insanity

I think I am going insane.  I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.  The packing, the pricing, people in and out of our house picking through things, saying goodbyes, trying to help the kids deal with their emotions when I'm not sure I can deal with my own, trying to get the kids to go through their stuff...... not to mention all of the end of the year activities and whatnot.  Uuuuugh.

Take this, for instance:

Does that look vaguely familiar?  Sorting perler and pony beads?  Yes.  That is because even though I thoroughly sorted these very things myself a few months ago and threatened a certain child within an inch of his life to keep things organized.... things didn't stay organized.  Am I shocked?  No.  I'm not that stupid.

Some stuff has been fun, however.  Take this.....

The kids have had a good time graffitiing the walls.  I had to start it off because I think that since they are such well mannered, obedient, respectful kids, they didn't think I was serious when I told them that they could paint all over their walls.  I helped myself to my glow-in-the-dark paint and painted secret messages to them on their walls so when they went to sleep at night they would see their surprise notes.  Once that happened, they joined in the fun.

Cade painted yin yang symbols in three of the rooms before I took notice.  Not being the hugest fan of the symbol, I gently asked him to paint over them.  To my delight he did it without any balking.  Now I need to go around and take pictures of all of the designs and messages.

Tomorrow I need to get a grip on myself.  We are joining a big "remate" - the term for a garage sale in Spanish.  One of the classes is holding it at the school as a fund raiser.  You pay to have a table and they set up and advertise.  It is sure to be complete chaos.  Really. Selling stuff here is mayhem.  

First of all, it is extremely difficult to know how to price things.  You are dealing with different cultures who deal with these things very differently.  For example, if you price things too high, gringos won't even look at it.  If you price things too low, Ecuadorians think they can barter you lower.  So you want to price things high enough so that you and the Ecuadorians have a better chance at getting to the same number, but you want to price things low enough so that gringos are still interested.  

Some may suggest that you just set the price that you want and stick with it.  They are blissfully ignorant.  No matter how fair you price things, certain groups of people will not leave it alone.  They will barter to the death using puppy dog eyes and whiny voices, or with various tones of being argumentative..... some even with heaping guilt.  And it will go on and on and on - relentlessly!!  

The other weekend, a friend of mine who is also leaving, had a remate at their home.  Two ladies tried to barter with her for at least 15 minutes over a comforter that was already a crazy good deal.  My friend had it priced very low for a great blanket - especially for here - and these ladies would not leave her alone.  I was proud that she did not budge and finally they bought the blanket anyway.

It should be a good time.  Or not.