Garage Sale 101

The results from the Fourth Brown Family Garage Sale is...(drum roll please)...$350+/- some change.

We held two garage sales in New York and, now, two here in North Carolina.  Each time we seem to make just a little more than last time.  It's a little work up front put totally fun on the day-of.

Thanks to Lisa who helped hang signs and engage customers and to Bobby who helped clean and get everything ready for the day of the sale.

Here are the Top Ten Tips (with generous thanks to Glenn Reisweber; US Army, Retired) for a good garage sale:

1.  Advertise!  Craigslist is your friend.  Put an ad with pictures and a map on the website as early as Monday before the Saturday of the event.  No kidding - people contacted us and bought items on Tuesday!  Be prepared for people to try to get to the front of the line by contacting you early.  They get to pay "full" price.
2. Re-post again on Friday night with more pictures.  Be prepared to have your dinner interrupted by "early birds" unless you specifically tell people only to come on the day of your garage sale.
3. Start at 7am but be a good spouse and work together to wrangle children, coffee, and do final set up.  This means being up at 5:30...okay, 5:45.
4. The only thing you are attached to is your spouse and children.  Everything else is negotiable.  You're selling your stuff, right?  Someone wants to buy it, right?  Okay - somewhere between the $10 you want and the $5 they want to give you is a dollar amount you can accept in order to get the stuff out of your house.  Right?!
5. Free coffee - advertised.  Dunkin Donuts.  Box O' Joe (just one).  Creamers.  Sweeteners.  Make sure you offer a cup to everyone.  Enough said.
6. Free parking - advertised.  It's whimsical but people remember it when they are making the rounds.  You didn't think you were the only garage sale that day did you?
7. Have singles on hand like you were going to the strip club (not that I know about that - I overheard it somewhere).  Be able to make coin change for the people who want to buy six 10 cent books.  Really.  People will hand you a ragged, rolled up dollar bill like it was the last one they have to buy just six books for a dime and want change back.  I don't know what they do with the .40 cents but I hope it doesn't break the bank.
8. Anything left over needs to go to the church - toys. clothes, small electronics - the church will put all of it to good use.
9. List any big items (like the 6'x3.5" mirror we were trying to sell) for FREE on Craigslist an hour after the garage sale.  Leave your address and that the items are at the end of the driveway.  Go to lunch.  When you return the items will be gone. Poof!
10. Have FUN!  Garage sales are great time to meet people - even briefly - and share some memories of good toys long past their age-range/usefulness in your home to a new life to be enjoyed somewhere else.  I learned that from Toy Story 3.  
11. (At garage sales there is always a bonus) And one final tip - have an idea what you want to do with your profits - it makes parting with old toys, household items, clothes, etc. much easier when you know there is a purpose beyond just clearing out the garage/basement/attic.

On Saturday, August 31, 2013 we made about half of one airfare to Hawaii.   Woo-hoo!

One Wet Summer

My lawn squishes when I walk on it.

Rain storms are so frequent this summer that we work it into our schedule; 5:00pm drive home, 6:00pm downpour, 7:00 - 7:17pm cook out side during the break in storms, 7:17 downpour, and so on.


No one I have spoken to remembers this much rain in a summer.  Not in North Carolina.  Not in New York.   For the first time in over five years not a single county in North Carolina is any form of a drought.  Not even a dry spell.  Not even a arid afternoon.  Aside from the obvious effect of driving everyone inside, no one seems to be complaining.  For the first time in months I have even sat down at the Xbox and played for a little bit.  I mean, sure, the grass needs mowing but it's like a swamp out there.

Today it poured for a solid hour.  Big, thick, hard drops falling from the sky.  Biblical proportions of rain. It rained so hard at Ft Bragg one day that all of the streets flooded and ran like heavy streams.

At the end of the storm

We need to learn how to enjoy it.  The nice thing is that if you know where and when to look you can always find a rainbow to remind you that - eventually - the sun will come out.

You can do that.

Or build an ark.

Yikes! Better Just Post Some Pictures.

The spring has come and gone.  Too quickly.

TJ spent his first season in T-ball.  He has a lot more aptitude at this sport than he does at basketball.  Of course, somewhere in the time between posts TJ turned six.  Six years old?!  You can certainly see the boy in his face and his features.  Gone is the toddler and cute little boy he was just twenty-four to eighteen months ago.  In place of that child is this good looking, easy going, funny boy that we still find so adorable.


Samantha finished her season with the Triangle Rowing Club and made a few good friends who then descended on our house every other weekend for movies, food, and a place to hang out.  It really reminded me of my teenage years hanging out at the Chris Lieby's house - a bunch of teenagers with lots of opinions, deep stomachs, and a love of VHS movies.  man - remember having to r-e-n-t movies at a store?  Passe to be sure, but not that long ago.  Sam's Crew crew has that same feel to it - a bunch of good kids needing a safe place (and a cool dad) to hang out.

I got to fly to San Luis Obispo, CA, to attend an Army school about agriculture in fragile markets like Afghanistan.  It was one of the smartest courses the Army has ever presented because it connected all of the dots to the bigger picture of the things that are broken and just how difficult they are to fix.  I loved California from the classroom material, to the field trips to the farms, to afternoons hikes to the top of Bishop's Peak, to walking downtown, and discovering that I might just try my hand at growing a vegetable garden some day. 

Somewhere in the last six weeks I also went to a fancy-shmancy dress up dinner event with the Army in Baltimore, MD.  There was my long time friend and battle buddy from CAS3, ILE, the 403rd as Company Commanders, deployment to Iraq as Commanders, and future battalion commander peer, Dennis Greco.  There are few people in the Army who's opinion I respect more than his.  I love this man as a fellow brother-in-arms and ALWAYS enjoy his company.  

In the beginning of June I reached a milestone of my military career by taking command of the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion.  For beyond anything I ever expected for myself, this responsibility is both an honor and a privilege.   I made a few comments to those assembled but among those comments was hoping to inspire those under my command to reach beyond their own personal expectations - in the military, in their careers, or in life.  I hope to inspire them the way I was inspired by the people who influenced me. 

After taking the battalion colors.  I was joined by my family (minus Grant who would have not been able to sit still through the ceremony).   Lisa looked amazing, as always, and I felt the pride of my own parents through my mother-in-law.  Among the highlights of that day was seeing the pictures of Betty sitting in the front seat of a HMMWV.   The day reminds me that I am truly blessed both personally and professionally. 

Of course, no update is complete without a couple of pictures of Grant.  He is also transitioning; from toddler to boy.  In the last few weeks we took the front off of his crib, took him out of his highchair, and have given him far more freedom than his brother ever had at the same age.  Grant is also becoming a lot less whiny and starting to develop a real, and really funny, personality.  He's still a Ginger and prone to a real stubborn steak when he wants - or doesn't want to do something.  His favorite thing is to cross his arms, turn his back on you, and pout - every once in a while raising an eyebrow and looking to see if you are still paying attention.


The summer is here.

Camp.

Fireworks.

Camp.

More Army stuff.

More Camp.

Life is good, stay tuned.