Arkansas Consignment Sales

Last week I had the thrill of having an article published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for the first time.  The article was about consignment sales and ran as the lead story in the family section on Wednesday, September 29th.  I’m not going to re-post the whole article here, but it ran with a sidebar that listed all the upcoming Fall sales across the state.  I thought that might be useful, so I’m posting it.

For those of you who have not experienced a children’s consignment sale, it’s a great way to score some excellent clothing, toys, and gear at great prices.  It’s also a good place to make some money on all the stuff your kids are growing out of.  It’s also very eco friendly, as you’re helping to recycle tons of products instead of consuming more new things.

Popsicles
Oct 7: 9am – 8pm
Oct 8: 9am – 5pm
Oct 9: 9am – 1pm
Northeast Arkansas District Fairgrounds
2731 East Highland Dr, Jonesboro
http://www.popsicleskidssale.com/

Duck Duck Goose
Oct 7-10 8am – 5pm
612 JP Wright Loop Rd, Jacksonville
http://www.duckduckgoosesale.com

Central Arkansas Mothers of Multiples
Oct 8th: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Oct 9th: 7am – 3pm
Trinity Lutheran Church
3802 N Olive Street, North Little Rock
http://www.centralarkansasmoms.org/

Peek-a-Boo
Oct 14: 9am – 7pm
Oct 15&16: 9am – 5pm
2213 N. Reynolds Road, Bryant
http://www.peek-a-boo-consignment.com/

NWA Mothers of Multiples
Oct 15: 7am – 2pm
Oct 16: 7am-Noon
Trinity Fellowship Church Gymnasium
1100 East Rolling Hills Dr., Fayetteville
http://www.nwarkansasmultiplesclub.4t.com/ConsignmentSales.html

Duck Duck Goose
Oct 14-16 7am-6pm
Crossgate Church
3100 East Grand Ave, Hot Springs
http://www.duckduckgoosesale.com

Just Between Friends
October 24-25 9am-6pm
NWA Convention Center
Hwy 540 & Hwy 412, Springdale
http://springdale.jbfsale.com/

Duck Duck Goose
Nov 11-13 7am-6pm
Former Sonshine Academy at 803 Harkrider, Conway
http://www.duckduckgoosesale.com

Second Look Kids
Nov. 11&12:  8am – 7pm
Nov. 13: 7:30am – 3pm
Elm Springs United Methodist Church
Hwy 112, Elm Springs
http://www.2ndlookkids.com/Home_Page.html

If you know of any other upcoming consignment sales, please leave a comment and I will add it to the list.

 

There’s a Word for That: Catch 22

• Catch-22
• Stuck between a rock and a hard place
• Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

All three of these sayings mean roughly the same thing, but while the second two are fairly straight forward in their meaning, a Catch-22 doesn’t really explain itself well.  Craig suggested “Catch-22” for a TWT post.

Catch-22 is relatively young for a saying or phrase.  It was born in 1961 as the title of a book by Joseph Heller.  Catch-22 is the term Heller coined to invoke military bureaucracy.  The number 22 was chosen simply because it sounded nice. It is used multiple times in the novel when characters are grappling with circular logic.  The main focus of Catch-22 (the novel) is the dilemma of WWII fighter pilots who wish to be grounded from combat missions on the basis of insanity, but the fact that these pilots ask to be grounded proves that they are sane, as only a crazy person would want to fly combat missions.

So, essentially, a Catch-22 is a situation in which the solution to a problem causes the problem to repeat itself, or a situation in which you know something negative is going to happen, but you have no control over preventing it.

Have you ever been in a Catch-22?

Do you have a term or phrase that you coined yourself?

 

Frugality For Famished Families, From Fawn

I love alliteration.

ATTN CENTRAL ARKANSAS READERS

If you haven’t picked up a copy of the June issue of Little Rock Family magazine, go get one! The magazine is free and you can usually find it at the front of your neighborhood Kroger. In addition to a listing of the 2010 Family Favorites poll results, there’s also a list of  “24 places in Central Arkansas Where Kids Eat Free“,  compiled by yours truly.  The list is organized by day of the week, so if you plan it right, you can feed your kids for free every night! (The list is much prettier in print than online, so I recommend picking up a hard copy so you can tear out the list and keep it in the car, or in your purse.)

If you don’t have access to a hard copy of the magazine, you can check out the electronic version on the Little Rock Family website.

 

I’m Going to Camp!

WordCamp, that is.  I’m all signed up and anxiously awaiting my trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas to attend WordCamp Fayetteville.  WordCamp is a small conference for people who use the WordPress platform to blog (and/or do other more techie stuff that I don’t understand). WordCamps are held all over the country, but this is the first one in Arkansas. Other than clues that the names of the conference sessions give me, I have no idea what to expect.  I won’t know anyone there. That really doesn’t bother me, except that I just hope I’m not the only one that doesn’t know how to code in HTML or why I get 20 hits a day on my blog for people searching for “fire ant”.  I also hope no one laughs when I ask about the “fire ant” search issue.

I’m really quite excited. I’m looking forward to learning more about blogging and WordPress, and for the prospect of connecting with other bloggers.  I am also pretty stoked about getting away for a couple days.  Hubby booked my hotel room for me, and got an upgrade to business class.  I don’t know what that means, but maybe I’ll get some free chocolate or something.  Either way, hopefully the end result is that I will come back from WordCamp Fayetteville with some new tricks up my sleeve to try out here on the blog.

 

Arkansas Women Bloggers

If you’re a blogger, and you’re a woman, and you’re from Arkansas there’s a new group that you need to know about: Arkansas Women Bloggers!  It’s an online gathering place to make friends with other Arkansas Women Bloggers, share stories and experiences, and be inspired.  In addition to adding yourself to the list of women who are blogging in Arkansas, you can also grab the Arkansas Women Bloggers button (a great piece of bling for your blog; see mine over on the right?), plus, you can submit your favorite blog posts to be featured on the site.

Arkansas Women Bloggers is being organized by my blog buddy, The Park Wife.  I’ve met her in person, and she’s a pretty awesome gal.  We’re hoping to organize a small bloggers’ conference in the near future, so if you’re interested in that, be sure to let us know!

 

There’s a Word for That

Many bloggers do a post every Wednesday of only pictures.  They call it “Wordless Wednesday”.  That seems sort of sacreligious for a writer-type, so I’ve decided to try something a little different.  I want to spend Wednesdays thinking about special words and phrases, some real and some pretend, and about what these words and phrases are used for, and how they came to be.  So….

What word do you use for the act of skipping forward on your pre-recorded DVR shows?

Craig and I say “Schwink it.”  Carina shouts, “Push the yellow button!”. I’m not really sure how schwink it came to be, but it is very singular in its meaning (at least in our household) so it works well.

Please leave a comment with what you say, and why, if you know.

Note: Ok, loyal readers, I need all five of you to support me on this post by leaving a comment… ; )

 

Resolutions: Eat, Play, Write, Play Some More

The first day of the new year is coming to a close.  We’ve already said goodbye to 2009.  I hope that you are as excited as I am about the promise of this new year. As that Semisonic song goes, “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Normally I am not one to put big stock in New Year’s Resolutions.  However, this year I have some very real goals that I plan to make good on.  I think having this blog to write these goals in actually helped me to think harder about what my goals should be.  Plus, I recently learned that you are 10% more likely to reach a goal if you share that goal with someone else.  So, now you can all hold me accountable.

Buy More Local Food – This year I will make it a priority to utilize local resources for my family’s nutrients.  In addition to providing fresher food with fewer preservatives and other ingredients that I can’t pronounce, locally grown food is better for the environment because fewer resources are used for transportation and processing.  After watching Food, Inc. and listening to Joel Salatin talk, I also feel it is my duty as a consumer to put my “vote” behind real food instead of mass-produced, chemical laden junk.

In addition to the local Farmer’s Markets, Central Arkansas has a great resource for accessing the local food market: ArkansasFood.net.  This website offers two wonderful programs.  First, the basket a month program is a subscription program that provides members with a basket full of locally grown food such as produce, meat, eggs, cheese, milk, and rice. The cost is $180 per three months.  The second program is the Online Market, where you can choose which products you would like to receive and order them online each week.  Two amazing services, really.  Before we moved here, I had never heard of such a thing.

Basket a Month Baskets

Spend More One-on-One Time with My Kids – This is the “gimmie” of the bunch.  Carina will be starting official preschool this week. Her hours will be different than Callen’s Parent’s Day Out, so it will give me an opportunity to spend time with each of them separately each week.  The important part will be making sure I fill this one-on-one time with activities that are important to each child. For Carina: arts and crafts, cooking and baking, and playing with puzzles and blocks (Callen eats her crayons and markers, is very dangerous in the kitchen, and is all about scattering puzzle pieces and toppling block towers). For Callen, basically, anything where he doesn’t have to share or take turns, since that is so hard for a person his age to have to do all the time.

Submit My Writing Once a Month – For over 6 months now, I’ve been saying that I’m working on “getting my freelancing career started.”  The problem is I’ve spent a huge amount of time researching freelance writing and very little time actually writing.  I’m sort of famous for that.  So, this year, I will submit my writing for publication or competition at least once per month.  My research tells me that actual publication will be few and far between, but it will be a huge learning process and a step in the right direction.

Back in the Day

Compete in a Triathlon – You can’t have a New Year’s Resolution list without a nod to fitness, right?  Callen is coming up on two years old, and while I feel pretty happy with the way my body has recovered from childbearing, I still have about 5 pounds of flab flabbing around my mid section.  For those of you who didn’t know me pre-kids, I used to compete in sprint distance triathlons. This is a hobby I miss greatly.  So, two negatives are coming together to make a positive goal here.  Fitting in the necessary training will be a challenge, but I know I can do it.  Anyone want to join me?

Happy New Year to all of you!  Do you have any resolutions?

 

Squinting at The Sun

This piece was originally submitted to Funds for Writers as an entry into their annual writing contest, which had a theme of Invisible Writing.

Tonight I am perusing the online archives of The Sun Magazine.  I am reading, reflecting, dreaming, planning. I love the essays printed in The Sun. I marvel at the varied themes and writing styles, the mix of fiction and non-fiction that show it can be done beautifully both ways. Even through the cold glow of the monitor, the writing feeds my motivation, making my finger tips buzzy and warm with the need to punch keys with literary purpose.

I have never held a paper copy of The Sun in my hands, but until just a few moments ago, I was holding a pretend copy, an invisible copy.  I only put it down so I could write this.  In my invisible copy of The Sun, I can see my byline if I squint really hard.  I just can’t see the words that go together to make up the essay.  They’re still invisible.  But I know that they are inside of me somewhere. So I practice my writing, and I research markets, and I wait for things of substance to happen to me, so that gradually, my words, my stories, become less and less invisible.

Of course, I know that even once my writing becomes visible to me, it’s a long jump to visibility for the masses. These words that I’ve typed out on the screen cannot confirm a byline for me.  First, my invisible words must make the journey to a far away place where those possibly pretend and definitely invisible people called editors can decide whether they can see my writing or not.  Some editors might be able to see the copy on the page, the jumble of letters and words, while my purpose, my feeling, my vulnerability is still invisible.  Other editors may recognize the baby that I’ve sent wrapped in paper blankets as a unique and valuable being, but cannot see the words needed to show the true value of that baby.

And so, my words, my babies, might remain invisible for longer than I would hope.  It’s ok though, because I am the mother of all that I have written, and as long as I continue to love my writing, to raise my words up right, to cherish this invisible time that I have alone with them, I know that some day they will do me proud out in the wide world.  When that day comes, I will be thankful to bask in the warm success of publication, and simultaneously will make mental note to not forget what it feels like to squint out my byline in The (invisible) Sun.

 

I Have Commitment Issues

Right at this moment, I should be writing about three different articles that I have floating in my head.  Really, there’s nothing to stop me.  It’s 9:10pm and the rest of my family is in bed… asleep…probably. And therein lies the problem.

Before kids I loved commitment.  If anything, I was over committed.  At work, I took on duties that were not part of my job description.  If I thought of something that would help my coworkers or the organization I worked for, I took it on and made sure it got done.  In my free time, I was committed to training for sprint distance triathalons. And of course, I was committed completely and without competition in my love for my husband.

Now, “after” kids, I have a hard time with commitment.   For small-scale commitments, I often find myself paralyzed by my fear of starting a task or project.  The primary basis of this fear is interruption.  I can’t stand to leave something undone. Being the owner of two toddlers means that life is lived in 15 minute segments.  Anything that cannot be accomplished in that amount of time is a dangerous escapade of recklessness, most often resulting in wailing children, teed-off mommy, or both.  Even within these 15 minute segments, I do not have control at least 50% of the time.  I’m outnumbered. They know it.  I know it. They know I know it and they rub it in by alternating who pushes my buttons in each 15 minute time segment.  Tasks that are nearly un-accomplishable during daylight hours include washing dishes (hence my hatred for the task and the name of this blog), mopping floors, folding laundry, talking on the phone, showering, writing, and many more.

Now, certainly I do have occasions where I go an hour or more without being interrupted.  Nap time, evenings, and the theoretically huge but perceptively small four-hour blocks of time when the kids are at parents day out and I am not working.  The problem there is that my fear of interruption has become a bit irrational.  Sure the kids usually sleep from 8pm to 2am.  However, I still hesitate to start writing because someone might wake up, or my brain is not as sharp at the end of a long day as it should be for my best writing to come out, or if I do get a good draft written, how long will it be before I’ll be able to come back to it, and can I keep my train of thought?

My other commitment issues come from that time-honored scape-goat that all mommies are strapped to (willingly or un): guilt.  As I mentioned, before kids I had three large-scale commitments: hubby, work, and hobby.  Now, the kids, in all their innocent, dependent, defenseless glory, have taken that list and smashed it to bits.  I feel guilty about where this lands hubby on the list, but I love him with all my heart, and feel that raising our children well is one of the best gifts I can give him.  Work has nearly disappeared from the list, and the little amount of work I do makes me feel guilty for taking away from family time, although the extra cash helps a little as we’re currently paying two mortgages.  Anything I do that gets anywhere near hobby-ish (including writing and fitness) immediately gets soaked in guilt, what with all the other commitments I am already not satisfying.  On the other hand, I feel that I’ve earned the right to have some time to myself, and that truly, I need that time in order to be the best mom I can be.

So, I am struggling to strike a balance, to ascertain whether I have too many commitments on my list and what should be scribbled out.  I need to reprogram my brain to work without fear of interruption, to utilize my “me” time to the fullest extent, since “me” time is what gets scribbled off the list first. I love my children to bits, but I don’t want to be one of those moms who lose themselves to the process of mothering. I’m curious as to how other moms do it, and how long  it takes to learn this skill.  I’ve been at it three years and counting.   Isn’t there a class I can take?