A Yardsailing We Will Go

Driftwood Neighborhood Yard Sale Results, in order:

Rained hard at 5 AM when I was going to bed. I hoped and prayed yard sale would be rained out. It was not.

Arrived at house that was distributing maps at 7:45 (modestly early). They had no maps as the appointed mapmaker dropped the ball. A few other people meandering about. Bought two little handmade shiny decorative bowls, orange clay with white relief design. Very cute and different. Someone will get these with candy in them for Christmas. $2.50. Passed up on kitchen stool which lady said she loved but the only thing that ever warmed the seat was a pile of junk, so out it goes. These people were very jolly. Oh, I also bought a Pennsylvania Dutch traditional recipes for PIES and PASTRIES booklet. A cartoon of a very jolly friendly lady holding a pie is on front. She wears a cap thingy and white apron. Written inside: Kissin' wears out . . . cookin' don't. This cost me 10 cents. I'm pretty sure it will go in my Thrift Shop pile. No, I'm positive it will. It has the odor of Premium Aged Dust, I'm suffocating even as I type because it is laying right in front of me. Nice knowing you, Little Booklet. I needed you like a hole in the head anyway.

Around the corner at a sale I met the most adorable dog. They had a box of children's books, but all modern stuff. Well-used books, happy to report. Did see Little House on the Prairie.

Next stop, lovely mini European chateau, home of the lovely couple I met last week, the ones who informed me of yard sale and were going to simplify and model their lives after the French. Mike bought a couple of music CD's for his singing class for .50 each, James Taylor and Carole King. While we were there, someone bought a canoe for $200. Some haggling went on. I don't haggle, it doesn't suit my personality. That isn't good, is it?

Then we parked our car in my friend's driveway and the three of us walked the neighborhood together. Met some of friend's neighbors. I asked one lady I know, How early did people arrive for this 8 o'clock sale? 7:00, she said. Wasn't that a wicked waste of breath? She told me she had old cloth dolls for sale for $2 each and her neighbor said, You need to add two zeros behind your 2's. So the lady did add one zero behind the 2's and sold them at 7:00 AM sharp to an antique dealer. Went by and petted dog again. Returned to "map" house. I admired an omelet pan. The price tag said, Great omelet pan! SO durable - you can leave it in your will - $2.00. The lady thought it came from an industrial kitchen supply. My friend insisted on buying it for me. It is very cute, but I didn't have to have it. It is soaking in kitchen sink, we'll see if I can make it as pretty as it is durable. We'll also have omelets for lunch after church tomorrow. Lesson: Don't admire things around friend, she's generous to a fault. She's a TOTAL sweetheart, we adore her. Also bought extra thick pale pink terrycloth highly absorbent composition Wilson sport's headband, new in wrapper, 2003 $.50. I said to my friend, I use headbands to hold my hair off my face for washing. She said, Pawsh, just wash your face. And she demonstrated. My friend does not have time for nonsense.

Made our browsing way back to mini chateau and had fun talking. Found out that the nice lady had lived in Michigan at one point, of course. Across the tree shaded little road I picked up a pack of note cards. The picture on front looks a real quilt, but flip it over and you will read,"It may look like a cloth quilt, but it's not." Instead, these cards are pictures of different quilts that were hand carved from blocks of wood and painted. Some of you will probably get one of these in the mail. For all the world they look like a photograph of a real quilt. $1.00. Mike held up a video, still in cellophane brand new, and asked if I wanted it. It was the movie Last Time I Saw Paris starring Elizabeth Taylor. Of course I wanted it. I said we'd watch it tonight, which didn't happen. $1.00.

Went back across road to chateau because friend wanted Mike to see the back yard. Totally spectacular, like last time I saw it. Bought a muted green silk dress jacket for Mike for a nothing $5.00. Perfect condition, man just didn't wear that color. While I was at it, spotted silky placemats and napkins. They were gold-ish and had beads sewn on the edge. I like cloth napkins for breadbasket liners. The lady said she buys lots of her things in France. The tag on these said Pottery Barn. I think it's fun to have something from Pottery Barn, France. $5.00. Then she showed my a St. John white knit party jumpsuit with silvery embellishments across the front. Thank goodness, upon closer inspection, it had moth holes (thank goodness for me, not for her). I would look ridiculous in anything that high end. RIDICULOUS. But I told lady, We keep coming back to your chateau and buying stuff. Pleasant is the word to describe the whole affair. WHY? won't the italics go off? I walked off with a free cloth bag to hold all my junk because if you spent $5 you got to pick out a free cloth bag.

Finally got to meet the man whose house I covet. He was hoeing in his shrubbery. Very nice and outlined the improvements he's made to the house when I told him HOW MUCH I admire it. When he first bought it 20 years ago his sister said, Why would you buy THAT? Apparently it was very plain and pitiful looking. But he added windows, porch, bumped out a bedroom to add a bath, etc. Some people are just the cleverest. Didn't get invited inside. THIS TIME.

In there somewhere I commented to our friend, These yard sale hosts are going to be tired by 1:00 PM. NO!, they'll be INVIGORATED, she countered. See, my friend is the full glass type, not half full, but spilling over FULL. She's a marvelous influence on me. Did I ever tell you she's 90 years old? She makes 90 the new 30, NO KIDDING. That makes her significantly younger than I.

Back to friend's house to listen to beautiful Mozart violin music and sip white grape juice. And watch boaters on the bayou, which really seems like a lake off Tampa Bay. In fact, this whole area reminds me of Michigan and Paw Paw Lake. Let's not forget to pet and brush Bylow, the best Sable kitty. Oh yeah, and Mike bought two more CD's, jazz, for $.50 each.

When all was said and done, which was plenty, Mike and I went to eat pancakes at this little tiny place on Central Avenue. Delicious. On sleepy way home we stopped at The Garage Sale Store. It's exactly what it sounds like and the prices are dirty dirt cheap. Found a Sidekick Corning Ware little white appetizer dish or something. PERFECT for Jazzi's dog food because it has a little lip along the edge. You can always use an extra dog dish, I think. $.49.

So, came home to type up Sophia Loren's Spaghetti recipe to go in Mike's Singing for Your Health weekly newsletter. Because somehow at his new class we wound around to spaghetti and the ladies asked for the recipe. I am very grouchy by now and have to go sleep all afternoon.

Okay, Evaluation of Yard Sale: Ummm. I didn't show a whole lot of restraint. Should have had a budget and only carried so many quarters with me. I wish I hadn't bought one single thing. Except Last Time I Saw Paris. But it was still lots of fun. So, didn't catch the yard sale fever, even after 15 year hiatus. Best part of the sale was the people. Heard about a good roofer in the process, too, which, if that works out, would be more than worth the $17.10 we spent. Of course, minus the movie from that, I wanted that. Oh, I did want the headband, minus $.50 more. Mike spent the 2 bucks on CD's, which is really a business expense. And the green silk jacket is pretty cool. So that brings us down to finding a roofer for $8.60. I had seen this roof going on, but the next door neighbor to the roof house said she'd used him, too, and he is an excellent craftsman, and that is great because without a doubt our wood is rotten underneath the shingles. Four layers of shingles on the old part of our house. People, that is not even legal. Okay, so I really do like the little bowls, that brings us to $6.10. Not bad. I didn't count the omelet pan in any of this because it was a GIFT.

So, here is the upside to this experience, filling up my glass here. I am GLAD I wish I hadn't bought anything. It shows something. It shows I'm getting some sense because I really don't WANT anything more. I would rather NOT have anything more . . . well, you know what I mean. I shall simplify, too! It shows all that or else it shows I'm getting old, rotten and deflated.

A Trip to the Thrift in the Offing,
KEM