallen by the wayside. But wait, I have another excuse. I've been busy doing stuff like . . .

Last Monday I picked up two Boxers that were sprung from a shelter north of me. The rescue didn't have a foster home open right away and both dogs were in need of veterinary care (vaccinations, heartworm testing, neutering, etc.), so I dropped them off at my clinic for boarding. Then came the job of finding foster homes for these two very nice chaps. Spencer is 10-12 and Jake is 6-7. They were dumped at a shelter because the owner has a toddler and, as you may be aware, dogs and children cannot (apparently) exist in the same house.

[Begin rant] If you are going to get married and have children (or even have delightful little offspring out of wedlock), and don't think you can handle a dog and a child at the same time, please do not get a dog. Seriously. I'm so tired of it I could scream. Week after week we hear the same story. People console themselves by saying that the dog will be "better off with someone who has more time" but believe me, your dog would rather make do with less of you than to be homeless. [/end rant]

The good news is that we did line up foster homes for both dogs and the boys are doing well. I was particularly concerned about Spencer because of his age.

In other news, I participated in a rummage sale yesterday. It was held in a local mall and the sale was specifically geared towards infant and children's clothes and supplies. I shared a booth with a friend of mine and a friend of hers. We got swamped early on and the early birds mostly wiped us out. I had brought some toys (in addition to the clothes) and those were gone within the first half hour or so. By noon, things had settled down and sales were sporadic thereafter. I made around $140.00 which, as my friend Jennifer would say, "is better than a poke in the eye."

I only had a few people try to talk me down on prices. If they were buying multiple items, I was happy to discount. If they were just buying one, fuggetaboutit. Another item I brought along was a vintage (early 80s, I think) Sesame Street lamp that I had in A's room when she was born. I can't remember what I spent on it, but I seem to recall it was quite a bit. That was in those heady "I'm finally a mom!" days right after she was born. Anyway, I actually think this lamp is worth a decent chunk of change, but I'm way too lazy to ship it (the shade would require a lot of special packaging and whatnot). People poked at it all day and then I finally got a buyer at the end of the day. And I was happy, because I did not want to haul that bugger back home.

We ran into a few catty moms early in the day, but most of the people were nice. The oddest exchange was this:

Random old man (holding up a Micky Mouse plate that I was selling for a buck): What IS this?
Me (wondering if this was a trick question): Um, it's just a plate.
Man (setting it back down and then looking at me with one eyebrow cocked): Uh huh. Just a plate, eh?

He then walked away slowly and deliberately, as if to prove that I had been unable to pull the wool over his eyes with my tricky plate.