The Best Yard Sale Ever

I had a blast on Saturday. Really, I had no idea just how fun it would be. Now, all of the preparations for the yard sale were more than a little stressful and overwhelming. But when the actual day came, it was nothin' but fun.

Our day started at 4 am. Daniel and I threw on our clothes and arrived at the church at about 4:30. We had worked for hours the previous day laying as many of our wares as possible out on tables. We had covered the tables with tarps to protect everything from the dew - the night before was really chilly! The weather was so amazing. It couldn't have been better. Not only was it cool and sunny, but there also was no wind. At midnight the night before it hadn't occurred to me what might happen if the wind started blowing during the night. The tarps would have blown away and taken the contents of the tables to the ground. What a blessing that didn't happen!

We quickly worked to get the remaining items outside - electronics, furniture, and other valuables. I hung a few signs, brewed the coffee, and laid out all of the bake sale goodies. By 6:45 we were ready to go. Well, more or less anyway. I couldn't believe it. At 6 pm on Friday, I didn't believe we would ever be ready. Ever.

I was impressed with the crowd at the sale. We had a steady stream of people all day. 1:45 pm was the first time that we didn't have any shoppers. Our hearts were warmed by all the friends that came to support us - co-workers, church family, and relatives. It was such fun to see everyone.

Even with the great attendance and huge sales for the day (We're now up to total sales of $2300 for the day!) , we estimate that only about half of the total volume of our goods actually sold. In our exhaustion on Saturday afternoon, we made plans to donate all the leftovers to a charity. However now that I have gotten some sleep, I am actually considering holding a second sale at my parents house in Franklin. I'm not sure that I have talked Daniel into it yet, though...

Making signs on Friday morning



You couldn't miss these orange beauties



Putting up signs around town



Emily, M, me, and Daniel sporting our Go. Seek. Love. T's. We sold lots of them at the yard sale!



Look at all the chairs and furniture we had to sell!



Household doo-dads



Toys and holiday stuff (I worked really hard at keeping things organized.)



Check out the violins that were donated!



We had lots of valuable electronics to sell. Our donors were so generous!



More furniture



Lots of yard toys, lawn mowers, and sporting goods



Hope, the bake sale queen



Rachel and Emma Smiley



My Aunt Barbara with her prized turkey



The Henley family - friends from church



Here we are after the sale is over. The picture says it all.



A few thank you's:

• Mom for the hours you spent helping me prepare, for donating half the contents of your garage, and for 28 loaves of amazing bread
  
• Suzie for being such an amazing mother-in-law and taking care of Madeline, bringing us food, and even cleaning my house during the sale
• Ann for organizing the bake sale and gathering all the donations
  
• Emily for organizing the clothes and sacrificing her Saturday to help out
• Hope for being the ultimate bagger and cashier
• The Smiley family for being there very early and helping with all the last minute prep
• All our church family for all the awesome donations and coming to shop and support