garage sale find!!!

Whew! By golly it’s been a busy couple of weeks since I made it back here to you!!! The red.neck convoy is gearing up for the Parker County Peach Festival in Weatherford, TX as well as all the slight detours, u-turns and everyday wandering off to check out junk stores, flea markets and, well – anything else that might catch my eye (I’m not opposed to dumpster diving…)! It’s disgusting really…but so much fun!!!

A couple of weeks ago (or it could have been a few, but who’s counting?) in my wanderings I stumbled upon the “row-day-oh” drive of the red.neck world, the bright and shining star, the duct taped box at the end of the rainbow, the – okay, I’ll quit waxing poetic – a community wide garage sale! Oh my gosh, just when I thought I was done, there it was: ANOTHER garage sale sign! (And another one and another one…) I’m grinning in delight at just the fond memory of such a wondrous event!

And now for the rest of the story:

At one of the garage sales I wandered up the driveway, scanning the treasures on offer, trying SO hard not to show my shear excitement over what I had already loaded in my car, what had the potential to be loaded in my car (there was some real estate still available with some strategic maneuvering) when I see - IT. There IT is, amidst clothing cast-offs, neglected and calling my name (it could have been shrieking it, but that’s neither here nor there) shoved to the back of the rack as if it was not worthy of taking center stage as it so rightly deserved – the bathrobe of all bathrobes – the color combination you don’t see (well, you don’t see if you’re color blind…) - a truly hideous UH UHM – INTERESTING bathrobe – the future purse to beat all purses!

With baited breath I ask (heart pounding, palms sweating, quivering in excitement) “how much for this bathrobe?” The sweet lady looks at me and says…wait for it…wait for it… ONE DOLLAR! I have never whipped out a green piece of paper so fast!!! Then she says it…

“That was my Mother’s robe, and she passed away a little bit ago.” OH NO! She just said that to one of the most sentimental red.neck girls in the world! If it’s a piece of paper that someone important to me held on to, I hold on to it! With a deep DEEP breath I say, “I think I should tell you, I’m going to make a purse out of it, is that okay?” Then here it came (as I stood holding my breath and hoping not to turn blue)…

The biggest grin! She said that her mother would have LOVED that because she had been a really creative person, and that would have been right up her ally! I fairly FLEW from that garage sale (after explaining about red.neck Chic of course), hopped in my car, looked at my son (who at that point was truly disgusted by the amount of garage sales we had already hit, and the possibility that more might be around the corner…I obviously need to learn him some more ‘bout junkin’!) and went on my merry way (he could tell you exactly how many more stops we made on my merry way…)! Well, that Monday rolls around and I get a call at my shop and guess who it is! Bathrobe garage sale lady! She had been thinking since we had met and decided that she would like to have 3 purses for her Grand-daughters made out of THE bathrobe! Now, remember, she is telling this to one of the most sentimental red.neck girls you will ever come across…if it has history of ANY kind I’m all over it – so she comes in and what pattern does she pick out?

The original red.neck/in.di.vid.u.al objects “e.liz.a.beth” bag – named after MY Grandmother! Cool, huh?! She had also brought along 3 concho’s off of one of her Mother’s belts, so those went on the bags too – all sewn up on MY Grandmother’s 1960 somethin’ Montgomery Ward sewing machine (I love that machine…)! I told you, sentimental. I had to make her a purse as a gift, but I left a spot empty for her to add one of her Mother’s brooches…you can’t carry an “e.liz.a.beth” without gettin’ your sparkle on!

One truly garage-saled out 14 year old boy…$5.00 (payoff not to roll his eyes and do the whole sullen “sigh” anymore – please tell me he is going to grow out of that!!!)

One truly….uh…. INTERESTING 1970 somethin’ bathrobe - $1.00

Family memories with a “red.neck” twist – PRICELESS!

Now I have to quit hitting the junk piles for a few days...(yep, okay - like THAT'S going to happen!) and get busy for my upcoming shows! Happy Junkin' - Talk to you soon!!!

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...
hee-hee

:-) robelyn