garage sales.

i love garage sales. i think i like them so much because we've always had them. it's a tradition. we usually had them in the summer. and i'd wake up (finally) and crawl from my bed + take my sleepy head to poke out the garage door window. if there were customers, i'd bolt back to bed. no one had to know i was awake yet...or that i looked like that. but if there weren't customers, i could drag my slippered feet outside to the desk where my grandma would sit putting stickers on our name sheets and counting up our money.

two things have always been steady about our garage sales. one: grandma was always there. i don't think i remember a garage sale without her. two: we make a lot of money. i'm not bragging here, but for garage sale items (i mean, let's be honest, you're always kind of iffy), we put out good stock. it helps that we usually do a three-family one with clothes (from the 80s, no doubt) and knick-knacks (dad loves those) and toys.

now, the toy stock has dwindled a bit, but MAN! our clothes section exploded this year. and grandma and i worked two days together, and mom and grandma worked the other two days and we.brought.BANK.

and, we're always happy at the end of the day when we bring in a profit. who doesn't like having some extra cash. but what i like the best about garage sales can be summed up into a 5 bullet-point list:

1) us all complaining about how much still has to be marked and the laughs we have trying to get everything ready.

2) dad complaining every year that he's not taking it back downstairs, but he does anyways because he loves us so much.

3) grandma with those darn name boards + how her face lights up when we're having a "good morning."

4) having people admire my collie as they come in to shop; he's so good lying there by my side!

5) grandma some of her christmas shopping at our garage sale. and tricking us into telling her the price for it so she can pay us. i mean, c'mon grandma, without you, none of us would be here anyways!

and some boxes were donated to the church. and others goodwill. and some even to the trash. and despite his constant reminder that he's "not taking it back downstairs," some boxes went back into the basement. :)

p.s. someone commented on how odd our garage door was because it was so open. is it really unique? or am i just used to my house?