Garage Sales - the learning experience!

Summer is alive and well in North East Ohio. It is a wonderful time of year, with the sun retreating below the horizon after 9pm. We had friends over on Friday night to enjoy the summer eve. While the children were splashing in the pool, the adults enjoyed mostly uninterrupted conversation, and hamburgers and hot dogs off the grill! It was a good start to the last weekend of June!

The City of Avon had declared June 27 and 28, as City Wide Garage Sale weekend. So we decided to take that extra step to becoming fully American, and held our own garage sale! We had plenty of baby items that Josh had already outgrown, along with some other items that we no longer had a use for. Liesel was up before 6am on Saturday, and I was up at 7am, converting our garage into a micro store. Our ingenuity turned curtain rods and dining room chairs into clothes racks - displaying a number of baby outfits and maternity clothes! By 9am, when our garage sale opened to the public, our garage was transformed - with everything cleverly displayed and ready to be sold.

The turnout was disappointing, with most people buying the smaller items. There were long periods of waiting between customers - which Liesel enjoyed, as it was the perfect opportunity to unwind, and catch up on some reading! Liesel decided to slash our prices by 50% for the final day of sale (Sunday). This seemed to attract some more people into the garage, and we had a better turnout and sales than Saturday. While Liesel and Nathan manned the sale, Joshua and I escaped to church. The rest of the day, Liesel and I took turns to babysit the garage. At 4pm, we officially wrapped up our first garage sale with a very modest profit. The racks were taken down and curtain rods returned to their original location. Toys and clothes were carried back inside and tables were moved out of the garage. After all that work, there is no better reward than a family dip in our inflatable pool! Once we had cooled down, and changed back into dry clothes - we went out for dinner at a local hamburger restaurant! On the way home, we picked up a DVD, New in Town, to help Liesel and myself unwind after the weekend activity! It was a very enjoyable DVD and the perfect way to relax.

Thankfully, this upcoming work week is shortened, due to the Fourth of July falling on a Saturday! A long weekend is just what we need to recover from this weekend!

What a week! From Washington to the Westlake Rec!

Taking my bike with me to Washington DC was an absolutely brilliant idea! In the evenings, after my class, I climbed onto my bike and traversed Washington DC from Licoln to the Capitol!! I could cover most of the major sites in Washington within 2 hours on a bike, whereas it would take me two days if I chose to do the same on foot! I even made it to a number of monuments/places that I had not previously seen up close before, such as the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the State Capitol. Another highlight of my DC trip was finding and dining at a Nando's Restaurant. Nando's is Liesel and my favorite fast food chain in South African and they specialize in Portuguese Chicken dishes with varying amounts of Peri-Peri spices! To be honest - it was not as good as the original, but it was good enough to revive my peri-peri - deprived taste buds! And, it was a welcome alternative to American Fast Food!

I left the capital city on Friday morning, and I had a fantastic, event-free drive back home to Cleveland. 6 hours later I pulled into my driveway and was re-united with my family! One of my first duties to fulfill, was to take Nathan to Toys R Us to pick out a prize for being such a good boy while I was away!

On Saturday, it was back to the regular grind, with Liesel and myself working around the house. Nathan and I managed to escape to go and watch the Annual Duct Tape Parade through the streets of Avon. Nathan, now a parade veteran, remembered to take his ear muffs along with him, as those sirens and horns do get loud!!

It was also Family Fun Night, and we all enjoyed watching Bedtime Stories, courtesy of the Westlake Porter Public Library!


Today, was Father's Day and it was a wonderful day, in all respects! It started out with delicious Chocolate Croissants hot out of the oven, for breakfast!! Since I had been away all week, we wanted to spend the entire day together, so we gave church a skip.... and headed to the Westlake Recreation Center for a leisurely bike ride for Nathan and myself, while Liesel followed with Josh in the stroller. They then left at noon for Josh's nap-time, while Nathan played in the playground.
Twenty minutes later, we headed home for lunch, and then we relaxed indoors, and I even managed to catch the elusive Sunday afternoon nap! Later that afternoon, Liesel took her boy's (me included) to Mitchell's Ice Cream and treated us to the ice cream of our choice! Nothing better than a Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream on a hot summer's day :)

That evening, we had our friends over, Ron and Tammy, to share in Liesel's masterpiece meal that was made in honor of Father's Day! We had roast chick, roast lamb, roast potatoes and delicious bread!! Then for dessert, Liesel found a recipe that combined cookie dough, with chocolate brownies! Need I say more??? This was slowly savored sitting outside on our patio as the sun bid us farewell, on the longest day of the year! Ah, what a beautiful day it was! And, what a beautiful family to share this special day with! Thank you Liesel, Nathan and Josh!!!!

No rest for the Wekka (S.A. Slang for Worker)

This blog comes to you live from Washington DC! This was my final destination for the past whirlwind of a weekend! After a busy week at work, one would normally look toward the weekend as a place to relax and recharge.... not so in the McCarthy household!

Friday night was Nathan's Family Fun Night choice, and this probably was the most relaxing activity of the weekend! He chose to watch Madagascar 2 (for the third or fourth time now) and it was fun to watch again with our feet up for a bit! On Saturday morning, we were up and ready to roll at just after 8am! We were heading to a working farm on the East side of Cleveland. This was really the highlight of the weekend!! We started off looking at the Dairy section of the farm, where we saw how cheese was made and walked through the room where the cows were kept.There was a 4 day old calf in the one corner, and he enjoyed being petted! The next room had a collection of model trains safely secured in a glass box. There was a button that could be pressed to set the trains in motion, and of course, this became Nathan's favorite activity! After we could pry his fingers off the button, we climbed aboard a trailer that was being pulled by a tractor. It transported us to the Equine Center. Besides the obvious, this center had some more farm animals on display. There was a variety of chicken, and then Liesel's favorite, 3 day old lambs who were suckling from their mom. Nath got to feel the woolly coat of a sheep! There were also some five day old piglets making their presence known with the squeals! Of course, we also had to see the horses in the stables! My there was the Police K9 unit demonstration.
To finish off the day, we made pit stops at the Barnyard to see the Llamas and Alpacas, at the Plant Science building then one more stop at the Dairy. Here we were told about milking cows, and Nathan got to go up and milk the cow! Finally we had a lunch there and packed up and headed back to the west!


When we got home, I had to get out my mower and give the grass its weekly trim! This time I kept my shirt on, as the lesson I learnt last week need not be repeated.... ever! That evening Liesel and I watched the DVD "Swing Vote". It was a very enjoyable DVD and afterwards she retired to bed. I watched a more testosterone-full DVD afterwards called Hancock, with Will Smith and Charlize Theron! It was OK - but I was exhausted and finally crawled into bed after 12:30am!

After 6 hours of sleep, it was time to get up and get ready for Church. I was playing, so had to be there at 7:45am! Before leaving for Church, there I quickly covered my front yard in fertilizer, as it is most effective when done when the grass is still wet from the dew...... and then I left for Church! It was a fantastic worship set and everybody in the band got into a really good "groove"! I played in both services, tidied up and the end, and got home at 12:30pm. There was time for a quick lunch, a chat to my mother and then I had to pack my bags for my trip. AT 2pm I reversed out of the driveway, and drove the 6 hours to Washington DC, where I will be until Friday on a course. I must mention that since I drove here, I had space in my car for my bike - so I hope to get some exercise and sight-seeing done in my spare time!

'Fun' in the sun!

We were blessed with beautiful weather this weekend in North East Ohio! Blue, cloudless skies, accompanied by the gentlest of breezes set the stage for most of our activities! We started on Friday evening by heading to our favorite fast food restaurant, Moe's Mexican Grill! Moe's lived up to their reputation of delivering mouth watering food, and Nathan polished off his quesadilla in record time - so that he could get to his chocolate chip cookie!

On Saturday - Liesel and Nathan headed out to the shops to buy some more plants for her garden. When they returned, I fired up my trusty mower and headed into the yard to cut the grass - shirtless! This proved to be a big mistake - even after covering my face, neck and shoulders with sun tan lotion....

It probably wasn't the mowing itself that created the problem, but afterwards I started applying a stain on Nathan's jungle gym - and I think that is where my trouble began.

So as you can see, I got my first bit of color this season, and am paying for it dearly! As I type this blog, it feels like 20 00 hot needles are penetrating my back!

The rest of the day (and the weekend), I resolved to keep my shirt on!
However, before realizing the impending pain heading my way, Nathan and I had a lot of fun running over the garden sprinkler and then a very cool beach ball sprinkler that shoots water all over! It did take about 37 full lung inhalations to fill the ball! I really need to get an air compressor! After coming inside and changing into dry clothes, Liesel took Nathan and Josh to Toys R Us to find a toddler swing for him. Nathan was in total awe of their Lego collection, and has compiled an impressive wish list for his next 12 birthdays and Christmas! In the meantime, I headed off to Home Depot to buy a few supplies to help me complete the mini-projects I have for myself around our house!



On Sunday we headed to church for our weekly spiritual input. Afterward, I resolved to stay indoors and relax after Saturday's lesson. My indoor activities included reinforcing Nathan's Lego pirate ship, and building him a Lego garage. Liesel prepared a delicious roast for dinner, who we shared with our friends, Ron and Tammy. We had a lovely time chatting and sat outside to enjoy the stunning Ohio evenings!