Just a BlinkProof Time Flies

Yeah for no rain! Our sale day weather was crisp yet balmy. The extended garage sale season was so delightful. We had a decent turn out of costumers despite it almost being October!

Dawn (Hostess) has a son named Jack. His first costume was a Jack-o-Lantern. Future costume ideas include a Jack-in-the-Box and a Jack (like the little metal toy).

Autumn has fully arrived so I will have to wait until next year for more g-sale shopping or hostessing. I have already placed priced items in storage for a May 2009 sale. I think it is a sickness. Or I guess you could call it a hobby or maybe necessity.

Notice the freshly cut hydrangea bloom on our hostess table. Our trip to the mall for rolling racks was diverted for a quick stop to the frontage road berm in front of Sport's Authority. Snip. Ahh! Nice.

Our little not-babies-anymore girls stopped by for a visit after nap-time. In order of appearance: Nora, Dawn, Jess (me) and Molly.

Dawn's Mom made us aprons for our price tickets and cash. They worked out so well! Thanks Mrs. Dawn's Mom. Dawn selected an apron that matched her lower level couch pillows. She looked marvelous indeed.

My apron was the first toile item I have ever owed. I felt oh so interior designer-ish wearing ottoman fabric!

Baby clothes at our garage sale:

• Stories of who wore what and when to help remember our child’s blurry days of babyhood.
• Taking clothes out of the pricing box because we were not ready to see that one go
• Pink rack, blue rack and sliver of green and yellow because Dawn did not know what she was having…she is one of those.

In the doings of the sale I found opportunities to silently pray for some of our customers. It seems that there always happens to be a hand full of people that appear to be needing love. I tend to let few items like a snow suit or an extra stuffed animal or book get tossed in without charge.

Just throw it in!

So many people have been generous to me via hand-me-downs that of course I can’t resist paying it forward. Let this be an encouragement to you to spread the love with second hand clothes. What have you been hanging on to in the attic for someday when your neighbor could use it today?

I am in the process of co-hosting a garage sale with a girlfriend. She is the garage hostess due to her prime location and her sweet garage interior. I am the co-hostess that brings a lot of junk and a few tables.

I am not going to give a how-to guide for garage sales. I will however tell you about my time and what joys or sorrows I learned along the way.

Making a great garage sale experience successful is beneficial. It just depends on how you define success.  Some are in it for the money, others for the glory. Me, I’m in it for the experience.

Sort, purge, group, price, display, sell, sort, fold, sell some more, de-tag, save some, donate some, box it, give it, done.

Somewhere in-between the “doings” of a sale I hope to find something special. Yes, I usually find something special to buy that the other hostess is selling but I mean something intangible.

Pricing until the wee hours of morning with a friend is bit like nothing else:

• Commiserating over sore butt bones from sitting way too long in a sea of memories (our kids’ clothes)
• Laughing over the silly items in the price box only because we are too giddy to do anything else
• Sharing of personal stories over tea on a much needed sorting break

Check back to hear more from my weekend experience with my garage sale.

P.S. Hostess’ Mom sewed canvas/fabric aprons for us to wear and sell. So cool!

I had a garage sale today with my friend Dawn in Apple Valley. We had a good turn out and beautiful weather.

We ran ‘the little bake sale that could’ with homemade brownies, bakery doughnuts and water bottles to raise funds for Dawn’s sister Sarah. Sarah is going on a missions trip to Africa to help dig a well for clean water.

Both of our husbands get awards for doing non-stop Daddy duty (park, food, baths, everything) all Friday night and Saturday while we priced and ran the sale. [note: In general I don't think Dad's should always get awards for watching their own kids. Watching the kids under certain tough or busy times I think they should at least be thanked.]

I love to purge material things several times a year. In the winter months I usually just donate stuff to the Goodwill but in the spring I do a garage sale. A pleasant ahhhhhhhhhhh! is resounding in my mind now that the stuff has gone on to other homes or day-cares.

The following Bible verse inspires me to put my heart into important things not just my stuff,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” [Matt. 6:19-21].

Though I parted with several baby items like the Jumperoo, exer-saucer and baby swing. I still couldn’t part with all of my newborn baby clothes, a whole topic for another blog entry. We sold a lot and will be taking the rest of the unsold items to my Mom’s church, Friendship Church, for their fund raising garage sale.

I like collecting too. I did purchase 2 coats, 10 shirts and 1 handbag. I just happened to be sharing garage space with Dawn’s sister a Banana Republic store manager. So you can imagine the racks that were hanging there. Can you blame me? I am thrilled to have a few new pieces in my wardrobe. All day today was literally wearing a tee shirt that I wore in high school so yea, it was time to update. I refrained from wondering the streets to the other garage sales in her neighborhood so that is a huge star for me.

I equally love to do things that are complete opposites. I love quiet reading just as much I love yakking it up with my girlfriends. I love eating sensibly equally as much as I love eating chocolate flour-less cake or oh…the fruit cheesecake tart from Cafe Latte in St. Paul. Point being I love to collect and I love to give away.

It was a great day overall and we are already dreaming up ideas for a sale next year.