Yardsales and AL Football

Those 2 don’t exactly go together, but that was my Saturday.

It was such a hot and humid day on Saturday and totally rivaled any hot weather we’ve had in July OR August combined.  Whewwww, I’m tired after all of that, but what a fun yardsale we had!  A total HOOT!  The earlybirds arrived around 6:30 a.m., right after I blocked off a parking space for Layla’s van and trailer.  She would not be arriving until later.  At 7:30, I opened my garage doors to a whole group of folks standing at the bottom of the driveway.  You know who you are! 🙂

This was after I stayed inside getting ready, having some coffee and a little breakfast.    I was not about to open my garage doors until 7:30.  The 6:30 ladies patiently waited in their van.  I appreciated them not knocking on the door. 🙂 A couple of other cars stopped outside before 7 a.m.  One guy in a Lincoln came up and knocked on the garage door.  I have never done that!  He left in a huff after it was apparent I was not going to come out right then.  The sale was advertised for 8.

Check out Beth’s post for a hilarious recap of the yardsale with lots more pics  and Layla’s too.  FUN FUN day!  They were the nicest bunch of folks. After I got all my stuff outside, they shopped and shopped.  This nice couple actually go to my church.  Thanks for stopping by! More and more people arrived.  I do think most of you who emailed me did, indeed show up! I sold a lot of my stuff in the first hour.  Most all the good stuff was gone by then.  Everyone hung around waiting on Kevin and Layla to arrive and I kept getting the question from people who didn’t know about the blog thing, “why are all these people hanging around“.  I explained it to them and the crowd grew bigger.

I had lots of stuff still left, but slowly most of it got sold over the morning, thank goodness.  It was a very good sale! Finally, Kevin and Layla arrived to the throngs  waiting to see just what was in that van and trailer.  Kevin looked a little gun-shy at all the people standing around waiting on them.  The street was covered with cars, all up and down on both sides. Layla was her usual sunny self, geared up for a party. I helped them unload the van and then we started in on the furniture in the trailer.  In less than an hour, all of that was gone and she was pretty much sold out. I really have to commend ya’ll! You were a super nice bunch and there wasn’t any hair pulling or arm wrestling involved. 🙂 Everyone was very respectful and patient.  Waiting and looking. Checking out the scene.  That’s my blog friend, Jennifer with The Newlywed Diaries, 2nd from the left.  She lives here in Birmingham and we met up over in Atlanta earlier this year at the Eddie  Ross blog event, so it was fun to see her again.  She’s expecting her first baby and I’m thrilled for her.  I think most everyone found something to take home. Lots of talking and laughing ensued.  There goes one of Layla’s benches.  SOLD! You can see how busy it got.  At one point I saw our  neighbor across the street (that’s him, top left, white shirt) outside seeing what was happening.  I knew we were going to cause a traffic jam and we did.  Luckily, it was all over pretty fast. And the last of the furniture was brought out and sold.  Layla got so busy that I jumped in to help her price things.  I could see that was going to take a long time, since she is not used to yardsales and pricing, so I helped her out.  I know how to give good deals, since I go all the time and know what good deals are.  I think everyone was happy with their deals! Right?!

We sweated our butts off, it was so hot out there, but it was nice for both of us to lighten our stash of stuff.  Now, I’ve just got a few more things to get rid of.  If you happened to miss the sale and you live in the Birmingham area, you can see if any of this catches your eye.  This was the best stuff left.

I still have 2 very nice designer lamps for sale, $20 each.  They both have fruit on them. This one is a rusty brown with fruit motif. And this one is very Raymond Waites-like, with pretty fruit colors of greens, reds, plums, purples on a bronze base.   I’ve got one more lamp base available too for $5. It’s a black column lamp with gold accents, very classic.  No shade.  This huge painting print is also available and I’m asking $25 for it.  It’s a huge piece, 34″ x 47″.  The colors are very warm, with golds, rusty reds, greens.  Those 2 silk pillows are also available, red and gold buffalo check silk for $5 each.

I can’t ship any of this (except the pillows), so if you’re interested and live in the area, drop me an email.  Now, did you think I didn’t score anything from Layla’s stash?  Of course I did! Since I was able to help unload the stuff, I grabbed a few things to keep for myself.  This architectural piece is so pretty and I’ll probably hang it over a doorway.  Love the Rusty Cricket beachy print and the green fern pillow.  Love!

We went out and got some food for the 4 of us.  I kept my stuff open until about 12:30 and after a quick lunch from Zaxby’s, Kevin and Layla headed out and he and I drove down to the Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa.  He had scored some tickets the night before.  It was a non-stop day for me!  This is only my 2nd college football game and let me tell you, Alabama knows how to party before a game, during a game and after a game.  I have never seen so many RV’s, campers and tail-gating in my life.  Totally amazing!  The Alabama campus is so pretty.  Like I mentioned, it was SO hot and humid, I had already been sweating since 6:30 that morning.  We got to Tuscaloosa just in time for a little rain shower.  You can imagine what my hair looked like then.   Picture a poodle.   I just gave it up and didn’t even care anymore, as I think most of the women did who I saw in the restroom peering in the mirror at their hair.  By the end of the day, I felt like a drowned rat, totally over the heat and humidity.  Thank goodness for a hot shower and soft bed.

This is the football team all dressed up in their suits arriving by bus and strutting through the crowd to a huge reception.  Fun to watch! Very inspiring to see!

After all, we are the National champions.  I have no choice but to love Alabama football too.

They do have a beautiful stadium.  Fun to see all the Crimson red around the place.  In spite of the rain, we managed to stay mostly dry with some ponchos and we finally got inside to sit and wait.  I opted to keep on my yardsale clothes with my Vintage Chick T-shirt, so I wasn’t sporting the crimson.   I won’t even show you how bad my hair really was.  Oh my gosh, was it humid!  Worse than any August day we’ve ever had.  And today is beautiful.  Go figure. The players came out to the field still in their suits. We watched the stadium slowly fill up.  It always amazes me how many ways people can wear the black and white houndstooth made famous by Bear Bryant.  This guy was sporting his on his pants.  Too fun! The teams came out to warm up and get ready for the rumble. The band played and got the whole place going.  The feeling of energy was palpable. The crowds grew and grew.  We heard that it was probably the biggest capacity crowd EVER at the stadium and surrounding areas, around 150,000 people.  You can imagine how hard it is to get around in that.  Lots of girls wore these houndstooth caps.  I might have to get one of these.   You can see how full the stadium is at this point.  Yeah baby, we ARE #1!  Roll Tide. And the game began with lots of energy and excitement!

We played Penn State and of course, WON!!  24-3 – Very fun time, but with all the traffic we didn’t get home and in bed until 1 a.m.  I was one whipped puppy-dog and deliriously exhausted by then.

OK, I’m tired now! Might be a nap day for me.

REMINDER: If you missed this beautiful quilt giveaway I’m running, go here to sign up. It will be open until Thursday evening and a winner will be chosen.  It’s gorgeous!

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