Saturday, September 26, 2009

Stuff and more stuff

I am into the last day of my first garage sale. It is MUCH quieter today. Yesterday morning there was a steady stream of people until about 11:30. This morning there has been a slow trickle of people. But maybe as the sky clears up and it gets warmer, more people will come out.
The first thing that sold this morning was our Little Tykes Swing and Slide combo, which we sold at our asking price.
A lot of small stuff has sold, even some of the cassette and VHS tapes I pulled out late yesterday afternoon. I figured people going up to their cabin up north might get some use out of VHS tapes. One gentleman commented that the TV selection up north isn't great and he's not going to pay for a dish.
A lot more baby clothing has sold, although some outfits that I think are super cute are still around.
We still have the Carter's John Lennon collection stuff. I had an older gentleman come in looking for the John Lennon collection but he meant music. He was surprised to see our collection was baby stuff. And even more surprised when I explained the characters used in the collection were drawn by John Lennon.
The bigger baby items, like the swing, bouncy seat and walker, are also still around. And we put out an old entertainment center, which I hope will sell because I don't want to bring it back in the house. I guess it could get stored in the basement.
Last night I decided to add a few more things, like women's clothing and winter gear. Some of the clothing has sold. Still have a lot of the maternity clothing. I was told that is sometimes harder to sell so perhaps I'll just donate it to a local organization.
C asked if I'd do a sale again and I think I would. It really hasn't been bad. The pricing part was a little tedious but I got some sound advice from garage sale loving friends. And it helps to have someone else watch the girls. My friend A was a super help yesterday. And my folks are visiting for the weekend so the girls are having loads of fun. My mom even took the girls for a walk to check out all the other sales in the neighborhood. She says our sale is, by far, the biggest one. Probably because it's our first and we have a lot of baby stuff to get rid of.
The pricing part of a garage sale is not fun but, as I clean out closets and drawers each season, I can see trying to get into the habit of putting them into totes specifically marked for the garage sale. Maybe even pricing them before storing them away. It's all in my head but it would be nice that should another time come, I can pull them out and go.
I plan to even pack up the stuff from today, even still priced, to make the next time a little easier.

Friday, September 25, 2009

One man's treasure....

We are in the midst the first day of our first garage sale. There is a little lull now, which is a relief because my legs and back are aching!
It's been a busy morning. We had people in our garage almost as soon as we opened the doors, over half hour before the scheduled start time. Yes, there early birds do truly exist.
It's been busy. I have been surprised by what has sold, what hasn't. Some stuff I put out just to get rid of: we don't use or don't want.
I'd say we have some really nice stuff, clothes especially.
I look around the garage now and we still have a lot of stuff but we've sold a bit too.
Not a piece of the John Lennon Collection baby stuff (bed sets, lamps, mobile, walker, swing, etc.) has sold. :(
We still have a lot of toys left too. And I've dealt with two or three people who are looking for a lower price on the Little Tykes Swing and Slide combo.
This has been an interesting experience. I am tired but we've got a couple hours before we can call it a day and re-evaluate things.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Apple time!

The girls and I joined some friends this morning to pick apples. Yum! We had a great time and got a lot of apples in no time at all. The trees were bursting with big apples. Macintosh and Cortland apples were available for picking. Yummy!
I also picked up some Honey Crisp apples as well as apple cider, a couple caramel apples and caramel apple dip.
For lunch we enjoyed grilled cheese apple slice sandwiches, apple slices with caramel dip and apple cider. The girls loved their apple themed lunch.
In the next few days I plan to make apple pie and homemade applesauce. I might even try baked apples but I'll save that for another time. We've got plenty of apples! :)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Clean sweep!!

This weekend we will be participating in our first neighborhood-wide garage sale!! Our neighborhood holds a garage sale twice a year.
So we decided it's time to clean out the basement, which means all of the baby items. Yes, no more baby stuff.
I've been going through totes and totes of stuff and it's been an interesting time. I see the clothes the girls once wore and I get a little nostalgic. I even went through all my maternity stuff and, man, I loved being pregnant! And I had some cute stuff. I found some shirts I loved to wear and part of me thought, I could get away with wearing that now. Tunic tops are in style, after all! But, no worries, Stacy and Clinton, I did not keep one maternity outfit!
I am nearly finished with pricing the clothes. I just sorted through two more totes tonight but I am going to call it a night and price it all tomorrow. Then I have a couple tables in the basement with stuff piled on them. I'll tackle that tomorrow as well. My goal is to finish the pricing tomorrow and then start setting up Wednesday.
I am excited to be doing this garage sale although I will be solo. My friend A is coming over with her kids to watch the girls so that is one less thing to worry about. And the weather looks great, which is a super plus!
I'll try to post something after the sale and include pictures. Wish me luck!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

S's first accident

S has been doing so well on her bike. But Sunday afternoon she had her first accident. Sadly, we didn't see it happen but we sure heard her halfway down the block!

She ended up with a swollen right corner of her lip, a small scrap on her chin, some road rash on her elbow and a little scrape on her front tooth.

Thankfully she was wearing her helmet because it got crunched up a little in the front too.



I am just thankful angels were watching over her. Chris was in our garage and I was talking to our neighbors. S likes to ride her bike up and down our street, which has little traffic so it's pretty safe.

We assume she was just peddling too fast and maybe got distracted by something and lost her balance and fell over. She was standing by the time we ran to her.

Again, thankful for the angels and helmet. I told her that when I was a kid, we weren't told to wear helmets. I showed her some of my scars from numerous bike accidents.

She jumped on the bike again Monday night without any fears or concerns. What a champ!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Ugh! Allergies

It appears there is something in the air that is affecting my allergies. Sadly, they hit me first thing in the morning, even when I start stirring at 4 a.m., even earlier! UGH!
Praying this allergy season ends very quickly!