Labor Day Weekend

Stay Tuned

I know it's kind of late to be posting this. I actually wrote most of it on Tuesday. Here's the the thing- I got bored when I was writing it (when I was living it, it was so fun). So I put off finishing it for a... well until now. So, to prevent from getting bored with my own posts, I've decided to mix it up. I'm currently in the middle of doing a Pinterest challenge-- 7 Pinterest projects in 7 days. My next post is entirely dedicated to my Pinterest attempts. I'll tell you right now, some are wins and some are fails. For now, you can read this somewhat boring post about our Labor Day weekend.

Roller Coaster

We built a K'nex roller coaster. We've built this coaster before, but it always surprises me how long it takes to build. We watched two movies in the time it took us to finish the coaster. A few days later we demolished the structure... and that took a full hour to do.

 

Goodwill Outlet

On our way down to Corvallis for Labor Day weekend, we made a little stop by the Goodwill Outlet. This whole adventure started when Patrick did some research into finding out how to get cheap Legos. He came across someone's online comment that said they bought Lego's by the pound at the Goodwill Outlet. 

A Goodwill Outlet?! What is that? It is where donations come to die. Here is what we learned. Normal Goodwill stores will sell donated items for a reasonably low price. But some items obviously don't sell. If items don't sell in a store in 6 weeks they get sent to the Goodwill Outlet. This is their last stop before being sent out to be recycled or donated to like third world countries. Patrick and I got so intrigued, we had to go. 

Our research told us to bring gloves, because you don't know what you'll be touching; I'm glad we did. There is no organization and everything is displayed in large troughs. Troughs are what they use to feed farm animals. People acted like animals in there, so it was rather fitting. The employees continually rotate the troughs in groups of 6. There is only one rule in the Goodwill outlet: Don't touch the new troughs until all 6 have been placed. No one tells you that and there are no signs that state it, but just by watching the regulars, you know. Once that 6th trough is locked and loaded, the scavengers go wild. 

We ended up buying a bunch of ribbon and a 4 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup for $1.02. 

My advice on the Goodwill Outlet:

- Bring Gloves

- I wouldn't buy any of the clothing (no dressing room either)

- Don't go expecting to find anything (we didn't find Legos)

- They have a pretty fair selection of furniture, toys, and kids bikes. 

Camping

We also went camping with the Louderbacks... okay, we actually went camping at the Louderback's. When we got to their apartment, all the lights were off. We only used lanterns and candles the whole night. We even had s'mores. The Louderbacks pulled out their propane powered burner and we had s'mores over a real fire. Yumba. Don't fret, the apartment did not burn down and we did not die of carbon monoxide. I forgot to pack our tent, so the louderback's let us sleep in their tent on their blow up mattress, in their living room. I slept like a baby on the air mattress. Heather broke her collar bone, so she and Spenser were up at all sorts of hours of the night. 

When we woke up, we all got ready and headed to breakfast with the Marchants at the Peacock. For any of you that have not been to the Peacock in Corvallis for breakfast, they serve breakfast for $1.99 until 10am everyday. We actually went twice this weekend. Once with our friends, and again with my family. I never thought I would go to a bar with my grandparents, but they seemed to like it just fine. 

 

Cleaning Bug

I got a bug this Labor Day weekend-- the cleaning bug. I thought it was fun, but isn't that always the case when you're not cleaning your own house. It all started when my mom requested that the coat closet get cleaned out. You're not going to believe me when I say this, but 99% of that closet was my dad's coats. There were probably 30 cots in that closet and we got rid of half of them. From their I just couldn't stop myself. I went on to clean out my childhood artwork and writing from pre k- high school (only kept the good stuff). Then I recruited Patrick to help me reorganize my old bedroom, the nursery, and the garage. The only space we actually had to clean was the garage. We are using it for all of the stuff that won't fit in our new apartment. This was our last trip to Corvallis before the move, so if we didn't prepare it while we were their, it would have been a huge hassle come moving day.