yard sale

Once I was home from our roadtrip, I was instantly busy preparing for our garage sale.  We'd committed to this date with Layne and Julie a few weeks ago.  We were all dreading it terribly, but since we'd had a trailer full of stuff for a garage sale for  the past month, sitting inside our garage, it was a must!  I wanted to reclaim our garage! 

We emptied the trailer into the driveway, pulled out and emptied most of the boxes that we've saved since our move in February and were able to free up much of our space!  We were ready to call it a night by 9 and ordered pizza for a very late dinner!  The kids thought it would be "cool" to sleep out front, so Quayd set up his cot in the utility trailer and the girls pitched their little pup tent in the driveway. 

We were up bright and early for the sale...Layne's idea to have it from 7-11.  This way, we beat the heat and were done with most of our day left for other fun things! Doug hung signs in the neighborhood, I finished pricing things and the girls helped by baking cookies for the guests and being "Go-fors".  Since Quayd had done most of the heavy lifting and carrying, we let him continue to sleep until almost nine.   Several people noticed him sleeping and asked how much for the young man sleeping in the trailer.  Each time, I told them, "He's not for sale because he's priceless!"

A few yard sale tales...

• One of the best parts of the garage sale was that Layne ran to Johnny O's for donuts.  We've never had a Johnny O donut because it's right near Firehouse and Elements, two of our favorite places to lunch.  By the time that we are done with lunch, we never would consider a donut.  OH MY!  I think that we are going to have to practice the "Life's uncertain, Eat Dessert First!" rule in the future.  They were tas.TY!
• Because the back yard is so heavily shaded with such beautiful trees, we have no place for the pool.  We've gotten six good years out of it, so we sat the kids down and discussed it.  We all agreed, sadly, to sell the pool at the yardsale.  A man came and looked at it, left then called me back to ask if we still had it. He returned and gave us the $100 for it.  Doug, Quayd and Layne loaded the pool into his van... all 100 parts of it.  (Each post is three parts, then connecting Ts, and the ropes and ladder and and and.... )  Anyway, the liner alone takes two men to lift.  They worked twenty minutes to get the pool into his van.  While they loaded it, I showed him our chemicals for the hottub and explained that caring for the pool was very similar and where to get the best price and expertise on maintaining it.  I thanked him and said goodbye.  He got out to his van, turned around and asked, "Will this kill my lawn?"  We said yes.  He hesitated a second and said, "Could I get my money back?  I'm not committed enough to kill my lawn."  Doug and I guessed that he was thinking that he could put it up for a few days while his grands came to visit, not for the entire summer.  We gave him his money back and the guys spent another twenty minutes unloading it. PAIN!!!!  BUT, whatever.   I guess I'll list the pool on the local classifieds.
• We also had a very interesting couple come who were visiting their parents in Cache Valley.  They spoke a few languages... just fun and cute. They stayed for quite a while, just to visit.
• We had lots of little stuff... the kids made their own money from selling their toys.  Layne and Julie had just brought a few of their big ticket items out of storage.  Our yard still had plenty by 10 and they were almost cleaned out because their canoe and tiller and couches took up much of their driveway.  The minute we finished, at 11, the guys loaded up the rest and headed to the DI (LDS Goodwill).  It was super fast and quick clean-up!  I was glad to be done because our next fire was to teach our Family class that evening!
• Our most favorite visitors of the sale were two middle-age couples.  The two women and the daughter were hysterical!  ZJ and Grace had a basket full of naked Barbie Dolls, including two Justin Beiber dolls that were gifts years ago.  The girls have never been JB fans and they would torture each other by pushing his button and he would sing, quite loudly, I might add.  These women found the JB dolls and kept pushing the buttons to make them sing.  Oh my heck, the comments they made had us rolling!  We were laughing so hard at all the places they thought of using the dolls to torture their friends, office workers and neighbors.  They bought the dolls and decided to use them at YW Girls Camp as the wake-up revelie.  I wanted them to stay for the day!
• Then, there was a little wooden box.  I don't even know how it got outside.  I had not used it in years and years and it was very tired.  A guy asked me how much, I told him to tell me what it was worth, I didn't care.  He said, "Would you take $2?"  I said sure.  He handed me $2 and then pulled out a jewelers little magnifying thingee.  He checked it out and I asked him, "Is it worth more than $2?"  He showed me the handpainted hands on the box and said, "I will get $50 for it at my antique store."  Score for him.  Actually, I don't regret selling it that much... I explained to the girls, it was worth more to him than me, so he should have it.  I'd have never even known the value.

After the garage sale was cleaned up, we went with Julie and her son (Layne was already off to a swim activity with the Scouts from the ward) to Firehouse for a nice lunch then came home to prepare for our class.  The class went well. We enjoy it more and more each week! 

While Quayd was at work, we watched the Sandra Bullock/Tom Hanks movie, Extremely Close and Very Loud??? (I think that's the name.)  OH MY.  What a movie.  Very sobering, beautiful story, SO SAD.  It was apparently nominated for an Oscar in 2011 and I had never even heard of it.   Worth Watching, for sure, but not over and over.  It hurts too much.

A productive day.  We have our garage back.  We have still a few pieces of furniture to sell online.  We earned a little extra cash.  Sadly, it's not really extra.  The transmission on Doug's van went out while I was in Idaho.  As Buddy shared, a few months ago, "It's always amazing how the Lord blesses us with what we need, but usually not more than we need."  Good wisdom.

Life is good.   OH!!!  One last thought about garage sales.  Layne's analogy.... having a garage sale is like when you have a stomach bug.  You ache and you hurt and you just feel yucky.  THEN, you throw up and you feel instantly better.  Perfect comparison.  THE minute it was over, we felt GREAT!!!  Have I mentioned how much we love our new friends, Layne and Julie!?  They rock!  And they make life "even gooder", as Doug would put it!  Enough said!