God created her, I carried her, now she is my happiness and my laughter.

Friday, September 3, 2010

My Garage Saling Experience

I first thought it would be a good idea to have a garage sale at the beginning of the week. My husband, Jason, is not a fan of clutter in the garage so I knew that even though he would be going on a long deployment by the next week he would not be opposed to spending his last weekend cleaning out the garage and making some money while we're at it.
Wednesday night there was a lot of anticipation in our house hold as we went through each room with boxes and adding to the boxes items of junk that were once thought to be priceless treasures. We also cleaned out the storage unit. I had done that before on my own, but this time Jason was with me and he could speak for his own things.
On Thursday, both of us came home tired. Emma had kept us up early in the morning and siestas were out of the question. Errands were run, food was eaten, friends were chatted with, excuses were made to not get the garage set up for the big sale. Finally, when neither of us could think of any more reasons for procrastinating, Jason moved the car and we began pricing and setting up tables. Jason gladly did his part in the preparations by driving our nice 2010 camaro out on the town to get us some food which we proceeded to eat when he got back. After eating the food, I trudged on only to find Jason rolling up in a sleeping bag (which we were not going to sell) I could tell he was going to be very helpful, but I couldn't complain that he had gone and got our dinner.
Thursday night I went to bed anxious. I knew I would wake up naturally around 7:30, but I also knew that we had forgotten to get change, it was too late to get it now, and I wouldn't have a car to drive in the morning to go and get it.
Friday morning, Emma woke up again at 0530 and wanted to get in bed with me. While the motherly part of me wanted to just snuggle in with her, the reasonable part of me knew that my little squirm worm couldn't "snuggle in" to save her life. So, I put her back in her own bed where she cried her self back to sleep. The realization hit me at this point that if I was going to get an early start on the garage sale I was going to have to set my alarm. I was too tired from interrupting my sleep to trust my self to be up by 7.
8 o clock rolled around and I was not only on my feet, but the sale items were out on the front lawn and I was set up with Emm'a breakfast, a chair, and a magazine. Two hours went by with only two customers, no profit, and lots of texting to my mom who was keeping me company.
Disappointment was trying to set it, but I wouldn't take defeat. I let the cats out, off leash, and watched Emma chase them. I read and she re-arranged the sale items. Sure enough, more and more cars came by and I started making some money. As the day continued I found myself in a state of peace, enjoyment, and relaxation. Emma took a nap at noon which gave me the afternoon in silence and not having to be a watchful eye. Even the cats were staying near the house and napping in the near by flower bushes. I found myself reminiscing my child hood garage sale experiences and brain storming on just about anything and everything with my alone time.
Jason and I start the sale up again tomorrow. I have high hopes for a pleasant time spent with the family earning enough money for a nice date night before he leaves. I've closed up shop for now although I am still jumping at the sound of cars driving by hoping that if I run outside in enough time I could grab their attention and they could still look in the garage and see what I have left.