For Sale with Fees Attached

Image via WikipediaDo you like to go to garage sales? Of better yet, the lil extra you can make from having one?  Do you feel that garage sales are trashy or treasure?  What has been your greatest find at a garage sale?
Well I have a new one for you. It floored me. The city of Dallas (yes, in Texas) is proposing a $25.00 fee for each garage sale you have. A new 'fee' to help offset their budget issues. Now I understand working with a strained budget. Gosh, look at what I do just to pay my own bills. But, is there a limit as to what can be taxed, fined and fee'd? (Is that a word?) And just how will they make sure they are getting their fee? Is there going to be a "garage sale officer" that runs around town on the weekends to make sure they have paid first. Will you have to have a sticker or form or certificate to show? Can you get a discount for multiple garage sales? What will be brought in to Dallas's budget after paying for the employees, printing, supplies, car and gas and insurance for the employees, and will it be able to be enforced?
Would you find this an intrusion. Would you still hold garage sales? What is the average take on a sale then subtract the fee along with the time, effort and supplies. Is it worth it at all? Can I ask more questions? LOL
Sorry for so much. But I am really surprised and worry. It started out as a $5.00 fee when in the first discussions and quickly went up to $25.00. That is 1/3 of my water bill. And if a large city pulls this off then I wonder if it will be something that smaller towns will start doing.
So just what is your thought or question on this one?

TAGGED...Your Next!

...by Annie of Writers and Witches, and Words...Oh

my! My day starts by reading her blog!

so here's the deal....

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people.

What is your current obsession?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Losing weight! So far 27 lbs & 21"

What are you wearing today?
Currently? ooops....still in bed so not "properly dressed.

What’s for dinner?
Oh, that's at the end of the day & I have no idea yet.

What would you eat for your last meal?
Last meal, first meal, next meal always SUSHI!

Image by apc33 via Flickr

What’s the last thing you bought?
hummmmm.....iced tea.

What are you listening to right now?
my dad telling me why he can not do anything today.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
To see my step-daughter Katie in Missouri.

Which language do you want to learn?
Better English

What do you love most about where you currently live?
IT IS MINE

Image via Wikipedia

What style is your current home decorated in?
Early garage sale

If you were a time traveler what era would you live in?
1950's

What is your favorite color?
pink

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
my black & white exercise shirt (i own two)

What were you doing ten years ago?
Learning I was mentally ill while I was in the state hospital....helped me so much.

Describe your personal style?
no style, just relaxed

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
food

What are you going to do after this?
get up & get dressed

What are your favorite films?
This is the question I am going to change.........
What is your purpose here on Earth?
I feel we are here to help each other so that life is easier on all of us.

What inspires you?
Other people's good deeds

Your favorite books?

Image via Wikipedia

Cinderella, mysteries & true crime.

Do you collect anything?
old knick knacks mostly

What makes you follow a blog?
humour, seeing their daily life, being down to earth.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
day is early, so talking to dad still

ACK... i nearly forgot.. add one more question of my own:

What makes me follow a blog?
When I have to read it because I want to know how the people are doing every day!
Then I know that is the blog to follow!


in accordance with Rule #2, I tag:

1. pamela devault
2. C.G. the Foodie
3. Frantic Holly
4. kelseyxiii
5. justjoycee
6. Eco-Friendly Mommy
7. Libby Murphy
8. Ellie Great

Y'all are all followers, so you should see this. LOL
But I will contact you and let you know your tagged anyway!

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Colleting those Pennies and Dimes

(I want to purchase the vintage ethnic children myself! lol)

Come one, Come all!

Nessa is having a garage sale.
And I am so ready to go through all of her junk.

Wanna come and join me.

Middle of the night and awake again.

Boy was today a long day! Took a 6 hour round trip drive to visit my niece. Yeah a round of "awwwws". Ok, now the truth. She is in prison. So it was over 3 hours to get there, get lost finding it of course, 1 hour of wait time for her to be available, 2 hour visit and then another 3+ hours to drive home. Long, long day for me and my mom. And I do not like car trips anymore. Driving makes me tired, my eyes hurt, my back to ache and my knees to seize up. But I did love seeing my niece. Am glad I was able to do that and that she knows she has family who loves her. It must be awful to have to live by others rules all the time. My daughter did get "most" of the garage sale things put away. Of course there are boxes of books still on the front porch. And storage is still open and boxes not all put up there either. Which will be fun to see since it is now raining at 3:00 a.m. One table is still in the yard and I can't move it alone so it is getting soaked. Pray it does not do any bad damage. I had a wet dog wake me from sleep. How she got outside I am not sure? But she was able to open the front door to come in. Old houses have lousy door latches. So got up, closed and locked the front door. Well now I am awake so might as well clean. Right? Started a load of laundry that my daughter said she would do. Ha Ha, she gets sidetracked so easy. ADD! Picked up the living room, did dishes, put out meds for hubby. That is a weekly chore in itself since he takes over 25 pills a day. Two more months and he will be done with the interferon treatments. YEAH! I was going to clean the porch off today and paint it. But not sure now that it is raining. Will see how that goes. Guess I will surf the web for a bit and then see if I can lay down on the couch and read til sleep hits again. Might get another 2 hours of rest sometime tonight. Insomnia, my constant companion, how I hate thee!

Finished!

Well we are finally done with the yard sale. It was much better than I thought it would be. All said and done we brought in $400.00 in 3 days to help get transportation up and going. Now to get the money in the bank! And we had help cleaning up. A local non-profit organization, Hospitality H.A.V.E.N that helps others get back on their feet after hardships picked up what we did not want to keep. They will use it for others who need clothes and the such. We also found that we had some other things to donate. I had a complete backpack of school supplies that I had purchased for a child that did not get to use them, 3 brand new shower curtains and pvc pipe to help with plumbing from the garage. My wonderful neighbor and fellow blogger Nessa had also donated her left over items. The organization is even on the look out for an engine for my daughter's car. Today I have a day trip to visit my niece. And I am hoping that my daughter does as she says and finishes cleaning up from the sale. I know I am a skeptic but normally all cleaning and organizing falls to me. So let's cross our fingers for a pleasant surprise.
In previous post you may know I was pulling out the old nasty carpet off my floors. I have managed to get 3 rooms done. The floors underneath were horrid looking but better than icky carpet. Well Alco had the stick on floor tiles on sale for 50% off this week. So we purchased enough for two rooms and last night my daughter and I managed to get most of the living room done. We have the edges, trim and under some heavy furniture to do still. But it looks 80% better than before! So whoo hooo for us. Maybe one day my house will look like it should. But I am not holding my breath.
And I want to add a Happy Birthday to our dear neighbor girl, Ashley. She turns 9 years old today. And she is a princess for the day. I can't wait to see how she turns out this year. She made the A honor roll this 6 weeks and is an avid reader. So for her birthday we are pulling out some of my daughter's favorite book series that we have saved for years, along with a matching dvd and video and hope she enjoys it too! Yes we recycle even presents. Don't have to be new, they have to be from the heart and sincere. And for Ashley we are truly sincere in that we Wish Her a Happy Birthday!

more yard sale

Well yesterday was the first of a two day yard sale. I am sure it will stretch into a three day'er. We sold over $150.00 but you can not tell it at all. Our tables are still full to the brim. Of course almost all the large items are gone. It has been a big help that Nessa has been here to help so much. She combined with us but did not bring 1/4 of what I have out there. So she has helped so much more than she should have. Sadly yesterday her and my mom both started feeling pretty yucky. Bit worried as my mom had a stroke last month and is up for two more surgeries this month. She seems to think it is a tummy thing that I had last week. We were set up before day light yesterday and still had a customer shopping by flashlight last night. So I have to say that it is somewhat successful. My favorite item is the "dang it" doll. It is a rag doll with this poem attached.

When your day is stressful

And you want to scream and shout

Here’s a little Dang It Doll

That you can’t live without

Grasp it firmly by the legs

And find a place to bang it!

As you whack its stuffing out,

Yell, “Dang it, Dang it, Dang it.”

Don't we all need one of these sometimes. Amazing that it has not sold.

What is them most interesting item you have purchased at a yard/garage sale?

yard sale

Oh I am trying to get a garage sale up and going. And it starts in the morning. I have only made it 1/3 of the way through my daughter's storage room. Still so much to do. I have to get stuff out and on tables, priced and still unpacking things. I am lucky that my organized neighbor Nessa is joining in. She seems to have her things in order. My daughter just arrived from college so I am going to snag her to help me out. Time to get going. Maybe I can give an update later.

car problems

There is always something. We all know that. So getting to sleep in til after 8 am this morning was delightful in itself. The phone ringing was not a surprise either as most know I am an earlier riser so they would expect me awake. Tis, Tis. Not so. My lovely college student daughter was in need of rescue. Well, actually, she had called a knight in shining armor to come to her aid. We are the clean up crew. LOL Her car had broke down on the side of the highway and it needed to be brought back to life. Sad to say we could not do surgery in that condition. So called our emergency road side assistance to get the car towed home. (yeah, first we tried to fix it for 3 hours) Then we met her at the college to take her on a "prop" run for the theater department. Finally headed home, had a bite for lunch at 3 pm and stopped at a garage sale for a few great buys. Serious. We found the album (LP) of Woodstock for $2.00. A great find for our afore mentioned daughter. Some nice crystal pieces and an old laundry hamper that looks like a doll house. Finally home again, home again. Yeah. No, not yet. Dogs needed out and of course running all over. So lock them in house. Oh a/c not working. Check it out. Dogs had chewed through the thermostat wiring. So fix that. Run to store for food for dinner. Daughter arrives home with the shining knight to tell us she is ill and has to go back to school no matter what. So find drugs and a weeks worth of provisions. $$ for food and gas and kisses to her head. Off she went and now I can finally start dinner. Oh the car? Yeah made it home and is sitting in neighbor's driveway so we can fix it. May be cracked manifold or head gaskets. Have to see. Today's link in the title is to rock auto. The best place I have found for car parts. With shipping and handling they normally are cheaper than any auto store in our area. So keep them in mind for future help.