rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated April 23, 2009
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So, yeah, I haven’t blogged since mid-February. We had our first sale on February 19 & 20 and just finished the last one last weekend. I did two Overstock Designs sales with all new boutique brands, two Kentucky Kids Consignment sales, and I help run the Bluegrass Parents of Multiples Club Consignment sale on a volunteer basis.
I’m tired. And happy. And ready to pack up some of the supplies until August, when the fun will start again.
We were thrilled with how Overstock Designs went since this was the first time we’ve had those sales. It was so fun to get all the cute clothes, tag them, then watch them go to new homes. The consignment sales went equally great, both were the biggest sales we’ve ever had in each location. We added a day to the Elizabethtown sale and were very glad we did so. I wrote some BIG checks to my sellers.
Next fall, Thing One and Thing Two will be in kindergarten, which will change our childcare situation during sales. Granna or Mimi will need to come to our house and stay with them instead of them going off to Camp Granna or Camp Mimi for the week.
I’m still trying to dig through the piles of papers and put the house back together. Maybe I’ll attempt to blog every day in May?
can I get a side of meatballs with that Noresund? November 15, 2008
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Prior to today, I was an Ikea virgin. I’d heard how great Ikea is, I’d seen other’s purchases, I’d browsed the website, but I’d never been there myself. I have now experienced Ikea in all it’s glory.
We chose a day with the worst possible weather to schlep the four of us 90 minutes up the highway for this adventure. It rained all. day. long. We left the house about 8:30 AM and arrived just after the 10 AM opening.
We had a loose plan in place. We needed to retrieve an Expedit entertainment center for my mother and a large quantity of blue shopping bags to use at the sale. Outside of that, we just wanted to see what there was to see.
Once we passed through the sacred blue and yellow entrance, we were greeted with a huge Christmas tree decorated with stuffed animals. As we rode up the escalator, always a harrowing experience ever since that unfortunate incident at Sears last summer that ended with a sobbing Thing One at the top of the escalator and Thing One’s right shoe at the bottom of the escalator, we realized we were woefully unprepared for this adventure.
Thing Two could have spent hours hugging all the stuffed animals in the children’s department, but we finally convinced them to spend a little time in the play area so DH and I could wander the showroom, dutifully following the arrows on the floor, not wanting to miss a single Mysa or Detolf.
Nearly four hours later, full of meatballs and lingonberries, we loaded up our Expedit, Hajdeby, Mixa, Iris, Bygga, Kalas, Pyssla, Mula, and 150 of the 59 cent tote bags in the back of the truck and pulled out of the crowded parking lot. I’ve already gone through the catalog trying to decide how many pieces of Billy we need for the basement.
Sale complete September 7, 2008
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We’re home from the Kentucky Kids Consignment Elizabethtown Fall 2008 sale. It went great! Bigger and better than ever, we had more sellers, more workers, and more shoppers. It just seems like we grow every time.
We started setting up the building on Tuesday night and the last item left late last night. We were overwhelmed with donated items and ended up processing most of those this morning. I did something fun with my camera this time, but I’ll need to wait until I have a large chunk of time to work on it.
Elizabethtown Fall 2008 September 1, 2008
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We’re just about ready to start the Elizabethtown Fall 2008 Sale. Sellers are still busy tagging, but I can already tell there will be more items than we’ve ever had before. DH is building more clothes racks to hold it all and I’ve tried to re-think the floor layout to better display what we have.
Can’t wait to watch this one come together!
Louisville Fall 2008 Sale August 24, 2008
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We’re home and recovering from the Louisville Fall Sale. We’re very happy with the new location and new schedule, it all went great. Here are just a few photos.
the bank came through for me! April 23, 2008
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I do both personal and small business banking with Big Fancy Bank. This works well since they have branches in both my town and the two towns where we hold the sales. In January, they upgraded the business banking website with lots of features that I don’t need and took away my ability to download info to MS Money. I have to use MS Money since other software I use for the sale only prints computer checks with it, not with Quicken. There are FIVE different file formats that I could make work, and Republic won’t offer any of them on the business online banking site.
They do, however, offer them on the personal online banking site, which I also use. It has taken a week, but I have finally received a setup that is even better than what I was hoping for! They are running my business acccount through the personal site and I just set up MS Money to go retrieve info automatically so I don’t have to log in and download reports anymore!
It’s so nice when things like this go well!
weekend update March 24, 2008
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I’m slowing digging out from under the post-sale mess
Friday night our parents of multiples club took over the local Bounce U. We’ve been twice before for birthday parties, so Thing One and Thing Two were very excited to go. It was 9 PM before we got home, showered two sweaty boys, and tossed them in bed.
Saturday we took my car in so the dealer could investigate the check engine light. $700 later, I have a new sensor and new brakes. I cleaned up my office, filed lots of papers, and started packing up sale supplies that don’t need to go to our multiples club sale.
DH took the boys out to build the kid’s project at Lowe’s and buy shinguards for soccer since practice starts Tuesday. They both wore the shinguards and socks for the rest of the day. Thing One wondered if the Easter Bunny would think his shinguards looked cool, so our Easter Bunny note included the fact that the EB had actually tried on the shinguards and hopped around in them.
Suprisingly, Thing One and Thing Two didn’t beg for or eat much of the candy that the EB left. I guess they were overloaded from two school parties and the huge gift bags that MIL sent. Our EB also left a Disney DVD each (Aristocats & 101 Dalmations) and some sidewalk chalk + accessories.
DH was upset that we didn’t go to church. We never go to church, but he’s upset we didn’t even manage to be Chriseasters this year. I find it odd that I’m the one who was at church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night + bible school and camp growing up and now have no interest in going. He did not attend regularly until high school and even then just went to church services and now he wants to go.
Instead, we spent yesterday cleaning and I started working on taxes. I’d like to file in the next week or so and then move on down my to-do list.
FIL reports all but two of our cabinets are built. He still has to build drawers and has not yet ordered hardware. We need to get cracking on our end of things – chosing tile, countertops, lighting and ordering the appliances we’ve already chosen. Our built-in microwave died about 5 minutes after DH changed the time to “spring forward” and now we have a teeny little one on loan from my parents sitting on 2×4’s in the space where the built-in one went. We’re talking very, very nicely to our dishwasher which has been recalled despite its advanced age. I really need it to hold out for another 8-12 weeks until the new one is installed.
I’m gonna be famous! March 13, 2008
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Well, not really. But I am on my way out the door to film a TV news segment called “The Real Deal” that will air on Saturday morning, right when our next sale starts. I’ll be showing off all the great bargains that shoppers can find at consignment sales.
I sure hope I don’t come off looking like a moron!
one down, one to go March 4, 2008
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Our first sale of the season is complete. It was the bigger of the two and the second one is on March 15 & 16.
It turns out we had roughly the same number of items in double the space, so everything went much better than last fall. Putting 20,000 items out went very smoothly, despite the unexpected snow day. I was terrified when I heard school was canceled in several of the surrounding counties on the longer of the set-up days, but most of our workers were able to make it in. We sold more items than last fall and did quite a bit more in total sales too.
I have a bit more paperwork to complete, but my focus has shifted already to the second sale, the newer and smaller one. It looks like it will grow again this season as well.
