yard salers become yard sellers

Pre-yard sale items.

Taken from stairs heading into garage. The phrase " a lot of stuff" doesn't begin to cover it.

Check out the antique wooden rustic sideboard.

It is only a 2 car garage.

Picture a ghost-quiet early morning, temperatures hovering in the 30s. The sky is dark and cloudy. It is a little scary, really. You see what you at first think is a wolf, only to realize a deer is close by. And then another. On the sidewalk. Which, in a few hours, will hopefully be teeming with throngs of people looking to buy your stuff.

A figure in black walks up stealthily. You are about to run away in fear, only to realize it is Nancy, coming early to help move the ton of treasures from the packed garage to the front yard! Yay! Help!

I woke up before 4am on Saturday to get ready for the big day. I put up the signs the night before. (Note to self: Never attempt to use rulers as stakes. And certainly never attempt to put a hammer to those rulers to drive them into the ground. Rulers are rather flimsy, really.) I was walking items out to the front yard (which I never realized how far away it is from the garage) starting before 5:30am. I was making poor progress until Nancy came. (I blame the slow pace on the treachorous landscape of the side yard, due to the mutantly large moles that make huge dirt mounds. Also, never attempt to walk on said mole mounds, in the dark, carrying heavy, bulky items, in Danskos. But I digress.)

Nancy was the designated stager. She has the vision! She knew just where to put things for maximum benefit. Alicia arrived a short time later. She had the brilliant idea the day before of not putting anything into the garage until it was priced! I am so glad someone else has the brains in this group! (My method was to throw everything haphazardly on tables, in no order, and start randomly pricing things. As a result, during the sale, people had to keep asking me if items were mine, and, if they were, what the price was. I am REALLY disorganized.)

Then, in short succession, arrived Sara, Cyndi, Chris, and Samantha. Early birds started showing up at 6:40am. With flashlights! They are serious and make us look like amateurs. We were wheeling and dealing in short order. It was fantastic!

We had a fairly steady stream of customers until around 11:30, which is when the bargain hunters descended upon us en masse. Excellent strategy! Wait until the end when they knew we were desperate to see everything go!

Nancy got creative with sales, "Games and puzzles; 1/2 off. Chicken incubators; 25% off." (The incubator went to Sam next door for a rock-bottom price of $5.)

I snagged yellow shirts for Hudson from Chris. Cyndi took Nancy's pumpkins, bases, a pedestal from me, and a jacket from Samantha. Samantha got games, puzzles, and toys from (I think) Sara and Cyndi.

The sideboard from Kris S. sold at the last minute to the sweet couple across the street for the full asking price of $50. Score! That was funny to move. And when I write funny, I mean heavy. Let's just say the excellent dolly I had purchased the weekend before at a yard sale came in very handy!

Nancy took pictures during the yard sale itself. I am sure she will post those soon. It was a wonderful day filled with wonderful people and great weather!