Necessary Mutilation

Weight: 194.3 lbs.

I am walking like a neandrathal today, as every body part hurts or is stiff from another day of hard labor yesterday. I am hunched over and my arms feel like they are swinging at my side (and I think my forehead may even be growing - LOL!)

 We arrived there at 7 am, and hit the road running. We didn’t get home until after 6:00, although the garage sale itself wrapped up by 4:00. We must have boxed up 1000 things, took down 25 tables, loaded 2 cars and generally exerted ourselves every which way, as the company that set the massive tent up was due back to pick it up at 4:00. Quite a design flaw if you ask me!

A very funny thing is that when we got home there was a message on the answering machine from a co-worker friend of Tom’s saying that they had their garage sale today and he remembered that we might want some left over stuff for our cat charity, and he wondered if we wanted to come pick it all up when his sale was over. Aghhhhh!!!

Did I mention that I never want to see another garage sale again?!

Despite the trauma of it all, the good news (besides the few thousand dollars raised for the kitties!), is that I managed to lose more weight doing this than any exercises I’ve ever thought up on our basement equipment. And all this while eating whatever anyone was willing to feed me these two days, including two grilled hot dogs and some pizza. I just couldn’t care, given the long hours, exhaustion and mentality of it all. I had brought a small cooler full of cheese sticks and Atkins bars and such, but it remained unopened in my car. It was just easier to grab whatever was a- foot and eat like the natives, I guess. I can also honestly say that I almost never took a break, including to eat, and even with a weenie in my hand, I was running around organizing, selling to hoardes of customers, or dealing with something necessary. It must have been the highest maintence sale, given its size and the enormity of “merchandise”, that I have ever dealt with. And although there was a team of volunteers, especially on Saturday, there still were not enough people to cover all that was necessary. Especially on Friday, this turned me into maniac woman, and I had some now humorous moments where I was getting increasingly freaked out by Kathy allowing people to shop even though we weren’t open yet and trying to set up. I couldn’t believe how many people came, given that the sale wasn’t until Saturday, and they were getting into things I was trying to move, unpack, price etc., needing help, change, to talk etc. Basically making a hard job even harder and less organized. Plus, they were walking off with amazing bargains as Kathy didn’t even know what items there were, and they were digging for and finding stuff that was very valuable (one lady got 3 diamond tiaras with original price tags still on them in excess of $100 value each, for $5 from Kathy because she was caught off guard and hadn’t thought it through). Anyway, this all was freaking me out, and by the afternoon I was kicking people out despite Kathy’s generous attitude towards them. Especially from the garage, where I was mostly working and feeling very territorial over. There was SOOOO much to do, and I was getting grumpier as it was getting later and later, and customers came even into the evening.

Well, at around dinner time, I had it, ranted that I couldn’t work under such circumstances, told an old man with a cane who was blocking my way that he just had to go, and generally blew my stack. Until Joe, who had just gotten home from his day job, came out of the house to restore peace. And tell me that that was his father who I just kicked out! And before that, the neighbor children who had come to help.

Echhhhh….!!!

Did I mention that I am soooo glad that it is all truly, finally over.

And that it may be a few days before I exercise or even walk like a modern (wo)man again?!