Foggy with a chance of rain

The day began as usual at 0'dark thirty only compounded by heavy fog. Last week we were a group of 5(Sophie the dog is always counted) but today I flew solo. Sigh. I knew the pickings would be few because we had a rainy day Friday and the forecast for Saturday was the same. It is one thing setting up for a yard/garage sale when the weather the day before the sale is nice, quite another when you are dealing with rain. So I was grateful for the ones who perservered and especially glad for the two  inside church buildings. Hopefully next week's weather will be kinder.

So I reheated my coffee from yesterday, yes, I do that, and headed out the door fingers crossed  I wouldn't wish I had slept in. There were 3 listed starting at 6am and all but one were open for business. Didn't buy anything but at least they were a go. 

 I was grateful to have my trusty head light shown below. Both sales didn't have adequate lighting, really most of the area was quite dark. This has been so nice to have even though Brenna, my daughter is always embarrassed to be near me when I use it. I was waiting once in front of the house for her to pick me up one dark morning and put it on flashing mode...she continued to drive past me until I turned it off and promised not to use it again!

 It allows me to have my hands free to pick stuff up, root around in boxes, you know, no fumbling with a flashlight in my hand. Most folks who are at these early sales seldom come prepared with a light. Johanna and I always keep our lights in our "yard sale" bag so we are never caught without. It can be a little annoying at times when I am looking at things and people start gathering closer to me so they can see because I have light. Sorry folks, back off a little, you're crowding me. There is a fine line called personal space I am adamant about!

Headlight that makes me look dorky but practical

At a church rummage sale I found this basket of vases for 10 cents each. These I buy for the Flower Shuttle in Raleigh. The Flower Shuttle volunteers use flowers donated from florists, weddings, funerals, etc, to make arrangements for folks in retirement communities, hospitals, shut ins, all for free. The vases don't always come back so I when I find small ones like these, I donate them to the Shuttle. My sister Cee, who lives in Raleigh helps out there and delivers them for me. If I see another sister, Fran, who also lives in Raleigh, I pass them on to her for delivery. It works.

Hilary, Waylon's mom, still had $10 in her "account" leftover from the highchair fund. By the way, they are loving that $10 chair. Apparently it lowers, raises, reclines, features I had no clue were present. Anyway, Waylon is crawling everywhere and needs a few more toys. Found these for 50 cents each at the same church sale. Not much to choose from, the offerings were pretty poor quality but these two toys met my high standards. Noisy, colorful and durable. Hey, I don't live with him!

At the same sale I found 9 Junie B. Jones paperbacks for Lindsey's first grade classroom, 2 Dick and Janes for Brenna and a paperback Franklin book for Mindy's daughter. Did I mention I love turtles and Franklin is precious. All for 10cents. Deal!!!

So now I have a quandry. I really like reed diffusers, but the ones I have bought lately haven't "diffused" much. So when I was at the last sale of the day I found this unopened Yankee Candle Lavendar Vanilla diffuser. $4. I priced this same item on Amazon later and they sell for $19. My quandry is my thrifty nature. This would make an excellent gift...Christmas will be here before I know it. But I know it is probably going to smell wonderful and much better than the disappointing ones I have had. 

Keep or give. I still haven't made up my mind. 

Same sale I bought the deluxe edition Across the Universe cd. Excellent condition and I enjoyed that movie and the music so much. I put in in my cd player immediately when I got back in the car and cranked up the volume. Nice!

The cd was $3. More than I usually pay. However, today I was a soft touch; the couple having the sale are trying to raise money to go on a mission trip and I really hadn't spent much this morning for myself. 

I chatted with them and once they realized I go to yard sales often(understatement) they asked how theirs was. I told them they should lower their prices immediately(it was already 8:30 and rain looking imminent) but they had things nicely displayed, and nothing laying all over the ground. I also told them I would have offered $5 for both these items but I was feeling generous, slow day and the charity aspect. But so many people wouldn't be that way. I suggested they lower prices unless they want to do this again next week! They definitely didn't want a repeat performance. Seemed appreciative of my opinion and I hope they get rid of their goods and raise their needed funds.

diffuser, great cd, pencils, embarrassing clip-ons and crayons

The pencils are for my son-in-law's 4th grade classroom and the crayons for Lindsey's 1st graders, 25 cents each. These two public school teachers have found often the children can't afford school supplies or can't afford school supplies later on in the year. Mom used to give me extra money to buy items like these to donate to public school teachers.

 The clip-on shades (my daughters are dying, knowing I have been seen at the beach sporting these) I bought for 50cents. Actually 2 in the case. Summer will be here before we know it, AGH!

So a slow day indeed, and I used the sanitizer a lot today. I think all total I went to 7 sales and only bought things at 3 of them. Some weeks it is like that. Another reason it is nice to have a shopping list for others so even though there wasn't much I could use, it wasn't a total waste of a morning. Hoping next week the improved weather will inspire folks to clean out their closets. 

Hilary needs toys for Waylon, Mindy needs 4T pants, sneakers and books for her daughter and Hugh needs a snowsuit and a winter jacket. And for me? I still have to decide on that darn diffuser!! Any opinions on that decision?!! Comments are always welcome!