Wise Men Still Seek It

I've had the entire week off. Two of those days were furlough days: in previous years I would have spent last Monday and Tuesday having parent/teacher conferences. But not this year! Budgetary constraints axed those babies, along with seven more days, for a total pay cut of 5%. I am not complaining. Those conferences are stressful for me, and the week was like a little mini-vacation: home alone with nothing to do but cook, clean, read, and walk the dog. (Not necessarily in that order.) I haven't actually left the house (except for dog walking) for two days. Ahhhh. I love that! But you can't garage sale from home (well, you can, but it's really not the same.) So this morning, despite the chill in the air, I decided to take a little spin through the neighborhood. I wasn't really expecting much because of the holiday, so it was surprising how much was going on.



Since Phil (my stepson) moved out last month I've been looking for little bedside tables for what is now back to being a guest room. I was hoping to find a set of two, but no luck so far. I did find one today, which seems to work fine, at least temporarily. The table, lamp, and picture frame came from the same front yard for a total of $10.







There are always picture frames at garage sales. Always. You should never, ever spend real money on a picture frame, even if it's at a discount place like Ross or T.J. Maxx. I never spend more than $1 for them and although you sometimes have to weed through some icky ones, there is always a good selection.





More kids' books. Third graders love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. My single set is always out on loan while someone else is waiting for them. So these are back-ups. The Pigeon books are by a very funny and inventive children's author named Mo Willems. They are really for younger children (I'm trying to convince my friend Debbie, who teaches first grade, that Mo Willems needs to be an "Author of the Month"), but eight-year-olds still appreciate the humor. And of course, the Grinch needs no introduction. This copy is in excellent condition. I don't think anyone has even opened it! Room 18 will take care of that in a few days when all my Christmas books come out. All these books and the picture frames were loaded into a big box and purchased for $5.


The cards are some of those square ones that require extra postage. But since they each say "2.95" on the back and I paid $2 for all four of them, I guess I can spring for the extra stamp. Some lady had an entire rack full of them. I kind of wanted the rack more than the cards.




She also sold me the "item of the day": the Jesus bag! It's brand new and it's tag says it's an "overnighter" made from "95% post-consumer material." It even has a big red zipper. I love it! I paid $6, but it's tag says $27. It's made by Blue Q, and the tag line on the bottom says, "Wise men still seek it." I know I do. Almost every Saturday.