Saturday, July 12, 2008

Yard Sale Dismay

We've been trying to hold a YS allll summer. Each time, we put it off due to rainy forecast. It ended up raining exactly zero of those 4 days.

So, this week was it!! I put an ad in the paper & on local net boards. Forecast looked good, just 30% chance of PM showers, great!

Got 2 truckloads down & set up by 8, had a flurry of customers. Hubby went to put up signs. He got back, brought more stuff down from the house, then I went up for more stuff & more coffee! Got truck half loaded, poured coffee, heard dreaded patter of rain.... noooooooooo!!!! It's only 9 o'clock!

Offload everything that's boxed (vs being in a lidded plastic tote), go back down to YS, Hubby had boxed & covered a good bit & 2 people were still shopping! lol!!

Rain stopped, we uncovered everything, unboxed some of it, debated whether to offload totes of stuff, and then attempted to assemble the 2 10x10 canopys I purchased at Fred's a couple weeks ago. The frames are sooo flimsy, but we figure a good tie down & all will be ok. Right? No. Because the tarp that came with each canopy is about 2" too small for its frame.

We had a few more customers, then another shower came up. We covered stuff again & stood under the trees til it passed. Hubby helped uncover & went to the cafe to get me something to eat :-p

While he was gone, I put more stuff out & chatted up one customer. Hubby got back & got me all squared away with food, drink & condiments (he's so good!), then said he was going to take a break out of the humidity.

I ate, then waited on people to come shop, lol! I had almost given up hope when a couple ladies pulled up a little after 10. They spotted lotsa goodies & were happily shopping when 3 more ladies arrived a bit later. They were all rummaging away, pleased as could be, when more rain hit :( And this time it was big, fat, heavy rain, arrrrgh!

I got 30 dollars total from the ladies, they left with big loads, and I was only half soaked :(

Tried to cover stuff, was about to call Hubby for help when there he was! We tried to get stuff off ground & all covered. It was only 10:30 am & we were now soaked to the bone. Came up to the house, changed clothes, dried hair, watched it rain, and sulked.

About quarter after 11, sky was sunny & bright again, so I walked down to start damage inspection/trash detail & wait on buyers. Within half an hour, another storm was in full swing.

On the up side, I met a lot of nice people today & they all got awesome deals. Everything we sold cost us nothing we took in more than enough money to cover the cost of the newspaper ad and the 2 defective canopies. And in only 2.5 hours!

On the down side, it was only 2.5 hours! ARRRGH!! A bunch of stuff is likely ruined now, and I didn't get to put hardly any of 'my' stuff out. Well, maybe that last one belongs in the up side list cause as least none of 'my' stuff got wet!!

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