I Have a Few Reputations.. This One Took Me By Surprise...

Have I Taken My Love of Bargaining and Bartering Too Far?


One of the ways I help my family out as a Stay At Home Mom is that I am always looking for a way to earn money for the family from home.  I buy things for resale purposes on Ebay and in my yard sales, etc. I also look at what's trending around town and figure out how to make certain items for selling... deluxe hair bows, diaper cakes, bridal shower towel cakes, diaper wreaths, baby washcloth lollipops, etc.. all very cute!

And I am pretty good at selling things and sweet talking folks, if I do say so myself.  Which is a skill that comes in handy as a SAHM! I remember one recent trip to a local restaurant where they were out of fried pickles. (how does that happen, right??!)  I very sweetly spoke with the owner and by the end of the conversation, I had him convinced it was his idea to send his unhappy about it wife to the store to go buy more pickles for us.  When she came back, in a terrible mood I might add, I had a quiet conversation with her. By the end of THAT conversation, not only was she totally pleased to have gone to get our pickles, but she was also handing out free dessert to my party of 5! :)

Anyway.. Back to the story at hand:

Well, I was visiting my mom recently and one of her best friends happens to be a good friend of mine. He was hanging out with us, and we were all discussing my upcoming yard sale.

He was joking with us and stated that he could just see a browser coming up to me holding a shirt and saying "do you have this in the next size up?" and looking at my kid.  Then, he made a comment about how he could just see me telling my child to take their shirt off and hand it to the shopper.... My mom and I exchanged a look and the room fell into an awkward silence as our friend stopped laughing and said "NO WAY! You would not do that? Oh my God! You so totally would! Wouldn't you??!!"

Ok, the truth is that I would NOT have my kid take their clothes off so I could sell them... but we got quiet before we started laughing too.. because the truth isn't too far behind that... I have had browsers make a comment along the lines of "if only you had 2 of these toys so my kids wouldn't fight over them, I would buy both of them.. With only one, I can't just buy one..." And I have then dashed in my house real quick-like and pulled the matching item out of my secret Christmas toy stash and brought it out to the customer!!! I figure, hey! Either the kids will never know the difference, or I can use the profit from the sale to either replace or buy something better in the place of that particular item....

That's not the same as pulling clothes off my kids to make a buck, right?? That's just smart business practice, right right??


Good times.

But really. My kids are totally spoiled at Christmas either way! Ha!

Selling the shirts off their backs, indeed. What do you all take me for!

They Are Smarter Than We Are... And Some of Them Even Know It...

Or, How I Almost Lost My 3 Yr Old When She Tried To Bail Out of My Moving Vehicle.....

Hello, Blog World! Miss me? I missed all of you! It has been a crazy life.. yes, crazier than usual, if you can believe it.. but enough of that.. on to the norm.. the crazy norm.

My 3-yr old has figured out what takes most kids many many years to figure out.. most don't even figure it out until well into their teenage years... that hidden truth.. you know the one... the unspoken one... 

EACH GENERATION SEEMS TO BE THE TEENSIEST SMARTER THAN THE PREVIOUS GENERATION... OR AT LEAST THEY THINK THEY ARE!  

Our parents blamed the internet or MTV... I think my generation will blame YouTube and I Phones or Twitter or whatever... But, here goes:

My 3 yr old has that terrible habit. She always says "Are we there yet? Are we there NOW?"  

So, I thought I outsmarted her. I started replying "Yep. We sure are."   At first, she would sit there a little confused. You know, the car was still moving, or we were at a red light, or since when did we move in to the Mc D's drive thru line?   Then, she got the humor and would giggle and it would make her be quiet for a while. She "got it" that she needed to be patient and quit asking and that it would be obvious when we "got there".  

Then, one day, she asked "Are we there yet?"  I replied, "yep."  And she was solidly quiet.  Nothing. Nada. Just the cold dreadful silence of a 3-yr old deep in scheming thought....

The next day, she asked "Are we there yet?" while we were cruising at a steady 55mph down the highway.  I replied smugly and happily with my "Yes, honey, we sure are."  (Did I mention how happy I was to have discovered this set of responses to that particular age old question? Once I found that response, I cut having to respond to that question from about 20 times each car ride down to just once per trip! I am so very smart!)

BUT OH NO! THIS TIME SOMETHING HAPPENED!

My daughter says very straight laced, "Ok, Mommy. I am going to unbuckle now and open my door now then."  She starts to fiddle with her buckle just enough to let it make noise and PANIC MOMMY!!! while she reaches for the door lock... 

I start freaking out and all but yelling "NO! Don't MOVE!  WE ARE NOT THERE! Do NOT OPEN THAT DOOR OR UNBUCKLE! OMG! STOP!!"  I am having kittens and about to have a heart attack... when all of a sudden these little evil giggles erupt from my back seat...

"I know, I know, Mommy. We aren't there. I just kidding."

Lesson Learned. Don't be a sassy mom. Oh my goodness. Those kids are way too smart. WAY TOO SMART FOR THEIR OWN GOOD!  Please let me survive their childhood!

Now it goes like this:

Are we there yet?

Yes We are. But don't unbuckle or Open your door. Because we aren't really there.

SIGH.