Rummage Time!

Guess what season it is?!  It's rummage sale time!  I love going to rummage sales.  In the past, I have avoided sales that advertise nothing but baby and kids stuff.  Now, those are the ones I gravitate towards.  As an unemployed person, I can report to the ones that start Friday at 8 a.m. promptly at 8 a.m.  I thought that as a rare unemployed person I would be one of the only people there.  Well, that is wrong.  So wrong.  There are alot of people who go to sales at 8 a.m. on Friday.  I went to one in the historic part of town with really big, nice houses and beautiful towering trees.  The house was on a main street so shoppers had to park on the next block and there were probably 30 cars lining the street.  It looked like the streets around NDSU when there was a big house party.  I guess I am not so tricky.   

Now that I have to haul my thirteen pound baby and his carseat with me (I admit I leave him in the car if he is sleeping and the street is quiet! Don't call the cops!) I can't do the intense rummaging that I could do before so now I make a plan.  I look at the classifieds for sales with baby boy clothes and accessories and prioritize.  I had some good luck this morning.  I also met alot of young moms with babies out and about, even one that was born the week after Ben in the same hospital.  I almost want to ask for their phone numbers so we can be friends during the day when everyone else is at work!  We could tear around quiet neighborhoods together, rummaging away the day only stopping to feed babies.  It would have to be someone with a girl though...I don't want any competition for the good boy stuff!

So, on to my finds...

I am so proud of this little set!  I know Justin is going to say, "What are you going to do with that?" but I don't care. 

It is a little kids furniture set.  After I inquired about it I found out it is from IKEA!  SOLD!  Being hundreds of miles from the nearest IKEA I would not turn that down!  It will be so cute in our basement or in a future kid bedroom when we might someday live in a house that doesn't have tiny bedrooms!

I also am always on the hunt for baby clothes, mostly in the 9-12 month range.  If I see a cute, cheap 6 month item that is summery I will take it but we mostly just need bigger sized things for the future. 

I don't have problems with hand me downs and second hand clothes for kids as long as they look good still.  I knew a family growing up, as everyone does, that didn't have alot of money and had alot of kids.  All of their clothes looked completely hashed and ragged and the pants were always too short and you knew they, even the older ones, never had anything new.  As a lover of clothes, I felt pity and was very glad that I had new clothes and shoes all the time.  I was an oldest child after all.  Although, I admit, my family was a buyer of new clothes and I don't know if I ever had a hand me down.  My brother also lucked out as the only boy.  Only my sister wore my old jeans and coats but when we got to middle school I think she mostly got to pick out her own clothes too.  Now, whenever I find that she has a bag of clothes ready to donate I dig through it and take some hand me downs from her! 

So, here is what I found.   

My standards are...if it is fleece it must not be pilled if I am paying (if it is given to me no problem!), no stains or yellow tinged discoloration from spit up (although most people have the sense not to try to sell that stuff and once again, I would not pay for it but if it is given to me I accept!).  This stuff is all really nice.  Those onesies in the front truly look like they have never been worn and those pants with the GAP shirt (from Gap as well) still have a trademark Gap security tag inside that you are supposed to cut off that looks like it has never been through a wash cycle.  And that blue sweatshirt is thick and soft and heavenly, almost like my favorite overpriced Abercrombie & Fitch sweatshirts that I love.  Oooh, that was fun...I am so pleased with myself right now. 

I am aware of the future need for bigger clothes because my little baby is getting big!  He has been sleeping in his crib for several weeks now and for fun I put him in the bassinette a few days ago to see how he filled it up and he did! 

No more newborn!

Also, I bought this cool light reflector tool for taking pictures.  It is meant to reduce shadows when taking outdoor pictures but I tried it out indoors. 

Nice results I think!  I can't wait to experiment more with it, in my backyard or even better, at the farm, where no one can see and wonder what the H--- I am doing angling a big shiny disk at my baby and reflecting the sun towards oncoming traffic.  Blast this busy street that I live on!