Sunday, August 06, 2006

Garage Sale and the Great Cat Caper





Saturday was a very busy day for us... We had a garage sale in an attempt to clear out much of the "stuff" that had accumulated in our shed. It was a great success! We made a couple hundred dollars twenty-five cents at a time. And, as a bonus, we met many unusual, colorful people, all of whom seemed to take great delight in frequenting garage sales.

As for myself, I'm not really a garage sale gal. I have been to some, but usually, I look around and see a bunch of junk. Then I think to myself, " I have my own junk. Why on earth would I want anyone else's?" Mom, however, is a garage sale type. Not that she really frequents garage sales, but she has the potential. She can look at junk and see treasure. I don't have that ability most of the time.

Still, the people who arrived at my garage sale at 6:30 a.m., (scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m.), were characters in their own right. One lady with a very ample behind, bought almost all of the girls pants. I couldn't help but wonder if the girls slim-fit pants were going to fit anyone in her family if genetics truly plays a part in body type. Another lady came and bought all of the girls shoes. She said, "At 25 cents a pair, I will find someone who can wear them." I guess I kind of admire that because I definitely would not go scouting Gautier for someone to wear the shoes... It has nothing to do with the fact that it makes me reminisce about Prince Charming and glass slippers. I simply don't need another responsibility. Finding someone to wear shoes definitely falls into the "one more thing" category. Other people came, some buying things while others just looked and left. Since Dave and I are people watchers, we just really enjoyed them all.

One of the people who came to check things out was our neighbor, Ms. Emily. Ms. Emily is also a special education teacher, but for the Moss Point School District. She is really a wonderful lady. She walks her three-legged dog each day, and is just a really good neighbor to everyone on the street. Her home was also damaged in the storm and she is working steadily to rebuild. As everyone does, we were comparing notes and Dave took her in the house to show her our progress while asking about hers. Dave came back out of the house with Ms. Emily and after the customer flow had died down he said, "We need to talk. I feel terrible. I mentioned all of the cats that we have living around here and she said, 'I used to have cats... A mama and four kittens, but someone stole them while I was on vacation.'" (For more information, you need to read my blog entitled "Yoga and the Cat Rescue Mission".) When I asked Dave what he said, he explained that he didn't say anything. "What was I supposed to say," he stammered, "my wife and my mother-in-law stole your cats?" A while later Mom came over and we relayed the story to her. Of course, we agreed that we needed to confess and tell Ms. Emily what happened.

The confession happened tonight. I saw Ms. Emily walking her dog. I went down, knocked on her trailer and let the whole story tumble out of my mouth. Mom and J.R. joined me part way through the confession. Ms. Emily was so sweet about it all. She was just grateful that the kittens had homes and that Misty, the mama cat, had been fixed. So, all ended well. Thank goodness. I didn't relish the idea of getting a reputation for cat napping.

Carpet was installed in Danielle's room yesterday and her furniture was delivered. We also received a visit from the electrician, and were delighted to hear that our dishwasher had arrived at Sears. Everything seemed to happen at once, but it was all in Divine Order. There was no earthly way all of that activity could have been orchestrated in just a few hours. Still, now we are so close to being completely in our kitchen once and for all. If the Roto Rooter man shows up tomorrow, I will have running water in my kitchen. It is such an exciting prospect.

The picture above is the cohort my husband was a member of for a year and a half. As you can see, he was the only man. I appreciate these lovely ladies for taking such good care of him.

Namaste'