Well, Yard Sale Day 1 is over, and boy. I had one cane stolen early on; we’re not sure who by, but at least it was one of the $5 canes and not the $20 cane or the $10 cane. Who would steal a cane, anyway? Whoever it was, I hope they need it. I sold two others, so there are three left for sale. (The cane that was stolen cost me $1 at some yard sale or at Burlington, so it’s not a big loss, but still. At a yard sale in a churchyard, and they steal something, for you-know-who’s sake.)

Otherwise, the weather was absolutely perfect, and I made close to $70 on stuff that I couldn’t have sold anywhere else. I’m also running really low on stuff in general, which is both good and bad, since I’m still going back tomorrow. So I’m planning to fill up a couple of boxes (if I can) tonight and replenish a bit.

Jess sold her computer for $75 and made probably $60 just selling clothes. Bekah, who gave me two tiny boxes of clothes, made $13 on them anyway. Even Ethan made about $7, spending most of it on Legos and other toys, but even then. He was thrilled.

There weren’t that many people set up–three, when it’s usually about ten, but I did manage to score some buys anyway. I came home with two nice large cat carriers for $20 (for both), a chair for $5, a crock dog bowl for $1, and a box full of bailed pint canning jars (I think there are fifteen) for $2. They are really cute, and will be nice to store stuff in.

I have no place at all for the chair, but it’s a nice solid wooden chair, probably from the 50s, that had really ugly cushions on it. When I took off the cushions, I realized how nice of a chair it actually was, and I told Mom I would buy it if it was still there at the end of the day, which it was. It sits really low to the ground, too. (Mid-century design, I think.) I’m planning to make it a new cushion and put a quilt on the back. I’m not sure what kind of wood it’s made out of.

I had three minor incidents with people–one very early on when a lady asked me the price of the velvet remnants I brought as a last minute addition. I told her $2/each, and she, rather nastily said that she could get the same fabric at WalMart for $1/yard, and I just had to profess my disbelief. The last time I was at WalMart to get fabric, they weren’t selling patterned velvet for $1/yard, sorry. I later sold all three pieces for what I was asking for them, thank you, lady.

The second was a lady who hopped out of her car to see the vintage Pyrex casserole I had on my glassware table. I had $10 on it–she kind of laughed and said she had expected it to be 10 cents. Okay, no. Not quite. It’s in good condition and it’s also collectible. So there.

The third was our first customer of the day–obviously this person thought she was a dealer, because she zeroed in on my walking sticks and asked me how much they were. I told her it depended on which one she was interested in. Whereupon she promptly left. Which was just weird. A real dealer would have then told me which one she was interested in, don’t you agree?

I also had one guy who pointed out the (very minor) crack in my $20 walkingstick (it’s also very old, hello?) and wanted me to come down. How far I don’t know, because I told him $15, which is what I paid for it, and he didn’t want to go that high. How low were you figuring, fella?

And what I can’t quite figure out is why everyone looks at the bottoms of the walkingsticks. It’s weird. Maybe to see if they’re split? I can usually tell if they’re stable just by picking them up.

I only have two bolts of fabric left (not full bolts, just partials from the auction that I didn’t need) and the books sold like wildfire, too. I’m going to bring a bag of clothes with me tomorrow, and maybe some more fabric–I don’t know. I really need to bring a table’s worth of stuff, just to fill in.

I’m glad things are selling so nicely, though. Hopefully we’ll have the same wonderful weather tomorrow (I wore jeans today, and I was only really starting to get warm there at the end) and more customers, too. I would love to clear $100 on this yard sale. That would be very, very nice.

Yard sale tomorrow. My car is pretty full already, and I still have boxes stacked in the entry room to take. Nothing is priced, but I do have stickers, and I’m not adverse to pricing things as I unpack, most definitely.

The rule is: Nothing comes back into the house UNLESS I think I can sell it on ebay. This might apply to the walking sticks I’m putting in the yard sale (the auction Dad and I are going to next weekend has walking sticks, so I’m Being Good and attempting to be rid of some early, just in case I get any of the ones at the auction), and maybe some of the kitchen stuff. Otherwise, it’s all going to be donated to the church rummage sale and I will be rid of it.

So we’ll see how much I can get rid of tomorrow. I’m pricing things to sell.

And it’s so nice outside tonight–I wish I had a sleeping porch so I could sleep outside. (A sleeping porch is actually on my Absolute When I Win the Lottery or Figure Out How to Do it Without a lot of Cash Wishlist. The roof is already there; I just need to figure out how to frame it in, etc.)

It got up to 90-something yesterday, but the house was still nice when I got home (okay, it was a little warm, but not warm enough to warrant turning on the air conditioner) so fans again last night. How nice!

We’ll see about today.

I did start boxing up yard sale stuff yesterday evening, and discovered that the majority of the stuff in the dining room is auction stuff, not yard sale stuff. Which doesn’t help the dining room, but does help me realize a bit about paring down and getting rid of things I don’t use. I did liberate some bowls from the kitchen that I had originally bought intending to sell and a handful of cookbooks from my shelves that I have never opened. There are more there; I just have to decide if they are yard sale cookbooks or auction cookbooks.

Yes, I have too much stuff. Some of it is good stuff, and stuff I want to keep, but the majority needs to find a place or get out of my house, because I’m becoming very intolerant and tired of PILES. And despite the fact that we’ve been working on the various rooms, there are still way too many PILES in the house.

That means, of course, that when I’m done with the ebay thing, it won’t be ongoing. Which is fine; I don’t need it to be ongoing; I need it to GO AWAY. The money’s a nice addition to my savings or whatever, but I’m not dying without it. So once I get rid of what I want to sell, then there won’t be regular auctions again, and that’s fine with me.

I have to go finish getting ready for work, so I’ll try to write more later when I get home.

Heh. Remember that copper skillet I found at Goodwill for $3? Well… let’s just say I had no trouble making my money back.

It’s warm, but nice. I’m not complaining. No air conditioning tonight!

But I didn’t sleep very well last night (I’m going to blame it on the full moon) so I’m a bit tired this evening. Hopefully some supper will help.

If it’s not too hot up here today when I get home from work (I switched my day off from Monday to Friday this week and am already regretting it; I like having an extra day to my weekend, although I can’t really complain because I am off Friday-Monday of this coming weekend, so I should just shut up) then I will post the auctions that I didn’t get posted last night. I am also hoping to start boxing up yard sale stuff (I didn’t quite get that far this weekend) and pricing stuff and such, so I’m not rushing around at the last minute.

The weather looks good so far for the weekend. Mid-80s and sunny. I can handle that!

I didn’t get my One Local Summer meal in this week; almost everything I ate for supper had some sort of local product in it, but I didn’t get an actual meal. It was too hot to cook most nights.

No air last night, of course; glorious coolness again this morning. I am taking what I can get with the weather this August. Whew!

Now I have to go finish getting ready for work. Urgh. Whose bright idea was this anyway?!?! The next time I take a Friday off, it will be personal time or vacation, I’m thinking.

It took me 45 minutes to post 8 auctions. Yikes! But it was really going well, just slow.

But they’re posted. I have six left that are written up and photographed that I may post tomorrow evening, since they’re ready to go. I really wanted to keep the copper skillet, but I’m not sure I would actually use it, so we’ll see if it sells.

I made three seed bread today, and now I have to go to Mom and Dad’s house for supper.

A lovely snippet from my dear friend Grey. Now I feel all happy.

I also mowed the lawn! It was, at 82-84 degrees (yes, it went up that fast) rather warm. But I survived.

And now, auctions. I’m working on the Pile that buries the Dining Room table first.

Glorious coolness this morning! I have the windows open and the fans still moving air through the house. It was 78 when I went to bed last night, so the break didn’t come until much later. Luckily, (or annoyingly, I should say) someone named Loki woke me up around 6am and I was able to cool down the house a bit.

It’s about 75 in the office right now, and quite comfy. I’m going to enjoy it as long as it lasts.

I didn’t get any auctions posted yesterday, more because it was much too hot up here to have the computer on over an extended period than anything else. So hopefully today will be an improvement in that respect.

(I do have to mow my grass, too, but we’ll see about that.)

While looking back through the entries that mention Full Moon, I see that I really started it in 2003, and probably last read it in 2004. So it’s a real oldie. It was officially started in March of 2003, and probably dropped a month later. But I’m now (after chopping off quite a bit) right back where I was with the wordcount. Current count: 12,803. Old wordcount: 12,664.

I reworked Edward’s problem a bit; I made it so he can force himself to shift to human shape after the full moon, but only right around the full moon. That gives him about three days out of every month to be human.

(The premise was that he wasn’t a werewolf, but that he was cursed to be human only at the full moon, not a wolf. I thought that would be more difficult, which proved to be the case, since it’s kind of hard writing a non-verbal wolf character.) I’m introducing the villain now. She doesn’t have a name quite yet. Oh, and there’s a body stuffed in Edward’s chimney. Evidently, his name is Louis. I’m not sure how he fits in, but he’s essential to Edward’s wards around the house to keep said witch out.

Or do I–since the upstairs air conditioner is really worthless, since it’s in the hallway and all the cold air falls down the stairs anyway–not replace that one and figure out an alternate way to cool my office down instead that doesn’t involve having a dedicated electric line? (And which is probably impossible to do?)

And since odds are the heat wave will have ended soon anyway, and we’re not going to be using the air conditioners once the humidity breaks, is it even worth buying one now?

Or just accept the fact that my office is going to be hot anyway, and deal with it until Bekah and Ethan move out, when I will have three extra rooms (not to mention the regular extra rooms) to work with, and I could–conceivably–make the Green Room my studio?

I had been kicking around the idea of making the living room the library, and my computer could go in there, and then making the Green Room a sort of living room, but I’m not sure yet. I’m not even sure I need a real living room. (I don’t need a formal dining room either.) Traditionally, at least at my parents’ house, the living room is the place one curls up to read a book or a magazine, or watch a movie on TV or relax in front of the fireplace. My fireplace is in the formal dining room, and it’s a gas fireplace, so I might as well just burn money, since that’s basically what happens when I turn it on. Obviously it doesn’t get turned on much.

If I had my druthers, and really I do, since it is my house, I’d eliminate the formal dining room and make that room the library/office. The entry room would stay as it is, with place for both my bikes where Ethan’s computer currently goes. It would just be a very big ‘mudroom’, per se.

That would split up the plug problem in my office, removing the computer and its accessories from the mix and leaving only my sewing machines and maybe a lamp. I think I could probably run a small air conditioner (if needed) and the sewing machine on one plug. I would also end up with more room for my supplies. Not that I need more supplies, of course, but having a whole other wall to spread out a bit on would be nice.

If I had people over, which happens all the time, you know (kidding), my kitchen is really large enough to put the other leaf out on the table and seat about nine or so people. Other tables could be put into use if needed. I could even stick one in the entry room if needed. There’s room in a pinch.

That leaves the Green Room and the current Living Room. It would be nice to have my studio downstairs, but then what to do with the other three bedrooms? See, my house is really too big for one person.

So I’ll probably keep my crafty stuff upstairs.

I could also keep the formal dining room for no reason whatsoever except just because I have the extra room and make the living room into the library/office like I’ve been thinking, and then use the Green Room as the living room. I could fit an actual couch in the Green Room (there’s not enough wallspace in the current living room) and then give Mabel one of the cushions from the papasan couch and sell the rest of it. (I would keep the papasan chair. I like to sit in that.)

That would leave me with my ’studio’ upstairs, and I’d have to buy a small window air conditioner, and then I’d have two spare bedrooms in the front of the house. One spare room could be my treasure room (if needed) for auction stuff and stuff I just don’t have room for at the moment) and the other could be an actual spare bedroom.

I think what I really need to do is decide what functions I want each room to have, and then go from there. Heat isn’t a problem; even my office is comfortable without any heat. The majority of the year isn’t a problem. It’s just the dregs of summer that makes upstairs not a fun place to be. And in all honesty, I can live with the dregs as long as they don’t last forever.

Hmm.

RIP Upstairs Air Conditioner.

Now I guess I’ll be comparing prices for a new one. (This is the big one upstairs; I noticed last night that it wasn’t cooling anything, and Dad tried to clean it, but it didn’t work, so it’s probably fried.) Hey, it was probably 20 years old, so it was due.

That does explain why my office and my hallway have been hotter than normal lately.

Of course, by the end of next week, mid-70s! 52 overnight!! So we’ll only have to suffer for a little while, and maybe, just maybe, this is it for the HEAT, and we’ll just have heat. That would be nice.

I hate air conditioning.

Luckily, I have plenty of money* in my emergency savings account, so I shouldn’t have to put a new one on a credit card.

Hmm. I wonder if I should just move my computer downstairs for the time being.

*to me, at least