We're having a garage sale!

Last year Petey and I, with help from our friend, Jo's, truck emptied the basement of stuff. We made several trips to the "throw away" dumpsters in the industrial park.

This year we swept the house again but with "garage sale" in mind.
We found things we'd forgotten we even had.

Some items were easy to put in the "let's sell that" pile and others were tough.  Maybe we'd need that or memories attached to a few things made the decision difficult.

Haven't used this in many years.  Time to go.

Never used this one.

I played this autoharp a lot for several years - not well. 

I think I got this at my first auction with Sue Lange.  She made me bid on it.

What's your best bet here?  It's metal. A stencil?

You know you want these.  Even if your last name doesn't start with an "A." 

This will not be our first garage sale so we're prepared for people wanting to fill their trunks for $12.00.  It's time.  We'll deal.

Did you save room for dessert?

Petey and I were dining out recently - I know - shockeroo, right? - and I noticed something that I've noticed before but it's starting to bug me - just a little bit.

The meal was good.  The ambiance was to our liking and when it was apparent that we had finished the grub (made obvious by the sparkling clean plates) the server brought our check.

Um.  Aren't you going to ask if we'd like to see the dessert menu?

Was it a judgement call on the server's part?

"Those older folks at my table don't look like they should have something sweet so late in the evening."

"The people at my table look like they've been over-served from the dessert column one too many times.  I'll do them a favor by not tempting them tonight.  Aren't I a kind-hearted server?"

It doesn't happen often but often enough to make me wonder if they're just in a hurry to get us the hell out of their section because we're not drinkers and the check isn't going to be a fat one hence a small tip?

Why wouldn't they want to pump up the bottom line?

We weren't asked last night so we just stopped elsewhere for our fix.

So there!

Selective weeding

I don't mind weeding.  I should say my mind doesn't mind weeding but my body?  Whole different story.

I hated weeding as a kid.  What red-blooded kid worth his kid-dom (yes, I just made that up) likes to weed?  But we had to.  We never thought about checking into the child labor laws back then - we did
it because mom told us we had to.

I've noticed over the past few years that my hamstrings and lower back are not fond of the weeding process.

My knees rebelled a time ago.

I can't sit anymore like my friend, Cathy Eichelberger, suggested because it kills my BUTT.

Squatting?  My quads are pretty strong thanks to Jazzercise but getting back up from that position shouldn't ever be seen by another human.

So I'm stuck with bending over.  I noticed yesterday that there's a time limit too.  I know it's time to quit when my hamstrings begin to scream.  Honestly, they can be heard from down the block.  My neighbors called 911 the other day.  They thought someone was being murdered.  I made that last part up.

So I decided that I would categorize the weeds in need of pulling.
I went first for the dandelions because they're so visual.

The second group was those damn wild onions.  

The 3rd group belonged to those frigging, tiny, miniature maple trees.  The word on the street is that if you don't pull them they grow up to be adult maples and take over everything.  You also need to get them out when they're still in the infant stage.  As teenage trees it's almost impossible.

Those are the 3 groups that I'm going to focus on.  Any other low growing weed will be forever referred to as a new flower and will be left untouched.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.     

A question for the ladies.

Let's see a show of hands, gals (don't worry, I'll be able to magically count how many of you actually do that), who likes to go
                                     
                                    BRA SHOPPING?????

As my body changes (notice I didn't say "ages") so does, it seems, my bra size.  So, off to the mall I went.  I was originally going to go to a specialty shop and have someone measure me and wait on me hand and foot but I ended up at the mall instead.

As I walked in I thought I would just go to Macy's and start grabbing and then I heard a whisper . . . from Victoria.  She told me to give her a chance to make me a happy lady.

I had never been to Victoria's Secret before because I thought it was just for the tall, thin and young set.  I almost turned around at the entrance because, I swear, the place was filled with 13 year old girls.  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

Turns out they were pretty much in the half of the store that sells fragrance, etc.  Whew.

I must have had that "deer in the headlights look" on my face because a very nice young lady approached and asked if she could be of help.

Hell, yes!  

And then the Victoria machine went to work.  What a slick operation.

I was measured and questioned and actually listened to and put into a dressing room where "Holly" did her thing.  

They wear a little headset so they can request styles and sizes and those items appear at your door.

We narrowed it down to one style and they only had one color that I liked (didn't need screaming purple, etc) but they ordered another to my liking which will be delivered (free) to my door soon.

I liked this operation and will return in the future.  The "girls" are happy too.

DON'T DO IT!!!

Do you have one of these?

We have a few and always use one in the living room during the warm/hot months to move the cool air around.

I thought it would be a good idea to first locate the fan I'll use in the living room and then make sure it worked.  

Someone noticed the blades were in need of a bath.  Since that someone was busy doing car stuff (his needed an oil change and mind needs brakes) I offered my "fan services" to take care of the fan bath.

No problem.  A Philips screwdriver took care of loosening the protective screen in front and those blades cleaned up lickety-split.

Now all I needed to do was put the screen back on.  

Look back up at the picture.  Does it look like it's been put back together?  Oh, hell no.  

There was a good bit of swearing.  I pulled out the big guns (the F bomb) and still couldn't get it back in place.

At one point it looked like it was going to work but the name plate was upside down and I didn't give a damn.

I had to walk away.  I went to Jazzercise to work off my frustration and upon my return, I decided I was ok with not having a protective screen on that fan.

We don't have any little kids in the house and I'm pretty sure Augie will stay away from it.  Well, pretty sure.  He would only give it one sniff and learn from the experience.  Right? 

So is there a lesson to be learned here?  Yes, there is.

That fan wasn't all that dirty to begin with.  Shoulda left it alone!

The earth moved and I missed it!

I can't say that I've always wanted to experience an earthquake but since yesterday's wasn't a bad one it would have been cool to actually feel the earth move.

But I missed it.  My open house was in full swing and it was time to take Augie out for a "pit stop."  We were only out there about 10 minutes at the most.

When I walked back into the house, everyone's eyes were bugged out saying "what was that?"

My house is at the bottom of a good sized hill and all the trucks in the world rumble down it.  The pictures on my walls are sometimes askew and the leaded glass pieces I have hanging in my living room windows make a "tap, tap, tap" sound.  So we were wondering if that was the cause for the movement and noise everyone inside the house experienced.

Naturally in this day of quick info people pulled out their cell phones for the latest news.

Yup, by golly, a quake.  In Michigan.  The epicenter not very far from us.  The biggest one (4.2) felt since 1947.

I have been yearning to see the Northern Lights and a meteor shower since I was a kid but haven't had the opportunity to do so yet.

The odds of another shaker happening in my lifetime are slim.
Dang it!!!