A big purchase and yard sale rudeness...

Big fun today - after spending weeks researching and reviewing and visiting the stores, saving our funds and seeing how much we could buy for what we had to spend - we bought the computer that best suited us and our budget ! It's especially great because it means it frees up the laptop for Dearest Son - something he's been wanting for Christmas !

Now, normally, Son would get the newest and best, but he's eight, and really wants the laptop Daddy has. And Beloved Hubby/Daddy needs more power than most affordable laptops have. So we found a great deal, and made the switch tonight. We're cleaning up and boxing up the laptop tonight - no sense waiting, Dearest will get it tomorrow. That pretty much took care of Christmas for both Dearest Son and Beloved Hubby, all at once. Well, Dearest will have a few small things to open next month... but most of them have been purchased already.

We also sold some unused furniture via Craigslist.org, and that helped a bit. I got a gift tonight, too. I'd been wanting the Barbie 'I can be a TV Chef' playset, and Target had it for $15.99. It's been $21. everywhere else. The doll's getting donated, but I'm using the rest in my ongoing play. It really is a nice set, if you can forgive the cardboard 'display' in all the shelves, including the fridge. I'll be removing it. As is usual with Barbie stuff, it's all about an inch shorter than I wish it was. The dolls have to stoop to use the counter and camera. But that's what Dearest's outgrown wooden building blocks come in handy for !

Went out for a couple yard sales this morning. Snagged an infant skirt (to be altered to fit a My Size Barbie), baby knit boots with leather soles (for my Baby Crissy doll), a star ornament set, two action figure display cases (great for doll props) and a small plastic jar and lid, for a buck.

Got to witness some really bad behavior at the second and last sale of the day. If I'd have known it was an Estate sale, I wouldn't have made the drive. I've seen the heirs try to sell open boxes of laundry detergent for more than it costs new, and put stickers over the printed on prices of items - like a pack of Dollar General sewing needles, $1. all day long there. Not at one Estate sale - someone'd put a $2. sticker over the printed-on price... and the package was missing several !

This sale wasn't bad, but the behavior of the attendees was. Sale was on a busy street, and the house had limited parking. In fact, the folks already there had already taken it up, to the point where I couldn't figure out how anyone could leave unless everyone did so at the same time ! I drove up a half block and parked safely, then walked to the house. A van driver had a different idea. He stopped, in the middle of a busy street, during Football Game Pre- Frenzy, to let two occupants out, clogging traffic both ways. I figured he'd do what I did - circle the block and park elsewhere, since the lot was still overflowing.

Nope. He backed up a bit, setting off a blaze of car horns, and somehow wedged his van between the last car in the lot and a huge oak tree. Nobody was leaving now ! In fact, he got so close, only his door could be opened !

I'm guessing this sort of 'to heck with everyone who ain't me' behavior is just their way of life, because the two women he was with inside acted as though everyone there - buyers and sellers alike - were there to carry their stuff, halve prices, and make way for them and anything they wanted, because that's the way they acted. They threw their payment at the cashier, because one item wasn't discounted enough, and she had the fortitude to ask for their tax-free number, since they refused to pay the sales tax stated on the signage all over the house. The tax collected may have been a scam, but it was clearly noted in every room and on the door, so complaining about it at check-out seemed a bit churlish, especially when there were five people behind them waiting to pay for their own things, and leave.

I paid for my items - a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 'Mutant Maker', a sort of Fashion Plates for boys, and a Crayola Creature Maker, about the same thing - and stepped outside, where people were trying to make sense out of their parking arrangements, and the van people were trying to load up their stuff, but couldn't, because most of it wouldn't fit through the only available door. The person assigned to carry their purchases just set them gently down on the driveway and over the oak roots, and walked back inside. I calmly strolled down the street, got into my vehicle easily, and hoped that my $1.50 in purchases would make a few bucks on eBay... but Dearest would probably want that creature maker.

Sad thing is, those folks were my parents' age. They weren't young and stupid, they were old and entitled. But, heck, for all I know, they're still trying to get their $200. worth of stuff into the van and leave !

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