Horray for Garage Sales!

We set out this morning to clean the living room in anticipation of Mike's parents coming over at 1 pm so that his dad can work on the truck and the boys and girls can play together. We get a call near 11 am to let us know Mike's nieces are with their parents and Mike's dad isn't feeling well so they aren't coming over. Instead, they invite us over. It's an hours drive, but now that we don't need to clean the living room all morning, we have the time free to go to the Saturday Market that runs only the first two Saturdays of the month from 11 am to 3 pm. 11 am we get there, fresh signs out and we have the right place... no cars and no vendors. We go by again later... still no one. Dead empty. Did someone not tell the person in charge of the signs, balloons, and Craigslist ads that the vendors had taken off Easter weekend?
color me peeved. We've tried three times to get there this year and so far, we've missed it because of an appointment, fell asleep and missed it, and chose the wrong day altogether. Now we get there on time, the right day, right place, with cash and there is NO ONE. Not a soul, just the balloons and brightly colored signs. It was angering and yet creepy in an Andromeda Strain sort of way.
On the drive back to home so I can get my pills and a present I made for Mike's mom, I offer the info that there was a big garage/estate sale near our house. It was an address nearer the road (sometimes they are a few miles away off the road they say they are on, lol) it was listed recently, too.
We stopped and found for sale a giant collection of miniature tea sets. I am obsessively attracted to miniatures and Mike's mom adores tea sets. They were cheap, abundant, and had two sets of porcelain and china, in cream and gold with pink roses. I got those for Donna and a small heavy silver set for myself. Then I got 4 framed prints - two prints of fruit in vivid colors and a primitive style, black frames. So nice. Then two prints of an old stone building with a door and flower boxes and flower pots. All in creamy soft tones, gorgeous detail, distressed wood frames painted with a cream/tan color.
I also got a set of glass canisters with wooden stoppers in a set of wooden shelves - 6 canisters, two large, two medium, two small in two shelves. One set of shelves for all four medium and small, then a set for the two large ones.
I was interested in a pile of about 12 cloth napkins and handkerchiefs mixed. nothing matching. I wasn't sure about it, so she gave those to me for free, wrapped around the tea set pieces. I was so distracted that I forgot my pill and Donna's present even though I stopped by the house.
I suppose it helped my feeling of victory and self satisfaction after being at the garage sale that the women running it referred to me as "the girl with the pretty hair" between each other, but they also dropped the price of the prints down to $1 a piece (they are 2 feet tall each, the frames alone are worth much more) the canister set to $5 for all, the tea sets down from $10 and $5 to $8 and $2, the napkins/hankys free.
Sweet deals.
Then we had yummy dinner that I didn't have to cook and pineapple upside down cake. It's been so long and MMMMM, my love hasn't waned.