$7 Cute

My sister and I have played this shopping game for a LONG time. Long before our country was in the economic shambles it's in now. But if there were a time that it truly pertained that would be now (and the next four years). So, what's the game you ask?

Say you're out shopping and you spy this...

It's cute, but how cute is it? In monetary terms I mean, $40 cute? Probably not, keep walking. $15 cute? Heck yes and home to your closet it goes.

Now the tutorial is over and you're wondering what the heck is she rambling about how does this apply and where oh where are the cute baby pictures? Hold your horses, literally...

Today we visited another consignment sale in the area. While I shopped fought the insane crowds to snag my bargains Tall Guy entertained the princess by letting her try out all the toys for sale. While we were driving home Tall Guy decided to tell me about the "White Knight" (as seen above). Typical male, wait until we're on our way home before he tells me all about it and how much our princess loved it. Of course after an hour of perusing 100's of things playing "How Cute?" in my mind I had to ask...

Me: "Well just how cute was it?"
TG: "Pretty cute, she didn't want to get off of it." (I'm sad to say that after almost 5 years of marriage he still doesn't get the game.)
Me: "Focus. $5 cute? $10?'
TG: "It was $7."

I decided I had to see for myself and after dropping them off at home drove the 5 minutes back to check it out. Now, truth be told, after inspection of "White Knight", I decided that it was only $5 cute, but I forked over the extra $2 anyway.

Turns out TG was right, it was definitely $7 cute...

once we added 30 pounds that is. :)

CONSIGNMENT FUN

Well, today Matt, Riley and I were introduced to the world of baby consignment shopping. A friend at school told us about a sale this morning and on the way there we realized with the help of Lindsley that there was an even bigger (and apparently better!) one about 2 minutes from our house. We got there at 8:40 for a 9:00 opening and there was already a line formed so we jumped in and waited for the doors to open. I have to say for the amount of people and goods desired that it was pretty orderly when it did finally get started, no trampling or crazy running.

Now we had a list of specific items and at the very top of this list was two step and release baby gates to keep our new mover and shaker from toppling down the stairs. As we entered you could go right or left so I sent Matt left and Riley and I headed right. Luckily I was the first person to the gates and spotted EXACTLY what we needed and snagged them just in time. They even have a holding area where they tag your possible purchases and keep them safe for you for an hour.

The next few items on our list weren't as important to us at the gates so we were able to shop a bit less stressfully and take our time. I WAS AMAZED at the amount of things there were and the prices on them. We can't believe we didn't know about these before she was born because they had everything baby, most in great condition, at very cheap prices. Matt did say he was a bit overwhelmed at the start because people just grab all the things that they might possibly want to purchase and then make a decision. We did a great job though and got some awesome things for our little princess.

Here's Riley and I posing by one of the new gates. We were thrilled with this purchase because these retail for about $50 a piece and we got 2 for $20. You can see Mommy is excited and Riley....

Riley is slowly realizing that these are designed to "imprison" her.

Miss Riley Boo has loved playing with blocks at daycare and Matt and I have been on the hunt for some good (cheap) ones for a while. We got these today and at first she looked at us like, uh now what?

Then the lightbulb started to flicker and she decided to test out cause and effect, you can see she wants that green block right in the middle of the tower.
Oh! They all fall down!
Now I get it, this is fun! She spent a good 15 minutes playing with Matt as he would attempt to stack the blocks as quickly as he could before she would send them flying.

Here's another one of the toys we bought her today. I think this one is particularly cool because Riley loves to bang her hands on things. This is a little learning drum that responds to her banging on it by saying the ABC's, numbers 1 to 10 and drum beats. It's very interactive. Again, at first she was a bit unsure....Then she realized that it lights up and makes sound when you bang it.....

And she took to drumming with great enthusiasm! This was another 15 solid minutes of entertainment.

Good news is...we got about 15 never been worn outfits, lots of toys, 3 baby gates, and a baby swing retail price approximately $250 for $70! Bad news is.....we're hooked and we're contemplating going to a different one next weekend. :)