Auction Update
Now I’m up to 36 active auctions. As of right now, 23 will sell. There have been 52 bids placed and if everything were to end right this minute, my total sales would be $252.28.

My boy’s suit lot (2-piece suit, 2 buttondown dress shirts, and a silk tie) has met the set reserve!

I’ve pretty much gotten myself back under control and check on my auction status no more than 100 times a day. Just kidding. I’m really trying to stop watching the kettle in hopes that it will soon come to a boil. The first auction ends in 2 days 12 hours 54 minutes.

I took a break from listing auctions because I believe that this type of product does better if the auctions close on a weekday, not too late at night. That’s just my theory; could be completely wrong. But it’s my theory and I’m sticking to it so I won’t list any more auctions for another day or two. Maybe a Sunday late-afternoon or early evening end time would be good. Hm, I wonder.

Aeropostale — $21.33
We walked in looking for a birthday gift for The Daughter’s friend and found out that everything in the store, fragrances excepted, was 50% off! Then, while wandering around killing time as The Daughter shopped, I learned that Aeropostale carries a very, very difficult to come by size — 29 W x 32 L. I’ve been looking everywhere for that size of pants. Mine can’t possibly be the only tall skinny boy in this world. My theory is that even though they need to be long enough to drag on the ground, pant inseams are shorter than ever before because everyone’s wearing their pants so low. Since The Son has no interest in wearing his pants at or below his butt, finding an inseam long enough that he doesn’t show 3″ of sock is nigh impossible. But there they were, a glorious pair of plain old traditional khakis in a 29×32. And they were half off the regular price!! Call me a boring suburban mom, but this was a very exciting event for me.

Aeropostale — $21.33
No this is not an erroneously duplicated entry. After buying the khakis for The Son and then moving on the American Eagle store next door, The Daughter headed back to Aeropostale and found a pair of khakis for herself. They looked great on her and, of course, they were half off too.

Hair Salon - $70.00
Haircut for The Daughter plus tip. Her stylist did a good job. ‘Course, doesn’t hurt that The Daughter is gorgeous and has incredibly thick, beautiful hair. We went straight from the salon to the photo studio.

Target Portrait Studio — $50.32
Portraits of the kids. Finally, I timed something right; I didn’t kill a wonderful idea with procrastination. A couple of months ago it occured to me that it would be fun to get one more set of portraits before The Son grew taller than his sister. The timing was just perfect and everything came together beautifully. It was great fun to see them goofing around and having fun but all the while behaving themselves. No bribes necessary. No tantrums or tears. There are rewards and benefits to having teenagers.

This particular Target studio always does a great job for us. With the coupon they’re offering right now I got 13 sheets for $47.88 plus tax (including a free 8×10). Add to that great price the fact that these photos will serve as Christmas gifts for 7 people/families, I consider this an incredible bargain. That’s less than $10 per family and I get to keep the vast majority of the photos myself!

Target — $5.01
A second duplicated entry except this time the amounts are different. Purchased a tray of sushi for The Son as he’d neglected to feed himself properly before heading out for the photo shoot and threatened to pass out or even wither away and die if he didn’t get food immediately

If he can grow 7 inches in one year and put away the quantities of food that he does now, at 13, what’s he going to be like when he really hits that peak growing stage in another two or three years?