On the worst day possible, as I was rushing around like mad to do laundry and pack stuff for Kevin to go on a men’s retreat, our (unfinished) basement flooded. I spent about three hours on my hands and knees mopping up water, and trying to dry things as much as possible.
From what I can tell, the room was filled with about an inch of water (based on the water line on a cardboard box). The water must have receded quickly down the drain, though, because it was mostly dry on the concrete where I stepped. I wouldn’t have noticed it had flooded (as soon as I did) if I hadn’t picked up one of Meredith’s toys to find water rushing out of it. I realized how bad it had flooded only when I stepped onto an area rug and water seeped all over the place.
We don’t use our basement very much—just for some furniture storage, pantry storage, laundry, and I have a scrapbook table down there. Fortunately nothing of sentimental value (e.g., pictures) or other value (e.g., furniture) was damaged. An area rug and some stuffed toys were drenched, but easily dried out. Probably the worst thing was a box with Kevin’s sheet music, but I think those will dry out fine too.
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On Saturday morning I went to the Mother lode of all garage sales. A local Nazarene church hosted 200 private garage sales—selling kids’ stuff only. All of the toys and clothes were presorted and organized by gender and size. I hear that a week of work goes into this sale; with massive volunteer effort (25% of the proceeds benefit various charities). They hire two accountants to manage all the numbers.
It was crazy! I got there 45 minutes before the doors opened and there were already at least 150 people in line, ahead of me. When the doors opened everyone rushed in like mad. It was probably the most insane thing I’ve done in a long time. But I did come away with some cool wooden puzzles, books, and nearly all the clothes Meredith will need for the spring/summer. None of the clothes had any stains on them. Most of them look like new and there were quite a few name-brands. So, I guess in the end it was worth all the insanity—and setting the alarm clock about three hours earlier than I wanted.
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5 comments:
Wow that sounds like an awesome sale!
Group garage sales are the best, until they get too insane. I remember my mom and sister getting up at 5 a.m. to go to a periodic sale in an old barn. I went once--what they sold I can't remember, just wall-to-wall bodies and piles of stuff. It was finally shut down for being a fire hazard.
Glad nothing got hurt in the flood! Those always happen at the worst time.
Speaking of great sales, Disney.com has an outlet section on line that has all their winter jammies on sale for $6! Long sleeves, long pants and all sorts of characters. I got several for my little boys but noticed they have fun girl stuff :) Alas, I can only pass on the information as I won't be buying girl stuff till a granddaughter happens along! Never too early to buy for Christmas! Just don't store them on the basement floor :)
geni
Sounds like something Rose would have loved to do with you...lol.
Yeah, except for the waking-up early part. We have a twice-yearly consignment sale here at the fairgrounds, and it's the same set-up - over a thousand sellers, everything top-notch quality and arranged neatly, etc. It runs all week, and I always wait til Friday afternoon - the least busy (and coincidentally, 25% off) day.
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