'Tis the season

If you ask most people what season it is, they'll say it's winter.

I'd say they're wrong. It's spring consignment sale season!

I went to my first spring sale yesterday evening. Jeff had to a basketball game (tired of reading that yet?!?), so Biscuit and I headed over to a Presbyterian church downtown. I lucked into an early-bird shopping ticket, and I was glad because by the time I got to this same sale back in the fall, everything was pretty well picked over.

A male friend of mine from work was taking tickets at the front door. When Biscuit and I arrived, I introduced the two of them to each other.

My male friend is kind of a big guy, so he didn't notice that Biscuit had stepped forward and held his hand out for a shake. So Biscuit pulled his hand back a little bit then looked at me like he didn't know what to do next.

"Did you want to shake his hand?" I asked. Biscuit nodded his head.

"I'm sorry," my friend said, as he stepped forward and reached his hand out toward Biscuit.

"It's nice to meet you," Biscuit said. And I was very, very proud of him. He was quite the little gentleman.

"That's a nice grip, little man," my friend said. He got a big smile from Biscuit.

Following one of the most important laws of motherhood, I had a bowl of Goldfish in my pocketbook, so I sat Biscuit down under one of the racks and gave him his snack. He sat there and people-watched. Then he saw that they had toys.

"Mom, when you're done, can we go see the toys?" Biscuit asked.

He was being so good, I said, "When I'm done with the clothes, you can pick out a toy to take home."

I got a big smile for that.

We went over to the toy section, and Biscuit immediately honed in on two fire stations. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Biscuit is crazy nuts over anything to do with firefighters. He looked between the fire stations like he was watching a tennis match.

"Can I get both of them, Mom?" he asked.

"No," I said. You have to pick one."

"I don't know, Mom," Biscuit said. So I picked up the one I thought had more to offer and started selling it to him. "This one has a door that goes up and down. It also has a ramp for the firetruck to roll down."

He finally made up his mind, and we headed to the checkout. I usually have to fight my way through the crowd, swap places with 6 or 8 other women and stand in line for at least half an hour to check out. But with my super-special-early-bird pass, I got in the checkout line with one person in front of me.

We got four pairs of shorts, four shirts, an outfit, a book and the fire station for $25. A pretty good haul.

A friend of mine is a master at these sales. She even sent me a list in chart form this past week. I don't think I can top her sales skills, but it'll be fun to try.