$140 Richer

I don't like clutter.

I am sentimental.

My upstairs is clean, but my basement is overloaded with stuff. A quick jog downstairs to grab a jar of spaghetti sauce will cause anxiety to pulse through my insides. It bothers me and sometimes keeps me up at night, because someday we will finish the basement and the stuff must be dealt with.

So I made myself start and complete a project that I think was very helpful to me. One of the largest piles of stuff downstairs consisted of an ever-growing pile of Gracie's clothes, from the time she was newborn up til last winter. Every time I clean out her drawers, I just drop a new garbage bag full of outgrown clothes on the pile. I clenched my stomach every time I considered doing something other than keeping them.

But I knew the local children's consignment sale was going to be setting up at the fairgrounds this fall. I determined I was going to use the opportunity to get some clutter out of my basement (ouch, it hurts to call it clutter) and make some money. I knew that they only accept clothes that are fairly current and trendy, and that if Gracie's baby clothes were going to make the cut, I'd better act fast.  

I started by sorting through the clothes and keeping my VERY favorites.

I found I could think more objectively when I sorted through the clothes during the day. I was WAY too sentimental at night, especially after Grace had gone to bed. I wanted to keep everything. 

Thought process: "....oh! The purple outfit! Remember that cute picture of her in the purple outfit!" Yes. And because I took a picture of her in the purple outfit, I will remember it.

"Remember the cute picture we got of her in this outfit?!" Yes. Again. You have the picture to remember. And that outfit's STILL cute! I would STILL buy it! So let's let someone else grab it for a good deal.

There was NO WAY this one was going. This one's never going.

My tags printed off and ready to attach to the clothes. It's a pretty cool system.

Organized by size in the living room

Packed and ready to drop off at the sale... sniff

It took me about two weeks to get all the clothes ready, and yes, the majority of the work took place the day before the clothes were due... but it's done!

I sold 58 outfits total and made $140. For stuff (really special stuff :) that was just sitting downstairs. I have about 50 outfits tagged and ready for the spring sale too.

If you're interested in doing the same with your clothes, stop and visit here. I participated in the Just Between Friends event. I know the same thing or something similar takes place all over the U.S. If you have any questions about my experience, email me at brittneycollado@gmail.com.

11 Days Old!

WE LOVE OUR GRACIE GIRL SO MUCH!!!!!


















I sent this message to my mom in the middle of our first sleepless night with Gracie. I was an extremely colicky baby (I might have created that word) and have never fully appreciated what that meant until now. However, we've only had what we could really term two sleepless nights since we brought her home. It may be too early to be sure, but she seems to be developing a pretty regular routine of sleeping through the night with just a feeding or two in the middle. I feel like I am so not getting what I deserve!!














Yesterday we were visiting my mom and Gracie started to cry while her diaper was being changed. I laid down on the floor a few inches from her face and told her she was okay. She stopped crying and grasped my finger and looked at me like she knew I was her momma. Moments like this that Danilo and I have with her everyday teach us that the adjustments we're making in our schedule and routine and the anxiety we feel when we sometimes don't know how to get rid of a tummy ache she's got are entirely and eternally worth it!

Anxiety Release

Tonight's the last Sunday night in a VERY long string of Sunday nights that I will have to get up to go teach school in the morning. For some reason I am feeling a whole lot of anxiety. Part of it is due to the way my little darlings have been acting over the past month knowing summer freedom is inching closer and closer. I guess I'm terrified that it's all going to burst this week and none of the tricks in my bag of tried and true teacher techniques are going to work. I hope I've got enough lessons and activities planned to fill in the gaps between all the end of year activities that will be taking place. And then there's this strong longing I've got to make sure that this year counted for something important in the lives of my students. I had a very challenging class this year and so much of the time I worried about how their behavior or their progress or lack of it was reflecting on my success or progress as a teacher. I guess the thought that's haunting me tonight is that I'm realizing, IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT ME! If I could've realized that awhile ago, I think it would've been liberating. I just hope I didn't waste energy worrying about myself as a professional instead of putting it towards encouraging and helping my students. All in all, I'm pretty sure these kids know I love them. I daily pray about the goings on in my classroom and feel like I have been blessed in ways I wouldn't have if I hadn't asked for Heavenly Father's help. I truly have done the best I know how. So let's get a move on and send this year out the door!