Cranky

Someone has started posting ads on our local Craigslist reviewing the various sales they go to. Okay, not so much reviewing as taking the ones they don’t like to task. I’ve seen several where they tell you that such-and-such sale is full of crap, or that it’s supposed to be an estate sale but obviously is not. Or that somebody running a sale is really rude. Having been to some of the sales they’ve critiqued, I have to admit they were spot on, though sometimes harsher than I thought necessary.

For instance, there was a sale in town this weekend that said it was a fund raiser. Their photos on the Craigslist ad showed lots of stuff, so I headed over there. Wasn’t as fabulous as the pics made me hope, but I found a couple of things and the folks were nice. But the Yard Sale Reviewer criticized them on C’list for not identifying who or what they were raising funds for. I had the impression it was a church group, and didn’t care anyway. After all, for five bucks I took away this nice pot

for my new cyclamen that I picked up at Trader Joe’s this week. (The lady in front of me in the checkout line said the one she got last winter bloomed for eight months, so I thought I’d give it a try.)

Plus a mint Erzgebirge nutcracker.

Did you ever see such a militaristic Santa? I fell in love with his hat with the wooden pompom.

Plus, a warm overcoat in my size. The fabric felt so nice when I picked it up I had to hunt for the content label. Sure enough – wool and cashmere, in perfect condition.

I can hardly wait for real winter weather. Okay, yes I can, but I’ll be ready for it. the brand is one sold at Nordstrom's, so the original owner probably paid a pretty penny.

And if it turns out I don’t use the coat much, Noll Baxter assures me he’d love to have it for a cat bed.

So the YSR may have been overly cranky here. But I thought they had a point with another of their critiques about an estate sale down the hill from my house: 

This is a family sale that was picked over before and the leftovers are ridiculously priced. Worse than that, they lied in their posting. They listed jewelry and I sat there for three hours waiting for the sale to open...only to discover that there is no jewelry. I hate liars, misrepresenters, and overpricers. Don't waste your time with this hard to get to sale.

It was definitely hard to get to. When I arrived I had to park a block or so away, and met some people coming down the quite steep lane to the sale. They told me the sellers were only letting in eight people at a time and there was a really long line, so I left and went back later. It was indeed an estate sale being run by the family, and the daughter of the house didn’t really want to part with anything. I don’t know about the jewelry, but overpriced, for sure. Even though it was in a pretty cool mid-century modern house (original appliances in the kitchen, ceiling tiles printed with starburst designs, light fixtures that would look SO much better in my MCM house!)

the people running the sale had such attitude that I was decidedly cranky when I left. No, I did not write that ad. But you know that because you know I’d never wait three hours to look at some jewelry!

Personally I think the YSR missed the boat on the weirdest sale out there. I admit their ad was clear that it was the second weekend of their sale but promised they had brought in many more items. If I had remembered exactly which place it was from the week before I’d never have returned. But I did.

Both times, the supposed houseful of items was a couple of pieces of furniture inside (where grandma was making her breakfast as people trooped through the kitchen) and some framed art prints. Out in the crowded garage people asked the middle age woman taking money about prices on the mostly-unmarked items. She quickly became flustered and her language quite peppered with four-letter words (pretty unusual around here – at least in public). Another woman and I exchanged glances over the tatty vases and used clothing. “I don’t think I’d put her in charge of the money,” she murmured.

I was mentally kicking myself for returning as soon as I headed up their driveway and realized where I was. But I was there, so I looked around. Maybe they did bring in more stuff, but if anything their prices had gone up from the week before. Another shopper said something to me about being sorry for the ruckus she had raised, which I had missed. She thought the price marked on an old doll was fifty cents – and it was supposed to be fifty bucks. I guess the cashier had been pretty snippy.

There was a nice kitty demonstrating the linens

  

but it wasn’t even their cat and had wandered over from a neighbor’s house. I was on my way out when I spotted a little midcentury cream pitcher and picked it up.

Of all their overpriced merchandise, this was the only really cool piece there – and it was marked twenty-five cents.

          

So now it’s mine. And I’m never going back to their house again!