Well, ladies… I’m going to have to face the music… you know all those comments you showered on me the last 2 days and I told you I’d get to them … I’m going to have to let them go… I read them, cherished them and thank you all so much, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to answer them all and I hope you understand. I don’t like “not” answering them as I know many of you put so much thought into what you wrote and it bugs me when I can’t answer you. Lots of bloggers don’t answer their readers comments..unless they do it all privately and I can’t see it, but the way I look at it, if I write something and you take time enough to comment on it, I think I can surely find the time to acknowledge it and answer you back… that’s just the way I feel about it.
So, I just can’t resist a few comments from the yard sale post. ( HERE) They won’t be nearly what I’d like to have said, but it’s a little bit of what made me smile and feel special from each of you…
Marilyn – I loved your line about skipping Cool Spoons Ice Cream shop and instead “getting a big bowl of frozen yogurt and putting my sunburned face in it!” I loved that your comment was first! It was hilarious…
Karen – Today WAS nothing but Sunshine and Sales! But we did get a rainstorm on Friday night and this morning the whole place, (except under the big long tents and under the clear tarp that my hubby bought) looked very dismal… The wind had blown some of the tarps off, so at 6:30 this morning we were pitching things that were too far gone… but then things got better and it looked like a whole new yard sale because we rearranged things and it was like “new” items appeared on the table.
Sissy – Thank you so much for your sweet comments… I don’t feel very young tonight… in fact, I think my hubby and I have decided this will be our last yard sale…it’s just too much. The young woman who lets us have it at her house, said, if we can’t help, she won’t have it either. Maybe someone else can take the torch and run with it. This was our 11th year for the Missions Yard Sale.
Susette – When Megan exclaimed, “You’re going to be 60?” my actual response was, “When should I start kissing your feet?” Susette, the Delineator “is the oldest thing in my house” but I was the one who actually bought it… it wasn’t left here in our house by the previous owners. I bought both of the magazines off of Ebay several years ago, but I love to look at them. I’m glad you enjoyed them.
Joy – I’m SO sorry to tell you, but someone just bought those 2 pictures… :o( The one was an original oil painting… sorry you missed out on them… I know, I know, I was supposed to learn from my mistakes last year and wear sunscreen this year…but I just never got around to it… bad me!!!
Linda – I can’t believe how there was just one little blurb on the weather radar and it was kind of long and stretched out… well, it rained and sprinkled and stopped, and then rained and sprinkled and stopped…I think 6 times… and then we really got a rain storm last night… We don’t save anything from year to year after the yard sale…we get so much new stuff that it just sits around and gets smelly. So we start collecting things in January and begin semi-sorting it. Then when it gets closer to the day of the sale, we have more times of sorting and organizing. We take what’s left over to the Goodwill… the clothing and shoes were given to a lady who sells the stuff to a place in St. Louis.. (maybe you know about this place, Linda?). They pay her .20 cents a pound for bags of clothing and shoes. She said they made over a $1000 for their ministry last year. They are helping a church in Zimbabwe. We had never heard of this before and Angel wanted me to check it out…but we sort of laughed about it… because this was going to be our “last yard sale…” according to my hubby… and Angel and Me…in that order!
Anne – Thank you so much for all the remedies and helps for what “ails” me… which is about everything tonight! I’ll have to give some of them a try… I think my remedy tonight will be 2 Ibuprofen and I just might have an “Ibuprofen cocktail” for breakfast! :o) We were sitting at the table tonight after most of the work had been done, (Angel’s mom went to Burger King surprised me and my hubby and one other guy helping with Whoppers and french fries) and Angel’s mom asked me if I was going to church in the morning? I told her, “Well, Shirley, I guess that all depends if I can get out of bed first!” :o)
Laura – I didn’t get too many treasures this time… you know I’ve just weeded out everything and it really makes you stop and think what you bring back into your house.. at least it did me this time…but I will show you what I got…
I’m not sure what is happening tomorrow…is it Melody’s release date? If it’s not that, I’m not sure… I’ve been out of the loop…
Okay, now I have everyone answered…so I’ll let you know that it rained last night and lots of things got wet…so we spent the early morning hours of the day sorting and throwing out the stuff that was ruined and dirty. Some of our electronics got wet and we weren’t sure if they would work so we made a FREE sign and quite a few people took things to see if they could get them to work. We found some table cloths and napkins in the “home decor” section and used them to wipe off the tables as best we could. We thought it was an awful start to the day, but it got better…the sun came out and even though it was hot…hot is better than WET! Trust me… I still wonder how that lady fared with the wet bed and mattress yesterday…
I definitely managed to get my 10,000 steps in today on my fitbit activity tracker… AND THEN SOME! My best day ever! It equaled a little over 9 miles!
I showed you some decent pictures of the yard sale set up yesterday… want to see the yard sale clean up? Not so pretty… wet boxes, trashed electronics, a couch that we couldn’t even give away for FREE, with 2 pillows and an afgan thrown in, PLUS all the trash from this morning. My hubby will have to haul it to the dump next week and then take the electronics to the recycle place.
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Angel’s garage when we were getting ready to leave. There are boxes of books on the right side that are getting picked up tomorrow and my hubby will get the tables delivered next week. It’s a far cry from what it looked like on Thursday, isn’t it? Angel said, “I can see concrete again!”
Okay, so now my favorite story for today…(it has nothing to do with rain, thank goodness!) A woman bought something and paid for it and left. I wasn’t at the money station when she bought her stuff, so I’m not sure what she actually bought, but she came back to the sale with this little Rubbermaid container, maybe 3″ by 3″ and about an inch deep. It had a lid on it and inside it was packed with quarters and dimes and nickles. She told me and Angel she got home and decided she wanted to give more to help with the Missionaries we support all over the world. Wasn’t that the sweetest thing ever?
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, thank you SO much for letting us know how the yard sale was and for being so thoughtful about replying to us! Your wonderfully friendly and down-to-earth stories of your days mean so much to a lot of us! It’ really a fun blog to read, and for me, the ONLY one I choose to read! I pick and choose very carefully!
Oh, I don’t blame you one little bit for deciding that was your last yard sale! I worked in the yard all day yesterday, and believe me, I FEEL it! My knees, my back, my hips, and my pitiful foot, although it is getting better! You are going to appreciate this coming week knowing the yard sale is over and you can spend some quality time in your sewing room, where I think you REALLY belong!! I do believe Melody comes out around the 25th of August, since they are having activities at the store for her that weekend.
HI Linda,
Yep, it was pretty well confirmed by both my hubby and I, this morning when we got out of bed, that this would be our last yard sale. We were dragging… and have been all day.
I ALREADY appreciate that the yard sale is over!!! I can’t wait to get back to my sewing…and YES, that’s where I belong… and am the most happy!
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
I know that as much as you love helping, sometimes you just come to your limit and, like you said, let someone else carry the torch. Time for some much needed rest and relaxation.
Blessings to you and your hubby for all you do to help others!
Thank you Karen,
It is definitely time to let it go and move on to other things that we can help with. Oh dear me, I’d love some R and R!!! Might not get it this week, we are helping a family from Haiti move into a new apartment and get settled in…
Thanks for your kind thoughts Karen,
Blessings, Jeanne
Like Linda, yours is the only blog I follow. I don’t really expect an answer except to an explicit queston, especially if it gets to be too much and contributes to your giving it up. Too many of us enjoy it too much to wear you out. I enjoy your blog no matter what you’re writing about.
I’ve heard that in any organization, 20% of the people do all of the work, 20% complain and 60% are just “there.” Sounds like you did far more than your share of the 20%. Congrats on the many years of yard sales.
HI Susette,
Thank you so much for your encouragement and friendship this past year. It has been wonderful to see you begin to sew again and love it! I’m flattered that you love my blog and enjoy it each day. Thank you very much for all the comments you’ve left this past year!
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, Bless you and George and the others for the mammoth efforts you’ve put into the yard sale over the years. Even though I don’t know you, I’m glad for you that you are able to say this is your last year at doing this. Your body is ready for a rest from it and I’m glad you’re heeding that message.
Take care and rest well.
Blessings.
HI Becky,
Oh, my goodness yes, my body is ready for a rest…I told my hubby maybe he could get 3 days off so we could catch up on things around here… he told me, I better ask for 3 weeks off! :o)
I’m looking forward to getting back in a routine a little bit… this week will be a little busy helping a new family move here from Haiti but it won’t be hard work like the yard sale was.
Thanks for thinking of my, no, our well being, Becky!
Blessings, Jeanne
I refuse to hold any more garage/yard sales at home. it’s SO much easier to just collect things in a box, and when it’s full – drop to Goodwill. :-/ I admire anyone who has the energy to do even a *small* sale – so, it’s nearly inconceivable to me how you manage such a BIG one! Hats off to you and your helpers! whew!
HI Mary,
My sister thinks the same way as you…it’s not worth it to have a sale anymore… just take it to Goodwill. I have some stuff I was planning on selling in a yard sale we were going to have, but after this week, I’m having second thoughts…
Thanks Mary,
Blessings, Jeanne
I hope you felt like getting out of bed this morning and having a nice, relaxing, easy breakfast. If you don’t do another garage sale, that’s ok — you know very well that you’ll be doing something else that’s a lot of help for your church. Nine miles on one hour’s sleep! You ought to spend the day in bed and hope that Kristoffer brings dinner.
And bless Addy’s heart, she did her share as a model. I’ll bet in all the confusion, you still finished her bouquet and her beautiful dress will be off tomorrow to her lucky new owner while you are plotting something and beautiful to show us in a day or two.
As for individual answers on days like yesterday, I think all of us would rather you just went to bed.
HI Marilyn,
I DID get out of bed, but didn’t really feel like it… the afternoon was busy finishing up things at Angel’s house. It wasn’t relaxing like I had hoped for, and then when we got home, I was drenched with sweat again and Kristoffer did show up.. not WITH dinner, but hoping for dinner. So it was sandwiches and mac n cheese and corn on the cob.
Actually I was going to go to Joann Fabrics to pick up some pretty flowers to make her bouquet but at 5:00 we were still breaking down boxes, so I’ll have to go tomorrow and get her flowers for the bouquet, then bring them home, make the bouquet and box it all up and go back to town to mail it. I should have picked up some flowers a week ago for the bouquet.
Boy, I’d like to go to bed and sleep for a week, but we all know that’s not gonna happen!
Maybe next week… :o)
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Been there done that as they say. The after feel of the sale and the “never again” feeling. Then the next year arrives and there you go again. Maybe…
So I was waiting for the grand total? After our sales, we always gathered around the kitchen table as my dad and husband would total the days sales. The highlight was that total! Always made it worth the work. Hope it was a lot for you!
Maybe you can take a break today? You and George certainly deserve it.
HI Joy,
I think I’m (we’re) going to stick with the “never again” feeling… I think even Angel was on board with us after today!
You’ll have to see what I have in store with the $$$ total… :o)
No break today but maybe next week…
Thanks so much Joy,
blessings, Jeanne
Every time We have our family garage sale we have so much fun just being together…and of course buying treasures from each other. We meet the new neighbors that have moved in and then at the end say we won’t do it again…but we do.?
So if you have done this or 11 years….holy cow girl you have done your part…besides theCouples party you do so well and other good deeds.
Don’t start feeling old at 60 honey …..you have lots of good years
Hugs
HI Kathie,
We always had fun at our family yard sales too… but this was almost too big to have fun…it became overwhelming from the start..and then with the rain and the wet tarps and stuff, wet boxes, ruined electronics, etc… it just got to you…
Yesterday I felt old, but today, I felt “old” but with hope, knowing the yard sale was over. I plan on enjoying my 60’s, just not too keen on that 6 in the front there!
Thanks Kathie,
Blessings, Jeanne
Good Morning Jeanne and Happy Sunday!
The yard sale is over and you survived! Albeit sunburned and sore, I am pretty sure when next years comes around even though your body is saying no right now you will be there to lend a hand and do what needs doing. You are that kind of person.
My what a sweet lady that was to return with a container of change to help support your churches missions. It blesses my heart to hear about random acts of kindness, there are still good people out there! : )
I hope today is a restful relaxing day for you!
HI Ingrid,
Well, my day wasn’t restful and relaxing but at least everything on MY part is done… my hubby still has things to do, but I can’resume my “normal activities…”
I think the yard sale may have run its course… there just aren’t enough workers and it’s too much for 3 people…
It blessed my heart to see that lady come back to with her coins in that little container too… many people gave extra but it just blessed me so much to have all those quarters and dimes and nickles collected by her…
Blessings, Jeanne
“Kind people are the best kind of people.” ~ author unknown
Your story about the lady and her Rubbermaid container is inspirational! I hope you and George had a quiet ,peaceful Sunday of rest and recuperation, Jeanne. You surely deserve it after all your efforts. May you be blessed many times over for the love and kindness you share with others. You, too, are an inspiration.
I’m anxious to learn what special day tomorrow, August 1, may be. I’m also looking forward to the yard sale stories you have yet to tell. But for now, sleep well tonight, Jeanne. We’ll be here tomorrow!
HI Anne,
Well, I wish I could say we had a peaceful, relaxing afternoon, but we didn’t… BUT the yard sale is over so things are looking up!
I’ll accept your blessing Anne!
Yes, tomorrow is special and soon you’ll find out why!
Yes, sleep is on the menu for tonight… in a little while…
Thanks Anne,
I’ll be here too!
Blessings, Jeanne
P.S. Wanted to let you know I received Trixie’s turquoise dress, and it is so adorable, more than the pictures could show! I’ll drop you a note soon. Thanks so much, Jeanne!
Thank you Anne,
I’m so glad you like Trixie’s dress. I hope it looks as adorable on your doll as it did on Trixie.
Thank you for letting me know it arrived.
Blessings, Jeanne