Community-Wide Bargain Hunters

If you're like me and you work Monday through Friday, there's not much opportunity to hit any garage sales until Saturday. Good news for you! The Grand Rapids Community-Wide Garage Sale is in full swing and there will be plenty of action Saturday!

Yes, there are 87 sales listed on the official map – which you can find at a Kellner business or on the Grand Rapids Community-Wide Garage Sale Facebook page. Make sure you stop at 2111 87th St. S. (just off of County Trunk FF).

In case you missed the sale I participated in in April, this sale features some fabulous leftovers – including teen/young man clothes, lots of books (including many nonfiction sports ones), and dozens of underpriced Stampin' Up rubber stamps!

I know I personally don't NEED anything right now. But it will be hard not to make lots of pitstops between Point A and Point B anytime I'm out of the house tomorrow! 

Should be a beautiful day to find those bargains!! Happy hunting!

Collector's Fees

This reflects the overabundance of shirts (well, clothes) that the boy and I have. He at least was willing to at least part with some at the garage sale. Fingers crossed, that is. As promised (or threatened) here are the details of our friend's garage sale this weekend.

MULTI-FAMILY

GARAGE SALE

THURSDAY – SUNDAY

APRIL 4-7

OPEN  8AM TO 6PM

Kids to adult clothes (including lots of Carter's young men's clothes), household, books (4 boxes from us – including lots of nonfiction sports memoirs), leather couch, TV stand, puzzles, tools, Miller racing mirrors,  toys, children books, generator, outhouses, birdhouses, children's coupe cars, bikes, torpedo heaters. Way too much to list.

9410 80th St. S.   |   Wisc. Rapids   |  3.5 miles South of Kellner  

Also for sale...

Tons of Stampin' Up rubber stamps! Yes, this collector is attempting to let go.

And some of my lighthouse collectibles and decorations. Again, this collector is trying to let go.

My friend is right that there are too many items to mention. Stop by and check it out. Not sure if I'll be there as I have to work on Friday and am Twin Cities bound Saturday. But my boy may be there Saturday, trying to downsize his t-shirt collection.

Until he finds other cool ones to buy, that is! 

Just ignore the snow: It's Garage Sale Season!!

Lighthouse Lovers, Anyone?

Since my first real job in a town that had a lighthouse – what I refer to as MY lighthouse – I've been a tiny bit obsessed.

In normal people's language, "A TON obsessed"

So yes, after re-doing our kitchen and dining room and having no need for lighthouse replicas or a lighthouse and seascape decor theme in central Wisconsin, I'm getting rid most of my lighthouse-related decor, etc.

So if you have an interest in anything from cookie jars and plates and "fish net" to framed prints of lighthouses, let me know. I always try to give stuff to good homes if they want them. Otherwise I'll promptly get to pricing these things. 

Not that I want or need to let it go, but it's time.

Contact me for details. You know who you are!

Get Your Fresh Popcorn He-eere!

I love that every year in early March my company celebrates the successes of the previous year – with a fun theme.

This year it's "Carnival." So yes, I may or may not have had cheese popcorn as my midmorning snack!

Our department also got together this afternoon for some business – and pick a duck prizes. I won a fabulous Hawaiian music CD while others snagged some nice shirts and pullovers. Oh well. I think it's been established I have too many clothes anyway. 

And CDs? Well I'd love to play them again but I don't think I have time to listen to all 239 or so. Good thing I know someone having a garage sale soon. Perhaps I should've purchased two rolls of masking tape instead of one!

Other than the fun, it was nice to be back in the office in general. Good to see people I feel like I haven't seen in a month. And my workload will keep me busy for at least another 30 days. Ha. (Actually, not funny.)

We'll see what else the Carnival brings this week. I hear there's cotton candy coming and cake. Always cake. That's how we celebrate success at my work! 

Hope you're finding some fun (carney inspired or otherwise) this week!

Spring is Marching In

Just a few days out of February and it seems like March is marching in to the tune of spring! For the second day in a row, Wisconsin Rapids set a record for high temperature. It was 72 and sunny here this afternoon, but there was another factor...

It was super windy! Like enough to create a "wind chill" or a feeling of not quite 72 degrees. I still got a few things cleaned up in the garage (just a few) and mopped the kitchen and dining room floor so the wind could air dry it quickly through the two open doors!

It certainly did!

Obviously this nice weather won't last long, but at least it should stay above freezing for this week anyway. And we have no place to go anyway. Winter sports are officially done as of last night and spring sports won't have any outdoor competitions scheduled for a month.

I don't mind the down time, but we really hoped the girls would've pulled off the sectional championship yesterday. We rode a fan bus down to Hartford and we took on another Royal Blue team – Albany-Monticello. Very close game throughout. Tied with 10 seconds to go, a layup by the other team put them up by 2 and they ended up winning, 47-45. Dang. What a great season, though! 

I suppose with my "free time" I should start getting rid of clutter in the house. Because that super fun, doesn't it?

I did actually price one box of books for the upcoming garage sale at Carter's former babysitter's in April. Lots more to sort through and price. Not my favorite pastime. But I did catch up on The Voice from last week while I was doing it. Hopefully my multi-tasking didn't make me put $50 on a book instead of 50 cents! (Audrey: If they ask, we'll take less!)

Alright, I am stepping away from the computer. I have my back to reality alarm-setting and waking and working tomorrow and after being off for 10 days. How do people do this?!

Breathe in some fresh air. And let's have a great week!

Mr. Right

 I hope this video snippet below works because it's more dynamic than a still image!

If it doesn't, it shows a man's astonishment when his wife says he's right. If you're married, you know!

So Carter's former babysitter is having her annual garage sale. I was hoping to gather a few items (or more than a few) over the past week. But I was pretty sure the last, slim roll of masking tape in the house wouldn't be enough to price everything. I put masking tape on our white board grocery list on the fridge late last week.

On Saturday, Jim and I actually grocery shopped together, finishing at Wal-Mart. When I shop with him, I know there is no browsing. No dilly-dallying. No lolly-gagging. Just stick to list and push that cart as fast as you can. 

After we got some health and beauty items (from my list), I reminded him we needed masking tape. He said, "Isn't that in the paint department?" as we walked by the paint department. I confidently answer, "No, I'm sure it's in the office supply area."

We did not find it there, of course. And I said we could just forget about it. But he didn't. It's still on the grocery list. With a footnote of sorts...

I'm not even gonna buy tape. The sale starts tomorrow and I didn't gather many items for it so I still have tape remaining. Also, I just want to giggle at that every time I walk past the fridge. You're right, honey. And you're funny.

Today's admission of wrong was brought to you by AUDREY'S GARAGE SALE...

There is seriously something for everyone – from infant to adult clothes to game, golf clubs, and guy things. Not sure when I can help work it. But I can tell you it's worth a stop!!

Tell them Robyn sent you and you'll get a deal... the exact price on those masking tape tags!

Leftovers

Our friend's garage sale was a smashing success last weekend, despite un-garage-sale-like weather. At lunch today, Jim and I went to pick up the tables we loaned plus the leftover items and, oh yeah, some cash!

For simplicity, every item out of the this house had R.A. for the initials on it. But Carter and Mamie used a a black Sharpee and I used red – because I knew from past experience we'd get all our tags back as part of our friend's diligent accounting system! 

The kids didn't quite make enough to fill a tank of gas, but they'll be happy with anything. Thanks to a few items priced over $20, my profit jumped up to triple digits for the first time in a long time. So that was cool. And we really didn't have a ton of leftovers.

Thankfully things like golf clubs and some weird round chair sold. So no big items came back. Just a few boxes that I had to decide what to do with. Donate them or hold them to see if they'll see at another sale? I know what superstar organizer and declutterer Marie Kondo would say, but I wasn't inviting her to the conversation. Instead I reached out to friends on Facebook – just in case someone was having a sale in the very very near future.

Nobody was having one soon enough for me. So I loaded all but the leftover books into my car and dropped it off at Goodwill.

I know there are other worthy donation organizations but this happens to be right next door to where I was working out so I had no excuse but to unload it all after class. 

The books, though, I will put on a friend's sale this summer and donate some to the various "little lending libraries" around town. I completely forgot about that option until someone mentioned it. Since some of the books were great book club reads, it only makes sense to get them out there where people who enjoy reading want them. How did I not think about this before?

For once I know what to do with leftovers. Besides wait for them to get old and toss them out!

Thanks for everyone's input!