Yard Sale, a Success After All

So we totally did not think we'd be able to have the yard sale this weekend. There was rain in the forecast all week long (an 80% chance most of the time), and chances of isolated rain or thunderstorms. And we don't have an alternate, like a garage or anything of that nature, that would be large enough to house all of our stuff. I advertised the sale to be Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17, but if it rained, we would have to move it to next weekend. I think we were checking the weather forecast every few hours.

As of Thursday night we were pretty confident we'd just call the sale off this weekend and wait until next week. But then the forecast started changing on Friday and it didn't have any rain chances until the afternoon. So we decided on Friday that we'd start getting ready and set things out early Saturday morning.

We finished getting things ready Friday night and I posted an ad on Craigslist and printed signs off to hang Saturday morning.

The ads were fairly descriptive, and I included a map and pictures of some groups of items, like books, clothing, and a couple of larger items.

Most of the books I priced at .25 to .50 cents and they sold like crazy. One family bought almost all of the books we had. Haley had a lot of Teen girl novels, and Trent had a whole collection of Goosebumps books, and they all sold!

Most of the clothes I also priced pretty cheap, .25-.75 for most tops, and the nicer things $1. Dresses were priced at $1.00-3.00.

I ended up advertising in one of the local papers, on Craigslist, and I also posted the sale on a Facebook Buy and Sell group.

We got up in the wee hours Saturday (about 5:30), and started putting out tables and all of our stuff! There weren't any real rain chances until the afternoon, but the sky was pretty cloudy. There were comfortable temps though, in the 70's and a little breezy, so it felt pretty much perfect, albeit a little humid. I was pretty sure it would rain in the afternoon by the way things looked.

We got everything set up in time though, and started at 8:00 am. Trent's aunt brought some things over, and Haley and I had a ton of stuff, girls' books, Ladies and Juniors clothing, kids' stuffed animals.. and Trent and I had some misc. household items..Trent brought things out from the shed, like his old chair and ottoman, and a desk. We also put his old dresser and nightstand up for sale, $15 for the set.

Someone did buy the kids' bedroom set, but the chair we ended up sitting out on the curb for free at the end of the sale. (A couple hours later, it was gone).

We actually had quite a bit of traffic in the morning. It was pretty steady right at the start of the sale, and after that we'd have a few families stop by. Several kids found a bunch of things they liked and their parents willingly paid for them!

Luckily the rain held off for the entire day! It even became sunny late morning, and turned into a really nice, summer-like day. The afternoon wasn't very busy at all, though. We waited for a while, and my parents came over to visit. About mid-afternoon we decided to pack the rest of it all up, and we took all of the tables down and moved everything onto the porch.

I have to admit the entire day was pretty exhausting! We felt like we got a workout in, with all of the running around, putting things out there and taking them all down again.

My parents helped us clean up after the yard sale, and after they left we took down all of the signs we put up along the sides of the road. We went to the gas station for some ice cream, then tried to relax for a little while and get cleaned up since we both felt a little gross after working out there in the heat. That night we went across the street to Mark and Sandy's and grilled out, then we all took the dogs for a walk around town. It was a long but overall pretty fun day!

We decided not to have the sale again on Sunday, since Saturday was long enough and we were all exhausted by the end of it! It always seems like a good idea, but by the end of the day I wonder why again, did I go through all of this trouble to make a few bucks and get rid of a few things? I guess it was fun though, and you might as well make a few bucks before giving the rest away.

Our main goal was to get a start in cleaning out the upstairs bedroom, so I definitely think we made a good start on that, especially since the dresser and nightstand sold, along with my plastic pink storage shelving that I had from the college days. Those things took up quite a bit of space, so I'm glad to have them gone.

Overall I'd consider yesterday a success. Haley and Trent made $35-$38 bucks each, Sandy and Brennan made around $20 or so, and I made $86, so if you compare this year's sale to our first sale back in the fall of 2012, we did a little better this time all around. But of course, it's a lot of work! And now, I get to sort through everything that's left and decide what to keep and what to give to charity. Most things obviously, will go to charity, but there may be a few clothing items, etc. that I'll still be able to sell on eBay. And there are also several items left over from Haley's wedding that I will try to sell online.

If you're thinking about having a yard sale in the future, just remember that it's more work than you think! It can be fun though, and if you're in a more populated area, you could get rid of quite a few things. You just have to decide if it's all worth it for you in the end. You can check out my post about our first yard sale for some more tips!

Flower Garden, Part 2 and Walkway Progress

Hello all, and happy Friday. Back with an update on our two current outdoor projects: my flower garden and the walkway. I'm proud to say the flower garden is now all planted and mulched! See Part 1 here. The next step is waiting and watching our wedding flowers grow. Oh, and the occasional weeding will probably be beneficial, too, and maybe a gate or some netting to keep the pests away. But hopefully the landscape fabric and mulch will cut back on the weeds a little bit.

Are we crazy for growing our own wedding flowers for our reception centerpieces and decor? Maybe, but I guess we'll find out! Ready to see my progress? Here's what the garden looked like after I got all of my seeds and bulbs planted:

It took 3 nights of work, and I was so glad when it was finished. I planted them all myself, too! For the next few days I had to wait to mulch it, since we've gotten quite a bit of rain since then.

Last week I put down around 8-10 bags of mulch, I can't remember exactly how many. That's the light colored mulch you see in the photo below. It faded in color a little from the rain. Wednesday night I put down the remaining bags - about 7 more I think.  So I'd say there's around 17 bags of mulch total on this garden!

There are a few flowers that are starting to sprout up, and a couple of my mini zinnia transplants are still growing. I've made a colored diagram below so you can see all of the holes that were dug and different flowers that were planted:

Here is the list of which flowers coordinate with which color in the diagram:

Pink: Dinnerplate Dahlias

Purple: Lavender Dahlias

Burgundy: Hollyhocks

Red: Ranunculus

White: Alyssum

Kelly Green: State Fair Giant Zinnias

Light Green: State Fair Giant Zinnias and Pink & Purple Zinnias

Blue: Green Envy Zinnias and Pink & Purple Zinnias

Peach: Mini Zinnia transplants and French Vanilla Marigolds

Turquoise: Marigolds and Ox Eye Sunflowers

Yellow: Poppies

Most of these are just annuals, except the Hollyhocks in the back which are perennials. So the hollyhocks will return each year, and the others will die out after the summer. I also have other perennials seed packets, that I'm planning on planting around the sides of the house. I just have to wait for another nice day to plant them! It's been so rainy lately, and I've been trying to get everything ready for the upcoming yard sale and get all of our wedding invitations out. Hoping to plant all the perennials soon, though. I have some Carnations, Baby's Breath, Dusty Miller, Sweet Williams, Achilleas, and Astilbe. Our neighbor also gave us some Cannas, that we're hoping to plant by the garage. So we should have lots of flowers growing around the yard in the near future!

And speaking of flowers around the yard, our Bleeding Hearts have bloomed and are super pretty looking! See for yourself:

The hostas and hydrangeas are all growing along that side of the house, too. And Trent's been out working on the walkway when it's not pouring rain. He's finishing up the steps right now - here's one of the steps complete:

Wednesday night he finished up the second step, so now it's pretty much a straight shot to the driveway. Ya know, just about 30 more feet to go.. Ha. Hopefully we'll get it done sooner rather than later. We picked up some more supplies a couple of nights ago, so we'll see how far that gets us!

I'm looking forward to summer weather, and maybe a little less rain, so we can get more outdoor projects done. We definitely have big plans for the yard!

Mother's Day, Yard Sales and One Year

Sorry for my lack of posts this week...Let's do a little catching up, shall we? We've been busy working on the yard and getting ready for our yard sale, which was going to take place this coming weekend. Well, the forecast is saying rain all weekend! So, it looks like we may have to push it back a week now. All of our yard sale stuff has been occupying space in the corner of the living room since last Saturday, but what's another week I suppose!

Over the weekend was the "Thrifty on 150" yard sales here in the area, and we stopped by a few in the morning. I found a little milk glass vase for 20 cents, and a drying rack for $3. I've been wanting a drying rack for a while! The things you get excited about as an adult...

Saturday afternoon Trent worked, so I got stuff ready for the yard sale at home and marked everything. Sunday was Mother's Day, and we went out for lunch with my parents.

We also stopped by the riverfront in Muscatine. It was a little chilly, though..Not the nicest weather for Mother's Day, but we made the most of it.

This whole week has been kind of chilly and windy..can we just go back to the 80 degree weather we had a couple of weeks ago, please?

On the bright side, I got all of our invitations made out this week, and sent out the last of them this morning. We also got our first 2 RSVP cards back today! So crazy they're already coming in! And one year ago today exactly is when Trent proposed in Corpus Christi. Definitely a day I will never forget!

Kayaking Adventure: Lake Storey

After picking up some brand new kayaks of our own on Trent's birthday a couple of weeks ago, we were able to take them out for a spin for the first time Sunday afternoon. We made a quick trip up to Galesburg after I finished planting the garden ('cause Trent just couldn't wait ANY longer!), and took them out on Lake Storey.

It was such a nice day and evening, nice and breezy. And I loved my new purple kayak! The foot rests are awesome to help keep your balance, and the seat is comfy enough to just sit back and enjoy. 

Trent didn't think he felt stable enough in his, like the slightest wrong move might make him tip over. Considering we haven't bought our life jackets yet, I don't think he felt super safe! He wants to get a stabilizer for fishing. I think any other time it would be just fine... it's when you move around that it might get a little shaky.

We paddled for a good hour or two though, just enjoying the lake and trying out the new kayaks.

It was really pretty around the lake with the sun going down. I like how when you're on a little boat like that, you're completely surrounded by nature. It's so peaceful, and all you hear are the birds and the sound of the water.

Trent's kayak was his birthday present, and he'd been wanting one for a LONG time. And of course I had to get one too, to go with him. So I'm sure we'll get plenty of use out of them!

This was only the second time that we've kayaked in separate boats. We did a two-person kayak at Lake MacBride, and rented separate ones at Lake George. And now we have our own!

Looking forward to many more kayaking adventures to come. Maybe I'll share photos from our Lake George trip last summer. :)

Suit Shopping in Peoria

Hello again! Here today to share our third, and final experience looking for a suit! Saturday we made a little trip down to Peoria, Illinois to continue our search for a suit for Trent to wear in the wedding. We were determined to find "the one" this time. The search for the perfect suit has been a long one, since about February. This was our third time actively looking, and I'm happy to report that we finally found the one!

Back in February we started out at Men's Warehouse and thought we would rent a tux. That went out the window when Trent didn't really find any that he was smitten with, and started leaning toward a blue suit instead. In March, we went to a few department stores, and he liked a navy blue one, which I didn't really think was too bad. But it didn't have a matching vest with it, and Trent wanted a little lighter blue color than that.

So we decided to take a trip down to Peoria this past weekend, where there are several shopping centers and malls, and lots of places to choose from. And hopefully we'd find one. I'm so glad that we did after a few more hours of being unsuccessful and starting to lose hope!

Here's the one he chose:

It's a tad lighter blue than the one he tried on before, and there was a matching jacket, vest, and pants. Plus, it was on sale! We found it at Bergner's in The Shoppes at Grand Prairie. It's a nice outdoor mall with lots of newer stores, and we really found their suit department to be the best one all day. A lot of stores had different suits scattered around the store and not in one main department. This one had so many more to choose from all in one spot, which made it a lot easier to find the one you're looking for. The only drawback was that the guy working in this department was a little strange, but hey, at least we found the suit!

He'll have to get it tailored a little, since it's slightly long in the sleeves and pants, and the vest is a little big, too. He ended up getting the three pieces, and the white tie. We'll still need to get a white button-up shirt and pocket square. He wasn't completely sold on this shirt, since it had cuffs at the end, and we didn't really like the look of the cuff sleeve. This may be the way he'll be wearing it at the end of the night though...

Another thing we'll need to complete the look is some nice dress shoes. But, we're one step closer now, and next we'll just have to figure out what the Best man will be wearing! 

Afterward we found an Irish Pub called Donnelly's, and had some drinks and dinner on the patio to celebrate.

It was such a nice day, and the food there was delicious. So was the Founders Raspberry beer!

So happy we were finally able to find a suit. Even though I would've liked to shop a little more while we were in Peoria, Trent had to work a security shift Saturday night from 8:00 pm to 3:00 am, so we had to get back after we ate. We did stop at DSW in the mall though, and each got some new shoes for summer! Trent got some new Adidas sneakers, and these Sperry's. I got these Steve Madden sandals. So that was my one splurge of the day. Can't wait to wear them on our honeymoon. :)

Planting the Flower Garden, Part 1

Happy Cinco de Mayo! So, last week I was finally able to start on the flower garden. It was a nice spring-like week, and the weather was great. Wednesday night after I got home from work was when I started. The garden space is at the very back of our backyard, and I didn't measure it, but it's a pretty big area. Here's the space all tilled and ready for planting:

We normally plant vegetables back here like tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, etc., but this year we're planting mostly flowers! We're planning on growing some of our own flowers to use for the reception centerpieces for our wedding in August. I'm planting completely from bulbs and seeds, and I've never really started flowers that way before, so this is a totally new experience, which I'm hoping goes well!

First I laid down landscape fabric, which will cut back on the weeding we'll have to do. I figure it's worth it, and will make for less work and maintenance in the long run. After all the flowers are planted, we'll then go through and lay mulch down in between the flowers to keep the fabric down, and create walking space to go through the garden. Here's my work just after starting on the bulbs on Wednesday:

And here's me finishing up Wednesday night. I worked from about 6:00 until it was dark, probably for about 2 1/2 hours. I was definitely exhausted and ready for bed by the time I was done for the night.

Thursday night I was back at it after I got home from work and ate dinner. I was able to work for another couple of hours. Here's after starting on Thursday:

I had gotten most of my bulbs planted on Wednesday, which included: Dinner Plate Dahlias and Lavender Dahlias on the left, Hollyhocks (which are actually perennials) in the back, and some Ranunculus. Thursday I finished the ranuncula bulbs...

And I got most of my Giant State Fair Zinnia seeds planted. The seeds were pretty time-consuming, since I had to cut out lots of circular holes in the landscape fabric, then dig each up and put the seeds in. It took quite a lot of work planting, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the long run!

I finally finished all of the planting on Sunday, so I'll have a Part 2 pretty soon. Stay tuned!

The Walkway Progress

About a month ago, we started work on the walkway from our front door to the driveway. It's been hard to find the time to work on it, and we're limited on days when the weather is nice, and when we have the supplies. Trent's been working on it off and on the past month, and he's definitely made some good progress so far.

Here's how far we've gotten at this point:

It's about the entire length of the front left side of the house. After this point, there will be steps carved into the hill, then it wraps around to the west side of the house and to the driveway. Once the steps are done, the rest should be pretty smooth sailing, since it's a straight path the rest of the way.

We both really like how it's coming along, and how the colors of the rock, edgers, and paver stones all coordinate together. Trent did a good job of making it all perfectly level too, so it's easy to walk on...and so much better than walking on grass or dirt! 

It will be nice in the winter, too - less slushy and messy when the snow piles up and starts to melt. I think it looks great from the edge of the road, too. 

We're hoping to get most of it completed by the time we have our yard sale, which is in less than a couple of weeks now. Trent was able to get some more supplies that we need, which was good. We'll see when he has time to work on it, though! And of course it's dependent on the weather, too.

Ideally, I'd also like to get the front porch painted. We have the paint and worked on cleaning it all up, but we'll have to wash it down again, make sure the surface is nice and rough, then put the paint down when it's in the 70's and nice, and allow for it to dry at least a day or two.

I can't wait to get that repainted - the chipping has been an eyesore for a while now! But, on the plus side, doesn't the new mulch in my flower beds look nice? :) I only slaved away on that for a couple of hours, and got a sore wrist in the process! The things I do to make the house look good.