Carnival of Family Life: Garage Sale Edition May 4, 2008

I don’t honestly know if there is a specific time of year when garage sales are all the rage, but based on my neighborhood this past weekend, that time appears to be May. Everyone is cleaning all their stuff out, putting their winter things away and pulling out their summer stuff (I realize that here in southern CA, we don’t have a major winter but we do perform this seasonal cleaning (check out other ways to celebrate the change of seasons at Busy Bee Kim’s 10 Ways to Welcome Spring, posted at Busy Bee Lifestyle).

I’m a fan of garage sales myself. My two favorite purchases were a pair of roller skates and a super-huge sombrero (seriously, the diameter was probably two feet) that I bought just to wear around the house (yes, everyone was thrilled with me). I can tell you right now, though, that if I ever saw something like this, I would totally buy it:MamaGeek presents Oh, The Junk at What Works For Us.

Although christinemoers laments the injustice that is the crane machine in Tough life lessons at the crane machine at welcome to my brain, what she doesn’t know is that all those toys wind up in the garage sale bin too. Husband is addicted to crane machines – addicted I tell you! AND – he always WINS! It’s actually a little unnerving. I think he might have some sort of electromagnetic pull that he’s not telling me about.

Baby things are also really big at garage sales, since we all know how quickly those things lose their necessity. All you parents of toddlers may find this picture amusing: Erika Jurney posts If this were an accurate blog post about the state of my life… at Plain Jane Mom Blog. Ah, I’m glad to no longer contend with those toys. I’ve graduated to the Legos that are never collected in the same place, the puzzles that are always missing one piece that only gets found after you get rid of it, and an assortment of arms, legs, and mouths with no Mr. Potato Head. I look forward to moving on to older kid interests, like pets—though I think this particular blogger wins the prize for accommodating her children’s pet interests: Jenny B presents Pets fer Pirates posted at Ship Full O’ Pirates. (I think I’d rather deal with American Girl dolls, skateboards, and video games.)

Speaking of which, another thing we tend to find at garage sales are old electronics. I know my family sold our old ColecoVision at a garage sale (yes. ColecoVision. Did that take you back? I ruled at Lady Bug!). Before you throw that broken/questionable device into the garage sale bins, run down this list from Veteran Military Wife, Don’t Throw Out that Broken Piece of Crap Electronic, posted at Life Lessons of a Military Wife, where she offers tips on fixing broken electronics before they land in the garage sale heap.

I’m surprised she didn’t mention the repair kits for scratched DVDs. That thing is a life saver (or rather, disc saver) in my house. And I need my DVDs in good shape for our travels, just like this road warrior: Beth Blair tells us about her husband’s recent road trip in Six Tips: Surviving a Family Road Trip, posted at Traveling Mamas.

Garage sales are also fun things to bring the kids to, because they enjoy looking at other people’s things, or haven’t you noticed when you go to your friend’s impeccable home and they touch everything with dirty fingers and say “What’s that?” a zillion times over. Kids can also usually afford to buy something at a garage sale, as opposed to Nordstrom, where they drag you along and beg you to buy it for them.

Sarah presents Our Allowance System at SmallWorld, in which she shares her allowance plan that she uses with her three kids, while GP puts a new spin on the old phrase “money doesn’t grow on trees” in Can’t see the Forest for the Trees?, posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn.

By the way, after you buy that set of mixing bowls for $1.00 (which you know you haggled down from $3.00) here’s a cooking tip from Alison to stretch out your recipe-Not Following The Recipe, posted at This Wasn’t in The Plan.

It never fails that in the garage sale clothing bins, you will find forelorn college logo apparel, or better yet, some random sports affiliation (Maine Lacross State Championship 1957!). Mark Montgomery takes college apparel to a new level as he seriously addresses the topic of finding help when deciding on a college. That pink tank top is awesome–College Fit: How Does the Shirt Look on Me?, posted at Great College Advice.

Unfortunately, not all clothing is funny, as this post points out:
Lin Burress presents So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualization of Childhood in Commercial Culture posted at Telling It Like It Is. Yikes!

Rounding out the rest of the Carnival’s garage sale family bin are these posts:

Gia Combs-Ramirez wrote a touching memoir about her friend Sally, Why Don’t They Call It Up Syndrome?, posted at The Science of Energy Healing.

And though Kaye didn’t personally write this, here’s a nice tribute post to moms everywhere: Mrs Nespy’s World: Being a Mom, posted at Mrs Nespy’s World.

Fathersez presents My Son, A Gentleman in Waiting, a sweet post with the sweetest looking boy about things to do to be a great dad, posted at Father Sez.

Marilyn Parks reflects on past relationships and lessons learned from them in As the rain falls posted at The Farm Blahg.

T. Dalia argues to replace the term “stepmom” in Time for a Change, posted at Daily Dalia

Lastly, some informative and how-to posts from the miscellaneous bin of the Carnival’s garage sale:

How to research your family history-
Niharika Das presents 50 Awesome Tools for Researching Your Family’s History posted at Bootstrapper.

Why not to spank-
jc wheeler presents Parenting Teens Blog » Blog Archive » There are other ways to discipline posted at Parenting Teens Blog.

The importance of playtime-
Fiona Lohrenz presents Importance of Play! posted at Child Care Only.

A book review-
Gwendolyn Cuizon presents Alice Walker: Everyday Use posted at Gwendolyn Cuizon.

Allergies-
Amy Vernon presents Food allergies posted at ice cream is not for breakfast.

Human body facts-
Aparna presents Interesting and unusual health trivia posted at Beauty and Personal Grooming.

When your child is the bully-
Amanda Harris presents When Your Child is the Bully posted at eFamilyBlogger.

Getting tutoring-
Amanda presents Free tutoring on Mother’s Day posted at Me Vs. Debt.

Thanks for coming to the garage sale. Hope you found something to meet your needs. If not, try out next week’s carnival, hosted at Write From Karen.

As always, you’re welcome to join in this community garage sale. Drop by the Carnival’s home page to contribute your own family-related post, and visit JHS at Colloquium if you’d like to host your own carnival.

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