And, the winner is....

DAD!!!!

Here are the results (profit):

Dad...................£15
Niece # 2..........£12
Niece # 1..........£10
Mum.................£9.35
Me....................£2.60
Brother............-£0.17
Sis in law.........-£2.80
Niece's boyf....-£3.22
Sister...............-£5.00

Total profit.......£48.95
(not inc losses)

So, I presented Dad with his trophy, which everybody was suitably impressed with. Mum managed to find a very elderly wooden spoon to present to my sister as the person with the biggest loss!!

Dad then revealed the secret of his success. He'd bought items that the landlord of the pub where he drinks might like, and flogged them to him for over the odds. However, as part of the bargain Dad had to promise that if he won the prize fund, he'd donate it all to the charity that the pub supports. This went down very well with everybody and those who hadn't made a profit added a few quid each to the pot, bringing our total to £56.20 which went to Adam's hoofing hut fund. We all finished the day in the pub to present our prize fund to the landlord Mark, who was a good sport having spent his own money on Dad's items. He was very pleased with our donation and added it to the pot.

We have now decided that in future, the prize fund will be donated to charity, and the winner gets the trophy, and to choose which charity the money goes to.



Boot sale success!!

Yay!! I sold some more of my 'challenge' items today!

Sadly, the bracelet sold. I was quite keen to keep it, but gave in and sold it.

Here are my results.

Item...................Paid..........Sold.......Profit

Bracelet..............£1...........£2.50.....£1.50
Tie......................£0.50......£1..........£0.50
Denim jacket......£0.50.......£2.50.....£2
Gillet...................£0.50......£1.50......£1
Plastic necklace..£0...........£0.10.....£0.10
5x kids shirts......£2.50........unsold............

Total..................£5...........£7.60......£2.60

So, my contribution to the prize fund is the princely sum of £2.60!! I know I haven't won, but I'm not last either. And, it was fun....

I have made the most tacky, hideous trophy you can imagine. It's awful! The glue is still drying, so I'll photograph it tomorrow.

New date...

... apparantly the man who decided the world was going to end last week got his dates wrong. It's now due to happen on 21st October..... Hmmm....

Anyway, I went to the car boot sale and made a small profit... £15.55 to be exact! My pitch fee was £6 so I actually took £21.55 which isn't bad since I was selling absolute rubbish!

Sadly, I only sold one item of my 'challenge' things, that was a plastic necklace which I found in the pocket of one of the items of childrens clothes! I sold it for... wait for it.... 10p.

So, now I'm only in debit to the tune of £4.90!!

I don't think I'm going to win this challenge.... I know some of the others are doing pretty well and have got profit already with items left to sell!

I have now put an ad for my stuff on facebook although only to my friends, and I suppose I'll be doing another boot sale this weekend.... and then I admit defeat and give it all to a charity shop! (except the bracelet which I love!!)

End of the world!!!!

The world was supposed to end at 6pm today.

But since that didn't happen, I thought I'd finally update my blog.

Tomorrow morning I'm doing a stall at a car boot sale. I haven't decided which one yet, it'll be whichever starts latest and gives me longest in bed in the morning....

I have spent all afternoon sorting 'stuff' that I've had in boxes in the garage for years. It's not a nice job, everything smells musty and is dirty. However, it's all cleaned up OK so tomorrow I have to try and convince people that they want to buy it. Of course the real reason that I'm going is to try and sell the stuff I bought at the May Fayre..... hmmm, we'll see!

Wish me luck!

May Fayre

In the town where I grew up, the annual May Fayre still exists. I don't think the format of the fayre has changed at all in as long as I can remember.

May Fayre Boot Sale

May Fayre Boot Sale

Today though, had a new purpose. In response to my brother's desire to 'do something else' on May Day (shock, horror!! Something ELSE???) we devised....

The Inaugural Annual Family May Fayre £5 Bargain Hunt Flog-it In the Attic Challenge‏.

Basically, you can spend up to £5 on as many or as few items as you choose, items must then be re-sold by 30th May (bank holiday) and the person who makes the most profit wins all the profits. Here are the rules:

1. As a family, we do not cheat
2. Only items from the Car Boot Sale
3. Can spend up to and only up to five pounds
4. Can have multiple items as long as you do not exceed five pounds
5. Haggling is allowed
6. Items must be sold by 12 midday on the following spring bank holiday
7. No selling to family members
8. A photo must be taken of said item
9. Selling can be done by any means
10. If you wish to improve your property you can, as long as your total spend is up to five pounds.
11. If you need to pimp up your item by cleaning and/or repairing the total cost must remain under or exactly five pounds.
12. Challengers put profit into the kitty
13. The winner is the person that makes the most profit from their sale
14. The prize is all of the profit in the kitty and a trophy
15. Trophy to be retained for one year and one year only

(I think I'm in charge of making a trophy...??? )

So, today at the May Fayre car boot sale was myself, Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother, Sis-in-Law, Niece#1, Niece#2 and Niece#1's boyfriend, all trawling the stalls looking for bargains.

Everybody got something and spent most of their £5 allowance.

My purchases were:

1 freshwater pearl bracelet - £1
1 Bugs Bunny tie - 50p
7 items of childrens clothing - 50p each - £3.50

The childrens clothing is mostly Next brand, with one FatFace item and one Patch.

As a bonus, I found a plastic childs necklace in the pocket of a jacket!!

So my total spend is exactly £5. That means that I have no money spare for 'doing up' anything, but since all the clothes need is a wash and iron, and the bracelet just needs cleaning with soapy water, I don't need to spend any more.

Selling fees (e.g. Ebay, Paypal) come out of any profit.

I will post photographs when I take them, I will be selling on Ebay so decent photographs is a job for Wednesday night, I will get everything washed tomorrow.

(I've kinda fallen in love with the bracelet though, might end up keeping it!!)

Working

I don't often post pictures of myself, but I was recently given these which are of me working Rory, the golden retriever currently living with me. His puppy walkers came to visit and these are the pictures they took of me and him. I was very pleased to have them, because I have very few pictures of me working.

Setting off.

Crossing the road.



Traffic training - asking the dog to 'forward' when his path is blocked by a car. 



Indicating the button on a pedestrian crossing.

It was chucking it down with rain that day, Rory and I were both soaked through! But, he performed well and his puppy walkers were thrilled to see him working.

Yet another update!

Another update post...

I spent most of Friday watching the Royal Wedding. It was lovely and I thought both of them held up well under the pressure of being watched by millions.

Tarka has been unwell. She's had diarrhoea for a few days and I am inclined to panic a bit when that happens due to her bout of pancreatitis before Christmas. With it being a bank holiday weekend I was also worried about the availability of vets if I should need one, as the out of hours practice is about 40 mins away and I don't know any of the vets there. Anyway, on Saturday I rang my practice to see if I should take Tarka in for a check up, and I had a long, reassuring chat with the vet on duty. He was very good and explained everything (yes I know I've heard it before, but I forget...) and I did feel much better after that. I need to remember in future, that diarrhoea on its own is UNLIKELY to be caused by pancreatitis, she would also have loss of appetite and vomiting if it's pancreatitis. Don't let me forget this again!! He also said there wasn't much point taking her in because I was already doing everything they would do so I kept her quiet, and low and behold she is a lot better today. She did a nice, almost solid poo today, much to my great relief!!

I have got a house guest for the next few weeks, Rory is one of my dogs in training at work and he's staying with me until end of May/mid June. He's a sweetie, but don't be fooled by his handsome good looks, he's very clever and good at getting his own way, he's going to need an owner who is very 'on the ball' who can keep him under control.

I too, am still feeling grotty. I woke up yesterday with my left eye sore and swollen. The swelling has mostly gone down, but I think it's either a blocked sinus or sinusitis. According to google, if I leave it alone it should resolve within 2 weeks, however it also said that the complications could be infection spreading to the eye causing blindness, or to the brain causing meningitis or death!!! So much for a little gentle reassurance!! Anyway I will see how I feel next week when all the bank holidays have passed and things are back to normal, at the moment I wouldn't stand a chance of getting a doctors appointment. I do find as well, that although all I want to do is curl up on the sofa, I actually feel better if I get up and do something.

Tomorrow is the annual May Fayre in the town where I grew up and my parents still live, so I'll be going to that, along with all my family. We've got a family challenge going on.... more about that in my next post!!