Garage Sales and Farmshares

I have never been a big garage sale-er. It has always been painful for me to sort through used clothes, shoes, other items, only to find that I found nothing and wasted a half-hour doing it. But this year, I have been very successful so far, and it's making me think I might go more often. Last weekend was my first big success, at a garage sale in my neighborhood. I found these Loeb editions of several classics (including Plato and Aristotle for my husband doing his dissertation on Plato!) for $1 each (they retail for $20-$25). When I told the lady that I wanted all of them and tried not to be too obvious about how badly I wanted to grab them and run before someone else noticed them, she said she'd give me the whole bunch for $4. Uh, ok. Tough sell. I also found a few other classics at that sale, and came away with about 15 books total for $10. And David was thrilled when I came home with them. You know you've had a successful garage sale experience when your husband is happy with what you bring home.



At another sale that day in my neighborhood, I found this riding toy, which was totally worth every penny.


Today, on the way home from a baby shower, I shopped at a garage sale that one of the pastors in our church was having. I found these two chairs for $5 (together), and she gave me the few other random things I wanted for $1. How awesome is that? These chairs are my summer project, and I had been hoping to find something similar somewhere around Bloomington this summer, but I was anticipating having to pay more. The project part will be learning how to reupholster them, which I've had several people say is time consuming, but do-able. And no, I am not in love with the 80s-ish pink and blue current fabric. The down side is that my husband was not so in love with this find, and is wondering where I plan to put them. Don't worry, I reassured him, there's always room for awesome furniture. I don't think I convinced him.

In addition, today was IU's graduation. Usually an event that means "stay out of the downtown area for about 5 days" to those of us who live hear full-time, instead we ventured into college-apartment land to look for finds that people were throwing away. It is common here to just put items you don't want on the curb and somebody will decide they want them. While we didn't find any good furniture, we did find a nearly-immaculate camping pad, which didn't even look like it had been used. Pretty exciting! Now we'll have to try camping...

Our other mission for the day was driving to the orchard where I will be picking up my farmshare this summer. I have to say, in all fairness, today's experience was less than inspiring. They had their paperwork crossed, so my name was not on the list. She was happy to take my word for it that I had, indeed, paid them, though, so gave me my share. This week is cilantro, watercress, oyster mushrooms, red kale, and wild garlic. While there are not really any staple items in that list, it will make for a few fun appetizer dishes this week. I hope the output picks up over the summer, otherwise it will totally not be worth it. David saw my basket and kindly held his tongue, instead remaining hopeful that the yields will be up in future weeks. Thanks for being kind, dear!