Garage sale

Sorry for the two week hiatus. I just haven’t felt much like writing lately.

Last weekend we held a garage sale. Mom and Dad, whose house is finally on the market in Houston in preparation for their move to Sequim this summer, brought up 3 vehicle-loads of stuff to sell over the past several weeks. Doc and I had some stuff too, and Brittney and Chris brought a few things over. Kat was sick and couldn’t come hang out, but she did make us the most fabulous purple-painted sparkly garage sale signs. I am certain they drew more business than standard signs would.

I’ve decided that will be my last garage sale; they’re tiring and time-consuming and I really hate haggling with people who want to give you five cents for something that you’re asking $3, and which cost you $100 new.

However, at garage sales you always meet interesting characters who purchase interesting items, and I make up little stories in my head about why they want what they want. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to be a checkout clerk at a supermarket for the same reason.

Anyway, here are two examples of strange people we met: Mom was trying to sell a pair of lambswool nipple warmers (never used! new in package!) that were a gift from a New Zealander friend with a sense of humor. She also had a tiny flip calendar of penis art from around the world and through the ages, as well as a David (Michelangelo’s statue) puzzle and postcard, featuring the most important bit, and various other naughty things. Mom unloaded them all on a lady who was extremely chatty and asked us if any of us wanted to feel her recent lap-band surgery. Feel a stranger’s recent surgery scar? Sure, why not! You only live once!

And then there was the enormously fat old man who walked bent over with a cane, who has come to every garage sale we’ve had over the years, and asked us if we’d all had our mammograms. It seemed creepy until I remembered his life story that I’d heard twice before – his wife is battling breast cancer, and also his grandson was murdered in south Texas – and he seemed to need to sit down with us and tell us the same exact 30-minute-long story for the third year in a row. I guess it’s therapy for him or something.

Brittney and Chris sold almost all of their items, and between Mom and I we sold about 2/3 of our junk. The rest we dropped off at the Salvation Army the next day. For the number of items we sold, we didn’t make huge amounts of money, but it will be enough to help Mom and I on our Texas-to-Seattle roadtrip next month.