Auction

Yesterday we went to an estate auction hoping to buy a mower for Joey’s tractor.  I haven’t been to an auction in quite awhile and I had an absolute blast.  The weather was perfect, there were lots of shade trees and I got to spend the whole day with my sweetie.  For a person whose love language is quality time, it was heavenly.

I could tell that I had been pretty successfully “flywashed” right away, though.  I was looking at all of that stuff through different-colored lenses, now that I have been under the influence of Flylady for so many months.  No longer did I see the “potential” in all of the items tossed into box after box.  I saw it all as excess.  I saw it as someone else’s habit of keeping everything instead of discarding or giving away items that were no longer useful to them.  I saw it as a lot of work for the family members who were left to deal with all of the excess stuff.

These thoughts were all very motivating to me.  I really think I will be more motivated to get my 15-minutes of de-cluttering done every day, now.  Or, at least, make a plan to de-clutter on a regular basis.

While Joey and I sifted through the stuff, and chatted about who in our families used to own similar items,  I had no real expectation that we would purchase anything except the mower.  I did find a box of record albums that included several by Roger Miller that I thought  Clara would like for her record player.  But, really, that was about it.  And there was the possibility that the farm implements would be auctioned before the household goods, anyway, and we would just leave at that point.

However, they did end up auctioning the household goods first, so we followed the crowd of folks who were bidding on the boxes of stuff.  We kept our bidder card safely in Joey’s pocket as they auctioned off old doors and an exercise bike and a suitcase full of polyester fabric scraps.  But, suddenly, the auctioneer was pointing out a bright red marble bathroom sink on a cabinet.  I couldn’t say that I had actually noticed that before, but when no one was bidding on it at all, I suddenly realized that it would be perfect for Jacob’s Dapper Dog bathroom remodeling.  So, up popped my hand and I got it for $2.00.  (Joey gave me a very strange look until I explained my grand scheme!)

I was too stingy to get the box of record albums and I tried in vain to get a very inexpensive television for Clara and Levi.  I passed on the photo album of post cards that went for $200.  And the box of those wispy, multi-colored fiber flowers.  And the many well-worn blankets and comforters that, in a pre-Flylady era, I would have bought.

Then, hidden under the blankets, there appeared a sewing machine.  A Singer.  With the book.  And the attachments!  AND at least five new packages of Singer sewing machine needles.  OK, Joey, get the card out, again.  Yes!  Victory!  A sewing machine for the little girls for $5.

We passed on the irrigation pipe and the 1979 camper (sigh) and finally got to the farm implements.  Joey had planned to bid $160, tops, for this mower.  But, alas, it went for $350.  So, we gathered up our sink and sewing machine and headed home.

Or so we thought.

As we headed that direction, I started thinking about what would happen if we took the sink home.  Would it sit in the garage and gather dust?  Would it become an unfinished project?  I mentioned this to Joey and, since the afternoon was fairly young and the kids at home were all doing well, we decided to just punch the project on through.

We went to town, got some black spray paint for the sink’s cabinet (that cost twice as much as the sink, itself), bought some gray, adhesive-backed floor tiles and went to work.  Joey removed the old sink and toilet and put down the floor tiles while I painted the cabinet.  He was still working when I was done painting, so since I had paint clothes on (borrowed from Stephen!), I freshened up the red paint on the Dapper Dog sign and repainted the front door.  Joey was still working, so I super-cleaned the Dapper Dog “lounge” (Jacob’s table, kitchen sink and toaster oven).

Then, we installed the “new” sink and a new white toilet and it looks mah-velous.  All we have to do now, is paint the gold walls white and throw away the gold sink and toilet.  We are NOT keeping these for our children to put into an auction 50 years from now!

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Tags: auction, Dapper Dog, sink