Finally a Rummage sale

 

After months and months of waiting (not to mention some hefty tapping into my vacation time) I have finally had my annual “Spring” Rummage Sale. I am ambivalent to its turn out for a few reasons. Typically I hold the sale in April or early May which bodes well as I live very close to a few schools and businesses. I never realized how much of my traffic came from parents dropping their children off, teacher stopping after school and various sports enthusiasts swinging by. So that was strike one… I just didn’t have enough people. I encouraged my extended family to drop things off and I would throw them into the sale for them. I made the mistake of mentioning that I would hold what didn’t sell until my fall sale in September (hopefully) Which usually is not a problem but for some reason there was a surplus of Christmas items this time. And wouldn’t you know that people just aren’t into buying holiday items in June. Whoopsie—Strike 2. Here comes strike 3-- Usually as a group we make pretty close to 750 or 1,000 dollars but this year I am not sure if I just didn’t have enough treasures or what the deal was because as a group we only cleared 500.00 and that was by the skin of our teeth (I still don’t understand that euphemism) but its accurate because we just made it. Of course, that was not all mine so I had to pay out to my in-laws, brother and a few other people. I shall now follow up with the positives. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to see who comes to my garage sales. Its like a social experiment for me. I find all the peculiar people so interesting especially to see what they buy, what they decide is too much or not exactly what they are looking for. I even will plant some “treasures” to see who will buy them. For example I had a pair of bright pink high-tops from Kyra when she played basketball. You would think that a young teenage girl would pick them up but oh no- It was a 45 year old women in cut offs and a Harley vest- interesting. I had a gentleman that was riding his bike with no less than 6 bags (I swear) who was in the market to purchase even more bags- ha! I didn’t have a lot of big ticket items so I am sure that played a role in the bottom line. My parents were nice enough to watch the girls Thursday morning so I could set up the sale. Although this is the first year that I have done it all by myself. 3 hours and a few Tylenol later I was feeling like a total buffy and quite accomplished if I say so myself.

I was only able to have the sale Thursday and Friday because there was a threat of rain forecasted for Saturday. It was disappointing but que sera sera I guess. So we packed up the sale and hunkered down for the impending thunderstorm… which never came. LIARS!!! (I can’t imagine being a meteorologist-yuck) It wasn’t all bad because I was freed up from hosting a sale and could go running around with mom to hit a few that morning… and did we ever. I think this may be my “story” for the season (we rummagers always have a bright and shining star of a deal that we like to brag about) So here it goes. There was an add on Craigslist (which can be creepy at times) of a sale in our area (Mom and I tend to only rummage in a particular 10 block radius) and the way they worded their post it just seemed like it would be right up our alley. Antiques, artsy farsty items and weirdo treasures- hells yes I will be there! So we walked up the gravel driveway and right away I noticed this old dresser that was displaying various antiques and other items. There was a small tin sitting on the top next to a sticker that said 7.00 I thought it was a bit much for a piece of metal but really what do I know about antiques? Nada. I couldn’t find a price on the dresser (which had three tiers all topped with marble and my favorite part was the glass drawer pulls) so I asked the lady hosting the sale how much she would like. Her response was “I stickered it for 7.00 but am hoping to get 10.00” After waiting two beats I retort “Well if you take 7.00 I will buy it.” While I wait for her to come back I am trying not to dance for joy in her driveway and she says yes 7.00 would be fine. OOOOMMMMGGGG!!! I couldn’t believe it. It was like the skies parted and it was raining glitter on me right there in the street--- just try and wipe that smile off my face and the great finds kept coming. Way to perpetuate an obsession/addiction. In the end we had to call it quits because my little family had a lunch engagement to attend with Tim’s aunt Karla so I had to pry myself away from the sales and head home to get myself and the girls ready--- woosah. I have been on Weight Watchers for a couple months at this point which has been going well but boy was it fun to pork out on pizza and chicken! Bella had a total breakdown in the restaurant (we went at nap time which is always a gamble) so I took her out to the truck to settle down. Thank God because I swear I am Liger (you know--- a combination of a Lion and a Tiger… the kind that can eat themselves to death) but damn were those mashed potatoes delicious!