Ladybugs & Stinkbugs

From Consumer Reports:

"...people using too much laundry detergent [is becoming a problem], an issue perhaps caused by user mistakes or poor design of caps on some containers and bottles - or maybe a combination of the two."

The report goes on to explain that, because the lines on the caps are hard to read, people tend to use more laundry detergent than is necessary.

What I'm wondering is, if the people at Consumer Reports are so smart, how did they not make the connection that maybe manufacturers intend to make the caps too big in order to trick consumers into using more than they need - and therefore having to buy more detergent.

Am I way off base here? What do you think?

Story #1
Story #2

Told you I have a lot of stories.

The next treasure that came out of our Big Box of Junk was a Rescue Heroes remote-controlled car. Again, Andrew fell in love with this car. I did manage to actually tag this one and put it out to be sold. However, during the entire garage sale, every time someone could come up to our tables and peruse our items, he would be sitting on my lap whispering, “Please don’t buy it. Please don’t buy it. Please don’t buy it.”

See, I had made the mistake of telling him that, if no one had bought it by noon, then we would keep it. He spent the next two hours coming up to me, putting his hands on my cheeks, and hollering, “Is it the noon yet?!” “No,” I patiently responded. Each. And. Every. Time.

(He got the toy.)

So, you’re probably wondering what the result of all this hard work was. Well, they kids made $10.00. That’s not too bad, considering their weekly pay is about $2/week. Matthew, however, was disappointed. He said he was expecting about $80. Matthew is always my optimistic one.

Just to make sure you don't get entirely bored with all these stories, I'll break them up a little bit. It may take a couple of posts to get through. If you missed #1, here it is.

In pulling out stuff to sell, I came across a huge box that we haven't unpacked since we moved in over a year and a half ago. Evidently we didn't need any of the stuff, so I told the kids that, NO MATTER WHAT, we weren't keeping anything that we found in this box.

(Tip: Parents, NEVER use the phrase "no matter what." It just gets you into trouble.)

One of the firsts 'treasures' that we found in this box was a set of bowling pins for kids. This is exactly what has been missing from our house, incidentally. The volume level hasn't been high enough for me since 2003, when we had a screaming baby crying 24/7. Oh, how I've missed that. Now, though, the volume level has doubled, so I think we can be content.

Back to the story.

Andrew desperately wanted these bowling pins. I (patiently) explained to him that we had decided not to keep anything out of this box. We were selling it. He was getting money. What was he saving for? He thought for several seconds. Literally. Several. In a row. :) He finally said, "I'm saving for bowling pins."

Great.

Since it would be incredibly heartless (and stupid) of me to sell the bowling pins and give Andrew money to BUY bowling pins, I gave in. I know; I'm a sucker. So, he got the bowling pins out, and the three of them spent the next hour working hard setting up the garage sale bowling. As loudly as possible.

Does anybody out there have some ear plugs I could borrow?

I hate garage sales. No, to quote my sister, Leanne, "I don't just hate garage sales. I loathe them." Me, too, Leanne.

My son, however, does not share my disdain for this American ritual. He is saving for Nintendo DS, and wanted to supplement his "income" by selling some of his toys. So, he wrote 13 flyers (I counted) and duct-taped them up around the neighborhood. They said, "Downs Toy Shop. Opening Saturday, 8-12, All Toys $1." THEN, he decided to tell me what he had done.

What the heck, I thought. They're already up. So I put an ad up on www.southeasttexas.com, and we pulled out a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to take to Goodwill anyway. I told the kids if they would 'work' then they could split the profits.

It's hilarious to me how kids view the world. The things that they cherish are the things the world calls "worthless", but, since they don't know this, they assume that everyone puts as much value on their treasures as they do. They also don't mind sharing this information. The combination is great fun to watch.

As they are pulling out things for the garage sale, there is an interesting mix of junk (trash that they don't want anymore, but, hey, maybe we can make some money off of it!) and things that they think are valuable and are SURE will sell for hundreds of dollars (a baseball bat, all the pictures they have drawn in the last 400 years, etc.). They think these things are valuable because Mom and Dad have told them they are valuable for the last 6-8 years. Who knew they took us seriously? :)

Annie even made a card for Granny, and put it in the pile. She said, "Granny won't even have to pay for it," but it was still going in the garage sale pile. She wanted Granny to find something for free!

I have TONS more stories, and I'll be sharing them over the next few posts. Stay tuned!