Rain, Rain Won't Go Away

Well, thankfully we sold about 2/3 of our junk on Thursday because it started raining Thursday night and it rained all day today (as it will for the next few days). We set up again today, but it was just too wet, too cold and too slow. I ended up calling someone from church to see if they wanted to buy some of the better toys that were left and get some of the clothes (this lady is a BIG yard sale person - every weekend - and I knew she had some grandkids that would LOVE some of Rachel's stuff). Anyway, they were our big sale today as we only had about 5 other sales until we finally called it quits on this thing. We closed up shop around 3 p.m. and FILLED our van, with the two back seats out, to drop stuff at Goodwill. Still, that was only 1/3 of what we'd put out there. We didn't make what I would have liked, though I'm sure we would have had the weather been nice today. Another lovely touch to the whole exhausting experience was the drunk lady across the street from us kept coming outside and yelling stuff *roll eyes*. She walked her dogs Thursday morning and saw us setting up for this and said nothing - she was sober at the time. Then toward the end of the day, when she was nice and liquored up, she came out her door and said, "Oh my G--! That's disgusting!" At first I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. I thought maybe she'd seen something dead or something else that grossed her out. But then I realized she was talking about our having the yard sale. Lots of other people have done so in our complex. She probably did the same to them. I know she yelled at my friend when she was having a big birthday party for her daughter, a friend of Rachel's, and a BBQ. The drunk was watching out her window and then yelled that she had lived here longer than anyone and they couldn't have the BBQ, then made some racial comment (my friend is black). So my friend came storming to my door, steaming mad and I went out with her and just kept looking over at the cowardly drunk's house and she never made another peep. So Jay finally yelled, "You got a problem, Lady?" and she ran into her house yelling, "Yeah, I've got a problem!" Then she never showed her face again the rest of the time - LOL. I guess when your neighbor comes to your door at 10:00 a.m. one day wanting you to complain with her about the color they paint the buildings and she reeks of alcohol, you can be pretty sure you have a raging drunk on your hands. Anyway, I have my house back - no boxes stacked all over. I feel like I live in a mansion with them gone they'd been here for so long!

Rachel had orientation at middle school this morning and then registration at 12:30. I went 1/2 an hour early hoping to beat the crowd and had Rachel stayed with me at the very end to get her gym uniform, we would have been out of there in less than an hour. As is turned out, she walked off and when I got there, I couldn't find her. I had to find her and go to the end of the line - adding another 20 minutes to our time *sigh*. In the meantime, Jay held the fort down at the yard sale, the drunk remaining in her house.

Rachel's had a sore throat off and on for a week now. It's just post nasal drip from her allergies so far (though I'm worried it will move into a cold), but when I got her up, she didn't want to go to orientation. I knew she'd be sorry if she didn't, so I gave her some hot cocoa and oatmeal to soothe her throat and sent her on her way. She had a great time but ended up with a headache and was absolutely beat when she got home. She also had a super busy day yesterday. Some friends that live down the street from us have a granddaughter Rachel's age and the girls have played together when she visits since they were about six. She was here yesterday, so after she and her grandma bought some stuff, Rachel went over to play and hang out. A little later, the grandma took them to the rec center to swim and then to Sonic for a late lunch. She got home, changed her clothes and then fell asleep for about 25 minutes. I had to wake her then, though, because she had her first babysitting job last night. It was for two hours and she was thrilled. She babysits next Thursday night for the yard sale grandma we called today - two girls and a baby boy. Rachel's really excited about it. Then they asked if she'd babysit on a Friday or Saturday after school starts. Rachel will have swim team practice on Friday nights, so they'll set it up for a Saturday. She's very excited that babysitting is finally starting for her. She took an all day Girl Scouts course on babysitting readiness and has been wanting to do this forever. When they asked if Rachel was ready to start, she said YES. So it's an exciting time for her.

Well, I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning and resting over the weekend - though poor Jay had to head out to work tonight. Monday I'll clean my house (without a bunch of boxes to clean around - Woooo!) and then Tuesday get focused back on my book. I've missed working on it a LOT.
Off to bed now. I'm beat!