Tag: garage sale

Garage Sale Day – 2007

Last year for the town Garage Sale Day, we actually had a garage sale at mom & dad’s place. This year, I thought I would be at a meeting over the lunch hour, so I didn’t get stuff ready for selling. Only to discover earlier this week that the meeting was canceled. (It was our pre-planning meeting for B-WISER, but with only 11 girls signed up so far, there’s a chance we may cancel the camp this year. Eep!)

However, nothing was stopping me from going around to other people’s garage sales. When I headed off to the post office this morning, I checked out some of the garage sales around. And I stopped at my cousin’s house to talk with Aunt Becky, Deanna, and Taylor. I then moved onto the gas station to buy a two bottles of cream soda and get some cash. When I got back home, I wrote a check for a bill I’d forgotten about and retraced my steps. (The weather was beautiful, so walking around town was quite a pleasure today).

This time, on the way home, I got in line at the Texas Tenderloin caravan which set up just for the town garage sale day. (I’d seen the caravan on my walk home yesterday and decided then that I’d have a Texas Tenderloin sammich for lunch on Saturday.) The line was pretty long, but, as I said before, the weather was wonderful. In front of me was a young girl I’ve seen around who will most likely be a future student of mine some day. A bit before her were two sisters talking, one of whom is a current student and the other a former student. Was kind of neat to see the timeline there in the lunch line. Heh.

I ordered a sammich and fries and walked home. And thought about how nice it would be to have local restaurants within walking distance of home. (Well, other than the one pizza joint in town.) Lunch was yummy. Linus wanted some, but I assured him that tenderloins (well, the breaded & fried type like I was eating) are not good food for kitties. And not good food for humans either, but there ya go.

Later on, I decided to go on a bike ride. It’s my first time out for the season, so of course the tires were a little flat. However, the Free Air at the gas station wasn’t working. So I popped around to the folks’ to see if dad would fill my tires with his air compressor. And my timing was perfect. Mom was home from work and ready to go garage saling. So I went along with them.

Dad bought a balance at the first sale (their neighbors, so he walked ’em home after buying). Mom bought puzzles at the second. And then we were back at my cousin’s where Becky & co. were still selling. Mom bought a puzzle and a puzzle mat there (Becky said we didn’t have to pay, but dad got rid of some quarters to pay for ’em – heh). While they were pondering just what someone could do with a quarter these days, I suggested to Becky that she should save up her garage sale revenue and take her favorite niece out for Chinese Buffet. And that inspired our evening adventure at the Chinese Buffet.

Whenever I upgrade my computer, I always give the old one to my Aunt Becky. I will admit, the last upgrade, I decided to try building a linux box out of my old machine so that I could play with it, but I just never used it as I’d wanted to. So after nearly 2 years after my last upgrade, Becky finally got her upgrade. She promised to take me out for Chinese Buffet in thanks for the computer – and who am I to turn down Chinese food?

So with my subtle hint, plans were made to have Chinese buffet for supper. Becky picked the folks and I up, Deana took the girls (Taylor & Sydney), and my other cousin Bill and his wife Connie and their youngest, Braden, met us at the Piqua China Garden Buffet. We had a pleasant evening having Chinese food and chatting. And the little ones were pretty well behaved. Afterwards, Deanna took the girls to their mom (the garage sale was at their dad’s place) before she herself headed home to south Dayton. Becky dropped the parentals and I off. And Bill & co. returned to their place.

Once home, I saved the latest Doctor Who (which was done downloading from before supper time) to CD and watched it. It’s fun to watch new Who on my big screen TV while chatting with folks on my laptop. Mmmmm, technology!

(Oh, and if you were wondering if I ever got to ride my bike, the answer is “yes.” After returning from the garage sales – we hit about half the town before returning – dad pumped my tires and I rode around town for awhile. Yay for bikes!)

Garage Sale

Each year in April, our town has a Town Garage Sale. Anyone in town is allowed to have a garage sale without paying any license fees or whatever you have to do to have a garage sale. So this year, my folks and I took advantage of the day to have our own sale. In past years, the weather has been pretty nasty. Some years rainy. Some years cold. Some years cold & rainy. But this year, the temperature was in the mid 60s F and it was cloudy (so not too much sun). Perfect garage saling weather. 🙂

So, what did Trina bring to the sale? My old Gameboy Advance (I have the SP now, so didn’t need the other), and MP3 CD playing boombox that never worked flawlessly, some knick knacks, and lots of video tapes. Since I am now a DVD addict, some of my VHS tapes have been supplanted by lovely DVDs. That left quite a few videos I didn’t need anymore. Dad looked through them last night and picked up a few for the Lake. The rest I sold for $1 each or 5 for $3. And I managed to sell over half of them! Which really surprised me – my taste in videos isn’t very, um, usual. Some of the things in the video boxes: Columbo, Dangermouse, Red Dwarf, Monty Python (Flying Circus & Live at Hollywood Bowl), Monkees, and several movies including some Muppets ones.

Any guesses as to what sold first?

Well, if you would have asked me which would have sold first, if any would have sold, I’d’ve said Columbo and some of the movies.

Heh – nope, it was the Monty Python stuff! A couple and their daughter arrived early and saw the Python tapes. They immediately started arguing whether the son still owned a VCR and if he’d be interested in the videos. So the daughter called her brother, confirmed he had a VCR still, and bought all the Python. And when it added up to only 8 videos, I threw in two Doctor Who videos to make 10 thinking he might like that. (Which two, you ask? Ghost Light and Curse of Fenric, of course. Only quality videos for my customers!)

The stuff that didn’t sell included Red Dwarf and Dangermouse. (The first didnt’ surprise me, the second did! All those little kids who stopped by and I couldn’t sell them on a cartoon about a secret agent mouse and his hamster assistant!)

During the day, I saw 4 former classmates of mine, two whom I haven’t seen in years (I think since maybe graduation!) and one of my sister’s classmates. Dad and I spent most of the day outside selling and chatting with folks as they came. Mom preferred instead to run errands (getting mail, getting lunch – yay! Texas Tenderloins from a vendor on main street).

So, how much did I net during the day?

Almost $60! Wow! I did a lot better than I suspected. So now I’m rich! I think I’ll go to some town garage sale and spend it all! (Hah, yeah right!)