I've been living back in Indiana for over a year now which seems crazy to believe. As time goes on... the good of the Midwest is slowly starting to reveal itself to me. The absence of Cicadas for one... HUGE points there. For those of you particularly out in the west who may have never received the pleasure of meeting these disgusting and obnoxious creatures...
here's a visual:
Disgusted yet? They are loud and gross and crunchy and when they come... they are EVERYWHERE!! But they are not here.... yet. And for that, I am so very grateful.
Now I can't go and compliment the great state of Indiana without also voicing a complaint in one particular area: Garage Sales.
Two years ago at this time I was making out like a bandit in the city of Reno. For several weeks I faithfully got up around 6am and scoured every corner of town looking for the junk of another, that would inevitably become my treasure. I found baby clothes that had never been worn for a quarter, a $5 coffee table, a barely used jogging stroller and hiking pack. I felt there truly could be no greater satisfaction in life than to find much needed treasure in beautiful condition and pay 2% of the original price. Life was good.
And then I moved to Indianapolis. As the winter months passed I found myself more and more excited... anticipating the incredible "finds" that would be waiting for me this season. Our new home needs so many things and I couldn't wait to show Eric my thrifty side!
News Flash: one man's "junk" in Indiana... is pretty much just that - "junk" - no matter who it belongs to. No "treasures" here... not one. I was sure that the first week was just an "off" weekend. "Too early in the season", I told myself... give it another week. This past Saturday I even got my husband psyched up for our big "Saturday Morning Garage Sale Date!". I dragged him out of bed at 6:30am (OK.... he was up first). First priority was, of course, Starbucks. With my Grande Caramel Macchiato in hand, it was on to the huge school community sale down the road! Can't go wrong with huge community sales right?
Wrong.
For the first couple hours, we refused to give up. When one town turned up with nothing... we moved on. We wound up an hour from home in the end... and all we had to show for it was a half a tank less of gas. Eric tried to explain to me that things are different here. While the true "hillbilly" culture dwells quite a bit south of our home... it would appear that the mentality has a way of filtering north. I lost hope when I arrived at a driveway and found a man selling only three things: a lawnmower that appeared to be 20 years old, a rusty piece of equipment I couldn't even identify, and a box of used bras - only 25 cents a piece. *sigh*
Defeated, we drove to Sears and debated which grill to buy. At least the Memorial Day Weekend sale offered $50 off.
My head tells me it is time to give up. But my heart tells me that even in Indiana, there must be some wasteful and overindulgeous people who want to get rid of perfectly good stuff! I may have to give it one more shot this next Saturday. I just can't resist the "possibility"... and I'm not ready to give up hope. I'm pretty sure Eric's hope left him around 8:30am last Saturday though, so I'll probably be on my own for this one.
I wanted to ask you to be praying for the parents of the 3 children you see above. I have never met this family... but they have been weighing heavily on my heart for the last month. On May 5th, Emma (4), Katie(2), and Kyle(5) were riding in a car with their Mom Lori, who was driving, and their Grandmother. They were on a major California freeway, and traffic had slowed to a stop. A semi driving somewhere between 55 and 70 mph never slowed, plowing into, and over the back of their minivan. All three kids were sitting in the back... Katie and Emma died at the scene. Kyle was rushed into surgery but died a few hours later. Lori and her mom were hospitalized for quite awhile but did survive. 
