Is This You? The art of the deal

Starting off my name isn’t Art so let me call this, “The Trina of the Deal.” Deal made? Great now we shake hands and everyone walks away happy. To me that’s a deal, a good deal. That’s what I’ve spent the last few weeks doing. Making deals and shaking hands. It has been an amazing, enlightening, exhausting and many other adjective creating words journey. Here are some highlights I hope make you scratch your head, smile and say, “Yep, she is a crazy woman who has been in the desert just a little too long!”

In January after my other half decided to go and meet the Lord and all the dust settled from that, one of the next steps was to decide how to handle all the stuff he had gathered up during his 70-plus years here. An estate sale began to take shape. Now that sale is over and it was an amazing ride. But! Yes but, but. But I do not advise this path be taken without a good support system and team surrounding you. Preferably not family while the sale is being organized. Why? Because you’ll spend your time looking and then deciding everything has meaning and you’ll put stuff out and then pull it back and pull stuff out and put it back… Thus defeating the “sale” portion of your estate sale!

Now then. You spend a huge amount of time gathering and displaying and pricing and just when you think you’re all done and ready to sell, another box has appeared. Or another closet is opened or in my case another building is entered and more things have decided to come to the party! Don’t panic. It’s an estate sale and you have to have an estate of stuff to have an estate sale and my other half did his fair share of hunting and pecking his way along and created a mountain of estate goodies I’m now in charge of scattering back out into the world. And on June 9-10 that’s just what I, well we, my great friends, neighbors and estate sale buyers did. Here are just a few of the deals that were made. Again, it was an amazing walk!

The sale was set for a Saturday and Sunday and wouldn’t you know it, my domestic well decided to take a dump on the Sunday before. I hesitantly called a good friend and asked him to take a quick look. A few expensive days later, (new pressure tank, new pump, new control box) the water was flowing again! When I asked what I owed he told me he would be by on Saturday and we would deal. And we did. A shake of hands and he walked away with some treasures and I had another glass of clear, cold water. Great deal!

I sold a kitchen wood burning stove to a great young couple. I know my other half wanted them to have it as it was his grandmother’s. They’re undertaking the refurbishing of it and I wish them luck as it’s going to be quite a project. The day of the sale I was talking to the husband about a portable welder that was for sale. Back and forth we discussed mine and another one he had seen recently. We talked and laughed about the last conversation he had with my other half. For some reason not long before my other half passed away they both had time to sit and talk in the shop and that was when they discussed the stove and stories were traded about guy stuff leaving a memory in this man’s mind that made me happy. We shook hands about the stove. He said they would leave a check that day and that was that. I thought after the sale if the welder didn’t sell I would call him. But that evening as I was going through the receipts of the day here was a check from them for the stove and the welder. What a great deal. A deal I didn’t even know was completed done and done. Again we both walked away smiling. Very cool.

Throughout the two days I got to talk to great friends I haven’t seen in years and friends who, since the loss of my other half, I just haven’t seen. Anyway, the sale ended — or so I thought.

I’m still making deals. Today, Tuesday, I had my yard, house and shop sprayed for bugs. I hate cat spiders but they seem to love my living spaces! This grand friend saw a couple of aluminum ramps I had and a deal developed of him killing the spiders and me paying for that service with those ramps. See a great deal where both of us walked away happy as — well happy as a woman with dead spiders and a man with a pair of aluminum ramps. Deal!

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com