Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge Scriptless Flickr Badge

October 30, 2006

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It's an entire WEEK past when I thought I would be posting about the garage sale. But that about sums up my life right now - a week behind in everything. Sleep being the primary one...

Our garage sale was supposed to begin at 9 am, and end at 1 pm. We knew that the die-hards (and there were many) would arrive a lot earlier, so we began setting up at 7. Time of our first customer? 7:45. Item purchased? One huge roll of DHL bags. We weren't even going to sell them, but off they went for $4. Probably the LAST thing we thought we'd sell first, but whatever. We were makin' money! Even IF he looked like Hulk Hogan - who'd totally let himself go, we were suddenly $4 richer. We could ALMOST buy lunch at Costco.

I'd say our first blunder was my *bright* idea to buy cheap pop at the grocery store the night before, and sell it for 25 cents. The Weather Channel said it would be 70 degrees! The first warm day in over a week! They failed to mention however, that before 1 pm it would be insanely foggy and cold enough to freeze over hell. We bought four cases of pop....and sold 2 cans. I don't drink carbonation very often, but as punishment have been sucking down grape Dimetapp-flavored soda ever since. They didn't even bother to come up with a creative name for it, it's just "Grape". Lovely.

Our second, well, not blunder. More like crazy it-would-only-happen-to-us moment, was when I was standing on our grass surveying the masses sorting through our carnage. I looked down and saw a white RAT perusing the towels and sheets. White rat. With red eyes. We quickly discovered that it was domesticated when Caleb tried to run it off, and it just sat there. Blinking at us. We spent the rest of the day trying to scare it off, because if I were at a garage sale and had to stand quietly and wait for a RAT to move on to something else, so I could look at the sheets? I'd probably leave. Screaming. Apparently the rat took a liking to us because it decided to live in our backyard, which drove our dog (and therefore us) completely insane. *Update* - The rat finally met it's doom. Cabe found it in the backyard dead, with Bear licking it. I don't know if he killed it, or if he was just trying to console it, but if he did....well....it gives me some hope that the NEXT time someone tries to break into our car, he'll actually DO something about it.

We ended up selling a lot of the smaller things, and absolutely NONE of the bigger ones. The ones we actually thought would sell first. We made a little over $300 though, so it wasn't a total loss. We still have a bunch of items left, and I'm contemplating having another one right before we leave..... though I don't know if I can handle the stress again. Is that how people decide to have another baby? The magic of another one makes them forget all the hard work, sleepless nights, and stress?

We spent the rest of the week recovering, and then this last weekend I decided to run for "Best Laurel Advisor Ever" and volunteered to drive up to the retreat that the young women from our ward were at in Redmond, OR, 2 and a half hours away, just so that I could leave super early the next morning to get 3 girls back home for their track meet. My one fatal mistake was using Mapquest. I cursed myself during the entire 3 and a half hour drive....that's right, 3.5 hrs. CURSE YOU MAPQUEST!!!!! I got there around 8:30 pm, and had to leave the next morning at 7 am. They had brownies and cookies and even a chocolate fountain going, so you can imagine what that would do to 15 teenage girls, and consequently, our sleep that night. After sleeping on the world's worst mattress and waking up with an incredible back ache, I made the long and silent drive home (thank you CD players and sleeping girls!!). I dropped them off and headed straight for the OSU vs. USC football game (great game bytheway...), where I worked from 10:30 - 3:30 pm. We had a great Halloween party planned that evening with our friends, but I was so exhausted I could hardly enjoy it. We made fondue and chicken kabobs, and I managed to cut my finger with a knife...twice... and then stab my other finger with a fondue skewer. I think Cabe was worried about what else I would do to myself, so we left early and I probably fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I wish I could end this lovely story saying that I'm now resting and recuperating (at least for the sake of my hands, right?) but I can't. Sadly. We started the packing process, and we're well on our way to a gutted house. Let the hysteria begin.........

No comments: