Saturday, April 18, 2009

Life Can Move On....

Oh, Praise God, it's OVER. We do NOT like having garage sales. I was not thrilled at the aggressive early birds (and I've not shared all that went on yesterday). I did NOT like sorting through 19 years of homeschooling...but it's over...and it will be good.

Our home still looks like a disaster after the whirlwind of the past week, but I have great hope that by Monday it will look "normal". I'll continue to weed things out. I hope to shortly be ready to divide our belongings into 6 different packer piles. (I really don't know WHERE to begin on this - but that's to obsesss about next week!) Betsy, Bobbie Jo - have you done this before? Any tips?

We all worked HARD yesterday to be ready for the sale today (little did we know how persistent garage sale attendees can be in Texas. I'm not sure how to handle this in the future...)
I DID tell homeschoolers they could come early and so we wanted to have the homeschool stuff out last night.....

We started very orderly...looks pretty?

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The homeschool wing of the sale....Notice these tables have stacks and boxes full of books underneath them. It's amazing to me that all but two apple boxes of books are gone. Wow - I didn't expect them to sell as well as they did....and many of the most excited were not homeschoolers.

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Yes, we hired guards for the driveway last night.

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7:30 - an hour before we opened. ::snort:: You can barely see myself and Deja's head....thanks Deja. Deja came over and helped us set things out, then she kept giving me the EYE when our early bird showed up and pressed me to make "deals" on all the big things. She reminded me that it was even 8:30 yet and I didn't need to make deals. Deja really walked me through this sale process. Her Mother and Grandmother hold estate sales for a living. It's not any friend that would get up at 5:30 a.m. to help you. ::snort::

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I still don't have that, "ah, the house is bare" feeling....but I AM happy with our results. We made well over anything we've ever made before. I've had a couple of offers to take the couple of boxes of things that I have left to the homeschool sale next week.....I can't attend as I have a farewell to attend - for me and Mandy. ::sigh::

You know....I teared up when our table sold. Silly? We bought two identical tables about 8 years ago...and we needed them. We loved them...solid wood...little drawer to hide cards. ::snort:: We've heard two won't fit in the kitchen area in Misawa quarters...so we sold one...but now I realize that there is no way 7 will fit around this table.....hmm.....and I sold the cart that held my laptop so I wasn't sure I'd be able to blog...but I guess I can. ::snort:: Oh, back to the table....I was fine watching all my well-loved books leave the house, the pool, swing set, picnic tables, canoes (ouch),bike trailer etc...but that table...all the dinners, games, puzzles...discussions...it really signaled to me that our family make up is changing...and it made me sad. (I only slept 3 hours last night so that could have something to do with my emotions). ::snort::

I DID hold back the baby backpack too....no one asked about it. I'm either going to find someone who doesn't have one and likes to hike and bless them; or I'm taking it to a consignment shop. Someone snatched up the Indisposable Diapers and Stacia's first sling....I was happy that the young family was so excited to find the cloth diapers. It's the small things that made my day....I think we got to visit with most of the city. LOL We'll miss this city....and that is truly a blessing because it took a long time for this to be home for our family.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

13 comments:

Wild Homeschool Family said...

Job well done!!!!!!!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Key word being DONE! ::snort::

Darshia said...

You're a brave woman! That's a chaos I wouldn't battle with. Praise God for giving you a friend to guide you through it.

Cynthia said...

SIGH... I remember when you bought that table! I'd be sad as well.... It's too bad you couldn't have stored a few of the more precious things so you'd have them to enjoy again when you come back here and/or settle down and have all the kids (and future grandkids) home for holidays. I understand though that's probably too costly to store things for 3 years..... Sorry!

Just me~Bobbie Jo said...

Glad that your sale went well-I thought and prayed for you all day. I was going to try & come by but life just got in the way! :)

Just me~Bobbie Jo said...

Oops I hit send way to quickly. Give me a little time to think about how I did the sorting. I don't recall having 6 but maybe I did! lol

Romany said...

DeEtta,

Just to say that I have been through this process. The first time willingly on our way out to Canada. The second time reluctantly before we returned to the UK. The worst thing was that I was not ready to get rid of baby clothes, toys etc. I just knew that we had finite space to take things back to the UK.

I was really upset by the aggression of the early birds arriving before we'd even dressed.

Sometimes on seeing someone handle my babies' things I'd cry and run back into the house, occasionally, I'd snatch them back and say, 'That's not for sale!'

I was a wreck. It was a highly emotional experience. {g} Praying for you.

Renee said...

Cynthia,
The military will store items BUT all that they ship to Japan (in two shipments) and all that they store back in the US (location determined by military) must be no more than 17,000 lbs and it can go quickly.

Deja said...

Hey friend, Glad it's over for you. I had a great time visiting with half of the city, too ;-) Oh and THAT early bird guy...I described him to my mom. She knew exactly who he was. They've asked him to leave sales before. LOL

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Yes....emotional...all my baby things are gone now except for the baby backpack and the sling...even the things we bought new with Stacia. I just don't seem to be getting pregnant and if God blesses again He'll bless with the THINGS I need. I plan to keep the sling as it made for ME and FITS.

Cindy - we CAN store things as REnee said it's the weight....but I'm wanting to store some books and piano...so thinking...and realizing that when we return we'll be a family of 6 and one table will fit...we don't need two tables any longer...or two fridges...I guess... maybe God will provide a second fridge and the spot to put it in Japan. ::snort::

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Deja - FUNNY! We know more next time....and he got rude when we wouldn't deal...but... Jamin sold all his weights for the prices he wanted without making a deal with him. ::snort:: He did come down $30 on the hand helds but sold them to a young 20 something father....that felt better. LOL

Linda said...

Wow! That is a LOT of stuff!

Anonymous said...

Sis:

Better a late response than never... sorry, just have been so busy what with both our Dr. appointments, trying to eat right, (eating so often is a pain and takes to much time), and on/on/on,.

We did think of you and pray for you the day of you sale and are so glad it went so good.

Heather/Nathaniel have their sale today and it is cool/rainy. So we'll see.

love/prayers Mom T