Flea market, bargins and dissapointments -July 20,2013

 This must be the week of waking up early....we had to wake up at 5am this morning. Mom signed us up for a flea market for today and the check in was at 6am. Our spot cost s $15 plus $1 for a raffle ticket, that we had no choice if we wanted to enter or not. Dad couldn't come until later, because he had to go in for work a little early and then he would come down later.
After we had set up our spot, the display looked adorable and approachable:

We were just sitting in our canopy waiting for 8am to come around so the shoppers could freely start walking through the flea market, when an older man came up to our front table and asked us who was better with words. My mother and I pointed to Britney while Britney said "That would be me.."

And he said "Okay, I want you to figure this out- this is a saying you've said many times in your life time. Ready? Here's the first word. Cintelate Cintelate  Okay? Here's the second :Minuscule  and now :Asteroid. What's minuscule mean?"

Britney replied hesitantly "...small?"

"Okay, good."

Now what does Asteroid mean?

"A star?"

"Correct."

Then I got it!

I shout it out with out hesitation

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!"

"You got it!"

He did a couple more smart and funny tricks with us and then he encouraged Britney and I. He complemented us on our smiles, and told us to never let the light in our smiles fade. He told us that he admires the strong family bond that is obvious between all of us and how easy it is for all of us to laugh together. He told Britney and I to keep pursuing our dreams and to not let anybody get us down about them.

He was a pretty cool older gentleman and I couldn't help wondering if he was an angel.

 

"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it."

-Hebrews 13:2

 

We had never met him before, but there he was, making our day by telling us that no one could get us down. And he said nothing negative about us being homeschooled. He seemed to like that fact, normally everyone we come across think homeschooling is a sin or something.

I still remember talking with a lady in a Goodwill store. I was looking through the dresses and she was a looking on the same rack. She kept pulling out dresses that she thought would look nice on me. She pulled out a sleeveless dress and I told her I couldn't get it because my mom doesn't let me wear sleeveless dresses. She responded with a shocked look "Oh! Okay. Well..that's wonderful. You keep listening to your parents. I didn't know any kids did that anymore. But you keep it up. I admire that a young person still looks to their parents in these days. You've been a blessing in my day."

I couldn't help thinking that she was an angel too.

I think God sends down angels sometimes just to remind us that the way we are living is the way living was supposed to be- centered around God and family.

 

Britney and I left mom to the shop before the flea market officially opened and walked around the place.

I couldn't help buying a couple nautical things that I fell in love with.

 

I got a small rowboat shelf for $1

A decorative ship for $3 (it was rather nice)

A small trinket shelf/box for $2

And a pair of nautical earrings for $2

I thought it was uncanny that I went into the flea market with $8 and spent it accordingly!

 

It was 10am and our sales were going rather slow.

So Britney and I went to the Firehall with our coupons:

And got iced tea and a tall glass of cool lemonade.

 

 

We ended up in only making $17.

Which was only $1 profit since it took $16 dollars to get in (our forced raffle included)

It was a bummer...but we didn't really fail- the flea market's turnout did.

There was hardly any shoppers that showed up!

 

It wasn't a total loss, a lady talked to mom about making party favors for a party that she's having.

And a couple people took business cards.

Who knew it would be so hard to get our business off the ground?

Oh well!

At least there were some interesting finds.

I had a little bit of luck at the thrift shop yesterday.

A couple weeks ago I had purchased a set of ceramic fish. Much to my disappointment, the set was $3.

When I visited the thrift shop today there were two more ceramic fish! I must not have seen them.

So I went to purchase them and the lady asked "Weren't they in a set?"

I responded "Yes, I actually bought the set last time, but I didn't see these."

"How much was the set?" she asked.

"$3" I responded.

"Well, I think that's a part of the set then."

"Oh! Okay...well, thank you!"

She asked just the right questions.

I didn't really feel like spending money...but I didn't want to let the ceramic fish feel left out.. and it worked out perfectly!

 

 

-Stephanie