yard sales?
Stop laughing.
No really....I'm serious! I used to think my mother-in-law was crazy to want to get up at 6a.m. on a Saturday morning to go rummage through someone else's "junk"....but I gotta' tell ya'....I'm gettin' it now.
And I sure wish she were here to go yard sale-ing with us. Sigh.
You see....that became one of my kids' fondest memories with Grandma Mable. She would let them spend the night on a Friday, and then wake them up at the crack of dawn on Saturday with the sound of cast iron skillets clanging around to make them breakfast. (I still don't get that part....)
After she passed away, Jack would repeatedly say how much he missed doing that with her....and I realize that it was more about "spending time with her" than the yard sales themselves, but it was a memory they made, and after hearing it from all of my kids....I decided one weekend that we would load up and go.
And now I'm hooked.
And you wouldn't believe how fast they all jump out of the bed on a Saturday morning, because they're afraid "we're missin' out on some good deals!" (Ha!! I love it!!)
So I decided to share some of my recent purchases with you....because truthfully....I've impressed myself.
And I probably shouldn't tell on myself here....but instead of rushing around this past Friday and Saturday morning preparing for the possible storm Isaac we are all still waiting for now.....I was out yard sale-ing!!!
Yep...every once in a while someone will hold it Friday and Saturday and so Karissa and I decided we would just see what was out there....and boy did we score.
How do ya' like this addition to my living room??
Yep...I'm talkin' about the chair....the one that fills a spot I have been wanting a chair in for 7 years, and the one that matches the color scheme in here perfectly.
Wanna' know how much I spent on it?
$10.
Nope....not even kidding. Didn't have to even talk him down on it, and no...there is nothing wrong with it.
The family was moving....and needed to get rid of a LOT of stuff. It wasn't even out "in" the yard sale. It was sitting in his garage and when I asked him about something else he pointed to it and said...."You need that chair right there?? You can have it for $10."
What???? Ummm.....yes....please load that in the back of my van....NOW. We will make it fit.
And that doesn't include the name brand clothing that we scored for 50cents a piece at the same yard sale.
And I know you can't see the tags because I didn't use my good camera....so I will help you see a little closer that these are name brand.
And let me just stop right here and say this.
Yes...I think we scored big on name brand items for 50cents a piece, but let's remember it's a yard sale. What does that mean?? That means that I am not going to pay $4 for their used clothing items.... A yard sale is a yard sale, and if they wanted to get a consignment shop price for it, then perhaps that's what they should do with it.
Sorry...didn't mean to be ugly, but sometimes, you walk up the driveway only to see the prices on their "stuff" and you just have to turn right around and go back to the car, because there are other yard sales waitin' that know how to price their "stuff".
I said all of that to say...his prices were fair. Very fair.
But as I said....typically there aren't very many yard sales on Friday in my area....and the boys were in school, so we pretty much called it a day and decided to go again the next morning.
And boy did we score.....
Auburn jacket? $1
Everything else.....
Stuff a bag for $3.....(and let me just say right here that mama knows how to "stuff a bag for $3".) I do the stuffing while good ole' Karissa (who might I add is like taking Grandma Mable along on a yard sale because she trained her right), digs through the piles to find the good stuff.
Yep...look a little closer at what was in that bag.....
That would be Chaps, Nautica, and Nike.
My "stuffing-a-bag" techniques scored those items for what ended up being 30cents a piece.
Now I realize that this next item is not an "antique", but I liked it....and felt like the price was fair.
$7...and in excellent condition.
And last but not least....just a few other items that were added to my collection for the day...
- New holiday hand towels....that's what washers and dryers are for.
- Two Pampered Chef spin-around-hold-your-kitchen-utensils thingies.
- Two nut crackers
- Unopened package of elastic...for the sewing projects I will one day get to...give me a break.
- Graph paper...sure it was partially used...who cares???
And can I just say that when it came time for school to start this year....I didn't have to go and buy those expensive plastic dividers with pockets or sheet protectors. I had scored all of those for 25cents an unopened pack at a yard sale in St. Louis over the summer!!!
How do I do it??
- Stop at the store and grab something cheap so I can get cash back....only $20.
- Make sure they give me ones and fives....I don't want a $20 bill because I have to have small change for bargaining later. ;)
- Hit the road and start watching for signs....believe me....get some boys anxious to find fishin' gear in the van, and they will find any and all signs pointing to a yard sale.
- Then at a moment's notice they will holler out, "MOM....there's a sign!" and then I will be accused of being a "fast & furious" driver because they startle me and I turn quickly.
- We all pile out of the van like clowns in a circus, and begin the hunt.....and then I hear Jack's voice say, "Ummm....sir, you have $2 on here, but will you take $1?
And I love it!! Grandma Mable taught him well....he never pays the price they have on anything.
I think she would be right proud of him...and the rest of us for that matter.
I'm just sayin'.
when the morning started.
Karissa had to take an additional CPR class before starting her new job, and she was told where to go. Except....when she googled it to get directions, well....she was a little concerned about going over there herself. The area seemed a little "sketchy" to her.
So in spite of my highly procrastinated plans to spend the day in the boys room going through their clothes with them to see what fits and what doesn't...I eagerly accepted the opportunity to accompany Karissa over to her class, and kill time in the area until she finished.
And believe me....the boys were thanking me. For some reason, all my kids have hated that end-of-summer activity.
And it was all good until we looked at the clock and realized that we were in crunch mode to get there in time, so I start barking orders making sure everyone was getting to the van quickly and in a timely manner. ;)
We get all the way over there, only for me to start re-thinking even dropping her off there. The building had not been updated since oh...probably the 1960's...and that's pushing it....
And no....this was nothing nostalgic like going to an old university or anything....that's not the kind of "old" I am talking about here. It was dumpy, run down, and making me very thankful I had not sent her over to go it alone.
The bars on the windows of surrounding businesses weren't making me feel any better about her being there either.
And had it not been for a trusted source....who had assured us before going that the place was legitimate, we probably would have driven right on by.
And frankly....that would have probably been the better thing for me to do....because shortly after pulling in to what was the smallest, most crowded parking lot ever.....with only room enough for one vehicle to go through it in one direction, I found myself in a very unique situation.
Feeling sure that the parking lot must wrap around to the back I continued inching slowly behind the two cars in front me, until suddenly I found myself in the most precarious position.
I was staring at the reverse lights of the car in front of me, wondering just how much farther she was going to back up before hitting me, and glancing in my rear view mirror, only to see that plenty of others had followed my lead and pulled into the parking lot behind me.
And suddenly, before I knew it....I was being yelled at by a woman to "BACK UP!!!" And I'm pretty sure there were a few explicatives being thrown out there as well.
So I did what any good blogger would do, and seized the opportunity to take a few pictures. :)
Well...that was right after I calmly opened my door to get out and explain to her that I would love to back up but that it wasn't quite possible just yet because there were CARS BEHIND ME!!!
No I didn't yell.
But she was....and she was making me nervous.
Not to mention, I happen to be claustrophobic and I was feeling a wee bit trapped....with a crazy woman in front of me.....
And cars lined up behind me......
And you can stop laughing at the fact that I took pictures. It was all to give you, the readers, the full experience of being trapped in a very dated parking lot.
And besides....what was my hurry?? I was TRAPPED, remember???
That is, until Mr. I-look-good-for-my-age-but-not-as-good-as-I-think-I-look paramedic comes waltzing out and decides to tell us all that we can just "park right there".
Umm...excuse me? Park? Right here???
So being a paramedic, he can see that I am clearly about to need his medical expertise, as I frantically try to get my window down and explain that, "Umm...sir....(insert nervous laugh), ummm.....I, umm...was just dropping off my daughter right over there...you see...and...well..I'm not staying for your class, so umm...parking here for me is not really what I had in mind."
Well...one would have thought that this sort of information would have made him cringe, seeing as how there were now quite a few cars behind me, but I'm thinking he was seizing the moment. He pats my arm (like that's gonna' help...I must have looked rough!) and he marches right on back there and begins to live out his dream of living life on the edge...directing traffic on a very busy street as he ever-so-carefully guided all of us backwards and out so that the crazy-woman-in-the-white-mini-van-who-clearly-had-no-business-pulling-up-into-the-one-way-parking-lot could get out.
Oh. My. Word.
My neck hurt so bad from having to look behind me for so long and back up for what seemed like a half a mile....I just wanted to get home as quickly as I could and call it a day. Because my stress level had already had it's quota.
But a plan to kill time, is a plan to kill time....and a promise is a promise.....to the poor boys who probably thought we were trapped just minutes earlier, so onward I went in search of yard sale signs.
Yep...I got to a familar area and started scouring the street corners for yard sale signs. It's our new favorite Saturday morning activity...but sometimes you get lucky and see some on a Friday. They thought it would be so cool to go to them in a different place away from home.....
And don't ask me why, but somehow it has become part of the yard sale routine to stop and "get cash back" along with the purchase of some donuts at the store....and if you'll recall....I had just gone through a pretty stressful event, so the usual routine was sounding pretty good.
And we hit the jackpot....or so we thought. Markdown donuts at Wal-Mart. Boys were excited.....and we were in business....watch out yard sales, here we come.
That is, until the gigantic storm cloud overhead decided it was time to bless us with some serious rain. Oh yes....rain. And not just a sprinkle or little shower. This was the hunker-down-in-your-car-it's-gonna-be-a-while rain.
Lovely.
Time to break out the donuts.
Note to self. Wal-Mart prepackaged donuts are not so good. Especially the ones that are marked down....and I am all about marked down. But these failed us.
Oh well....didn't need them anyway.
So I thought maybe I could take the boys to a salvage store in lieu of yard sales...you know....rummage through junk and hope to find something worthwhile for a good price.
Wouldn't you know that the only one I knew of had closed down? Yep....I drove in the pouring down rain, with sticky fingers from nasty donuts, with boys asking me a thousand questions about "what is a salvage store", all for me to pull up and it be gone. But as I pulled into the parking lot....what did I see???
The HOT NOW sign was red.
Yep...you know the one. On a Krispy Kreme store sign. Staring us right in the face, just moments after we had eaten empty, tasteless, marked down calories donuts. :(
