I am told that six people showed up in the first 20 minutes while I was still dinking around in the garage. One guy offered $4 for something (new in box, mint condition) that sells on eBay for $36. My daughter countered the offer with $5 and the guy left without buying. Another guy asked about the lawnmower, and offered $5 for it, but Tony had said before he left to work not to sell it for less than $10 even if it was just for parts. So #1 countered with $10. The guy offered a can of lube instead of payment, and when she refused, he left his card and said he didn't have any money now, but might be back later, or his friend down the road might come to get it. A lady and her little girl came by and looked at the bunnies. And two guys came and looked and left.
I came up to the front at 12:30 (sale started at noon). My aunt (who lives down the road) stopped by to chat, and one of #1's friends stopped by to have me gender check her new bunny. After that nobody stopped. Not a soul. It was an absolute wash. After sitting outside for five hours, we called it quits. We hauled all our junk back into the garage. We're supposed to have another yard sale on Thursday, but really I'd rather sleep in or spend the day doing something productive. Tony says it's because we didn't have any signs. The whole thing was poorly thought out (as my ideas tend to be), and sometimes doing things on a whim just doesn't work out. Case in point today's yard sale flop.
Hot, sunburnt, back aching from hauling boxes back and forth, and exhausted, I went into the house to sit down. I fell asleep in the office chair until I heard a car pull up. I've got anxiety and panic (PTSD) issues, so every time a vehicle pulls up in front of our house (be it our neighbors, or anyone else) I will wake from a dead sleep to full blown panic attack (good morning adrenaline!). Anyway, I heard the car door slam and I peeked out the window. It was the guy who asked about the lawnmower. I met him at the door. He again offered a can of lubricant in trade, and I told him I had no use for it. He told me my husband would be able to find a use for it, but I assured him we didn't need it. He then gave me $10 and had #1 push the lawnmower down the street to his buddy's house - who happens to be the guy on the corner that we know (he's a little weird, but so are we, so he's alright by me). The guy then asked to see the dead tree in our backyard in search of chaga. He was already halfway around my house as he was asking, and I didn't want to be rude (though really, I don't want anyone in my backyard - that's my private safe place where my kids play and my rabbits live). I know there's no chaga in that tree because if there was, I'd have already harvested it and given it to a friend of mine who uses it to make things. He looked at it and came to the same conclusion (no chaga). Then he started asking questions. Asking when we were moving (I guess #1 said something when he was there earlier), if the house would be for sale, if it would sell real cheap. Proceeded to lay out an entire plan he had to put some lady-friend of his in our house so her rent would pay the mortgage, and then he'd have a crash pad to visit the friend on the corner... Um, that's an awkward conversation to have - especially considering how hard we're fighting right now just to HAVE a house to stay in... Then he asked me if he could go through our garage and see if he wanted anything. I was trying to say "absolutely not, I have no idea who you are - go away!" in a nice way. Which came out as "the garage is really cluttered and not everything is for sale." Man, I hate being non-confrontational. He then proceeded to ask me what kinds of tools my husband had in the garage. I told him none. We don't own any tools. He looked at me like I was ignorant and listed off a bunch of common tools - chainsaw, skillsaw, etc. I repeated, Nope, we don't have any tools. He gave me the stink-eye and asked where my husband works that he doesn't have any tools. Why would my husband's occupation have anything to do with what we have in our garage?? So I told him where he works (at the very same store he buys that precious lubricant he kept trying to trade - a store that also sells all those power tools he figured he'd sweep in and buy cheap from my garage). At what point does "we're moving soon" turn into "everything is fair game, you won't need it when you move anyway."???? This guy asked about my shepherds hooks in the front yard holding up my bird feeders. Um, no, obviously those are still in use, and if I'm moving, that doesn't mean I'm moving into an apartment or something - don't assume! The guy then admired my lettuce bed and asked why we weren't eating it all. It's a 5x8 foot bed full of lettuce. We are a family of seven. We've already harvested it twice, and shared with my parents. There's just a lot there. A couple are starting to go to seed, but that's a good thing. We want the seeds. He asked if he could come back and get some lettuce. I told him he could. Probably a mistake on my part to invite a crazy back to the property, especially after said crazy just asked about raiding my garage... He then told me about his daughter's drug problem, and asked if we were taking our swingset (um, yeah, dude, see the FIVE kids running through the yard - yeah, we're taking the swingset)... He then told me he was going to go to the county office (I have no idea what he was talking about) out of town and pick up a bunch of garage sale signs for us - the ones the county pulls out of ditches and stuff that's in the right-of-way. I'm pretty sure other people's garage sale signs with their addresses and dates will not help advertise our garage sale. And why is this guy inviting him back to my house repeatedly? Eventually our mutual friend from down the street came by and the guy started talking to him and asking him to go for a car ride with him so they could chat. Saved by the neighbor guy!
Lesson learned... When we move to the new house - we are NEVER having a garage sale!! Not worth the time and effort for the amount of money we'd make, and definitely not worth feeling unsafe and unsure about the people you interact with. His only saving feature is that he's friends with the guy down the road, so I don't think he'd be the kind to go back and steal stuff (at least the guy on the corner wouldn't do that). I'm really hoping he isn't. Especially now that we're not in the house and our wonderful watchful neighbor who always chased away the crazies has passed away.
I just want to move and be done with all of this.
It really feels like the dream is crashing though. No word on the new house. It's been 34 days since we filed the paperwork that would take "up to 30 days" to process. And it's the last thing we need to sign on the house. We are quickly eating through our house budget with being out of our home and having to eat out frequently because we can't prepare meals without a stove. I'm afraid if they delay the new house much longer, we won't have the thousands of dollars required for closing. It would be a truly cruel fate if we missed out on buying the new house because of the added expenses incurred for the long hotel stay because of Service Master's delays in cleaning the house. I'm so frustrated! A sense of desperation is creeping in.