A Day in the Life: Garage Sale Edition

Well, I've been devirginized; I had my very first garage sale yesterday.

Can I say that it's a terribly anxiety ridden event? First, you have to gather all the stuff you want to sell. (I've been doing that slowly over the last few weeks.) Then you have to organize it all into some semblance of order so people can browse. (A good friend, Miss April - I always feel like I'm talking to a centerfold when I call her that, helped me not only organize but lent me a few of her camping tables to spread the clothes out on. It still took us about 6 hours.) Then you have to price everything. Oh. My. Gracious. They stuff I totally don't want is more easy but then I have to be careful of pricing too low that I don't make any money of the deal. The stuff that I love is harder. I want to make it buyable but I want them to appreciate how wonderful this stuff is. Finally, I have to open my garage and allow all sorts of people - most of whom I don't know - to come into my bubble. For the most part, this was fun. But there were a few people....

One in particular, his girlfriend/wife/daughter/friend? had a baby girl (5mo) and was sorting through all of our baby clothes. She had a couple items but was still looking and the guy started saying, "Let's go." She needed another quarter but he had no patience and could have cared less. She started to put some back - I took her 50 cents and told her just to take the hat. I wanted to grab her hand and say, "Listen sister, you could do so much better! Kick this man to the curb." To the guy, I just wanted to boot his ass off the property - bastard! Grrr.

But that was the only down note. I had several people who just really wanted to chat, quite a bit, especially when they learned I was moving to Alaska. My first couple of the day waltzed in and bought a ton of stuff. A ton. They even bough my beloved camel. But they seemed nice and I was happy that he was going to a good home. He also recognized our arc welder for sale ($35) and suggested we bump the price to $75. Which I did. (Hey, that's $40 more!). I had some people look at it and say that was a good price but, of course, no one bought. I think some of this may just have to go on Craig's List. (No one bought the cord plus of cedar either for $120. I know - for a garage sale, isn't that just shocking?) Oh, and I tried to sell the house too. No one handed over the cash. Darn, drat and rascals! But I did get someone interested in looking at the house.

There was another woman who was buying a bunch of my girl clothes. I was happy to see them leaving. Then she commented that she always bought white clothing and denim - white to tie dye and the denim to embellish. WHAT?! I wanted to snatch all the clothing back and just say no! These clothes were adorable and she was going to what? (I know - a moment of insanity and memories of my daughter wearing these clothes.) But I didn't say anything - it's not like I'm going to be personally wearing (Ha - NARF!) or using these clothes (no more pitter patter of little feet just the STOMP, stomp, STOMP of bigger feet) so what did I care?

And did I mention that I was doing this by myself? Robert had to work yesterday so I sat there. And sat. Like a good BFF, I had removed my van and parked it in Liz's drive only to realize that she was having an Open House that day. I couldn't move the van (Liz is out of town). Yeah, I felt smart. I had plans to set up a cushy nest - books, water, chair - but I was still setting up when that first couple arrived. I had to buzz my boys (who were busy watching cartoons. It took about a minute of a shrill phone buzzing to get their attention) to get me some water and a chair.

Then, I had to wait for everyone to leave so I could run and pee.

Good times.

In the end, I made about $200, which is going toward the price of new gutters on the house and got rid of about half the stuff. We're going to have another one next Saturday (any one? any one?). I know. Seriously? But yes. But Robert will be there so that will be better; I'll have someone to answer all the man questions and to ensure any men that are drooling over DH's tools that they are not for sale. (I found a marked difference between me and men - I would happily sell all of DH's tools and assorted garage junk for a dime a dozen. But Robert, and all these other men who wandered into my garage, think that all of this stuff was amazing and fabulous. No accounting for taste, I guess.)

And I'll be able to pee whenever I want.

It's those little luxuries that make life so enjoyable.