It's in the Blood

When I lived up in the Metroplex area of DFW (where my parents are) I loved loved LOVED yard sales. You didn't even have to have a listing of them -- you just drive around and find all the signs. Friday sales were the best, according to my granny, and she was right. And although I love going to yard sales with my mom, the QUEEN of yard sales was my tenacious Aunt Sandy. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my gosh, there is an experience to behold right there. Mom and I can drive by one and kinda glance and decide if it's worth our time to browse or not, but not my Aunt Sandy. EVERY bag had to be searched, every box had to be explored, there were PEOPLE.TO.MEET. She could find the dinkiest little yard sale and walk away with two bulging bags of ... stuff. She truly had it down to an art form that most of us just don't have the time or patience for, but she did!

And don't think she dug around for herself, or her husband's shop on eBay, or her own kids, or her own GRANDkids. Oh no. NO NO NO. Mom would call and say, "Sandra has bags for you and the kids to go through when you're up here." And we'd go over there and it was like walking into a mini-department store and we'd sit and dig into the bags and boxes, and Sandy would tell us about other things they had there, or she'd look through a bag and half way through it say, "Oh no, this is Jenny's bag" (her daughter in Oklahoma). She spent HOURS and HOURS hauling through town, in and out of the car, and digging and digging in the heat and then there we were, sitting in the air conditioning of her spare bedroom taking a single hour to search through the things it had taken her weeks to accumulate.

I miss her. She died in October. She was only 66. I never thought the last time I went digging through a collection of garage sale finds from my aunt would be the last time.

Yesterday on my little street I saw them putting a yard sign up in their tree -- just that one sign -- nothing on the streets. I saw it said 7:30am-11am and I told Rick, "I gotta go down there!" Mostly, I love their house and they have such GREAT rosebushes that I wanted to see a little closer without stalking them and freaking out the poor people from the weird chick who now lives in the Old Anderson House (that's our house, just so you know.) Well, thanks to my meds, I overslept, and I bolted out of bed at 9:30 and rushed down there. What a score!!!

I came upon a bit of black and white fabric, snagged it up. Then I'm told, "Ohhhh, you should have been here earlier, I had a TON of fabric."

I think I scared them a little when I started crying at my loss. But I grabbed up that fabric. They didn't have a ton of stuff left, but what they had, I loved. And they were SO funny. The lady who lives there is named Kay. I met her and her daughter (although I don't remember the daughter's name and I only remembered Kay because of my Aunt Kay -- I'm horrible with names.) Here are some photos of my scores:

I saw this little metal vase originally and snagged it up -- it matches some items I have on my dressing table. But then when I got it home, I thought: SHE HAD BLUISH FLOWERS and bolted back out the door and sped into their drive-way. The husband pointed in a "Oh boy, it's back" kinda way and I may have shierked a little when I saw they were still there, and that's probably why the lady at the table took a step back. Smart woman. They're on my dresser next to my gargoyle Simon. He seems unimpressed but *I* love them and they match perfectly. So I grabbed them, but then Kay was like: You need these too! And I agreed and clutched them up and decided these would look great in the living room:

I had also found some doilies to put on pillows or dresses or whatever, plus two really kitchy looking pillows for Sydney's future bedroom when she and Cooper split up (Cooper moves to Carly's room when she leaves for Texas State). I grabbed this HUGE basket for 50 cents, perfect for the den to hold yarn on my current crochet projects. I'm trying to decide what color to paint it -- suggestions?

And SCORE! Carly loves make-up. She buys things like Urban Decay and expensive things I'd never buy (she makes her own money, so that's fine with me!) So originally I saw this old make-up travel case and KNEW she would love it. It was a dollar!!! YES! And, since I got it, they threw in the large suitcase for just another dollar. American Tourist vintage luggage for TWO DOLLARS! We plan on painting it. And the travel case has an adjustable mirror that's really, really neat.

I don't normally buy art, or arty things, but this just kinda spoke to me. It matches our bedroom in the colors and softness I have in there. The gold frame is hideous, so I need to find another frame or paint this one. I don't have it hanging yet but know exactly where it's going.

I scored a few other treasures, but these were my favorites so I thought I'd share them. Plus, in Aunt Sandy style, I met some really neat people this morning whose house I've always admired. They were fun and welcoming and even said: When we have our sale in the fall, we'll walk down and hand you a special early invitation. That made my day! Great finds, meeting awesome new people just a couple of blocks down. Twenty years ago, I don't think I would have appreciated the experience I had this morning. If this is what growing older is like, then I'm definitely okay with it.

It's very strange. I wanted to post about what I found on the blog, but I didn't have a title, I didn't know where I wanted to start, but Gran and Aunt Sandy turned it into a little story. I love my family. And since I mentioned them so much, here they are: One of my FAVORITE, HILARIOUS moments with my Aunt Sandy a couple of years ago at Christmas:

And my Granny Souder. She died in 1995 and I talked to her every single day. I was with her when this portrait was taken. I was around 10 and it was sooo funny. She complained about some of the positions the photographer put her in. This photo hangs in my hallway that connects the den (we all use the den to get in and out of the house) to the kitchen. It hangs proudly where it can be seen always. It's her patterns I use in crocheting.

I miss her and Sandra sooo much, but I know they're having a blast in Heaven together -- and in their Heaven, I'm pretty sure garage sales are part of it. Their love of garage sales is definitely part of me -- what can I say? It's in our blood.