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The Only Game In Town

Once again, as it had been for the last few weeks, our Saturday saling list consisted of just one sale. It is winter and this time of year is slow for sales but, even then, the last few weeks seem slower than in recent years. It's not that there aren't sales. It's that there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of our type of sales. Our saving grace in recent weeks was that there were other sales in the area that might draw some of the dealers elsewhere...resalable items at a profit. There just didn't seem like those sales even existed this week. The sale we chose was the only game in town. We expected a line no matter how early we arrived. We expected stiff competition. We were not wrong. Despite the snow on the ground...despite the ice on most sidewalks...despite temperatures in the low teens, there was a line. We arrived fifteen minutes after the sale began, hoping to shorten our wait outside but we didn't. We are guessing that the line began to form a couple of hours before the sale began. After all, it was the only game in town. After a cold thirty minute wait on the outside of the house, we made it inside. There was nothing that said that this was a must stop but it was the only one that showed potential. The first area we were going to tackle was the basement. There was a pencil sharpener mounted to the wall. That is always a good sign We quickly found out that the Christmas things were in the basement and we eagerly searched through what was there but we already knew that we missed out on some things we would have wanted. As we made our way to the basement, we saw, in the hands of some of the people who were there before us, some Christmas things that we definitely would have liked. Still, our search did uncover a few items that were missed and we would not leave empty-handed. There was a really cool bar downstairs that Rob thoroughly searched. The bar was a lot cooler than the things that sat behind it... ...except for this cool shelf. We loved the design!

After we were satisfied that everything in the basement was explored, we went through every room on the main floor. There was lots of competition because it was the only game in town. Still, we found a few nice things to bring home.

Here are some things that took the ride home with us: Some coasters and stirrers Some "Starburst" pattern spoons. We have a set that we use every day but these are different sized spoons than we have in our set A pair of old honeycomb bells, an old turquoise plastic planter and a pair of old New Year's Eve noisemakers Some vintage plastic ashtrays A Starburst towel holder with its original box An old Christmas pin for Monica Some Christmas things

Despite having lost out on several things that we would have liked and having no other sales, we did have fun together and used the extra time wisely. We visited Monica' dad for a few hours....we picked up Chinese Food Take-Out on Valentine's Day Night; choosing instead to go out to dinner the night after under less crowded conditions...and we relaxed together. After a Sunday of running errands and doing our household chores, we went to dinner at a sushi restaurant near our house. It only opened a few months ago and is owned by the same family that owned our previous favorite sushi restaurant. That place closed when the landlord decided not to renew the lease. We were happy to find that the food and atmosphere were just as good as their previous restaurant! The cat made friends with two of our lucky tiki idols (the cat belonged to the restaurant...we brought the tikis).

We were off on Monday for President's Day and found one privately listed sale which did have some great old salt and pepper shakers but they were way overpriced and we left empty-handed. We also went to several thrift shops; mainly to donate some of Monica's mom's clothing but also to do a little shopping. We did not find anything for us at all (except for a scarf for Rob) but it was a fun day anyway. A day off from work that we can spend together is always reason enough to smile.

As for the weather, it has continued the brutal pattern that began a month ago. We get a little snow twice a week and temperatures have been brutal. It has only reached the 40 degree mark once in February. The average low daily temperature during the month of February has historically run between 23 and 25 degrees. The actual daily low temperature has been lower than 20 degrees on twelve of those days. The last four days have seen temperatures in the single digits and we saw wind chills below zero both days of this past weekend. The forecast for the rest of the month doesn't look much better. We think the groundhog let us down. And, just in case there was any doubt at all... ...the guy on the right is winning. He's winning by a large margin.
Posted by Rob and Monica at 9:30 PM