My Garage Sale

A comedian once said, "I don't know what you white people on Friday nights that makes you want to get up on Saturday and put all your junk on your lawn and try to sell it." Well, for the second year in a row, I am selling my junk! My friends Susan, Michelle and I are pooling our collective treasures and bartering with our customers in our annual garage sale this week.

This year I made a solid attempt to purge my house of many of the unused items that clutter and frustrate me during the year. I have spent a week and a half cleaning the basement and deciding what goes ignored most of the year. Then, all this week I cleaned the garage, organized tables, and put prices on products. By Wednesday night, I was exhausted and the sale hadn't yet started.

Yesterday, I was ecstatic because I sold all of the major products that I was hoping to sell: bike trailer for toddlers, Little Tikes play gym, my old stroller, the Cozy Coupe car, our blue Little Tikes car, an easel, a kids tool bench. Some of these items I had even purchased at garage sales with my friend Tyna!

Yet as I was watching someone else walk away with my supposed "junk," I began feeling a little nostalgic. One of the hardest objects for me was my stroller. I pushed all three of my boys in that stroller. I remember receiving it brand new and gingerly placing Andrew in the stroller. I remember Brendan riding in the stroller once Andrew was too big for the double stroller. I remember walking to school to get Andrew with Evan in the stroller and having it hail on us! Yes, HAIL! I put in some serious mileage behind that "junk," but I don't have use for it any more. A super nice grandpa bought it to put at his house for when his grandkids come to visit. I literally teared up when he said that!

My crib is also leaving me after 8 years. My friend Gina knew someone who could use a crib at her parent's house for when she visits. How wonderful for me to know that the same crib that I anxiously watched each of my newborns sleep in will continue to get used by loving people.

Not all sales made me nostalgic. I didn't look twice when the Jackie Collins novels that I never read were purchased or the Bing Crosby album that I think I mistakenly bought exited. I didn't mind seeing the noisy trucks that the boys zoomed around the house leave or even the Bob the Builder Scoop toy get purchased. I think the feeling was mutual with the Scoop toy. As the woman picked him up, the toy shouted, "I'm ready to go!" We all laughed so hard!

So for all of my work yesterday, I made enough money to pay for our gas money for at least a few weeks! We are hoping to open later today if the rain ever stops in Wisconsin. I am beginning to feel like I should have been building an ark! Ultimately, by the time we close on Saturday, I am hoping to feel a little more clutter free and have a little change in my pocket.