Today's Finds, Tomorrow's Garage Sale Items

When I drove into our driveway, the car was loaded up with kids, mine and a few extra, one of my passengers noticed the sign across the street.
“They’re having a garage sale at Kevin’s house,” she said. “Can we go over?” They all begged.
“Sure,” I said. I decided to go over too, visit with Kevin’s mother and see how the sale was going.
My entourage and I trooped across the street and into our neighbor’s garage where we found my neighbor, her visiting relative who was helping out and acting as head cashier, and the typical assortment of garage sale stuff: furniture, clothes, kitchen things, tools, toys and wall decorations.
You would have thought my kids were in Macy’s at Christmas, although they have never been there. As a matter of fact, neither have I, but I’ve heard it’s something.
“Can I go home and get my money?” Johnny asked.
“Can I go with him?” Mike asked as he clapped his hands together in excitement.
The girls were going “ga-ga” over the jewelry. “Look at this beautiful necklace,” Machaela said. “Can I have a quarter?”
Marie, Machaela’s friend, found an equally magnificent piece so I sprang for another quarter, then cousin Erin came up with the real find, and Egyptian-style medallion with blue stones. I thought of arm wrestling her for it.
Maureen, of course, was immediately attracted to the dressy clothes. She had to have a white lacy blouse with puffed sleeves and a black bow tie. It is very pretty and should fit her in five or six years.
By this time the little guys were back with their mad money. Johnny saves the change he finds around the house supposedly to give to the poor, but he delved into it for this sale of sales.
They were finding all sorts of things. On the top bunk of the bunk beds that were for sale were several stuffed animals. The guys were too short to see so I had to lift each of them up to make his selections. We probably have 2 or 3 hundred stuffed animals stuffed all over the house, but Johnny, Mike, and even Pete needed more.
Johnny spread his money, which was in pennies, nickels, and dimes and too heavy to hold, on a chair, and everyone helped themselves to it when they discovered a great treasure.
A big hit were the red, white, and blue crepe paper accordion streamers selling for 5 cents. Everyone bought one of those to save for the Fourth of July. (They didn’t make it to the holiday; they disintegrated in the rain, making our driveway look very patriotic.)
Other purchases were a puzzle map of the United States, a set of Lego blocks and a puzzle of Huskie dogs. After spending a lot of time and a fair sum of money, I suggested that we go home. I had put off leaving because I figured the longer we were out, the longer the house would stay neat.
When we first got home everyone was content with the new loot. The girls were modeling the jewelry and the boys were building with the blocks, but the lure of the sale across the street was too much to resist.
Soon they were begging to go back. There were things they had to buy, such as the orange brocade pillow, the stuffed lion, the wood tick-tack-toe game, the teething ring and the orange juice glass which Machaela dropped and broke before she got out of the garage.
That evening when John came home from work and saw all the purchases cast about the house, he inquired what had gone on. I told him about the garage sale.
“Well it looks like it was fun,” he said.
“Yes it was,” I said. “And now I’m thinking it might be fun if we had a garage sale and sold it all back.”
June 17, 1987