Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Even though he drives us nuts sometimes, he makes us smile and laugh a lot these days.

Parenting Failure

Man, oh man, have we felt like failures lately in the parenting department. I get that 2.5 is a rough age, but it's like we have absolutely no control over our child these days. 

He rarely listens to us anymore, especially in public. Getting him to do anything that isn't his idea is like torture (for him and us). Things that used to be relatively simple - like dinner time - are now a battle of wills. He'll ask for one thing to eat, we'll make it for him, and then he doesn't want it and wants something else instead.

He has absolutely no interest in potty training, which is starting to get frustrating. He will sit on the potty, but only for a few seconds before bolting saying "you can't catch me! you can't catch me!". Cute the first 30 times, but not so much anymore. We're not pushing it on him. We just offer the potty to him a few times a day, but we're not making any progress.We might have to use the cold turkey method later this summer if it continues like this.

I know all of this is probably normal, but man, this age is definitely the hardest so far. I mean, we actually have to parent...can you imagine? We know the key is consistency, but sometimes it's tough to decide which battles are worth fighting and which are just better to let go. 

Thankfully, there are a lot of fun moments in between all the chaos and destruction. He makes us laugh every day, and we love how energetic, curious, and loving he is.

Can't Blog

I sometimes miss the days where I blogged as Mrs Comet Hunter. Even though it was a thin veil of anonymity, it was enough that I felt comfortable writing about general work or home situations.

Now, I just can't. All sorts of people I know in real life know about this blog. I can't rant, I can't ask advice, I can't do a lot of things. It sucks.  

So many things are going on right now that are unbloggable because I use my real name, and I wish that wasn't the case. I miss having that type of support from my readers and fellow bloggers.

Yard Sale Tips

We're planning on having our first ever yard sale sometime this summer. We do sometimes sell things on Kijiji here and there, but we've amassed a pretty big pile of stuff we want to get rid of, so I thought trying to do it all at once might be a good idea.

The last time I was involved in a garage/yard sale was at my parents house years ago, so I'm sure things have changed since then. So, I need some tips from people who have done this recently!

1. Where is the best place to advertise? Do newspapers still have yard sale sections, or is online the way to go (or both)?

2. Is one weekend day good (if so, which is better?), or should we do both days?

3. I've heard "opening" earlier is better - what's a good time to open and close the sale?

4. Prices - always the fun part, I imagine. Do you price to sell (I'm leaning this way) or price to make money? 

5. Do you sell everything individually (and then maybe give deals if they're buying more than one), or put packages together (this would be for things like VHS/DVDs, clothes, photo frames, etc.)?

6. Any other great tips?

I'm kind of excited about this - I feel like it's a rite of passage or something.

Lobster Club

Evan has croup, and has been pretty sick since Friday. So, not a lot of blogging material lately. We're hoping he's feeling well enough for tomorrow's Toopy & Binoo concert.

I did manage to try out a new recipe from my Bobby Flay Bar Americain cook book. Pretty decent, but I made a HUGE mess in the kitchen!