Garage Sale Success

So, before we get to the garage sale, Chris and I went camping - with the dogs - a couple of weeks ago. This went pretty well. Our older dog, Jinx, has been camping with us before and takes everything in stride. Loves being in the car and outdoors and adapts to new situations very easily. Lexi, our younger dog (who just turned two with a Frosty Paws treat thanks to Grandma Klein), is most definitely our princess. She is more anxious and doesn't make transitions well, but usually follow Jinx's lead (after a while), thank goodness! Of course, I forgot our camera AGAIN during this trip, so I have no pictures to show of them. After the first day, Lexi got more comfortable...or maybe she was just worn out from the 3+ walks they got daily and also being outside the entire day with us. It was beautiful weather, so we were only inside the camper at night. We may take them again, but next time, we should have our baby with us since it won't be until next spring. :( don't think we'll try that first trip with our child AND the dogs at the same time!!

Now, for the garage sale...it was a HUGE success!!!!! Even more so than I had imagined and, I think, much more than Chris had thought it would be. I had two friends who helped me sort, organize, and price items for a few days prior to the sale. They were unbelievable and I could not have done this thing without them!! Thank you sooo much, Sue and Theresa! Before they showed up on Tuesday morning, I was definitely feeling overwhelmed and like I had bitten off more than I could chew. These two ladies were my saving angels (or unicorns! they know what I mean) this past week! I really don't have the words to express how much they did, between the two of them, to help me out and keep me less stressed than I would have been otherwise.

Sue was also the one that helped me during the sale on Thursday. It was supposed to start at 3pm and we decided to start putting the tables out at 1:50; by 2pm, we had people starting to look through stuff, even though we continued setting up until 2:45, when we did our first sale and it did not let up the entire evening! We had gorgeous weather the entire week. My parents were able to come up and help out on Friday and Saturday and brought another table, which we needed! Chris had to be out of town on business until Friday evening, but he was back for the final day and tear-down of the remaining items. We had a lot of stuff left over at the end and have already taken half a truckload to a Goodwill/Habitat for Humanity-type organization, which they were thrilled to have. We will take more to Goodwill, baby clothes to the Crisis Nursery, and the books to the library. We have been so blessed by everyone's support and donations and want to pass this goodwill on to others who need it.

I will leave you with some pictures of the preparations and finally, the left-overs from the sale:



This is our front room the morning of the first day of the garage sale. I had to leave a pathway to get to the front door!




To this side of the front room, everything was piled up. Kept the clothes and most of the toys in here rather then storing them in the garage.




This is "appliance row." I did not have any way to get through the garage at all during this time. We had table after table jammed into the space and there wasn't much room left to get around.




This is a view of the garage from our garage door, the night before the sale started (this does not include the large pile we had outside under two large tarps that would not fit in the garage!)...




...and this is the same view on the evening we finished. We had already taken some of the leftover items away by the time this picture was taken. I cannot describe how many donations we had from people...it was unbelievable and heartwarming!

Again, we are so thankful for all the help and donations that we have received in the past 5 weeks and 3 days. Yes, that is how long we had once we decided to do the garage sale until it was over!! We are hoping that this brings more good news in the next couple of weeks...like the call that will increase our family of 2 to a family of 3 (plus the dogs, of course). We'll post here when that happens!

Stay tuned...