Bainbridge Island Rotary Sale

The kids and I were really excited to go to the Bainbridge Island rotary sale this year.  I had hight hopes I would fine the perfect dresser to go in my room.  Unfortunately no luck with a dresser, but we did have fun.  This year we parked in the church parking lot and rode the bus over.  I love how the whole community gets together and donates their time and services to make this happen.  The bus ride was exciting enough for the kids.  They are always wanting to ride a bus.

We got there just in time.  I think we waited about five minutes before they annouced it was time and everyone ran it.  This is like the black Friday of garage sales.  We didn't run, but I took this picture of the people in front of us waiting.  This was at one of three entrances.  Crazy right?

After scoping everything out for about two hours we were ready to go.  Here we are carrying our gear.

The kids got a bunch of toys, not that they need them, and I got these suitcases and globe.  Of course none of the suitcases fit inside of each other and I got them in the first five minutes.  So we struggled carrying them around the whole time.

I do like how they look on my bookshelf though!

I copied this from their website because I can hardly believe it:

"The 2016 Auction & Rummage Sale was another HUGE – RECORD SETTINGsuccess, with revenues of over $557,000."

On our drive home there was an accident on the only bridge to get on and off the island so we sat in our car for a looooong time.  It was hard on the kids.  And my sister was meeting us at our house afterward so she had to stall a little bit so she didn't beat us.

Rotary Sale

The Bainbridge Island rotary sale has become one of our families favorite things to do.  For those who don't know it is a gigantic garage sale.  The whole town donates things from boats and cars to children's toys and everything in-between.  Then they fill a local school with it all and sell everything.  We always get amazing deals and have a fun time.  This year they received $466,793.37 in cash!  So that can just give you an idea how much stuff they sell.

This year we got there early and parked at a local church then road a free shuttle.  Previously we've always walked a long way because the road parking is full for blocks.  But this shuttle was so much easier.  I took a picture of the crowed before they let everyone it.  What black friday is to shopping is what this rotary sale is to garage sales.

I was a little worried someone would get lost so our family dressed in Neon yellow.  It worked really well.  Bob and I split up so it even helped us find each other a few times.  Luckily no one did get lost, but if they did I would not only be able to spot them easily but I could describe to others exactly what they were wearing.  And they would have an easier time spotting mom and dad as well.

 I love going through the furniture.  And I got this adorable bench the girls are sitting on and the black chair you can see in the background.  Each was $1.  I also scored a nice desk for only $5 unfortunately it doesn't fit in our house so I will just resell it.  In the picture the desk is behind Penelope's head.  Bob got a nice helmet and a drill press for only $20.  And we let each of the kids pick out one toy.

 Afterward we were all hungry so we went to Sluy's bakery for donuts.

Can't wait for next years sale.  I seriously wish I had a bigger house just so I could get more furniture from this sale.

1920 Singer Sewing Machine

Every year our town Rotary club has a rummage sale.  It is pretty much a big garage sale that a bunch of people donated to.  We try to go every year but ours is pretty small time compared to the Bainbridge island one.  So this year I slept in until 7:40 and it started at 8.  Opps.  It is only a couple blocks away so I put some clothes on ate a quick breakfast and made it just after 8.  I didn't find much in the main area but we walked through a dedicated furniture room and found this beauty.

I was so excited when I saw it and best thing it was only marked $10.  I'm pretty sure whomever marked it just thought it was a night stand.  But I suspected right away it was more because of the double top.  And I was right check it out.

It is a 1920 Singer Sewing Machine and the original table and owners manual.  Plus it totally works!  It even had thread all hooked up and a seem ripper in the drawer.  I think some was actually using it to sew with.  Probably someone's grandma died and they donated her stuff to the sale.  Two times I had to ask for help to move it (these things are heavy) and the worker was shocked at how much it weighed. They also had no idea there was a secret iron sewing machine inside.

I probably could have bargained them down to $8 but I figure $10 was already a steal.  On ebay they are selling for about $100-$300.  I am going to keep it though.  For now it will sit in our garage but once we have some more space I'm thinking about painting it and using it as a table in our house.

Garage Sale

I like to go to garage sales.  Usually only when it is convenient.  on Saturday there was a sign I could see from my window pointing to a sale.  When everyone needed a break from cleaning the house I thought we would go on a little walk and check it out.  Tucker was excited because these things usually have kids toys and he even got some money out of his bank.  63 cents to be exact.  The bad part was that someone was playing a trick and we couldn't find it anywhere.  Tucker was sad and just kept saying that we can find it.  Then he said maybe Jesus can help him find the garage sale and that we all need to stop walking so he can say a prayer.  Bob and i felt a little awkward because he stopped right in front of this person's driveway and someone was in their garage probably wondering what we were doing.  But that wasn't important.  Tucker has such a strong testimony and it is so sweet because he knows that if he has a problem Jesus can help him.  It is that simple to him and should be for all of us.  It makes sense that the scriptures counsel us to be like little children.  And Tucker was right, Jesus did help him because after we got home without finding the garage sale we got in the car and drove around until we did find one.

He was so excited and spent a good amount of time figuring out what he wanted to buy with his money.  I let him pick whatever he wanted.  After he found two things, which he didn't have enough $$ for, he went up to the guy put his money on the table and asked if he could have the toys.  The guy just looked at him and told him that he can have the toys and keep his money.  then he called his wife over to see how cute Tucker was. 

 On a completely unrelated topic, I am going to start doing Tutorial Tuesdays.   So every Tuesday on the blog I will do a tutorial.  Usually it will be something I am learning how to do myself.  Tomorrows Tuesday Tutorial is going to be how to make your own bubble valance.