Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5 a.m. Groan! Are you kidding me? Why am I up at this gawdawful hour? Oh, yah. I have a flight at 8 this morning to Baltimore. I’m going to DC to work on the Next-to-New Sale. The sale benefits the scholarship fund, so it’s a very important event. This was my second year and I’ll be back next year!
Coffee pot started; ran up stairs to get dressed; finished packing; lugged everything downstairs; drank coffee, downed two pieces of toast; lugged everything (very heavy suitcase, very heavy backpack, purse) out to the car.
Back in the house to double check:
drapes, blinds, curtains closed…check;
clock alarm shut off so it won’t go off at 5 a.m. every morning while I’m gone…check;
garbage taken out…check;
water heater turned down to “vacation” mode…check;
make sure thermostat is OFF…check. Well, I guess it’s time to go.
I drove to the home of my friend, Pat, and she took me the final 1+ miles to Southwest Airlines Departures.
Anne picked me up at BWI and we headed straight for Sidwell. Once we got in the gym I went straight to “textiles” where I spent the next 5 hours sorting and pricing bedding, table cloths, etc.
At 3:30 I went over to the bicycle section where I would stay for the remainder of the sale. At 4 p.m. the doors were opened.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were each designated for different groups of the Sidwell “family”. On Friday and Saturday the doors opened to the public. Also on Saturday, it was homecoming day so we had a lot of alumni and parents of alumni as well as the general public.
Each day started with my needing to get up no later than 7. It was easier if I waited until Rick and Jacob were out of the house…fewer people to deal with. After coffee and getting dressed it was a quick breakfast and off to the sale with Anne. We would get there around 8:30ish…after leaving Andrew off at his school.
The doors opened 9:30 and closed at 9 each night except Saturday when they closed at 4. Anne would try to get me home at some point during the very late afternoon, then she would go back.
On Thursday night, Anne and I went to a Celebration at The Sienna School, where Andrew goes to school. There should be more schools like that!
Anne was co-chair of the entire event this year and she, her co-chairs and her entire core committee did a magnificent job! Plus, congratulations to ALL the volunteers.
On Sunday morning Anne and several volunteers went back to finish cleaning up. A lot of packing up of left over clothing, textiles, etc., was done Saturday night after the sale was over, but there was still a lot to do. I stayed home and had a late breakfast, packed up my stuff and waited for Anne to get back so I could get to the airport to come home. By the time she got back she was so exhausted Rick volunteered to drive me to BWI.
Different charities came Sunday morning to pick up the left-overs!
My day-to-day in the bicycle department was to sell the bikes that were donated. We had everything from the sublime…the highest priced was $175…to the sad little Mongoose kids bike with the front tire off the rim, lots of rust, needed a new seat, but the frame was good…priced at $5. We also had trail-alongs and trikes and biking shirts and shorts. Also in our section were the strollers. I never did count how many bikes we had, but it was a lot as you can see from one of the pictures. As for the bikes: we sold all but one of the trail-alongs. I learned last night that the bike sales were record-breaking. The entire sale came in at a couple hundred dollars short of an all time record high.
I flew out of BWI for BDL at 6 last night (Oct. 23rd) and was picked up by Pat. We sat at her house drinking coffee for a while, catching up on our respective weeks.
I slept until almost 8 a.m. this morning and plan to do nothing for the rest of the day. Starting tomorrow it’s back to the dust cloth, vacuum and window cleaner. Yes! I have to finish my fall cleaning before it all needs to be done again! ☺
I have two weeks to get my Christmas book to Staples for printing. I’m early this year because I have a 30% off coupon. That will make a big difference in the cost to produce 12 books.
So, there you have it. I'm sure I forgot some of the things that happened during the week, but, until next year…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
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