Now for the Real Nonsense

Wouldn't it be interesting if truth in advertising were a requirement in the yard sale world? I've often entertained fiendish thoughts of carrying along a large black magic marker to edit the signs I see to make them more accurate. I don't do it, but I fantasize about it.

 Giant Yard Sale

TONS of

Completely useless rubbishy

Stuff

We were too lazy to haul to the dump

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You get the idea.

Don't you love the sales where no prices are marked? Invariably the proprietor says, "Oh, just make me an offer!" and then, when you do, gets offended and quotes some outlandish price you wouldn't have paid for the item if it were brand new.

The well-meaning hoverers are another breed. They follow you around and try to interest you in the various flotsam and jetsam they have arrayed on their ramshackle tables, breaking your concentration and generally making nuisances of themselves and until you are driven to beating a fast retreat to your car, burning rubber as you back out fast as you can go.

Long lanes are a real gamble, and I encounter lots of them in my region. Invariably they are muddy or dusty and perilously pitted with potholes. After jolting and sliding miles off the beaten track to the advertised "Big Sale" you find a rack of gray-looking, pilled and worn flannel baby clothes and a folding table with a couple of cracked coffee mugs and some ancient broken computer equipment arrayed upon it.

At the other extreme are the frustrated shopkeeper types who have organized their sale as if it were an Olympic host city. Roped off parking, a complicated code list of which-family-member-donated-what that an MIT engineer would have trouble following, and even a designated food court. (I kid you not!)

And of course, let me not even begin to discourse upon those infuriating types who have a sale but do not remove their signs afterward. The ensuing wild goose chase, hunting for the now non-existant garage sale is enough to make me want to clobber them--if only I knew who they were.  

As you have no doubt surmised by this point, today's weekly outing to do errands and scan the local yard sales was not wildly successful. I got a sum total of two items...

...a bag of polyfill and a Fisher-Price turtle. Oh, well. 

If you've done much junking/thrifting/garage sale shopping, you probably have your own pet peeves and you've had your share of memorable encounters. I hope you'll share them!

I'd better give it up and get back to sewing. I have 50 bags that are each just one seam away from completion! Yahooo!! Here's the way they started out yesterday morning:

And here's what they looked like by the day's end:

 

I had a real shock--of the flattering sort--this morning, when I revved up the computer, logged onto Etsy, and found an inquiry of someone wondering if I could supply 350 of these bags in about ten days' time. Wonder Woman I am not. I had to express my delight and gratitude at being considered for such a task, while politely declining such a Herculean endeavor. More and more I realize I need to settle down to just a few wedding bag designs and make huge quantities of each so that I can fill orders like that when they come along, instead of going the custom-order route. I'm thinking of a total revamping of Red Letter Day Bags... your ideas and input are welcomed.