This was quite a weekend.
It started out with an evening out with Craig and Rachel on Friday night. We went out to the Outback Steakhouse, which is a lot like Black Angus with an Australian theme. It wasn't bad. I had lamb, Rachel had steamed vegetables, and Craig had a steak. Rachel really enjoyed the vegetables, which I can't fault her for, but I would have wanted a little something to go with them.
I also had a couple of large (22oz) mugs of Fosters (that Oz theme again) so I was feeling no pain. When I got home, however, I pretty much just passed out while Rachel did the bills.
The next morning, we were up early for the Garage Sale. The neighborhood association had organized the yearly garage sale event and we were determined to take advantage of the opportunity to rid ourselves of a lot of stuff. In that respect, it didn't go as well as we had hoped, but it worked out okay.
We had a lot of books, as well as a bunch of general housewares. We wanted to get rid of some of the lesser dishes and such that I had collected over the years. I put most of them out in two boxes labelled 10 cents, with some of the nicer ones in a 25 cent box.
One woman came along and started picking out the plastic cereal bowls. I told her she could have them all for 5 cents, and I'd throw in some cheap plastic glasses as well. She said the glasses were too tall for what she wanted -- things to put under her plants. I shrugged and let it go. Then she found, among some of the nicer things I had put on the table, a wooden elephant candle holder and a class leaf-shaped dish, suitable for holding a few paper clips, or maybe some screws or what-have-you. I told her fifty cents each.
She didn't like that, and started to put them back down, so I said how about fifty cents for both. She countered with 25 cents for both. Rather than get stuck with them, I let her have them for 25 cents. Then she went to the 25 cent box and pulled out a rather nice planter. I told her that it was 25 cents, and she countered with a nickel. I told her no, I needed a quarter for that. She picked up another, smaller planter and told me that I should give her that and the big one for 10 cents. I told her, no, the little one was 10 cents and the big one was 25.
She countered that she was going to drill a hole in the bottom of the little one, and that it might break, and thus be worthless. I said that I thought it probably would break, and that it was her problem. She finally agreed on 10 cents and 25 cents for the two planters. Added all up, it came to 65 cents total. So, she pulls out a handfull of change, and I expected she would give me two quarters, a dime, and a nickel. I should have known better. She dug out 4 cents, asked her husband (poor fellow!) for another cent, and gave me the 5 one-cent coins, a dime, and a dollar bill, because she could use the quarters for parking. I was flabbergasted.
I wish I had thought of it then -- I should have given her 5 dimes in change, or even 10 nickels. It's not over, though. She went to pick up her stuff, and she had stacked with the bowls a nicer glass and another planter. Perhaps she thought they were to replace the plastic tumblers she didn't want, but they certainly weren't equal in value, and so she basically stole them. I couldn't believe it. I was so dumbfounded, though, that I just let her go, rather than have to deal with her any more. So I sat down on the steps and flung her pennies into the street.
There was another guy, however, who made up for that woman. He showed up and picked out a few books -- two dollars worth. After paying for them, he went and picked out a stuffed animal from Cassie's box and asked how much it was. Cassie said the big ones were 50 cents, and I chimed in that that one was a quarter, being smaller. So he brought it to Cassie and told her he was going to pay her a dollar for it.
Now, he sure as heck didn't seem like the kind of guy who was into stuffed animals, and a dollar was really way too much for this one, so he had to have bought it out of kindness to Cassie. That was pretty damn cool.
One of our other customers was an older woman who said all she was really able to do was sit at home and read. Well, lo and behold, she liked romance novels. So, for her dollar, we loaded her up with three boxes of romance novels. He daughter had dropped her off and then went around the block in her pick-up truck; as soon as she returned, Craig and I started loading the books in the back of the truck. Hopefully, that will keep her happy for a while.
Anyway, Rachel had gone off first thing in the morning to a volunteer honor ceremony, and showed up later in the afternoon. Diane dropped Gemma and Cassie off around noon, and Craig showed up at some point. It was a fun day for all, I think. Despite being rather overcast, Rachel and I both mananged to get a bit of a sunburn.
The main advantage to the whole thing, however, turned out to be getting outside to schmooze with the neighbors. With my atrocious memory, I immediately forgot them all, but the mere act of sociallizing was beneficial. Cassie, too, took advantage of it, playing with the girls from across the street and then the girls across the alley behind us.
On Sunday, we overslept and then went to Price Club and Mollie Stone's. By the time we were done with that, it was time to meet up with the rest of the Grilley's to go out for Mother's Day. We had decided to hit Yank Sing, which was excellent, as always.
That evening, Rachel and I worked our butts off clearing out the dining room so that Mike and company could get in there and redo the floors. We finished around midnight, and we were tired. Still, it was quite an accomplishment! Now, if we can only get Mike to actually show up and work on it...