And so ends The Mother of All Garage Sale Weekends. I can’t bitch too much about it, since I didn’t really do ANYTHING for the garage sale beyond keeping the children in the house and occasionally refilling Paul’s glass of iced tea while he sat out in the hot sun, trying to talk people into buying our crap. I think we made a little money, and we got rid of whole bunch of stuff I was ready to set fire to, so I guess it’s all good!

Paul’s buddy Will dropped by yesterday and showed us an interview he did recently for the Denver Post about the housing market in Denver. He arrived right in the middle of Garage Sale Chaos, and I must say, it was kind of funny seeing his BMW among all the hoopty wrecks driven by the people perusing our driveway full of crap. He gave us some tickets for the Denver Young Democrats DNC Kickoff Party so we checked that out last night. It was fun! I’d never been to Bar Standard, but holy cats, it was this gigantic place that went on forever. We kept finding a door here or a stairway there that would lead to a whole separate area of the club, with another bar, and another DJ, and another row of cozy little seating areas. I think we counted six different DJs in various areas!

We weren’t that interested in the political part of it, but it was great to see some old friends. Of course, we saw Francois and Alvin from 3 Deep Productions and Mario, better known as DJ Chonz - old friends of Paul’s from years and years ago, when he was a DJ and showed up at places like this with crates of records. Much different from nowadays, when everything’s digital!

We had to cut out early, at about 11:30 - hey, it was Sunday night! We had to get up at six today to take the kids to school! Still, lots of fun.

And that was pretty much our weekend! Kayley’s starting 8th grade today, so think good thoughts for her. Mallory has a cold and I’m praying she doesn’t get the other kids sick. I’m about to head out to the supermarket, because we’re out of coffee creamer. (Why, yes, my mother-in-law is here visiting. How did you know?) Have a super Monday!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s almost fall - September is just one week away! I’m so excited, because all through the month of September, I’m going to be giving away CDs on LaLaGirl Reviews from some amazing children’s music artists!

Music is such a huge part of our lives, especially since we have a child with autism - it’s really proven to be a great way to break into Pablo’s world a little bit, and I have such tremendous respect and passion for people who make great music for kids!

Every week, I’ll be spotlighting different artists and giving away CDs, so plan to discover lots of great music! Here are some of the bands participating:

• Milkshake
• The Laurie Berkner Band
• The Dirty Sock Funtime Band
• Hot Peas ‘n Butter
• Rebecca Frezza and Big Truck
• And lots more!

If you have little kids, you’ve probably seen lots of these folks on Noggin! Now you can win some of their CDs! Woohoo! It all begins in just one week. Mark your calendar!

I think this is hysterical! I love it! Hey, Stay At Home Dad Rocker Guy, I want your whole CD.

Click above for details!

Oh, goodness, I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that it’s Friday, and we’ve completed a whole week of school/getting up at the buttass crack ‘o dawn. Even with our best efforts, the kids never fell asleep before 9 this week, and we never got in bed until after 11. That makes getting up at 6 reeeeally difficult. I’m so happy about sleeping in tomorrow that I could just cry!

I’m sure we’ll still be up around 8, though, since we’re having the Mother of All Garage Sales tomorrow. At least, this is what my husband tells me. We’re not super prepared for it, but I am planning to go through the kids’ toys today and ruthlessly part out anything they don’t absolutely love. My GOD, they have a lot of toys. I should take pictures so you can see I’m not exaggerating. And it’s not like we’re spending loads of money on toys - probably 90% of them come from friends who are parting out THEIR kids’ overstock of toys. It’s just ridiculous, though. So that’s how my day’s going to go.

And I wanted to give a shout out to the Rocky Mountain Bloggers Bash, which is happening next Thursday night in LoDo. If you’re in Denver or nearby, please come out and have a beer with me! I’d love to meet some local folks! It’s taking place on Thursday, August 28th, at Trios Enoteca at 1730 Wynkoop, across from Union Station from 7:30 PM to Close. It’s the last night of the DNC, and you can watch Obama speak from TVs at the bar. And hey, if you’re going to come, don’t plan on driving downtown - park somewhere and catch the Light Rail.

I have to give a shoutout to the generous sponsors as well. Lijit is based out of Boulder, CO and they make a nifty little search engine for your websites. You2Gov.com is a new political website based out of Los Angeles. Cre8Buzz.com is also Boulder based, and they are a social networking site, but driven solely by user content and community ratings. Click the RMBB banner here in this post or in the sidebar, and check out all the cool bloggers (like me!) who are going to be there.

Okay, my coffee and I are going to go sit on the couch for a minute before diving into toy hell. Have a super day!

I’m not trying to disrespect, but I can’t stop giggling at this story: Corpse kept upright for 3-day wake in Puerto Rico Did you see the pictures? There’s something very “Weekend at Bernie’s” about the whole thing. Not to mention his whole, “Sup, Holmes?” stance.

Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, Pantoja was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother’s living room. His brother Carlos told the El Nuevo Dia newspaper the victim had long said he wanted to be upright for his own wake: “He wanted to be happy, standing.”

Hey, I’m all for it, if it makes his family happy. It’s a tragedy that the guy died so young, so I hope his family is comforted by the idea that they fulfilled his last wish.

I saw this little Yo Gabba Gabba guitar yesterday at Target and I just had to have it! Pablo and Mallory are having a birthday very soon, so that’s my excuse. It’s just so cool, though! Each little button plays two songs from each character, and it has a little whammy bar too. The kids are going to love it. They may be a little old for this type of toy, but they love Yo Gabba Gabba so much, it doesn’t even matter. So cute!

Ohhhh, this reminds me! Kayley just HAD TO HAVE a little plush Brobee, too, and she promised to pay me back for it. PAY UP, GIRLCHILD! You owe mommy seven bucks.

The kids were playing in my van Saturday night, while Paul puttered around in the garage. When it was time to rustle everyone back inside, I told him I thought the interior lights had been switched on. He said, nooooo, just give them a minute, they’ll turn off. I was skeptical, but he said he’d come back out later and check on it.

Well. Guess who has a dead battery today? The one who said, “I think the lights are on in the van.”

And I had my heart set on returning that loaf of moldy bread to King Soopers! Actually, not so much, but I WAS looking forward to shopping with the little girls while brother and sister are off at school. People keep telling me that Target carries a bunch of Yo Gabba Gabba toys now, and I need to go see for myself. Pablo and Mallory are turning 5 in a couple of weeks, and they’d love some little Gabba goodies!

I’ve got the battery charging, but holy cats, man. It’s taking FOREVER! It’s been stuck at 71% for about half an hour now.

“MOM! Mom? Mom, I need you!”

“What is it, sweetie?”

::tsk:: “Not YOU, Mom! We’re PLAYING.”

…………

“Moooom! Mommy! Mom! Stop ignoring me! I need some help!”

“What’s the problem?”

“Mommy!! NOT. YOU. We’re PLAYING!!”

:::bangs head against wall:::

It’s called UpTheAssItis. All day long, they’re hanging off of me, telling me our house is boring. They don’t want to live here anymore; they want to move in with Karsyn. Legos are boring; we’ve seen this same episode of Dora a hundred times; why can’t we go to the park; we want to go play in the garage. I don’t think I can pull anything else out of my hat! They’re jaded. They’ve seen it all. They’ve done it all.

Thank GOD school starts tomorrow!