I was a selling machine this week. Last Saturday, I posted some clothes from my closet to the Facebook yard sale groups and ended up selling a sundress for $5. Yesterday, I posted all the shoes from my mom that she gave me to sell. No hits yet, but I think I will put them on eBay today. (Update: two pairs pending now.) Speaking of eBay, yesterday I posted some ink cartridges I have for an old printer, and they sold in literally 5 minutes. After shipping, that earned me $40. Bonus: hubs was on his way to the post office anyway.

My lot of toddler girls summer clothes isn’t getting any hits on Facebook, so I might put that on eBay as well. Above all, I have to be patient with all the summer items. It’s only February. It snowed on Thursday. People aren’t thinking summer yet. I had someone hit me with some low-ball offers on an Easter dress I have on eBay, and I told them I wasn’t lowering the price til closer to Easter.

Do you remember when I talked about possibly starting a Buy Nothing group around here? Well, someone beat me to it. It’s a nice group, in that I have seen people post things on there like, “I’m going to get coffee, does anyone want me to bring them one?” Yesterday I posted that I had some pumpkin spice coffee K cups, if anyone wanted them. With the caveat that their best-by date was this past August. Someone gave me the “wow” FB reaction. Hey people, most best-by dates are mere suggestions. I would use those K cups with no problem, if I liked the flavor.

Anyway, it’s nice to have a place to give away things for free and possibly find things for free.

Last Sunday, I scored a deal that was so good it was practically free: six nice sturdy dining room chairs for $50. Someone in my town was selling them on FB. I was so happy because I’ve needed new chairs forever — I have my grandmother’s dining room set, which I like and is in good shape except for the chairs. The chairs have been breaking and we were down to two. These new chairs are just the right color and style! Meant to be.

Today I woke up and was so happy to really truly have nothing to do. Into this vacuum, however, rushed children with their ideas, and next thing I knew we were at the skating center. (They paid for it themselves.) What I wanted to do was go to this year-round farmer’s market about a half hour away. Maybe next Saturday; it’s not open on Sundays. Tomorrow we have to figure out Valentines, and my daughter needs to dress like she’s 100 years old on Monday, for the 100th day of school. For Sebastian’s 100-days project, we did a posterboard with 100 words related to school. I thought it was good writing/spelling practice for him, and we didn’t have to spend any money (already had posterboard). Hopefully the teacher is OK with it. I did have to write the last 30 or so words for him, because we just ran out of time. One hundred really is a lot.

Last Sunday, I was a cooking machine. I used the carcass from that delicious roast chicken to make chicken stock. I also made cupcakes for the Super Bowl (from a mix; homemade frosting), and for dinner we had tortellini in Parma Rosa sauce. Good old Parma Rosa. My friend KF introduced me to it about 17 years ago. I used it the first time I made dinner for my now-hubs, and as promised, it fooled him into thinking I was a good cook.

Monday, we went to Chick Fil A for dinner. Tuesday was spaghetti and meatballs with gravy from the freezer. Wednesday: sweet potato pancakes and/or Eggo waffles plus sausage. Thursday, due to a mistake on my part that is too long to explain, we ended up at Red Robin.

Cooking highlight of the week: On Thursday I took some Wegmans blueberry granola that had been sitting around for a while, mixed it with Cheerios, added melted marshmallows and butter and created a sort of Rice Krispy treat. Gemma and I liked them quite a bit. (OK, of course there was a recipe, I never do anything without a recipe.)

Friday was pizza. I tried to make up for all the junk tonight by making shrimp stir-fry with carrots and broccoli. Aidan ate plain shrimp and broccoli, while Gemma and Sebastian had some delicious chicken soup that a friend made and gave us. But then I whipped up brownies from a mix because I was craving chocolate.

Now Gemma and Sebastian are in bed and Aidan is watching Tiny House Nation next to me while I write. When I’m done this, I’ll work on my garden plan, if I have any energy left. These weeks have been flying by. Next week will be the busiest of this month so far.