Saturday, June 18, 2011

the cost of a yard sale

my sister and her husband bought a new home.  very nice.  she had hers and he had his.  so they commenced to having "a yard sale."  they commenced.  "they."  right.  well, "they" really meant "we are having a yard sale if you want to contribute...."  right.  "contribute."  "you."

so we did.  contribute.  "we contributed."  "we."  lol!!!  translation:  mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, nephew...  bring your stuff to our house so you can help us get rid of our stuff.  you know?  help us price everything.  help us sell.  right.

ok.  the "yard" sale was actually "in" the house.  and since it was hot as 3 hells (pardon the expression) outside "we" were grateful my sister runs her air conditioning around 58 degrees:)  that part was great.  i mean really.  it was.  however...

prior to the yard sale they were moving bit by bit their acquired belongings into their new home every evening after work.  understandable.  its hard work.  but this is what i don't understand...

his washer and dryer from his house, which is rented by the way, was sitting on the front porch of her house, where they had been living up to this point.  so, 3 days later she realizes there is no washer and dryer sitting on the front porch.  he had no idea they were missing.  so she called him at work and asked what he did with them.  he didn't do anything with them.  obviously somebody was doing some late night shopping.  oddly enough my brother-in-law didn't really care.  ok.  well, not really.  but, ok.  so we have the yard sale. 

its very odd having a yard sale inside your house.  all sorts of folks coming and going.  all sorts of stuff being picked up, looked at, tried on, put back, changing their minds, and all sorts of bartering.  i, myself, was sweating it just praying someone would buy my elliptical.  did i spell that right?  well, anyway.  and, of course, you have to consider who's is who's or what's and keep up with the money.  no problem.  between the three of us (mom, sister, me) we pretty much knew who had who's money and when.  the men were just there for the heavy lifting.  and i finally had a taker on my big ticket item.  and i can say with no apologies that i was pretty much done once it was toted off.  the rest was left for donation...  "donation."

after all was said and done "the salvation army" was to show up to pick up, pack up, and drive away with the leftovers.  my sister had to leave ahead of everyone else because somebody decided to throw her a "house warming party" at her house that very same evening.  so as she is counting her money, grabbing whatever she needed to take with her, leaving us behind to wait for whoever to show up, but never did mind you, she tells her husband "don't leave the fridge sitting in the front yard... move it around back."  this she repeats 3 times.  now i know i watched as her husband and my daddy moved that fridge from the back of the house to the front of the house on a set of "hand trucks" as they called it, leaving it sitting pricariously in the middle of the front yard.  and it wasn't long before we realized that "the salvation army" was not showing up as was scheduled.  so in the process of gathering our personal belongings, such as purses, items we chose to keep from said yard sale, my kid, and other odds and ends, we remind him, her husband, not to leave the fridge in the front yard.  to which he asks "why?"  what?  as my parents and i look at him in disbelief.  as my dad grabs that strange gray tape, that all men seem to have, we all at once tell him every reason why not to leave it... "a child could get trapped in it... "it could hurt someone if it falls over... "you could get sued if... "blah, blah, blah."  he answers with a resounding "well, they would be trespassing on my property so it will be their fault if..."  and we all just stood there like time seems to stand still in moments like these. 

so, daddy puts the tape down, i grab my kid, mom gets in the car, i drive away totally thrilled with having a bit of spending money, and no one looks back after two long days of pricing and selling.  the "yard sale" was over!  yaaaaaaaaaay.....!!!!!!!!

like i said, this is what i don't understand....  somebody stole the fridge conveniently on a set of hand trucks and he didn't care but we did.  why?
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. Charles M. Schulz