Yard sales and hawks

We all love them. We go hunting for bargains, and get so excited when we find just what we were looking for, for less than we would ever think paying. I love yard sales; it doesn't matter if they're in the yard, driveway, garage, who cares. This is a great way to find tresures .

I thought it would be as fun to have our own big moving sale. Ya know, when you go shopping at these you always see the people sitting down in comfy chairs, talking and eating MacDonalds chicken biscuits. What a great time to relax! Right? WRONG! yard sales are a big ordeal. Especially if you want to sell all the furniture in your house and all the millions of toys you never dreamed your children had, until you actually get them out.

We had people from Church and other friends come in before the ad ran in the paper. That was good, we sold a lot like that. But after that, well, let's see... 12 straight hours sorting through all you have and dividing into piles. 12 more hours bringing the stuff down, and another 12 putting them where they should go, and labeling. Ohhhh... labeling... what fun...

Then comes the great day; and after those 36 hours of work, (which if we combine them with my husband's 36, they'te really 72), we're ready to sit down and see some money coming in while relaxing.

This is where the hawks come in the picture.
I've found out there's 3 groups of hawks.

First, the early birds. They get up at 6: 00 am and read the paper while drinking their coffee. At 6:30 they're calling each other, and deciding to come at the same time... well, just for the fun. I can picture them laughing at the idea. The paper says, 9:00. But they have selective reading. They're all here at 7:00. I almost see them wink at each other. They flood the house, and we start to panick! I'm not ready yet!!! But they don't care. These type of hawks go through each station of the house at the same time; like, they all want dishes at the same time, so there I am wrapping fragile stuff franticly. They then go to the basememt, and all want the tools at the same time, and there's my husband taking care of them all. They also can't read signs like "do not open cabinets", or "SOLD" on pieces of furniture. "m'am, is that leaf table for sale?" huh... "it was sir, but it's SOLD, like the sign says!"

By now I'm on the phone with mother in law. "Please come help us!!!!!" But sure enough, when she gets here, the hawks are gone. Mother and father in law bring us the famous MacDonald's chicken biscuits, and hang out for a couple of hours. Nothing. Not a living soul. That's when father in law decides to leave, assuring us that the crowd will be here Saturday, not to dispair. I just give him the look, and let them go. Five minutes later, there they are again...

...the late birds. They were all hidding to see when our help was leaving, and as they see them drive away, they whistle the secret whistle and come in marching down the driveway. The late hawks are tricky. This lady was buying a tin can that she "LOVED" for 25 cents. Good. What I didn't know when I marked it, was that the can was full of pennies, probably 4 bucks worth. She insists that she didn't see the money, she really just like the can. OK, lady, you can take the can, but the pennies stay. All of the sudden, the can is not as cute anymore. It goes back where it was found.
Then there's the other older lady buying children's book's, 25 cents each. And what do you know? She finds my "Childrens song book" from church, who was NOT cheap at all, and there she goes with it for 25 cents....
We need to watch these hawks like hawks!

The third group is the one where everyone comes looking for the same thing. They want a chest of drawers... they're all gone, I'm sorry. After 15 people ask for that, they all want the same table. And then they all want the same bookshelf, and then the washer and dryer.
I believe this third group is the worst; they totally drive us nuts. I think they're out there with a mission... to make us insane, at a time of the day that we are ready to colapse.

Oh, how fun it is to see our sweet home invaded by alliens; they come in flocks, they leave in flocks...

And so here we are, trying to make the house presentable for the next crowd tomorrow. We're full of energy, as you can image. We're looking forward to it...

One day down, two more to go...
Oy! Can hardly wait for hawk invasion, part 2.