EXPECTATIONS…THEY ALWAYS GET MET!

Here’s what I'm pondering: when I head off on Saturday mornings in my usual direction, I consistently find sales with interesting merchandise, great prices, pets to pet, and conversations. But when I go instead to a certain community in the opposite direction, the feeling is entirely different. While I do find some deals, I never seem to be handed people’s life stories at the drop of a hat. So I'm wondering—is it them, or is it me? Are my expectations creating the experience? I suspect this to be true. Perhaps the first time I tried that area it was a dry day, and after that I've never put in the same energy that I normally use.

Some weekend I'll try that side of the county again with the conscious intention to find the best stories and catch the best overheard remarks ever. Of course, this is just yard sales. Makes you wonder what other parts of your life could be much more fun—if you could just get your expectations elevated to the proper level. Perhaps yard sales are a good place to start though. I can practice expectation-management in private, with little in the way of negative consequences if it doesn’t work. And if it's like today I'll still come home with some deals!

This was actually quite a special garaging day. My friend Marcia had serious heart surgery two weeks ago, and this was her first outing. After only two weeks! What a constitution she has. She mostly hung out in the back seat so as not to get worn out too soon, and her SIL Carol and I checked out the sales. Marcia commented on the way home that she got out of the car three times and found deals at each. Perhaps her expectation management is more sophisticated than mine! Marsh, hope you’re not too exhausted!

She certainly got one of the best deals of the day. Marcia is a major music lover, and found a stash of CDs at one sale for a buck each. She picked out ten, and without prompting the guy said she could have them for $8. So she got entire CDs for what one song would cost to download on some sites. Even better, the Frank Sinatra one had a note on the case that if you turn down the right hand channel, it takes out the vocals so you can do your own singing. Instant karaoke! I wish more CDs offered that. I admit to singing along with anything, including classical music. Marcia gave me this Randy Travis out of her stash, and I had an awfully good time singing backup to Randy’s greatest hits on the way home.

Carol’s favorite find was a vintage wooden rolling pin with green handles for fifty cents. Isn’t it wonderful how happy something like that can make you?

Today's was an extremely low-pet outing. This little guy was the only dog I met all morning:
Didn’t get his name, but his owner said he is amazingly smart. He goes off into another room and hides something, then comes and gets one of the family to play hide and seek! My dog Lizzie and I play that too…
…but I'm the one who hides the toy or treat. Then I bring her in and tell her to find it, saying “You’re getting warmer…no, you’re getting cooler…” until she finds the treasure. She participates with a slight air of indulging someone loved but not terribly bright; she is a very good sport.

I only spent two dollars—which may actually be a good reason to keep going to that other side of town! I found two sweaters to felt, one of alpaca, the other Icelandic wool...

...from a group raising money to send their youth group on a trip this summer. One of the dads commented, “So far we’ve made enough to get them to Carson.” (About 30 miles away.) After our transactions, they could just about buy a single coke to share!

I also found a pair of slacks in that slinky travel knit fabric. Should be fun with a black top—though with all these colors in it no doubt there are others things in my closet that will work.

My last find is strictly utilitarian—a can of orange peel splatter. Our house has this kind of texturing on the walls, so next time we need to repair something we’ll be all set. This stuff costs ten bucks or more at Home Depot, so at fifty cents I'm a happy camper.
Perhaps more fun were the items I didn’t buy. These included a pair of life size octogenarians:
The lady told us she paid over $600 each for them and is hoping to get $200. My reaction is, not at a yard sale—and not with that grumpy expression on Gramps!
This little salt or pepper shaker was missing its mate.
Personally, I find its mode of delivery less than appetizing!
Sometimes it's the packaging I find amusing. Hope I didn’t pass up some fabulous vintage ornaments here.

I fear I may regret not at least asking the price of this last item:
The Pocket Bass. You squeeze the sides—it's a little flashlight. What amazes me is not that something like this is at a yard sale (that’s a no brainer)—but that it was actually designed on purpose and someone convinced to manufacture it. It's a strange and wonderful world we live in—at least that expectation of mine always gets met!

YARD SALE EAVESDROPPING

Favorite sign of the day:
Funnest thing I didn’t buy:
First overheard remark this morning was from a mother to her teenage daughter: “You’re a woman, you can multitask!” I think she wanted her daughter to feed the dog as well as whatever else she was doing. This dog:
His name is Zeus, but I don’t think he’s let it go to his head. He was quite willing to be petted. After I took the picture I showed it to the daughter, mentioning my blog. I said how cute Zeus was, and so were her feet. She called out, “Mom! My feet are going to be on the computer!”

Later in the morning I heard two men talking about some item. “Does it work?” asked the buyer. “Let’s check it out—that’s a good question,” said the seller. “That’s a good answer!” said the buyer.

At another sale two Chinese ladies were shopping. Evidently only one of them spoke any English, and that was limited, but they were having a lovely time looking at everything. They asked the price of something, slippers I think, the seller said the price was fifty cents. The Chinese lady, concentrating fiercely, replied, “Seventy five cents?” in a bartering tone. Her offer was quickly accepted, and everyone seemed happy. Have to say it's the first time I've seen the bargaining go in that direction!

One sale had a stack of orange coveralls, and a man started going through them. They were only a dollar and he was checking them all. “These make great Halloween costumes,” he remarked. A minute later he added, “Looks like I’ll have to go as Daryl though.” The seller laughed. “That was my dad, he was a longshoreman.”

Which reminded me of something I'd forgotten. Several years ago the city I worked for hired a teacher to give classes in conversational Spanish. After a few lessons we had the assignment to bring in a photo and talk about it in Spanish. This is the photo I used:
and in class that evening I said in my halting and very basic Spanish, “This is my cat Buster. In this picture he is getting ready for work. He is a longshoreman.” (Okay, he wasn’t really, but I thought it sounded more interesting than telling them what he really did, which was sleep and purr.)

I met a very handsome young kitty along the way--Howie the brown tabby:
And this is Finnegan:
Talented Finn can shake hands with either paw, and loves to wear his bandana. They showed me how, when you take his bandana off, he comes right over and sticks his head back in it. I gathered that he has an entire bandana wardrobe. Pets with possessions.
I branched out from taking pictures of pets during the morning. This adorable young lady (the taller one) was doing a fine business with her bake sale; her little cakes baked in heart shaped dishes seemed to be a popular Mother’s Day item.
And this fellow was being encouraged to sell his Devo hat by his sweetie.
They had recently combined their households and were having a yard sale to get rid of duplicate stuff. I don’t think he was ready to give up his hat, but people weren’t lined up to buy it. Maybe he got lucky.

I spent $11.95, which brought me:

Four classical CDs
Four boxes of Christmas ornaments—party favors at our open house in December.

Two little ceramic pots. The one thing I really wanted to find on this outing was something to put these two plants in. A bit dated, but at ten cents each, how could I resist?
This wine glass came from the Devo hat guy. I like the colored glass running up the center of the stem.

Three pieces of wool appear to be baby blankets that got seriously felted over the years. One of the white ones has barely discernable embroidered rosebuds. I love the robin’s egg blue of the largest. New felt slippers are in my future.


I've been wanting some leather for slipper soles in a lighter color than the black that I already have. I think this brown suede jacket will work nicely. I've popped it into the washing machine and hung it outside to dry—looks like all the spots came out!
This entertaining hummingbird feeder…



… came from a sale that also had a rather cute rug. Flowers and checks and a rooster. I asked the price, but it was too high for my frugal ways. As we talked, it emerged that its owner really loves this rug, but was tired of dry cleaning it since it's wool. I suggested she wash it. I do mine in cold water on a gentle cycle and hang them up to dry and it works fine.

Cute coat hook from the same neighborhood sale...
...from two ladies about ready to close shop. We ended up having one of those fun conversations that ramble from cars to work to dogs and cats and how total strangers can tell you their life story in line at the grocery store. One of them remarked how much fun garage sales were for encouraging people just to talk to each other. They were so nice I was ready to invite myself in, sit down for some lunch, and keep talking!

I'm hoping I can find a new home for this vintage beauty.

It's a size 6; I won't be wearing it myself, but I just couldn’t leave it. 100% silk, still with hang tags attached. Look at these wonderful pleats and embellishing.

The body is lined, and all the seams are enclosed. Just gorgeous. It's from the mid 80s, and I guess 80s styles are getting popular again. If you’re interested let me know!


This crewel Beatrix Potter growth chart will be a door prize for a children’s librarian.
It could use some edge finishing—my guess is that by the time the stitcher was done, the child it was intended to measure was in junior high, and she just folded it up and put it away.



I thought I would use Miss Mouse for a door prize, but she keeps looking at me with her shiny black bead eyes, arms outstretched. I have to keep her.
Her tag says Liberty of London/Hand Made in England. Wool felt, Liberty fabric for the dress, fine nylon thread for whiskers. I adore her.
Last overheard conversation of the morning was at one of those sales where all the stuff is still in boxes, presided over by a young guy with a three day growth of beard and uncombed hair. He looked affable but not at all sure why he got up so early to have this sale. Perhaps he’d been left to mind the store while his mother or wife ran errands. As I walked away I saw a lady pull an old bridesmaid-type dress from a carton. “How much?” she asked.

I just loved his reply: “Um, what is it?”

GOOD ADVICE!

I don't always have time to read the comments on other folks' blogs, and I bet you don't either. And I don't want you to miss this one, referring to the posting below about the Canadian government (lots of other fun comments came too...this one just whanged my funny bone):

"I'll bet Walmart is in collusion with the Canadian government on this "warning". Oh wait, that means that CHINA is in collusion with the Canadian government since everything you buy at Walmart comes from China. Good grief, it's a worldwide conspiracy to scare us away from garage sales. Strike back--hit as many as possible this weekend!!!!"

So let's all take Kate Spike's advice and get there there garaging this weekend! She's obviously a very smart lady--even though she does think she has the best husband, and that would really be me. ;o} Gotta admit, hers does sound like a VERY close second!

YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

Several months ago I saved a search in my Google Reader for blog entries on ‘garage saling.’ (I have another for ‘thrifting’—it's how I've found many of you!) All winter the one for garage saling was pretty much dormant, but now it has come to life, and I've been enjoying the variety of material it pulls in. Lots of listings for community garage sales all over the country; they get deleted quickly. But I loved two of today’s gleanings.

One is an announcement for a community theater play called Garage Sale—“Garage Sale is the heartwarming and hilarious story of nine women whose life stories can be told by the things they have collected through the years. Over 30 years of garage sales, they learn of life, laughter, friendship and most importantly, the real value of their ‘stuff’.” Doesn’t that sound like fun? I would definitely attend, but I'm in California and the play is going on in Minnesota. Dang! If anyone goes, be sure to let me know how it was.

My RSS feed also pulled in this from the Canadian government:
Advisory
2009-68
May 4, 2009
For immediate release
OTTAWA - Garage sale season is here again and Health Canada is reminding consumers to put safety ahead of savings and to use caution when buying second-hand items at garage sales, flea markets, on-line web sites, and second-hand stores…Do not consider buying items that have damaged, cracked, missing or loose parts, or items that are missing instructions…”

I hate to tell the Canadian government, but those of us who love second-hand shopping are rarely deterred by damage, cracks, missing or loose parts, and we certainly wouldn’t let missing instructions stand between us and a great deal! In fact, isn’t that part of the fun—the freedom of discovery that comes when the instructions are missing? I suspect that many people who know me would tell you that I myself have a few screws that are loose.

Guess I'd better stay on this side of the border for now.

If you haven’t yet visited Southern Hospitality for Today’s Thrifting Treasures, get on over there and see what folks found this weekend.

And for heaven’s sake don’t tell the Canadian government about that estate sale I went to on Friday. They’d faint!