a perfect fall day

This is how we spent last Thursday.

Zoo Boo at the Indianapolis Zoo; Ellie touching a shark at the aquarium.

Riding the carousel with Mommy.

Pumpkin carving in the evening.

Gross!

After Elliott goes to bed, delicious homemade cheesy potato soup for Mommy and Daddy.

Followed by some fresh pumpkin seeds while watching The Office. 

A perfect fall day.



savvy shopper

I randomly go coupon crazy and having two weeks off for fall break gave me plenty of time to plot my money-saving adventures.  Here's what I got today at Wal-Greens:

three boxes of Kleenex

two bottles of Dial body wash

two containers of Morton's table salt

two boxes of baking soda

three coloring books (only two pictured because one was in use during the photo shoot...)

two cans of Arizona tea

four cans of mandarin oranges

one bottle of Dawn dish soap

and

one bottle of hydrogen peroxide

Grand Total: $15.88

Total Savings: $17.08

It really wasn't that hard to match coupons to sales, figure out what I needed or could stock up on, or what was worth buying at Wal-Greens as opposed to Meijer or Sam's Club.  I'm pretty proud of myself and need to remember to do this more often.

I know...

Elliott has started saying a new phrase ALL THE TIME.  Here's how it goes:

At the dentist's office, meeting the dental hygienist.
Dental Hygienist: "Hi Ellie, my name is Cheryl."
Ellie: "I know."

Mommy: "Hey Stinky Butt, I think you need your diaper changed."
Ellie: "I know."

Outside on the patio.
Daddy: "Look, Ellie, an airplane!"
Ellie: "I know.

Mommy: "Ellie, I don't think you understand what 'I know' means."
Ellie: "I know."

Mary Jane Sutter

This is the house next door.

These are the people that built the house. 



We have lived in our house for over three years.  And in that time the yellow house to the south has always been empty.  Full of someone's stuff, but empty.  We learned at closing that the lady who owns the house was in a nursing home.  I learned a lot more last weekend at her estate sale.

Mary Jane Sutter and her husband, Wilbert, build this house in the 1950s and have been the only owners.  He was a post office employee and died about twenty years ago.  They never had kids, but according to their belongings, they loved the theater, to travel, and entertaining friends (also pin-up girls and Playboy magazines, but that's not really important to my story). 

About seven years ago, Mary Jane fell in the house and hurt herself.  She laid there for a day and a half before anyone found her.  She went to the hospital, assisted living, and most recently this spring, back to the hospital for falling again.  In August she passed away at the age of 92. 

Last weekend the executors of her estate had an auction to empty the house.  They carted away two full-sized dumpsters before getting to things they could sell.  Apparently, Mary Jane had not been in her back two bedrooms since 1992 due to hoarding.  Which explains the window I could see in as I stood at my kitchen sink.  One Sunday morning, I looked up to find a squirrel inside the house staring back at me.  Creepy.

Walking through her house and yard, looking at the stuff for sale, I got an overwhelming sense of sadness.  Things that were being sold: her china and silver, her boxes of family photos, her wedding dress, and her wedding album.  Things that you would think would be going to a family member.  But they didn't have kids and there was no one left to want anything.  That broke my heart.

I can't imagine being at the end of my life and knowing that the things I treasured most were going to be thrown away because there was no one there to want them.  Things that had meant so much to me: my wedding dress, photos from my life, my Bible, my wedding rings.  I hoped she didn't know that her stuff was being thrown out in the yard and snooped through by strangers.  It seemed disrespectful even though I was doing it also.

But the more I thought about all her stuff, the more I wondered if maybe she understood something I didn't.  Maybe she knew that all that stuff in her house didn't matter.  Maybe she knew it was just stuff and not important; that people, memories, family, friends, that's what's important.  But then why did she accumulate so much stuff?  She didn't get rid of anything.  She still had the paperwork for her 1953 refrigerator.  She had 23 boxes of tissues and 7 boxes of Q-tips.  She had over 100 pairs of shoes.  And tons of alcohol.  She obviously wasn't done living in that house when she was taken away.

I think that's just how it is: you're not done living, but it's not really your choice.  And the stuff doesn't matter.  Maybe it was liberating for her to know that someone else had to clean up her mess.  To spend time remembering her life and that was enough. 

I bought her wedding album for $1.  They didn't fill out the front page where it gives you all the infomation, but I've put in a slip of paper to remember her.  To remember the life of someone I never met.  To honor her because it seems sad that the wedding album was going in the trash. 

what's in my purse

I'm a random reader of blogs.  I might spend an evening reading all kinds of stuff and then not do it for a month.  But I'm stealing the "what's in my purse" idea from this blog that I occasionally read because I love to know what other peeps have in their purses (I don't know why, just like I like to see what other people's houses are like...).  And I thought it was funny that every time someone does this purse-thing, they never have "mom" stuff like I do.  So here we go...

(this isn't the best picture I took, but I chose it because of the little hand in the corner grabbing the toys. ha.)

Purple Big Buddha Purse
Normally out of my price range, I bought this bad boy during a moment of weakness this summer while Chris was at work and couldn't tell me no.  And I took the price tag off as soon as I got home so he couldn't make me return it.

Elliott's Stuff
Diaper, wipes, little kitty, toy dinosaur, and emergency pacifier for major meltdowns only.  Elliott's meltdowns, not mine.

Small Bags!!
I'm a sucker for a make-up bag, carryall bag, or any kind of bag in general.  The red owl bag holds necessities such as tampons, a condom (?), and a penis pencil topper (again, ??).  Oh, and mints.
The black and white striped bag is a leftover from when Sarah Jessica Parker had her affordable clothing line, Bitten, at Steven and Barry's.  I'm not sure why I carry it, it just has pens, chapstick, and trash in it, but I also don't feel the need to get rid of it. :)

Flower Wallet
The black flower wallet was a purchase this summer in Gaitlinburg on a family vacation.  It doesn't hold as much stuff as I would like, but I thought I needed to downsize and at the time it seemed perfect.  I'm currently on the lookout for a new, giant wallet as small is not really in my vocabulary (except above).

There you have it, the inside of my purse.  The only things missing (since I'm at home) are my keys, my cell phone, and my digital camera.  And it's still heavy, even with not a lot of stuff in it.  I blame Elliott.

RIP Meow

Elliott's first major attachment to an item was a kitty named "Meow".  I picked up Meow on a girls' weekend away.  Meow came with a pink leopard skin purse and I bought it more for the purse than the cat.  But Ellie immediately became attached to the kitty.  She slept with it every night, took it to the sitter's, and carried it around with her when she was tired, upset, grumpy, etc. 
Well, a couple weeks ago while Erin was here babysitting, Meow was viciously attacked by our fericious dog and her face was ripped off.  Elliott handled it better than expected, she kept pointing to the kitty and saying "uh oh, no puppy" and then going on about her business. 
The next weekend Ellie and I went to the kid mecca, Toys R Us, and bought, not one, but two new kitties to take Meow's place.  While Meow is irreplacable, Elliott seems to be holding up well.


RIP Meow.
March 2010- September 2010