A Break From My Yard Sale Break

It had been at least a month since I'd been to a yard sale. And I was doing so good focusing on projects instead of buying more stuff. But I had this long-scheduled yard sale date with a new distant friend, Annie, when she was going to be in MA. She wanted to learn the ropes. And she requested that all my girls come along because she's got 3 little girls too and she wanted to see how we all do it together.

My girls were not too happy when I announced the night before that I scheduled this yard sale trip the same day as their daddy's annual softball tournament and they were going to miss cheering his first couple of games with their friends - a tradition they much look forward to. I encouraged them to instead think about the great stuff they might discover and asked what they hoped to find. My oldest said she would like to find more Tinker Toys because the ones we got at a yard sale last year were missing a lot of pieces and they didn't really have enough to build much of anything good. So as I prayed with them before bed, I specifically asked God to help us find some Tinker Toys at a yard sale.

Saturday morning we drove around, hitting up a bunch of sales on my list for over two hours but it didn't take me long to realize that Annie didn't need to learn anything from me about scoring a good deal. She boldly low-balled every seller on every item she wanted every time. She proved that, hey, it can't hurt to ask. They just might say yes!

Annie's best score was a $2 Lenox Beatrix Potter pitcher she bought for her niece's Peter Rabbit themed birthday party that evening.  Annie texted me that afternoon that she discovered it was worth almost $100 on eBay!

I didn't come home with anything of value or to jump up and down about but I found a few things. And even if I came home with nothing, we saw a lot of cool stuff had fun. Annie - I think we need to make this an annual tradition!

Here's my meager loot:

$1 for a frame and $2 for a brass hand-held mirror:

I picked up the mirror because I've got this idea to hang a tight grouping of random small mirrors somewhere in lieu of one large one. The frame is already undergoing a makeover for the girls' room. Details to come.

$0.50 for a bag of PartyLite and Yankee Candle tea lights and votives. Perfect for fall just around the corner!

This bag of jumbo corn-on-the-cob handles for kids was in someone's FREE box. My kids thought they were "COOOOL!!!"

Here's something I didn't realize I needed until I saw them. Set of bed lifts for $2.

The only bed frames I have that work with the girls' "new" headboards (which I finally finished, pics to come) do not lift their beds up high enough to look right with the headboards or to have any storage underneath. I hadn't really thought much about a solution to this problem yet (we moved in October and the girls' mattresses are still on the floor) until I saw the box of bed lifts at the yard sale. Seeing them reminded me that I actually have another set at home from my old bed. Sweet! So I now have 2 sets of bed lifts and am motivated to finally get my kids mattresses up off the floor.

The girls picked up a nice doctor kit to supplement the one they already have. Then, at the very last yard sale we stopped at, what did the girls discover?  Oh yes! A whole bag of Tinker Toys and a box of Lincoln Logs as the icing on the cake. OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH! "You do not have because you do not ask God." - James 4:2   Thank you, God!

The girls were eager to share with their friends when we arrived at Dad's 3rd (and final) softball game.

 

So that was it. I still browse the yard sale listings I get in my email every Thursday and Friday, just in case anything specific catches my attention, but I haven't really been out much. I'm trying to crank out as many projects as possible, even though 3 kids cramp my productivity rate. I've got some fun stuff to share soon though!