Yard sales are a lot of work

Yesterday I participated in our neighbourhood association’s inaugural street sale. The flyer we got said it started at 8AM, but when I was walking Leia a little after 7AM, I only saw one family setting theirs up. I guess my neck of the woods isn’t a hardcore yard sale kind of crowd. By the time I got back and got my stuff out, a couple more had sprouted. Sean also reported seeing more sales on other streets while he did his coffee run. One group of women who visited my sale were quite disgusted that the neighbours across the street were only just setting up at 8:45AM. “All the best stuff is gone by then!” they sneered. Then they left without buying anything, even though I had lots of good stuff left. Just not good stuff to them. Whatever.

I’m always surprised at the stuff that sells at yard sales and the stuff that doesn’t. I had some purses out, and one in particular was touched by almost every visitor to the sale. But no one wanted to cough up the money for it, or make me a counter-offer. I had a box of never-used wineglasses, a brand-new cheese knife and tray set, and a nice wooden wall shelf that nobody bought. Yet, every single stinky candle and most of the crappy bath stuff I put out was sold. I probably priced the “good stuff” too high, but I took any counter-offer I was given, so I didn’t make as much as I had hoped. This served as a reminder that a yard sale’s main objective is not to make money, but get rid of stuff you no longer need in your life.

One guy came by about halfway through, looked at my stuff for about thirty seconds and told me it was all “girl stuff”. I told him my husband was a packrat and wouldn’t get rid of anything (which is pretty much true). I had an old man ask me if I had any stamps or war medals from Grandpa, (which I did not). I told him my grandpa must have given them to his good grandchildren. This was after the guy was trying to flirt with me by saying he saw my red hair from a distance, but he had been drinking the night before. I told him that I hoped he wasn’t seeing two of me. I’m not sure if he liked me much, but he made me laugh. Silly old men are great!

I gave up after about three hours. I sold over half of the stuff, but since it was a small sale, what was left was starting to look pathetic, and people were just driving or walking by without looking. Everyone was also trying to buy the tables I had the stuff on, which were not for sale. I am proud of myself because when I boxed everything back up, I took it straight to the car to be donated to Goodwill. No sneaking back into my house, clutter!

Here are some dog pictures

This is my parent’s dog, Bree. I’m not sure what she was planning.

Here’s our dog, Leia, trying so hard to be good for the camera.

These are my sister’s dogs, Cujo (front) and Jaws. This was taken the first day they met. They made friends very quickly.

A gift from my two dads…

When Sean and I went to my parent’s place last weekend to hook up their new Internet connection, I walked into their garage to see this lovely shelf. My sister has a similar one in her kitchen that I have admired for some time, so my parents decided that they should make one for me. So my stepdad, being the handy guy that he is made it based on the measurements that he took from her shelf. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but they ran out of time. I’d say getting it done by the end of the year was pretty darn impressive.

As my stepdad was telling me about how he put the shelf together, he mentioned that he had used tools that used to belong to my dad that my mom had kept after he died. Upon hearing this, I blurted out, “So it’s a present from *both* my dads! That makes it *extra* special!”

He said “Yes, and your father’s combination square is a piece of shit, but I couldn’t find mine. I did use your dad’s white mallet though, and it worked fine.” That made me laugh.

We’re a sentimental pair, my stepdad and I.

I’m thrilled with this shelf, and I stained it yesterday. I loaded it up with our stuff today (the dog treats are up high so Leia doesn’t go sneaking). Since the shelf covers up where our clock used to be, I nailed it to the front of the shelf. That covers up the non-existent hole in the top that would have made the shelf more like a birdhouse.

It’s funny what stuff sticks around people’s homes. Shitty tools never seem to find a place to die, but can anyone ever find stuff like scotch tape and a pen that works consistently without tearing apart the house?

Vox Hunt: My Pets

Show us your pets.
Submitted by Prakash Daniel.

This picture took more effort than the relaxed looks indicate. Buckley the cat and Leia the dog aren’t usually spotted in such close vicinity to each other unless we are all on the living room couch together having a cuddle. Leia wants to be friends, but Buckley just isn’t interested and would rather swat her if she gets too close.

Sean and I each took a few shots before Sean came up with this one. I did have to clone out the dirty laundry that was on the floor (Sean’s underpants!), so that explains why my floor looks weird behind the dog.

I also have the good sense not to have a white bedspread with two pets in the house – my duvet cover is in the wash, being stripped of the shag rug that is all the pet fur these two leave all over the house.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
This work by Melissa Price-Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada.
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