And I was going to get SO much done today

So, a few days ago I suggested to Jill that she and I "ditch everyone" and go to breakfast. Her husband, upon reading the email, worried that we had some kind of Thelma and Louise thing planned. No, she assured him. Just waffles.

And indeed that is ALL we had planned. We didn't even really linger that long over the waffles! We came, we ate, we gossipped, we tipped, we left. But on the way out we took the other exit out and spied a whole gaggle of people across the way under a tent and suddenly remembered that there was a big estate auction there that day. Well, heck! Lets go peek! We've never been to an estate auction before.

Jill wanted an edger for her hubby. I wanted chairs. Real chairs. The kind you can sit in and read and knit or just knit if you want.

Well they had some really nice furniture, including a few chairs that would work, and then a whole lot of JUNK. We went and got numbers and then wandered over to the shed where they were selling the garden stuff. I tried to get a shovel for the snow, but you know, I wouldn't go over $4 so . . . but that was good because I quickly caught on to how the whole bidding thing works. It's you and one other guy until one of you shakes your head no and then someone else might get into it with whoever is left until finally there's just one person left who wants the widget. I bid on a rake -- here I'm thinking "what do I know we got rid of that I'm gonna have to go to Lowe's for come the fall?" But the rakes went higher than $2 and I wouldn't. I know, but my husband didn't know I was there and I wasn't going to go home and tell him I got a deal on a $5 rake. $2 is obvious. You don't have to explain that. So then there was a battery chargeable weedwacker and nooone really wanted that, me included, but then I remembered Chris complaining how heavy the gas-powered one is. So okay, I bid the $2 and that was that. I got a $2 weekwacker. If it never starts I won't cry.

We walked back to the cashier table and I tried to pay, but you have to wait until they get this form that tracks everything and we'd beat it to the table. They told us to go look at the stuff in the garage and come back in a little bit. Well we walked into the garage and the next thing I know Jill, who likes old stuff, is drooling over some sleigh bells and some big metal pails. I eyeball a dremel for Chris, but decide he already has one. Then I saw the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots *in the original box*. Well, okay. I want to try for that and sell it on eBay.

I won't bore you with the blow by blow, but the short version is that we didn't leave for another 4.5 hours. Yep. We Thelma and Louised it right there in auction yard. It was FUN and the mennonite family that ran the auction were witty and young so there were cute kids to watch and the auctioneer's side commentary left us all in stitches. He's the mennonite stand-up commedian of auctioneers. In the end I discovered that Jill has terrible taste in Owls (kididing! Okay, no, I'm not, but we all have our issues), that we're so similar that a) the auctioneers thought we were sisters and b) we bid simultaneously three times.

I came home with two really nice living room chairs for $25 and $40 (I was willing to go to $50 for the matching chair, dangit. Nothing in our house matches. Let my two estate-sale chairs match!) I got over 100 canning jars for $15. $3 for 40 quart jars. How cool is that? Some of the pint jars are a pretty blue. Only one of the jars is chipped. Since I really did get the jars for canning, I'll probably toss that one into the recycling.

What else? Hmm. I got a good quality food processor. I'd really wanted one for Christmas and now I can cross that off my list ($4). And I got a few things I thought I might sell on eBay. One is a juice jar and glass. I found them on eBay, but they're not selling for more than $5 and since I only paid $1 for both, I think I'll just keep them and use them. The only other thing I bought was two sturdy plastic chairs for 50 cents each. After being there two hours we were ready to SIT. It was insanely hot. I spent $10 on two cheeseburgers, two sodas, and two fresh-squeezed lemonades. They were REALLY good.

So at the end we packed up everything and came on home. Chris helped us unload and then we helped him with the elf shorts (I took the photos. Jill entertained the kids.) From there we let the boys (Dads) have some time to themselves and took the kids to the pool for the evening.

It was a great day, Dy. Just for you I'll recap that. A great and ordinary Saturday in which chairs were bought, waffles were eaten at a local restaurant, splashes were made in the local pool, and in the end we returned to our very own home sweet homes. Now. In which freezer did I put that football ice cream?