Saturday, December 4, 2010

Saturday Morning Driving, The Disabled and My Own Revelations


Today sucked.
My route was crazy because there were literally 2 houses on the same street but one was at 7 and one was at 8. I went from downtown to Monkey Junction twice. I felt like all morning I was doing figure eights all over town while a stream of my gas and money was trailing behind. Once again my ex-friend Jane bailed because it was too cold. Waaaa! I hate when she's right. It was not only freezing it was the morning from frozen hell.
My first stop was at a church so I got there early but all that was there was toddler crap (and the sale wasn't even inside!!!). Next up was all the way downtown but when I got there it was nothing but racks of clothes. For some reason I didn't pull away and I'm honestly glad I didn't. It was all new clothes donated by a store that was going out of business and they donated their stuff to raise money for Leukemia. I got two really funky shirts that I can't wait to don! I left there feeling pretty good about my morning and then it went down hill.......
So, from there, I drove all the way in the opposite direction to a church (again not inside!!!!) but they had absolutely nothing. I did get a pillow but only for the stuffing that I want to make some more coffee sack pillows. The lady taking my money looked at me funny for buying such an ugly, stained pillow and I thought of disclosing my artistic side but sometimes it's more fun to stay in character as the homeless woman. I even told her to have a blessed day. That had me giggling.
Next up was crap followed by two more sales that escalated in crapiness. After that I finally had a reason to bust out some bills but only for a little cabinet I'll have to paint. Sort of wish I never bothered.
Then, I was excited to go back to last week's house where I got the great magazine table (but didn't get the bench that will forever haunt me) but this week, supposedly she was going to let us rummage the contents of her upstairs. Not quite. It was mostly last week's left overs. I did get a nice old crackly mirror but none the less, I left a tad bummed.
So, after that I went back to a neighborhood I had already been only to walk away with nada. Then I went to a sale that didn't exist followed by another who just didn't feel like getting up this morning and on to another who should have followed their lead because they had seriously nothing anyone would ever buy. What makes this sale stand out, however, was that there was a man in a wheelchair there and when I walked up the driveway he leaned forward and stared me down. I'm not talking a slightly impolite stare I'm talking a puma about to pounce on his deer. I kept walking up their driveway but he never took his eyes off me. Just when I got to their display of 'take-me-to-the-salvation-army-quickly!', the man lifted his one leg strait in the air and as a result, his wheelchair went flying down the very steep driveway. I gasped in horror but that was all I was able to do. When he got to the street, he put his foot down and skidded safely to a stop. When he turned around, however, his eyes were still fixated on me but he had an ever so slight grin on his face. I looked at the lady having this fine sale with a look of 'what the hell' and she just flicked her wrist and said, "oh he does that to get a rise out of people". A rise out of people!!!!!!! I damn near soiled myself! And although for the next few minutes I kept thinking what a crazy scene I had just witnessed, it wasn't until I was in my car that I realized I did nothing when a man in a wheelchair nearly plummeted to his demise! I better person should have lept out in front of him and thrown themselves in front of his chair! No wonder I got nothing today. I have bad karma!!!! I need to make this right! I can't be driving around another Saturday with no good finds in my van! I need to sing to orphans or cook for the elderly but I can't even do either of those! How will I ever find a real McCoy again? Will there be no more vintage kitchen items in red? I was feeling so down on myself for being such a thorn to my community but then I remembered I gave $2 to help Leukemia earlier! I'm not a thorn but a bud waiting to blossom. This community needs me and my painted treasures I offer up every week. I give, god damn it! I give! And wouldn't you know my next sale I got my fav of the day......an awesome old oak school desk that's already painted!!!!!!! And not just painted but painted really well in a blue and yellow plaid that's sure to fetch some bills!!!!! The yard sale gods might test but in the end they believe in me and from this day forward I shall not only continue but persevere and nothing, not even the disabled, shall stop me from giving! Thank you, oh divine ones! I'll make you proud!