Auctions Over Time: One More To Go!

I Dream of Genie? Not Really.

We are a fun-loving group of friends. We've known each other forever. We've worn ridiculous costumes (why, we just dressed like grannies and mooned our friend with diaper-covered adult butts that had letters that spelled out her name). We've partied. We've puked. We've laughed. We've cried. All together.

Each year we attend the school auction. We've dressed in sarongs, togas, wigs, cowboy garb and more. We are a spectacle. We are spirited. We have a wild and crazy time.

This year, I was hoping for a little black dress, some simple shoes and passing the torch to some other crazy kids. Nope. I was just informed that my husband and his friends are dressing as sultans.

My friend turned to me and said, "You know what that means..." No, I'm not sure what that means. I kept quiet. "We have to be harem girls."

Yikes. A harem girl? Seriously, I am waaaaayyyyy too old for this. A genie? A scantily clad harem girl? I am 42 for goodness sake.

Part of me can't refuse the challenge. Part of me is quite sure that there ain't enough Spanx in the world that can make this old gal fit for a harem. Jinkies, Thelma, what's a girl to do?

She goes out and finds a harem outfit. Stay tuned for pictures of our 9th school auction. Still crazy after all these years.

Mommy, I Want A Pregnant Duck

By some stroke of genius, our school auctioned off a hamster at our annual school auction. The furry, little creature was brought to school and put on display in the hallway. At every minute of the day, even when the kids were supposed to be in class, there was at least one, tiny, hopeful face pressed against the bars of the cage just wishing...

That hamster and it's elaborate Habitrail became the talk of EVERY dinner conversation at our house between the onslaught of the display and the auction. It especially snagged the heart of our 6 year old third child. Our son has a dog and our middle daughter has a cat, so naturally, it was her birthright for us to be the high bidders on that hamster.

At the auction, my husband had a glimmer in his eye as they brought the hamster cage and all its trimmings to the bidding floor. We had said we absolutely WERE NOT bidding on a hamster, but how much trouble could a little hamster be? To my surprise (that old softie), he readied his bid number. As the bidding surged past $500 and topped out at $900, we were both in disbelief.

We broke the news to Birk the next day, and she took it pretty well. We had to explain a little bit about how an auction worked--what we didn't mention how much tequila you'd have to drink to spend that much on a hamster.

It seemed like that might be the end of it, but of course we weren't getting off that easy. That night at dinner, she wanted a turtle. Next night it was a bunny, then a rat. Lately, it's a pregnant duck, but she would take a chicken, if that's all we could get. Even with a boiled down explanation about the birds and the bees and local zoning(she said it would be fine with her if we moved to a farm), she is sticking with the duck.

Three kids, one dog, one cat and a pregnant duck? I'll keep you posted.

(this is a flashback post on last year's school auction...wish me luck this year!)