The Haggle Queen and Her Tarp Ark..

The alarm went off at six this morning. I shut it back off, and decided to see how I felt about a quarter til seven instead, lol. I got up and tossed my clothes on, and I was shocked that Dave was right behind me. He's still snivvelie and has all the colors of the rainbow in his head, but his nineteen hours of sleep from yesterday must have helped more than he thought, because he said he felt much better today. I was out the door by seven fifteen, and was shocked and appalled to see about seven people hovering around the half-tarped tables, waiting to pounce. Again, Mom probably should have made them wait, but she let them look and buy as soon as the tables were uncovered.

We had sold approximately half of everything we put out by noon. For the first four hours there were at least four people in the yard at all times, and when one would leave, two more would show up. Mom and I were running around, helping, adding, bagging, tending. It was a whirlwind of activity. We had several people tell us today that our prices were far too low, and strengthened the claim that maybe we made a few pricing blunders. One kind lady actually bullied me into taking more money for my dragon, wizard and gargoyle collection pieces, and who was I to argue? lol.

My favorite sale of the day was selling the puppy pen I bought when I bought Mom Sassy for Christmas five years ago. I had three dollars on the thing, and he asked me what the least I would take for it was. I asked him what the most he would pay for it was. He said one dollar. I said make it a buck fifty, and its yours. He smiled and nodded and said well, I'm impressed. At least you're negotiating. I smiled back. He said a buck twenty-five, and I said Deal! and shook his hand, and he carted it off. It was actually quite entertaining. My second favorite sale was a little wire rack with rust on it that Mom and I argued over. It's trash, I told Mom. Mom said.. But you told me there WAS no trash. I put a dime on it, and sat it on the table and it wasn't there five minutes and some little old lady bought it. I was tempted to ask her what the heck she needed a tiny, half rusted wire rack for.. but I just laughed and went to tell mom the trash rack sold, lol.

The really neat thing to watch though.. was kids digging in the big crate of stuff I put out there with a free sign on it. Stress balls, and markers, and colored stones, and rocks. CD singles, and little plastic figurines, some cards, and dozens of other odds and ends. This one adorable, little old lady with a walker picked up the bundle of yellow artificial flowers I had in the free bucket, and just went on and on about how cute they made her walker and that it just made her day, and are we sure they were free? =) It was so sweet.

The sale today went really, really well. Mom and I were very pleased to do so well, and were really feeling great about our decision to clean, make space, and actually make a little money doing it. Ten cent items must really add up, because we made back the money for the ad, and then some. We even sold most of the bottled water we iced down in the cooler on this dreadful ninety degree day. Every time we heard someone say they were dying, thirsty, or unbearably hot, we upsold the ice cold water. They'd laugh, and you could tell they thought they were being swindled out of that buck.. but they still bought the water, lol.

The neighbor down the street, who I affectionately call "Holly's Mom" came down to look at the sale today. (I don't know if anyone remembers my Shia-tzu I got to love on for two days or not.. until I found where she belonged, but that's "Holly's Mom." I politely scolded her for not bringing Holly with her, and she promised me she'd bring her back later in the day. I was thrilled that she kept her word, and she toted Holly down for an awesome half hour visit. I still cringe internally every time I see her now. She's always dirty, and smelly, and matted, and her mother is always, still, commenting on how great she looked after me having her for just two days. I can't help but think how easy it was to get her that way, after a bath, and a little TLC, but I'm too nice to say so. We let Holly romp around in the big back yard, (thirty times the size of the little five foot square she's used to). She got to play with Sassy and Dinky, and they honestly had a ball. It was a great little field trip for Holly, and I enjoyed it immensely. Holly's Mom left promising me that pick of the litter from the puppies she'll have one day.. and I just smile and nod. I honestly don't think she ever really intends to breed that poor dog. It was a splendid afternoon all things considered.

Unfortunately, the day went a little wonky from there. A much needed Disclaimer: I've been getting a fair bit of criticism from people, in various avenues and formats. I'm too negative. I always complain, I always feel bad, nothing good ever happens, and maybe I should be a little happier, more grateful.. more positive. What I really think people want me to be.. is a better liar. I'm going to talk about the rest of my day, despite it being a little on the negative side because it's how the day went. If "those people" want happy.. please head to your nearest library and check out a fairy tale. If you want real, and honest.. you get me.

We started closing up shop an hour early.. as I perceptively felt the first raindrop as I was condensing and consolidating tables. We didn't want the skies to open and the buckets to come down until after everything was covered, so we started covering, and fast. We had a few drive-bys that looked terribly disappointed as they saw us tarping our wares, but I'm sure they understood. It took us a couple hours to get everything smushed together, and covered, and just in time too.

The tornado siren started blaring, and we could see the green and gray clouds rolling in. A neighbor drove by, and slowed to tell us she just saw a tornado with her very own eyes less than a mile from our homes, and they (she and her four year old daughter, Maya), weren't staying, but heading to her folks where the basements were plentiful. No one in our entire area has a basement. We tried to stay calm, and finish getting everything buckled down, and the loose stuff into the house. It was coming down pretty good within minutes and the skies looked ominous. We stood in the doorway and watched the electrical storm display. We got some terribly strong winds, and pea-sized hail. Dave was excited, because he'd never seen anything like it. (The rest of us around here are quite used to summer tornadoes in Indiana). It's been coming down in sheets most of the rest of the night, and the sky is one near-continuous roll of thunder.

I ventured out once tonight to the front yard to check and see if everything was holding up okay. I've been a little upset and heartsick ever since. Apparently, one of the tarps in the garage wasn't a tarp at all. It was a dust cover for a motorcycle, and consequently.. it didn't repel water, but instead let it come right on through. The heart-wrenching part for me is.. the one table with the mint, still in the box, Harry Potter collectibles.. was the one table worth the most out there, and it's now the one with drippy, soggy, ruined boxes, and all their contents. It's all completely destroyed.. soaked through, and most likely un-sellable. It'll kill me tomorrow to toss most of it out. There was almost sixty bucks to be made right there in Harry Potter stuff alone, and that wasn't counting the other side of the table with all of the walkmans, discmans, headphones, and computer games that are also ruined. It's been pouring for hours, and I just sit here thinking about the ruined mess in the yard, what's lost, and what we won't be making a single cent off of tomorrow. I dread the looks of incredulity we're sure to get from the shoppers who think we must be some kind of idiots to not protect our own stuff from the rain.

Mom's upset with me because I'm upset about that. She keeps telling me that it was for sale and that I wasn't keeping any of it anyway, so why should it bother me that it's destroyed? I tried to tell her that she shouldn't take me being upset personally, and that I can be mad about it without blaming or taking it out on her, but she's still upset with me. I'm okay with that though, because I'm still upset too. They were collectibles. Just because I wasn't keeping them, doesn't mean that their perfect condition wouldn't have really mattered to someone else interested in taking them home. They went from a collector's item to display, to a ten cent child's play toy in less than a few minutes. Just because they were not being kept by me, doesn't mean that didn't easily translate into at least sixty dollars that's not in our pantry in the form of a week's worth of soup and tea, and cheese and crackers. It matters to me, and I'm upset about it.

I meant to call the doctor today to re-schedule that follow up exam I'm supposed to be making as soon as possible. I have more than a bit of a breathing problem at the moment, that has me a little uncomfortable. I had assumed my new medicine was giving me a reaction, but at this point I really can't be sure with all the variables. It's been SO hot, I've been very sweaty. I'm very fair complected, and I've been burnt three times in a week and a half. I've layered myself in sunscreen, aloe gel, sunscreen, aloe gel.. rinse and repeat for days, and on top of that, I'm taking new medications. In the last three or four days I've accumulated well over a hundred blemishes across my chest, back, and face. I really, *really* wish I was exaggerating on that number. They're not your average blemish either, they're actually quite painful. I've been hot before. I'm always too hot in the summer, but I've never, EVER experienced anything like this.. so I don't know what it is, what to do about it, or how to treat it.. but it's an absolute miserable situation, to be sure. I'm just trying to not think about how awful it feels, and more importantly to me, (how awful it LOOKS). A friend suggested that it might be heat blisters, but honestly, I just don't have any idea. Hopefully, I can ask Dr. Abby about them when I see her next.

Dave and I have just been doing laundry, watching internet episodes of Bones, and watching the rain come down the rest of the night. I'm trying to get us to bed in the next few minutes, if possible, so we can get up at the crack of dawn again tomorrow, and see if there's anything salvageable. I'm honestly not looking forward to it now. We had such a great first day. I was so hoping to have a banner day two as well, but I don't see how this one can be redeemed. We'll see how it goes though. I'm sure Mom and Dave and I will give it our best shot and see what miracles we can resurrect from the rubble. Thank You sincerely for joining us this evening, and until next time.. Much Love, Many Hugs and Good Night to You All.