Sometimes the stars align. I was gifted with the opportunity to get rid of junk, enjoy a day and give some money to charity without injuring my purse. I belong to the Moose Lodge which is a fraternal organization which is geared to helping the community and raising money for charity. It also serves as a great social organization. They ran an indoor tag sale. I purchased a table for $20.00. I spent a week or so finding "stuff" to sell. I ended up with four large boxes and a few trash bags full of things I would never miss. A good friend did the same and actually ended up with the table next to mine. Some other people's tables were full of commercial products such as Avon, flameless candles and Precious Moments doo dads. When the sale began the preference of the community was evident. People were four deep at our rummage-type tables. People purchased my very old (just old not antique) lamps, my husband's tuxedo shirt, a set of molds for making shot glasses out of ice, a tray to hold stuffed peppers, costume jewelry (some of which was pretty gruesome), a shopping cart, children's books, cookbooks, Christmas ornaments, a completely useless car seat for pets and a stove top pan for making baked potatoes.
At the end of the day Mary Jane and I had raised $500.00 for Young Adult Institute which is an organization which serves the needs of mentally challenged adults. Considering most of our items were priced between $1.00 and $3.00 that was quite a feat. The commercial vendors were grumbling about the lack of sales.
There was a little salesmanship involved. I was a little shocked at my own boldness. The tuxedo shirt which was beautifully pleated was a little large for the handsome man who purchased it. He was hemming and hawing. I told him to stop thinking of it as a tuxedo shirt and to throw it on with his best jeans and leave the too big collar open...it's sexier. SOLD! I was asking $2.00 for the stuffed pepper tray (brand new). The buyer was hesitating. I told her to think of it as disposable. Use it once and throw it away. She practicallly forced the money into my hand. My friend, Mary Jane, and I had so many laughs that although we ended up working pretty hard the day was completely enjoyable.
The last thing I did before I left the house was pull an old table cloth out of the linen closet. I thought it's deep blue would show off my wares to advantage. It did. However, I didn't realize my kitty had run into the closet and I shut the door. She ended up spending 12 hours nestled in my towels. My very fun exhausting day cost me a can of tuna for my fur baby and a 2:30 am half hour belly rub. That's the price of guilt.
All in all, however, it was a great day. The moral of the story is just because you're not rich doesn't mean you can't contribute and locking your cat in the closet will have you aplogizing and professing your love to your cat for days.
