3871

When guys open up

their hearts fall out. Something amazing happened at my daughter's garage sale on Friday. Two different men, nice looking in the 50-60 age range, told us their deepest secrets and hurts. I think it was because my son-in-law was in the garage. They were really talking to him--my daughter and I just stood by, mouths open, bug eyed.

One guy told SIL that he'd lost his church job because of a personal scandal--he'd come home and found his wife in bed with another--woman. No matter what my SIL injected into the conversation to move on (of sorts, but it was really more like a confessional), the guy just kept giving details. His girlfriend was in the neighborhood interviewing for a job, he said, so he was just filling time at our garage sale.

Then about an hour later, another guy about 60 came in. His t-shirt identified the company, which was one my SIL had had a problem with. So he shared some information on who to call to get an adjustment. From him we found out that he'd been married about a year to a wonderful Christian woman, but his former wife, with whom he'd been in business, had had an affair with a friend via the internet. Good-bye marriage, but he got the property and business. When SIL expressed sympathy, he said, "Oh well, I hadn't been in love with her for 3 years, and she was sort of a flaky tree-hugger, worship-mother-earth type."

Maybe it was the heat. The women who came just walked in, looked, and either bought something or left.

3864

Garage sale finds

Although a number of "pickers" had already gone through the jewelry, I noticed this piece, which was black and priced at $.50. I suspected it was silver, or silver plate, so I took it in the house and cleaned it up with silver polish. I don't wear much jewelry, but I thought this was interesting. It seems to be strung on a piece of leather, and I may look for a way to shorten it. I wore it to a party last night with a black t-shirt and white slacks and got more compliments than I'd ever had on anything I own. And when I told the women the price. . . what fun!



This piece was maybe $1.00 and still in the May Co. box with the price tag. It too was black from tarnish, but I thought it cleaned up nicely. Looks cute with a t-shirt.



Of course, my daughter didn't even get $1.50 for these--she just gave them to me, but if you had been there, that would have been your price.

One of the cookbooks I got (out of hundreds, new and never used), was a Taste of Home 2002 Annual. I used one of the recipes for our neighborhood party last night. Very tasty. I could have figured this one out on my own, but when I saw it I realized I had the ingredients and wouldn't need to go to the store after a hot day at the garage sale. I arranged bright red strawberries, with stems, and Granny Smith sliced apples (dipped in orange juice to prevent browning) on a pretty glass sectioned platter, and in the center included "Fudgy Fruit Dip":

1/3 cup fat-free sugar-free hot fudge topping
1/3 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt (I used low-sugar strawberry yogurt)
1 1/2 teaspoons orange juice concentrate (I didn't use this)

I think I used more like 1/2 cup of of the fudge sauce and 1/2 cup of the yogurt because I had a large plate of fruit. It makes a nice dipping consistency. Browsing a new cookbook is the fun part, but in this case, I actually found something I could use.

3863

Big garage sale today

I'm off to help with my daughter's garage/estate sale. The proceeds will help pay off the bills for her mother-in-law's final illness. She was about to bring up a load of clothes all with the original price tags while we talked on the phone last night. I suggested she use two ladders with a beam between because the garage was so stuffed she had no place to put them. Two ladies who had been pestering them to take a peek had just been let in the garage by her husband. "Oh my God," I heard one of them shriek. So she sold about $200 in costume jewelry, and I don't think anything was priced over $3.00. She said you can't even tell anything is gone.

It's going to be a long hot day--the area needs rain, but just not today, please. I may not get my 2.5 miles in.

She's tough!

8 boxes of cookbooks
Lenox roses
Vintage purses
china and costume jewelry
Update: I got 2 wonderful silver necklaces for $.50 each (although she actually just gave them to me for helping), and a Taste of Home annual cookbook which I've already used, and some Christmas coasters.

3860

My daughter's garage sale

Tomorrow I'm going to help with my daughter's garage sale. But I can't put anything in it because she says she already has too much stuff. Not only was she the world's best daughter-in-law when her mother-in-law was in her final illness, but she is helping to finalize the estate which will help with the nursing home bills. Her MIL was a "collector," if you know what I mean. She loved many things. Beautiful things. Things never taken out of the box or wrap. So yesterday my daughter called about some chests (yes, plural) of silverware and wanted to know how she should price them. "Are they silverplate or sterling?" I asked. She didn't know, but I told her how to find the name of the companies and patterns. She's of a generation that doesn't want to polish silver and owns very nice stainless, but no silver. When she told me the names, I told her not to price them until I had a chance to check the internet china and silver sites. Then I called her back. "Do not put them in the sale. Don't let anyone know you even have these in the house. We'll find a dealer."