Although the chilly wind took a little out of the otherwise gorgeous day, it was sunny enough for yard sales to abound. Rellie was coughing his little head off this morning so I gave him some medicine and Papa took him back to mom since I knew we'd be visiting the babies today and yard-saling. It's always exciting to see what my $40 will buy when I yard-sale. After I hit a few yard sales this morning and scored some great deals on clothes, ties, and a tub of dress up clothes (which also had a Care Bears costume in it) all for $5.00 I decided to see if Anne and Maddi wanted to go yard-saling because I knew Jas was reffing. She said they did, so I headed in to town. I stopped at Jeremy's on the way to drop off the ladder because he was working with Greg on their new house doing some last minute repairs. As soon as Tucker heard I was going yard-saling he was chaning out of the PJs and in to yard-saling clothes (a.k.a. he got dressed). He is almost as bad as me about yard sales. And, he is one of Maddi's favorite cousins.
Maddi was so excited to see Tucker and to go yard-saling. We hit a Tucker gold mine on the first yard sale. They had Transformers (the metal ones) AND a DS game he didn't have. Tucker even dickered with the teenager on the sale. It was hilarious. He ended up with the ziploc bag of Transformers and the DS game for $4.00. Oh, and as he reminded me, that was not his best deal. At another yard sale he got a Hot Wheels car (for his brother) for free. When he looked at the lady and said "How much is just this?" She smiled and said, "How about Free." I thought he was going to split his cheeks from smiling. He told her thank you and understood fully the value of his purchase.
Maddi scored some values as well. She found a Tinkerbell purse that immediately became attached to her arm and a couple fake watches that for a quarter she just had to have (one was Hello Kitty) to go with the purse. She was quite cute all decked out with her 75 cents worth of merchandise. What was the funniest was that she was very specific and picky about what she did and did not want and she looked through the various mounds and tubs of toys and items today. Anne and I found great deals on kids clothes and other baby items as well. Plus one yard sale had bags of items she uses for making her bows.
On the way home I hit one last yard sale (you usually get the best deals at closing times when the larger items become very cheap as the owners realize they may be stuck with them and have to keep storing them). I got a pink bike (Mongoose) with training wheels on it for $3 and another one that was also small, but for a boy for $2.00. Two bikes for $5.00. That was awesome. Mostly though I just enjoyed the little adventure that yard-saling always is for me. I know I'm a yard-sale nerd, but I enjoy it. I like that I can take my time and that I can get great deals and no one is complaining or rushing me. It's just a fun, relaxing thing I enjoy doing and it saves our family a lot of money. The clothes and shoes we picked up today were well over $20 in value and will be well-used and appreciated. I think of it as recycling too.
When I got home our neighbor was out in his yard and came to thank me for some food. His brother passed away suddenly last week and it has been such a trying time for his family. They are such nice neighbors. Both the boys/men are divorced and live at home with their mom who is quite the little French lady (she really is French). They had the funeral today in their back yard and he shared the experience with me and I could see that he was much more at peace now. It is such a hard thing and my thoughts and prayers have been with him and his family this week. Life is full of all these people called "neighbors" who can enrich and touch our lives if we will just take that chance to offer our friendship to them. Love thy neighbor is a wise commandment. Over the years we have been very blessed by those who lived next to us. We often joke that it's important to meet the neighbors before you buy a house. It's actually really good advice. They are often put into your life for a reason, but sometimes we never get to know that reason if we don't follow the commandment to love our neighbor. I know there are creeps out there and we do have to be careful (especially when we have small children), but the creepers are the minority and are usually easy to identify. Plus you always have prayer to guide you in life.
As Saturday draws to a close already I'm feeling like the weekends are becoming shorter and the weeks longer. I am so ready for summer. I think of summer and wonder what it will bring. I also think of next school year and wonder what it will bring. Will I still teach? Will we have a new house? What will our newest grandbaby look like? If I still teach, what will my next students be like? I am looking forward to the reunion and feel that I will find some answers there. One thing I do know is that I'm blessed with great children and grandchildren who all know and love the Lord and who bless my life by being a part of it every day.
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