Surprise Disguise Party

Leave it to my family to disguise a WORK day under the guise of a birthday party for our mom! Here the Austin clan hits the road at 7 a.m. to go Up North to celebrate and we are faced with hundreds of items to price for Mom's upcoming downsizing / decluttering / living estate sale coming up in May. What the ??

Just kidding.

We knew what we were in for. Sort of.

The original plan was family birthday and Easter but that got shoved aside when we realized Mom's sale date of May 1-2 is not that far into the future. And we hadn't been back since our Dumpster days last summer to price anything. Mom didn't exactly make much progress over the fall and winter either.

So we had a full-blown "work day" of organizing, cleaning and pricing items. We did squeeze in a very good potluck lunch (gotta have a potluck in Luck) and, thank the Lord, not one birthday cake but TWO. Both with yummy, sugar-for-pricing energy frosting!

It was a long day and I wish we made more progress but Mom really wanted to oversee our work and tell us what tag to put on. Each. Stinkin'. Item.

Uff da. Now you know why I really appreciated that cake! Ha. That is the only negative I will say about it. We will just hope for the best and keep moving forward. In the meantime, God will shake his head or laugh at us as the top photo of the blanket on Mom's chair suggests.

Here are a few fun or dys-FUN-ctional finds....

Perhaps it's been a decade since my folks had a sale at their place. In the meantime, they held onto this bag that someone left behind. In case they came back. Yup. Now you know why we sometimes just have to laugh. Better than crying, I guess!

Some interesting books...

Probably easier to look in the mirror than bother reading that one!

Oh, the irony! It seems so well-used, yet, by whom?

As usual, when we're going through "old" stuff, we come across some treasures.

My nephew David was helping today and we came across a younger, more fashionable version of him! Still a good-looking young man!

Speaking of fashion...

Carter was very excited (no sarcasm) about finding these pants that my brother Ron used to wear. I mean I think he actually wore them because he wanted to, not because he had to. That's a bit scary. Almost as scary as Carter bringing them home with us because HE wants to wear them!!

Before we hit the road, I made sure to get a picture with the birthday girl. Yup, we both look tired (we were) and naked (well, no lipstick), but it was nice to "party" with her today!

Like extra frosting on my cake, the day got even better after we left. The Badgers won and made their way to the Final Four. And when we got home, there was a letter for me from my nephew who is turning his life around in prison.

Sometimes I DO like surprises!