Post-Garage

Wow.....from 6:30ish AM to just about 1:30ish PM non-stop is a lot for our road-weary bodies to endure....but we did it.  Son #1 got up and was a huge help.  Son #2 was no help at all until the very end - and only then because I pointed out (somewhat dryly) that we had two neighborhood kids helping us out [met new neighbors - she's a nurse, he's a sheriff.  Nicest people and their kids were just as sweet as they could be.  One son wanted a pair of roller blades we had for sale but had no money - so I asked him if he'd check with his parents and if it was OK with them, we would love to have him help us put stuff away at the end - in exchange for the skates.  His brother helped too and got a bag of beanie babies that he was ECSTATIC about] who were complete strangers to us up until this morning. STRANGERS being more helpful and supportive than the adult person who lives here and is our genetic material.

{I know H. was out until at least after 3AM 'cuz that's when I got up to go potty and he wasn't in his bed.  I don't freak out anymore....it's Friday night after a long week of work and he's usually out pretty late.  He was worthless at 6:30 this morning and wasn't much help even when he did finally get up.  What's up with that?}

Anyway, the new neighbors bought the two electric scooters we had - they need 'work' but the dad seems able to tinker and there are parts available on line.  We introduced the dad to B. and said 'and B., great news!  He's a sheriff!'.  I told the dad 'you have our permission to monitor any noise levels anytime and especially when we are not home'.  He said 'about a month or two  ago, it was pretty noisy'...I said 'Really?  We were in Vegas and the kids had a little get together'.  He said he had to yell out the window one of the nights to get them to quiet down - B. has no memory of that.  Surprised?  Not!  The dad was good natured about it and I said 'J. is retired now and we plan to take more frequent get aways together - so you are always welcome to monitor crowds and noise and intervene'.  I will be so much more relaxed next trip!!

Like all good garage sales, it's fun - people were friendly and the morning passed quickly.  My mom's needle point and stitchery items (all brand new - unopened - so many of them) did not sell and that disappoints me.  We were asking $5 for them - and they had price tags still on them from $15 to $50.  FIVE DOLLARS is too much?  I boxed them up again and plan to save them.  I will try to do them in retirement, perhaps.  Though they may end up in Goodwill.....

So then the hard part comes - after expenses [which included:  McDonald's breakfast for the three of us out there at 7AM; $4 donation to the realtor who organized everything to enter a drawing for a Kindle - she's donating the raffle proceeds to a local charity; and $20 for one trip to the dump] - we netted just under $400.  Considering it was all 'junk' that was just in the garage, we did OK.  

We still have loads of stuff to take to Goodwill; the library....and possibly another dump trip.  There is space in the rafter storage now - and we will use some of the proceeds to buy another heavy-duty shelf set for the garage - to put all the car/cleaning stuff on.  

It was a huge amount of work for $392 - but it feels good to get it done.  

I am so tired, I can barely move - and my feet are cramping unbelievably badly.  I could never do a job that required me to be on my feet all day - I wouldn't make it. 

We enjoyed time with our neighbors (the new and the old) and had a pleasant morning.  Thankfully, it's in the 80's today which also greatly helped - hot when we were wrapping up and moving stuff around but pleasant while the sale was going on.  

The urge to box stuff up for 'next time' is strong - but so is the urge to just be done with stuff.  There will likely be plenty more 'stuff' for next time.  We are planning to do this every six months or so - next working on closets (clothes, shoes, etc.).  

So I spent my first day off in 27 days working my ass off - but it feels great.  Now I'm in the mood to continue massively reorganizing everything in site.  The mind is willing - the body is weak.  

Nap time!  I haven't had a nap in FOREVER!