Today is the Auction that I’ve mentioned a couple of days ago.
The first thing when I woke up was to check out the weather. It didn’t look too bad and I was trying to convince myself that the dark clouds that I was looking at in the West will just blow over. Well, as I was loading up some additional tables into the truck that we might need, it started to sprinkle. OK, way not cool! But it never did rain and soon the clouds kind of broke up and everything was good again. I was heading to the auction and also a chance to do something that I’ve never done before. What I helped with was to try to set the items up for the auction in an organized and somewhat logical way for the auctioneer. Now you would think that this is something that’s pretty easy right? Yea, not at all! At first we gave it a lot of thought and really tried to put everything in the absolute correct spot. But as things kept coming out of the house and the weather was getting pretty warm, we did the best that we could. And it might not have been perfect, but it was OK. Then as everything was set out and we just stood back to look at what we worked on for a couple of hours, it was kind of weird. I mean, here is someone’s total life right in front of us. It was toys that they had when they were a kid, up to hobbies that they had done for so many years. Again, it was definitely something that needed to be done, but it was just a little eerie at the same time. It also made me think if someone would have to do this to our house… oh man it would not be good! And guess what? It’s a reality check because it will happen to all of us at some time. Just when it was getting close to start the auction it starts to sprinkle. Then the wind picked up and it starts to rain. WHAT?? Out come the tarps to try to keep everything that needed to be covered, covered. There were a couple of people who were keeping tabs on the radar on their phones and we knew that once the rain blew through it would be nice outside again. And guess what? They were right. It didn’t take long and the auction was ready to start. 
Now I had an unofficial list of what I was wanting to buy today with one main thing which was an enamel double wash basin. I also had a budget that I wanted to stay with and was hoping that I could stick ‘somewhat’ close to it. It’s not like it was any type of law or anything and if I went over, well I just hoped it wasn’t by too much. The auction started on some household stuff and Shazam! I was able to buy just exactly what I wanted. It was looking promising. The only thing that I did run into is what I wanted to buy, well they bundled it with other things. Now if you’re not sure what bundling is, my recommendation is to go to an Auction and you’ll learn real fast. Next on the list was the doilies. There were a lot of family members at the auction and we all wanted to make sure that we could do this so everyone left with at least one. Everyone was able to take at least one home today and now who would have thought that this would have turned out so good? As the day went on, there were a couple of things that wasn’t selling and so I felt bad for them (OK, I know that this sounds stupid!) so I would just throw my bid in and at least they went to a good home. It wasn’t so much things that were bought, but more so things that have been passed down through the generations. And when I had a chance to see in the boxes of some of these surprise buys, they turned out pretty cool! 
Now it’s time for the double wash basin. I really didn’t have any idea on how high I was going to go and I also didn’t know where I was with my budget – but too late and the bidding started. At first I couldn’t even get in with my bid. And that’s a bunch of crap right? Finally I yelled and got in. Then it was going back and forth pretty fast and … and Score!! I got it. It has a lid for the top and inside is two compartments. I want to use it in the Roadhouse for a cooler. At the end of the Auction the Auctioneer came up to me and said that I got the best deal of the day. Now I was thinking he was talking about some real old crockery kitchen bowls that I got, but they were talking about this wash basin. I told them that I felt that maybe I spent too much and they thought that it wasn’t too much at all. Right now it’s sitting on our front porch and I’ll have to bring it in tonight.
I put in on the front porch because there was a chance of rain tonight
At the end of the day I got a lot of things and my total amount of auction tickets was 20. But one of them was for my Mom, so really I only had 19. I was standing by her during the auction and she said that I might as well bid because they knew my number by now. And they did! I told Daryl that I was going to bring the pickup because I needed to bring some tables. OK, now this wasn’t a lie. But guess what? I couldn’t even fit the tables in it to bring them home this afternoon because the truck was too full. Too funny! 
I was a little nervous what he was going to say when he saw the pickup pull into the yard. But he didn’t say a thing and do you know when I asked him what his favorite thing that I brought home was? It was a baby bed that my Mom threw into the truck because she had gotten it in a bundle with something that she bought. And if you’re wondering how I did on my budget, I did really well. Now granted it was just pure dumb luck – but I only went over it by $0.50.
Once I got home and took a shower, I sat down for a little bit. Daryl came into the room and found me sleeping in the chair with a Diet Coke in my hand. I knew that I better find my second wind soon because we’re headed for a Barn Dance later tonight!