Yard sale

In the midst of preparing and getting stuff ready, and on the very day of the yard sale itself, it never cross my mind to get my camera ready! Oh well, will try to think ahead next time. In reality, the yard sale we had was a huge success. It was organized by one of the resident and on my street alone, we had about 5 houses that was having their own yard sale that day, and you can imagine how much traffic we had on a Friday and Saturday of last week. The bigger items like the Papasan chair, toddler's bed plus mattress, strollers, 2 bicycles, 1 tricycle, a scooter and a John Deere tractor used by my son were gone on the 1st day. Other popular items are toys, children's clothings, from Jeans to socks and children's underwear, children's winter coats, shoes, boots etc. were almost gone on the 1st day too. Based on past experience, I have decided not to put out adult clothings or too much of the the stuff animals because it does not sell that well. I did put a few stuff animals out, and almost none of them were sold. Some friends brought in their stuff like walkers, strollers, baby car-seat, and toddler's bicycle to be put in our yard sale and it was sold immediately on the 1st day. One particular lady, who I think is a pro at buying and selling or she might have her own store somewhere, came with a huge van and she got all kinds of stuff almost to the roof of her van. I knew this, because I helped her carry some of the stuff that she purchased from us to her van.

Like I said, our yard sale last week was a success and I would gladly do it again next year. The money that we got from the yard sale would be used for buying my son's winter clothings, since he have outgrown most of his winter clothings from last year. I am glad to say that our junk is someone's elses treasure. We were having too many stuff that we don't really need and with the unpredictable current economic issues, high gas prices and high cost of grocery bills, I told my son that if we were to get anymore toys, the house would explode. He was laughing so hard when he heard me say it.

MIA

Hello everyone,

Well now, it is like writing a letter to all my buddies and those who have been browsing my blog. I know I have been MIA for awhile but hopefully in a couple of weeks or so, I will get back to my normal schedule. I have been busy looking for a job, busy with my son's schooling, busy with visiting the doctor's office, busy with my son's sunday school at the Masjid and busy with arranging stuff for our sub-division yard sale next week.

My son's sunday school coincides with the Masjid providing it's 1st free Iftar meals in the Masjid during Ramadan. Around 4 pm, the teachers were trying to get the kids organized into their age group, and those who have been there the previous years. There were a number of new students, including my son. Since the Masjid will be pretty crowded around Iftar, the teacher who were in-charge of the new students put them in a room without any chairs or table. The teacher in-charge took their attendence and taught the children basic alphabet in arabic and how to pronounce them. The children also got a couple of books each. After 1/2 hour of learning, they got to do coloring. After that, it was time for dzuhur prayer, and I was amazed to see Ramzi and Axel (Axel's mom is from Indonesia, and I was introduced to her by one of the lady at the Masjid) was in the front row imitating what the adults were doing. After that, they got back to their class with the other kids and it was story-telling time. Finally, before Iftar, the kids were allowed to go to the playground and I think that's the most enjoyable moment that Ramzi had... Being free to run around!

At this point in time, there were so many people in the Masjid, probably around 300+! People were begining to flock into the Masjid because of Iftar Meal. Before leaving home today, I made beef puff and had them placed together with the abundance of food the the Masjid had already prepared. It was maghrib prayer time, and again my son and Axel put their shoes to the side and ran back into the Masjid and sat again at the front row. We,my husband and I, had a hard time trying to get his attention after the prayers were done because he was so busy looking at people and playing with Axel. My husband got him to come down to the basement and have some food. The throng of people makes the condition pretty humid in the basement, but we managed to have some food and drinks and took off the minute we are done because I could not handle the heat even with the a/c turned on. The great thing that happened today was that, there was a young guy from Cambodia (I think!), who according to one guy at the Masjid, have been hanging around the Masjid for weeks, and who wanted to be converted, and the Imam did his part. I managed to talk to him, and congratulate him too, while the other guys shook his hand and pat his back, some others gave him a big ole' hug!

Earlier, I mentioned, Axel's mom who was from Indonesia. At 1st glance, I thought she was from Malaysia but after I was introduced to her, I found her to be extremely likeable, like her son. She told me she is also a convert, and wants to in-depth her knowledge about religion and prayers. I invited her to come over on her off days and she did, which was yesterday. Gave her some ideas about ablution and step by step guide on how to pray, but she was most concern about the recitation in arabic. I thought of one lady that I have be-friended at the Masjid and I told her I will introduce her to this lady.

Oh well, I am still a stay-at-home mom, still trying to find that dream job. I've received a few offer during interviews and also over the phone, but the hours are just not to my liking. I need a job that fits my son's school schedule! I've just came back from the Doctor's office today. I was there on a monday, which was 2 days ago and they wanted to draw some more blood!! Said that my potassium level is extremely low and they need another test. The nurse was going on and on about eating vegetables and lots of fruits. I told her I've been doing that every day and right after that I went to Wal Mart and got more fruits like Bananas, Grapes and Strawberries. When I got home, I ate a big bowl of quaker oats and topped with all the fruits that anyone can get! The nurse told me I got to come back on 9/22.

Next week will be yard sale! I have so much stuff that I need to sell, especially toys and lots of bicycles, car seat, children's clothings and some other junk that we have collected over the years! Hopefully I can make some extra $$.