Jaci Dawn

My Saturday began with a dream about living in a huge old house with my parents, my husband, and other characters that I can no longer recall. The house was fitted for an artist, with nooks, crannies, storage, and tons of “junk”. Organized junk, I might add. I remember sorting the junk in my dream: rocks here, ceramic elephants there, odd pieces of re-bar and metal, frames, and so on.

I decided to go garage sale shopping after I took Harvey for a walk, thinking I could get an early start to that Heavenly House full of junk.

I didn’t pick up very much – two sales were run by folks who understand the art of dickering, one was run by people who were not open to dickering, and the final was a fund raiser for two college girls who have been selected to go to Italy for some softball tournament (I confess: I only read half of the sign). I opted not to dicker at that one because it was a fund raiser, the people were nice, and they already had rock-bottom prices on their items.

I do not like garage sales where the seller is not open to dickering and will often leave empty-handed just because the person was unwilling to dicker over the price. So I low-balled the price? Come back with an offer. I can promise you that if I offered low, it’s because your item is over-priced and if you counter, we can come to terms. Besides, what’s the fun in a garage sale where every thing is black and white?

Here’s the haul: 2 chairs for fairy houses, four “project dowels” and a number of little blue drawer pulls – from garage sale #1 where the woman said, “Oh… Just give me five for everything.”

One little bird cage from the garage sale that wouldn’t budge in their prices (I paid too much for the candle holder, but I have plans for it)

One step stool and a ceramic bird from the third sale. We dickered, she took my offer. 🙂

Four pretty picture frames and a blanket for my car from the last sale.

I have some photos of my children that are framed in those cheap gold metal frames. I am slowly changing up all the frames to something prettier & loner lasting. The little pulls are plastic and look sort of like church bells for a fairy house – or some crafty project. I’ll think of something.

The chairs are “perfect” for some future project. The bird cage will end up hanging outside – perhaps with a ceramic bird inside, or a small captive fairy.

The little ceramic bird house was not a garage sale find. I stopped at the local Farmer’s Market for fresh produce. The artist who was selling these was having a half-price sale, and I love to support local artists. It is made to fit on the end of a dowel and already has a home in my garden.

This bird is so cute! I have no idea where the permanent home is going to be, but it will be in my garden. I love the dorky face.

Lassie came from the first garage sale. I was thinking of repainting it to look like a Setter, but the ears are all wrong.

I think I will just repaint it as a collie, but I’ll use colors that are truer. Then I will resell it for more money. We will have to have our own garage sale this summer. Maybe Lassie will be ready in time. I think I can make a small profit on her. 🙂