Finally Holding the Garage Sale

After hours of hauling and arranging and sorting the garage full of other people's treasures, we were finally able to have the garage sale.

We had originally planned to hold it only for one day and prayed the weather would cooperate.  As morning dawned, that was questionable.  Dark clouds were rolling toward us  We had tarps covering the tables outside of the garage, but as I told my husband, there was no Plan B.  If it rained, there was only Plan A. We would have the sale.

Plan A went smoothly until noon when the cloud bursts started.  They would last long enough for us to throw the tarps on everything and debate whether we should close up for the day.  Then the sun would return, we'd pull the tarps off and start the process all over again.

One person purchases a larger item in the morning and couldn't haul it away in her car, so she asked if she could come back later.  She returned in the evening with a truck and some muscle to carry the item.  Unfortunately, the truck could have used more muscle.  After loading their treasures, they climbed into the truck to leave, but the truck wouldn't go.  They tried more gas, scraping the corrosion off the distributor cap and checking the spark plugs, but nothing would entice the truck to start.  They made arrangements for a tow, then tried the key one last time.  The engine roared and they flew out of the driveway.  I hope they made it home.

Disappointments from the sale: the creepy clown with the umbrella nor the dusty football sprouting plastic flowers sold.  I was sure they would be irresistible to someone.

However, the bronze-colored Styrofoam bust of Apollo did.  :-)

The rest of the other people's treasures went to Goodwill.

Opening the Garage Sale

The other day we visited a garage sale and I allowed the kids to pick one toy each.

My son's first choice was a tow truck with all the bells and whistles... literally.  Lights blinked, songs played, you name it. It was $3.  More than I would spend at a garage sale for a toy that annoying.  After more perusal of the wares, he settled on a bulldozer - the perfect price and an ideal toy for the sandbox (so I wouldn't have to trip over it in the house.)

My daughter first wanted a My Little Pony house - too big to fit in the bike stroller- so she settled on a sandwich bag filled with teeny, beany babies.  We left the sale with two happy children.

Two days later, my son asked my husband if we could take our garage door opener over to the house where the sale was and open the sale so we could get the tow truck.

What I'm finding in the garage sale pile

I'm including things from my mother's house in our garage sale. My sister has been loading the unwanted things and I've been hauling them home to sort and price.

It's something of an adventure. Shaking my head at the things my mother saved (9,000 margarine containers?) and the things that were separated from their original place (the chain lock from our camping trailer?). Then there's the things that were mine: toys, flash cards, and puzzles.  Things I haven't seen in so long I'd forgotten they existed until spying them in the bottom of a dusty box. Sometimes I pull them out, wipe them off and toss them in my kids' toybox.  Others I laugh to myself and slap a sticker on them.

The hardest things to look at are my dad's. The things that are truly special to our family - his war memorabilia, his writings, etc. - have been saved, but these are the everyday objects that I don't remember until I see them.  Then a picture flashes in my mind of my dad using them.  The bottle of Old Spice cologne. The shoe horn that sat on the end table beside his bed. His hats - the ones that farmers wear with mesh on the back that sit stiffly on the top of your head until broken in (few of my dad's hats have this stiff quality anymore).

Then it's hard to reach for the price tags.  How do you price something like that?  Worthless to everyone else but so full of memories.

Someone else's treasures

My house is full of them. I'm hoping people will come looking for them at our garage sale.

I've never done a garage sale before and didn't realize how much work it took to put one together.  The sorting things, the tagging things and the pricing.  Finding flat surfaces to arrange things on.  Sneaking toys out without the kids seeing them. Hurrying my husband's things out before he changes his mind.

We've got baby clothes and toys and furniture galore to go through.  It's really sad how little some of the baby clothes get used.  My son went through a growth spurt and almost skipped wearing 3-6 months sizes. My daughter's clothes got a second use with the Little One but we still have boxes and boxes of clothes they've outgrown.  Much of the Little One's clothes are going straight from the laundry to the garage sale pile.  Her warmer clothes are getting small and definitely won't fit when the weather gets cooler.

Hopefully someone else will discover these treasures amidst our junk. :-)