The longer we live in the condo, the lazier I've become so, of course I was nervous at the thought of having to get out of the house early for eight days in a row. Well, we made it, and the good news is that we sold a lot of clothes, and I do mean a lot.
As we heard, the folks were lined up when we arrived around 7:00 Friday morning. Our room was pretty well settled, but it was good to have a few moments of calm before the storm. Holy Cow, the doors opened and people flooded into our space.
The Ebay sellers were some of the first, grabbing up what they thought they could sell. One girl had a fold up wagon that she piled high; with the crowd in that room, not to mention the tables and such, she did not have the easiest time navigating, although I suspect she is a seasoned rummage sale shopper from the looks of it.
While we knew that our neat piles would end up in disarray after the doors opened, one woman really added to it by, get this--taking one of our boxes with extra clothes from under the table and literally dumping it into the middle of the "medium size" table. I did not see her do it, but I sure saw her carrying around the box! The day absolutely flew by with a steady stream of customers, sometimes up to 25 at a time filling the chapel. Needless to say, we went home bushed. Our room looked like this at the end of the first day.
Out the door again early Saturday, we did not know what to expect as far as crowds were concerned. Would we have a repeat? As a matter of fact, we did not, yet people came steadily throughout the day. Those plus sized clothing? Friday, it seemed like barely anyone gave them a glance, however, I said on Friday afternoon, I'm sure someone will come along on Saturday and boy did they ever in the form of a Mother/Daughter duo.
Here is the daughter standing by a formerly packed rack of skirts....yeah, 60 of them before they arrived, however, at $2.00 a piece, they kept pulling them off the rack amassing a huge pile.
Does this color work for me?
When it was all said and done, between the two of them, our racks were emptied of about 75 (!!!) garments and as far as we could tell, they were all for them. I sure hope they fit!!
Cynthia was not feeling well so Ann found another helper, Brenda, an amazingly calm woman who did not mind folding clothes endlessly.
She would be the one with the clothes over her shoulder, refolding the large/xlarge table which was mostly an exercise in futility, but she said doing so made the day go faster.
Above is the men's table that she had not an hour earlier made neat and tidy. A little later Brandy came to help and turns out she also did not mind folding. I, on the other hand, was not a fan. I'd remove empty hangers all day long, but folding....no thanks!
You might note the purses hanging in the background...that two tiered hanging apparatus built by John, was a God send for this purpose. At one time, both the upper and lower tier were so full of bags, you could hardly move them, so, turns out we sold a lot of handbags as well.
Hip, hip, hurray....it was over!! The Goodwill truck arrived and it was time to box, or bag the leftovers, but not before we filled multiple boxes with clothes to take out to Mascotte for a migrant workers camp. Yes, we had leftovers, but at an average price of $2 for each item, I'd say we sold several thousand dollars worth. Priced to sell was my philosophy!
A small army of helpers arrived, we removed everything from the hangars,
I think we ended up with 25 (?) bags of leftovers,
which considering all that came in, well, we were pleased. Cynthia, recovered a bit, arrived to help turn the space back into a chapel again.
Overall, I would say that at least 50 people volunteered for the event and while it was good to make a little over $9,000, it was also good to meet new people and work together. As it turns out, I discovered that although lazy, I'm still capable of working, so that was good for me. Bruce, meanwhile, was working on another project much of the day, but went into action when the cleanup time came, putting tables away, loading bags and boxes, putting the fellowship hall in order, that sort of thing. We were both so tired that we stopped by Johnny's Other Side for some refreshments, however, it was darn chilly so we boxed our food to eat at home. Here is Mr. Peck before he fell asleep on the couch.
Sunday morning I did not go to church, instead I had some catching up to do around the house, as well as a much needed visit with Maureen who was perkier than normal, AND wearing blue nail polish!
My plan was to spend the afternoon preparing for today's camping trip, however, instead we had a lovely surprise when Bill called saying he and Lisa were in town from Lake City! We spent the afternoon gabbing away and it was super fun. Both of them are a blast to be around.
Then it was time to get to work in the kitchen, frying chicken and boiling bowties for a pasta salad. What a mess it makes on my stove, but totally worth it!
Plus there were oranges to squeeze and is this batch good...Valencia oranges make very tasty juice!
Artichokes out, grape tomatoes, olives, all kinds of goodies went into the salad which makes a good camp lunch.
Now the car is packed, the kayak on top, the bikes on the back, and as soon as Bruce finishes showering, we are off to
Rodman Dam campground near Palatka. Wish us luck as, according to the weather reports, we will face all manner of weather.
Hopefully the stars will be out at night.
your friend,
Gail
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