My garage sale went bust

My neighbors and I had a garage sale today. The weather was good and we thought the merchandise was interesting. Some kids stuff, CDs, bed linens, clothing, furniture, dishes... you know, the norm. The ad in both the newspaper and Craigslist called for 8am and of course the early birds started showing up at 7.

By 8am I made $20. By noon we made $60. It did not go well. The kids would not part with the stuff I made them clean out of their rooms. They are already back on the shelves.

If a brand new pair of pants with the $50 tag still on it is marked $5 why do people need feel the need to haggle at 8:15 in the morning? Is it to take advantage of my uncaffeinated state? Or should I have marked it $10 and taken 5?

Unless one is moving and has a lot of big stuff that they don't want to deal with, I'm now of the opinion it's better to donate to a local charity that will come and take it away for free. Take the tax deduction and feel good that someone who needs the cash more than me is going to make good use of the stuff. My time is to valuable.

The upside of the experience is my neighbors and I had a nice chat under a tree. The last time that happened we were suffering the aftermath of a hurricane.

IKEA is coming!

Sometime this summer, supposedly, IKEA is due to open in the already overly congested Sunrise area near the Sawgrass mall. I've already got my friends with SUVs targeted to take me.

I am so excited. I love IKEA. I buy their smaller stuff when visiting the in-laws up north and pack it in an extra suitcase brought just for that purpose. The kids need new desks for their rooms and I need a new table in the family room. Oh, and some meatballs for lunch.

The furniture isn't as durable as Ethan Allen or Thomasville, but it's not disposable either. If you buy it with the knowledge it's only good for five or ten years, it's worth it. Lots of goodies like throw rugs, CD organizers and laundry sorters are incredibly priced. And there is NOTHING in the world like their cool little organizing drawers and shelves. The same ones that cost three times the price at Pottery barn.

Years ago, their beds and picture frames came in European sizes so you'd have to buy special sheets and the posters from US museums wouldn't fit. I hope they've adjusted this stuff for the US market. I'm not planning on buying any beds or posters.

I happened to be crusing their website looking at the lamps. I have to buy two lamps, one for my daughter's room and one for my desk. I'm very disappointed with the selection. A number of years ago I changed almost all the light bulbs in the house to CFL (compact Fluorescents). The Ikea selection still require a lot of a halogen, which are hot and not energy efficient... neither of which are appealing to a house in Florida with kids who never remember to turn off the lights. So I think I'll just go to Target or Wal-Mart for the lamps.

My P-Touch and Mah Jongg

The 2007 Mah Jongg card arrived in the mail. I grabbd the trusty Brother Ptouch label maker and put labels on all the cards when the girls played Thursday night.

DVR - and how NBC should beef up their website

Our family is a DVR family and we subscribe through the cable company. It's a great peacemaker - no more "OMG - YOU were supposed to tape Boston Legal." The DVR is set to record it at any time on any station. You can't do that with Law & Order, it's on every hour of the day on some channel. So we set that for just the specific night and time.

But every once in a while we goof. I'm a die hard ER fan. Loved it from George Clooney through John Stamos. But somehow or another the DVR didn't pick up the new episodes after January 1 of this year. Didn't realize it until three or four weeks into the year.

If it was my beloved Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives, I could tune into ABC.com and catch it online. But NBC only gives a text synopsis with a two minute clip. This is not good.

I know I should be grateful that ABC is providing this wonderful service, but I grew up when ABC, CBS and NBC were all equal. Maybe not in the ratings, but in the format and content they provided. So I expect their Internet content to be on par with one another.

Jeff Zucker. .. are you a blog reader? If someone who is working for him reads this, please whisper in his ear.... I want my favorite NBC show on the website.

Jeffrey Zucker, President, NBC (Photo from NBC.com)

Can you move the odometer on the stationary bike?

At least for guests. My in-laws stayed the weekend in the guestroom and my mother-in-law actually noticed that the mileage on my bicycle hadn't increased since their visit here a month ago. She said she remembered the number because it was the same digits as her birthday - 1018.

Now I'll have to use it just to show her it is NOT the clothesrack she thinks it is.