Fisher Price Toilet Trainer

My daughter liked to play on this - but didn't use it. With batteries, the kids can "flush" the toilet which makes a flushing sound. Otherwise, you just remove the yellow toilet bowl and dump contents into a real toilet. Great little trainer! $20

Fisher Price Front door kiddo plaything

This very cute plaything has a swinging door, door bell and front lamp that turns on and off with batteries (not included). The paint has faded in some areas - but still a lot of fun. $30

Outdoor table and chairs

Large glass table with 6 chairs. There is some film on the underside of the glass table that gives it a colored look - but that is tearing away. It doesn't affect the actual table, just the appearance as you are sitting there. $75

Rocking Chair

Lovely rocking chair or "slider" with beige cushion. The cushions are torn in the front, could use a little love, but we didn't let that bother us. We used it for as long as we could before our little one got too big. $20

Pottery Barn Baby Bedding - never used

This is a never used Pottery Barn quilt and bumper. So cute and fresh with the pink and green on bright white. $75

Black Cost Plus World Market Armoire

I love this armoire, but everywhere I move it in our new house, it just doesn't work. It is 40 inches wide, five feet tall and (Note**) 27 inches deep. It is deep enough to fit one of those fat old school televisions. Lots of nice storage in the drawer underneath for DVD's and such. Selling for $200 or best offer

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Standard Casual

There are times I think I can start myself all over again. Scrub the callouses off my feet, trim the toenails and paint them bright, do my hair up with some latest vibrant boxed color and get Oprah's team to style it just right. New clothes, new shoes, new all over do. And then I could present this shiny new beaming me to people who had hither to not really noticed who I was. It would be a good feeling, walking around all primed and pressed and starched to the crisp. And then I think that I would have to get another pedicure in a month, perhaps touch up color on my head, trim the dead ends of my hair, re-crimp, starch, press and prime and the thought of it just exhausts me. I'm just sure there are people who manage all of this by having other people manage It all. As it is, I am the one who manages It all, so the managing of myself slips off the table. I find it ironic that when friends come for dinner, I might spend the entire day cleaning and cooking, making the house look nice and smell good. Then, fifteen minutes before they arrive, I'll look in the mirror and wonder who drug that bag lady in. Most people have it the other way around - self first, surroundings next. But I'm always looking outward so what I see gets the makeover while I go self-neglected on my blissful way.

Bubba's wardrobe is in a sad state. I didn't realize it until a few weeks ago when I balked at getting him anything made of cotton for Christmas. In Christmases past, I have bought him all kinds of cotton things: blue pin striped long sleeve button ups for a casual work day, flannel/cotton long sleeve pullovers for raking the leaves on a Saturday, t-shirts for hanging around the guys. He always returns whatever I buy - so I gave up. And then he said he'd like, or was it needed, a few shirts and I was like, YOU? Yeah Right. And then I looked at what he was wearing, a shabby rendition of his former self, and thought maybe he was on to something.

Today, I peered into his side of the closet. The man has more t-shirts than he could ever possibly wear. They're from running meets and bike shops, beer shops, places we've ventured. Most of them fall into the beater category - and those are the ones he wears the most. I noticed, just before I started to feel sorry for his pathetic wardrobe, that he does have at least 6 nice long sleeve button up shirts for work. So why was he wearing that inadequate overly casual short sleeve this morning when it was freezing cold? We only get about a month and a half of cold weather in Texas - so you need to enjoy those long sleeves while you can. He's got a kind of chronic condition when it comes to getting dressed that has him walking out the door looking kind of unsettled. I suppose I should help him. After all, he has asked me to shop with him every single time he needed anything - even though my opinion gets overlooked again and again. But he needs me now. I see this. And as it turns out, I need me now, too. If only to get up to the standard casual, forget the starch.