salvage operations
The other day I was out biking with Harvey and I happened upon a giant pile of items being disposed of by a family who looked to be moving away imminently. My attention was caught by a Flexible Flyer sled on top of everything, and I immediately desired it. Who cares that those things only run on a vanishingly small range of snow conditions?! They're classics! Happily, it fit very nicely on the back of the bike trailer.
sled portage
Here at the squibix household we're firm believers in taking what we can get from other people's cast-off possessions. I mostly come home with useless things like sleds and lots and lots of windows, but Leah's finds are far more practical: a rubbermaid container for storing clothes, a set of bed rails still in their original packaging. The other day while we were biking she noticed a big bag of kids clothes and snagged five very serviceable pairs of trousers. Too big for Harvey now as-is, but the two pairs with more-than-cosmetic rents in the knees have now been transformed into shorts that will fit him from now until when he's four. Below-the-knee cargo shorts? Pretty stylin! Especially when paired with an equally-free mama-made shirt and a cutie belly-button. Aw.
those cute clothes? totally free!
update...
UPDATE: First response responds negatively, and I have the flu. Ugh to a seven dollar test. Double ugh to the flu.
skipping town
Bright and early tomorrow morning we're heading north to the wilds of Maine. Yes, the time has come once again for our annual camping adventure (the lack of a link on "camping" represents the fact that we failed to blog about the proceedings, that I can discover, in 2007 or 2008). It's been a long time coming!
Since we have fairly optimistic plans as to the hour of our departure, we've done a good bit to get ready already. The car is half-packed, lists have been made and crossed off, and we feel reasonably confident that we'll get on the road in good order. One thing that isn't ready is that I still don't have a telephone of the mobile variety. I made a trip to the Apple Store yesterday to replace my recently deceased iPhone, only to be told they didn't have any new phones to give me. You'd expect that given the advertising and publicity blitz Apple would be able to sell me their current flagship product, but apparently not. I suppose scarcity adds to the mystique. I was counting on the new phone to keep you all up-to-date with our doings; absent that I'll do my best with Leah's (ew) Blackberry.
I'm also, as I write these words, desperately torrenting a number of episodes of Between the Lions for Harvey to watch in the car. Right now the average expected download time Transmission is giving me is hovering around 13 hours... we don't have that much time!! Oh well, if all else fails we can always show him Bourne Ultimatum... or just turn on PhotoBooth and let him stare at his own cute little visage for five hours.
Lest you think badly of me for not providing for my offspring's video needs, I will say that I baked two loaves of bread and several dozen cookies—two kinds!—today, which must be worth something. We've managed to convince even more friends to come along this year, and their presence must be rewarded with delicious baked goods.
Whether or not we manage to blog from the campsite, there will be pictures on our return. I'll go charge the camera batteries now.