Local Consignment Sales - Fall 2012

I've started assembling a list of local consignment sales for Fall 2012. If you know of one that I am missing, please let me know in the comments, and I will add it to the list!

Spring Chicken Sale
August 17-18
Havertown, PA

Cozy Tots
August 24-26
Bryn Athyn, PA

Bitty Bee's
August 25-26
Kimberton, PA

Just Between Friends - Lower Bucks
September 6-9
Feasterville, PA

The Clothing Tree
September 7-9
Allentown, PA

Simply Kids
September 7-8
Pottstown, PA

Growing Express
September 8
Ambler, PA

Just Between Friends - Western Mainline
September 13-15
Oaks, PA

L'il Angels
September 14-16
Bensalem, PA

Mainline MOMs
September 15
Drexel Hill, PA

Branch Creek MOPS Mom2Mom Consignment Sale
September 15
Harleysville, PA

The Clothing Tree
September 21-23
Quakertown, PA

Chester County MOMs
September 22
Downingtown, PA

Mother's Market
September 22
Calvary Church, Souderton, PA

Just Between Friends - West Chester/Media
September 22-23
Glen Mills, PA

WeeUsables Children's Consignment Event
September 27-29
Lancaster, PA

Just Between Friends - Reading
September 27-29
Reading, PA

L'il Angels
September 28-30
Northeast Philadelphia, PA

Valley Forge MOTTC
September 29
Oaks, PA

Smart Moms Sale
September 29-30
Eagleville, PA

The Clothing Tree
October 5-7
Wind Gap, PA

St. Luke's UCC MOPS
October 5-6
Trappe, PA

All Children's Sale
October 5-6
Wayne, PA

Best Dressed for Less
October 5-7
Burlington, NJ

Bucks-Mont MOMs
October 6
Lansdale, PA

Mommy Market @ UGFD
October 13
Lansdale, PA

Kool Kids
October 19-21
Morrisville, PA

Just Kids Stuff Yard Sale
October 20
Eagleville, PA

West Philly Grows Again
October 20
Philadelphia, PA

WeeUsables Children's Consignment Event
October 26-27
York, PA

Just 4 Kids
November 2-4
Maple Shade, NJ

More Wakeman Family Quotes

I just posted quotes yesterday, and already I have enough to post again! I think this might be Dorothy's first appearance in a quotation post. My girls sure are a lot of fun.

JA: Valerie, guess who just peed in the potty!
V: Who?
JA: Guess!
V: Dorothy?
JA: Yes!
V: Hooray! She can be the next student in my potty school!

V: Dorothy, are you done?
D: No, I Dody!

V: Look at my yellow monkey!
JA: Wow, I never saw a yellow monkey before!
V: Actually, ephemeral orangutans are yellow.

V: (playing with playdough) And then Jesus crushed the volcano!

More Recent Valerie Quotes

"His name is Jake. But we call him Jakie-Bear for long."

"This is how you fix a car: God fixes a car."

"Which is scariest? Dragon, butterfly, or bear?"

Where I am right now

I deactivated Facebook about a month ago. I feel compelled to write something explaining this decision, but there are so many things all tied up together in it, and I can't seem to wrap my head around it all to compose a coherent blog post about it.

Camp Meeting this year changed my life. I wasn't expecting it to. I wasn't expecting an altar call to send me down this path. Sanctification. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Theological concepts I have kept at arms length for my 30 years of Christian faith, and inhaled all at once when something finally clicked for me.

Tearing down the high places in my life. Prioritizing, and scheduling (which feels like a four-letter word to my spontaneous heart, but is proving to be genuinely liberating). I thought I knew what I was doing after 30 years of this, but suddenly, I feel like a newborn Christian. Scrambling to figure out how it all fits together. Groaning under the weight of the responsibility of two more souls. Failing daily.

Facebook is the social equivalent of snacking all day, rather than eating three square meals.* I'm yearning for depth. Looking for meat and potatoes in my friendships. Quality over quantity.

And under and through all of this is a recurring thread: The value of unexpressed thoughts. "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19) Letting thoughts simmer and develop completely. I wasn't sure I wanted to, needed to, or even should blog about this. Because I'm still working through it all, and it's not fully cooked yet.

I have reread this post a dozen times, and have written three different concluding paragraphs, all of which I have deleted. I don't think it's possible for me to be satisfied with this post, so I'm just going to leave it at this. Imperfect, and unpolished - an excellent representation of my current state.

 

 

*Google+ is an all-you-can-eat olive bar.

She can write her name!

Just turned 4 years old. I'm very proud of her!

Some Valerie Quotes

Since I'm on a Facebook hiatus, I thought I would share some recent Valerie quotes here. Enjoy!

"I can do even bigger miracles. I can change hell so that it's nice. And then I'll change the name to Monkeyland."

V: (Watching The Wizard of Oz) This is kinda like the Wizard of Oz
JA: This IS the Wizard of Oz
V: No, I mean the Strawberry Shortcake Wizard of Oz!
JA: (laughing) Yes, it probably is like that
V: Except this one is all gray

"I just realized something! Poops and toots are related!"

"Alright everybody, blast your seat belts!"

Drawing by Valerie, aged almost-four

"Valerie, can you tell me about this drawing?"
"It's a TV, and the TV's ear, and that's the show, and the TV is giving the humans cucumbers. Oh, and the TV has feet."

Hour-a-Day April: Day 31

What's that? April has only 30 days? Oh well, too bad.

I don't know where it came from, but I found some motivation again today. That pile of relocated clutter from the car was sitting right by the front door and bugging me, so I put almost all of it away. I found a new place for the girls' dress-up clothes (which had outgrown their current bin), and tackled the kitchen (again). That kitchen has been the bane of my existence for most of April, and I think it is a big part of the reason I didn't get around to as many of the sorting projects I had hoped to do. There's something about getting the kitchen *completely* clean that makes keeping it clean so much easier, and I never reached that point once all month. Even doing a little bit every day doesn't seem to cut it when you are also adding to the mess every day - it just maintains the messy status quo. And that is disheartening, and makes me not want to do even the little bit every day for a while, which just sets me back again. It's like the definition of a vicious cycle. I still didn't get there today, in spite of running two full dishwasher loads, and washing several big pots. But I'm close. And I don't want to admit that HADA is over unless at least my kitchen is clean.

I didn't have to make dinner (hooray for Casserole Club!), so I used my normal dinner prep time to finally un-rearrange the living/dining room from Friday's movie party. I vacuumed the dining room area, and half of the living room area (it's really all one room, but I like to pretend it's two), and cleared off the dining room table so we could eat on not-TV-trays.

Daily Total: 2 hours
Monthly Total: 32 hours and 10 minutes

Hour-a-Day April: Day 30

Today wasn't a fantastic day, but my in-laws called to see if we wanted to go to the park after they got off school, so we did. They gave me about a half an hour warning, which gave me enough time to clean out months of clutter build-up in the car. I didn't get the car completely clean, but I did clear it out enough to make room for two extra passengers, and that's something!

Daily Total: 30 minutes
Monthly Total: 30 hours 10 minutes

Flower Girl

I got married in 2001. I had three flower girls, because three of Jeremy's cousins were the perfect age, and all equally adorable. Who could choose?

Earlier this year, Jeremy's aunt gave me back one of the flower girl dresses, because she thought it was just about the right size for Valerie, now. It still looked brand-new. I hung it in the closet, wondering what special occasion might merit such a special dress.

Then Jeremy's cousin's fiancée asked me if Valerie would be in their wedding. "She can wear whatever she wants, it's up to you." I ran home, and tried the flower girl dress on her. It fit! It was a teensy bit too big, but by the time the wedding day rolled around, she had grown just enough. You would have thought I had bought it for her!

Note to brides: If you want an unofficial second shooter for your wedding, let your flower girl wear her mother's flower girl's dress.

I was going to write a whole post about all of the emotions that I felt watching my daughter wear that dress. Watching her spin around so the dress would flare out. Watching her oh so carefully place the petals on the path for the bride. But I can't seem to get it right. So here are a bunch of pictures, instead.