This past weekend I participated in the 'annual' neighborhood garage sale. I say 'annual' loosely only because our homeowner association rules indicate that we are allowed to have 'one' garage sale per year, which is why they organize it to get the most exposure possible. However on any given day I can still drive down my street and observe a garage sale taking place. Guess they didn't thoroughly read that part of their By Laws. Garage sales, though, are like outdoor graduation parties ... you plan for them despite having no guarantees on the weather. Our sale was advertised for Friday and Saturday. Friday's weather was damp, on the cold side, and rainy. Not a good day for a garage sale. Saturday was a bit better ... bluer skies, a tad warmer, but extremely windy. Overall, it was a lot of work without much reward, but that's the gamble you take.
Like anything else in life you have to look for the good within the not so good. The weather wasn't great, my sales weren't amazing, and the overall turnout wasn't anything to write home about. So what's the 'good' in this weekend's garage sale experience? Well, I finished my library book BEFORE it was due, I read through my week's newspapers and advertisements BEFORE Tuesday's recycling/trash pickup, I got a ton of exercise lifting things up and putting them down (kind of like Planet Fitness), I did some effective spring cleaning, I made a few bucks, and I got to have fun with some serious people watching. The last part can be very entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against anyone who has a garage sale or anyone who goes to one, but I was rewarded with a few chuckles. There was the lady who brought her own scanner to check the UPC codes on my paperback books. I was intrigued. She explained that she resells items on Amazon and by scanning the codes she can determine what the current values are and whether or not it's worth her purchasing it. I guess my 25cent charge for the paperback version of the Horse Whisperer was too high because she left without it (lol). Then there was the chatty lady who was in a great mood but somehow felt it necessary to share with me that she'd just eaten a '7-layer bean burrito' at Taco Bell and as she said 'It was worth every calorie'. OK, so tell me exactly WHY did I need to know that?
Well, my garage is almost back to normal and I have some donations ready to be dropped off this week. All in all I'm glad to be done with the sale. I hadn't done one in 3 years and most likely it'll be another 3 years til I do one again. Maybe by then I will have stocked up on the apparent premium garage sale items ... WWII items, tools, Barbies (in the original boxes, of course), hunting and fishing stuff, and kids' clothes. Well, maybe not. None of those items seem to be in my supply anymore. Oh well.
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