Hi everyone! Today I’m taking you through my life this month! This month feels like I did nothing, although I probably did a lot more than usual. I just felt like I hadn’t because I didn’t have classes taking up so much time. There was plenty of fun so let’s get into it!

Museum Day

 

First up, I had a museum day! My sister works at a museum downtown so my mom and I decided to go see her. I wrote a post on our visit to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum so if you want to see all that we got up and missed that post, go ahead and click that link to check it out! We did get to touch stingrays, see the dolphin show, watch some beluga training, meet Maximo (the new dino at the Field), and see my sister! It was so fun!

Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor

 

The next day we went to Six Flags for their Mardi Gras festival! One of my high school buddies is a performer at the park and told me she was in the summer show at the end of the night so my mom and I went later in the day to see her. Normally we’re at the park when they open and don’t make it to the end of the day so this was a special trip.

The park was crazy busy with approximately two hour lines for lunch when we got to Hurricane Harbor. Since we’d already eaten we chose to get in line for a snack. That was still 30-45 minutes but I got a free snack because they sold out of the pretzels two people before I got to the window and that was the only reason we were in that line, because I wanted one. I ended up with a free scoop of ice cream so I was happy in the end.

 

We hung out at Hurricane Harbor and then got dinner there as well (lines were much shorter for dinner) and then headed to the main park to walk around until the parade. The floats were fun but the parade started late I believe and there were no clear signs of where the characters would stop so we grabbed a bench and ended up missing almost everything because they stopped at the other end of the area where we were. We still got necklaces though so that was fun!

Then for the night show we also grabbed a bench and the performers moved around a lot so we saw them perform. I finally spotted my buddy and after her group performed she was out in the crowd dancing. Since she was working I didn’t want to bug her but it was ice to be able to see her doing such fun work! We caught a bit of the fireworks and then headed home.

Library Crafts

 

If you remember from last month, I started going to DIY nights at my local public library. This month there were two projects! The first one was paper roses which involved hot glue, tape, paper, wire things to be the stems, and lots of commitment. There were lots of “oooo hot!” and no one finished all five roses in the time we had as we were all careful with each one. The paper was easy to rip so that’s why we were going slowly. I did bring home the supplies for two more to try and finish them up but I haven’t yet.

Next is the Japanese suminagashi marbling project. We had pans of water, ink of different colors, and mixed media paper to use. I made 15 I believe and two of them are reversible. This one was a lot of fun because it was so easy and a breeze to make. The ink did stain so we were all careful not to get it on our fingers when possible and we quickly learned the black was very overpowering. Still, it was a ton of fun and I would love to do more on a larger scale to frame. I kept missing corners of the papers so I started to joke that it was my signature on my art! I really recommend this craft!

I have to say, it’s fun to go to these events. I’m usually the youngest besides the lovely librarian who leads the activities as she’s my age or a year older I believe. The other ladies are in their 40-60s I believe and they’re always super nice. Well, one is slightly annoying because every time she’s complimented on how she did something she would say scoff and say she didn’t think so. Otherwise they luckily despise the current president of the country as much as I do so that makes them alright in my book. We usually chat about our lives while we do the crafts. Since a lot of them are retired they’ll ask me about work and such. They do seem to be a little too involved in the community as they all gossip about other people a bit but eh, I don’t know any of them so I tune that out. Oh! And they laugh at my jokes so even better!

Shrek the Musical

This month I did see a musical! I saw (and reviewed) Shrek the Musical which was a ton of fun! My friend and I went to see it and we just couldn’t stop laughing and admiring how good the production was. It was held at a college theatre so we hadn’t expected much, but it was really good. There were also kids having a great time in the audience and being rambunctious. If you get the chance to see this musical through a school or local group, I would recommend!

Garage Sale

 

Lastly, we joined into the community garage sale this month! For the past couple of years the subdivision’s homeowners association has organized a community garage sale and we have never participated until now. We had a great time! There were quite a few neighbors participating and they were all very interested in looking around, and the community aspect of it brought a ton of people in over the weekend. I was going to do a post on it but there wasn’t too many things so I’ll include some lessons learned here.

• Clothing sells best if hung up rather than folded and left on the table. We saw a neighbor with a clothing rack that was getting a lot of people looking through but we barely got anyone looking at our clothes. So we decided to take apart our patio swing and use the frame to hang clothing. Next year if we decide to do it again we’ll likely use that and maybe a clothing rack that I have as well.
• Books don’t sell well 😦
• Landscaping tools and patio furniture, however, sell very well. My dad is trying to get rid of his older items because he doesn’t need them and so they were getting a lot of interest. We’re also all looking to move in a few years so getting rid of bulkier items was great. Next year I’m hoping we can get more furniture out the door such as some book cases.
• Household items sell well too. My mom has gotten into coupons in the past year or so and started accumulating a ton of stuff which she decided to put out in case it sold. It did amazingly and she’s probably stocking up already for next year.
• Self-care items also sell. While outside we had people asking about face masks and such when they saw items like body wash and shampoo out. I hadn’t gone through my bathroom stuff yet so I hadn’t thought to put any out but if I get stuff I’m not interested in for the next year I’ll put it away in a separate area to bring out next year. They’re samples so I doubt they’ll do well but I guess you just don’t know!
• My clothing and back to school items are a hit with parents. I used to be a tiny, skinny person (sigh, those were the days) and since I’ve gained a few pounds I put out the older clothes that don’t fit. Many young girls and their moms were thrilled! Shoes, scarves, headbands, and sweaters though did not do so well since I don’t think people were thinking of fall yet.
• While clothing does okay it doesn’t bring in a lot of money so we pulled out a few of the better items with goals to sell it on Poshmark. I still haven’t gotten around to putting it up though so maybe I’ll try to do that next weekend.
• I think I would love to have a boutique or something some day. I loved rearranging stuff and pulling things out to show case. Hopefully I can get that chance someday!

That’s pretty much it! If you have any tips on how to have a successful garage sale let me know so I can be better prepared for next year. Saturday was defintely the best day for us but Sunday wasn’t too bad either. We noticed Sunday was more of a family day and Saturday was more like friends or new homeowners so we might try to hold back toys until Sunday and put out more flashy pieces or decor out on Saturday.

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And that was my August! Let me know what fun adventures you got up to this month. I’d love to hear about them!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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