The Item
>> Sunday, April 27, 2008
Garage sales are a funny thing. Every year my sister has a garage sale along with several other families from her neighborhood. Throughout the year I stow away items that we don't use anymore, don't like anymore or have been replaced by the bigger, better and newer version. In the weeks before her sale I dig out all the tubs I've been stowing in and go through it to price things and try to make my junk look at least somewhat attractive. I always find it amazing how many picture frames I pull out of those tubs. I'm beginning to think they mate and multiply in the dark confines of their Rubbermaid tubs.
The saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is proven correct every year at this sale. There always seems to be at least one Item that I nearly throw away as I pull it from the tubs thinking, there's no way someone is really going to buy this...and I'm pretty embarrassed to even include it among my trash. But then I remember the previous year's Item and I slap a ridiculous price on it just to see if this year will follow suit with all the others.
This year The Item was...drumroll please...a bag of used pacifiers. Now let me explain before you think I'm totally sick and truly just out to make a buck. Well, I might be out to make a buck, but I'm not totally sick. Neither of my kids ever liked pacifiers. W preferred his thumb from birth, much to my dismay. No pacifier ever stayed in his mouth for longer than the time it took for him to effectively stain any outfit I ever wore as soon as I picked him up, which was about two seconds. We tried about 6 different types of pacifiers with him, all were adamantly refused. I saved them for baby #2 which she clearly did not appreciate. I couldn't even get them in her mouth because of the superior tongue thrust she developed when I'd come within two feet of her mouth with one. We even bought about 4 more different kinds until finally she will at least occasionally tolerate one type. (I think she really only takes it to pacify me!) Of course it's the biggest ugliest pacifier on the market. No little pink bling-bling pacifiers for my sweetie.
All this to say, this bag of pacifiers had hardly been used so after conferring with my sister about whether or not to actually try to sell these I slapped $2 on them and sheepishly pulled them out the morning of the sale.
Less than an hour later someone came up to me and said, "Are these $2 each?" I'm embarassed to say I actually was trying to read whether or not she'd be willing to pay $2 each before I told her the truth and pocketed her $2. It just goes to show you never know what someone might be willing to buy. Now I can rest assured knowing the pacifier frustrations I endured have come to peace and some other little suckling mouth might find comfort in ways my children couldn't.
I just hope she sterilizes them.