For the first time in 7 years we will not be having a yard sale today. I am so thrilled! LOL! I guess I'd better give some background:
Each year on the 4th of July weekend our town has a Country Festival. The day starts off with a pancake breakfast at the Senior Center, followed by a parade and then festivities in the park all day. There are vendors selling all kinds of stuff and the community groups sell food to raise funds. There are games for the kids to play and rides.
This is the time that there are a LOT of yard sales in town. Since we are on a corner lot my mother has always felt our home to be the perfect location for her yard sale each year. So she would normally start bringing things down for this sale the night before and store everything on our large wrap-a-round porch. The day of the sale her and her friend would arrive at 6 a.m. and start setting up.
Our porch is always the finance center of the venture so people would be tramping through our yard all day (and usually the gardens too) and then onto the porch where they would often come look in our windows. (Our house is one of the old Victorians in town and people are always interested in seeing what it looks like inside.)
Our whole family has always dreaded this time of the year because we are just not yard sale people. But we felt obligated since we owed my parents money for DH's truck. Since the truck is now paid off we decided that this was the year to say no, we did not want the yard sale to be here. It's also perfect timing because DH has been replacing the porch roof and siding around that area. My mother was not happy, but decided to have the yard sale at her own home instead.
It's been such a relief to enjoy the weekend without strangers milling around in your yard that next year I'm determined we're not playing host either. We can actually enjoy our holiday weekend.
My apologies to all you yard sale lovers out there. I don't mind going to them, I just don't like hosting them.
June 30th, 2007 at 12:12 pm 1183205550
June 30th, 2007 at 01:36 pm 1183210560
June 30th, 2007 at 02:20 pm 1183213247
Obligations to family can be extrememly hard. I have a friend that wouldn't let her mother babysit because she didn't want that to be a favor that she couldn't turn down. She and her husband worked out an arrangement and a school schedule so that she and her husband would be with the kids. The same friend moved to a beautiful home with a pool and her mother made the house the one that her family from out of the country would go to every week. The mother wanted the relatives to see how well her children were doing so she would have all family functions there. Eventually, the both of them rented the house out and moved to another house.
We have had a similiar situation because we have a garage. When family members move and need storage; they ask to store their furniture in our garage and we just said no. It's for the car. Gee Whiz! I would not think of asking someone something like that. I would just rent a storage unit.
Also, my son lives in Orlando and everyone thinks that it is OK to make his house their motel.
My point is that people have no scruples and don't get me started on this.
Anyway, it is good that after paying the debt, that your husband started working on the porch. It gave you a good excuse for not doing it.
June 30th, 2007 at 02:31 pm 1183213895
June 30th, 2007 at 02:55 pm 1183215345
The greatest debts that we have ever owed (psychologically) has been to relatives. So, I know where you are coming from. My FIL would tell people the same thing. I have not borrowed since then. It was a great lesson to learn.
July 1st, 2007 at 02:49 pm 1183301370