remembered again

just remembered that i have this blog again, so thought i would write again.

well since that last post, i actually got a different job. i now clean out foreclosed homes. while cleaning out these homes we find some pretty cool/crazy stuff that we are allowed to just...acquire. so, these acquired goods (that are acquired by a process that looks something similar to what the Wet Bandits do in the movie Home Alone) become our yard sale items.

we have a yard lot where we keep all these goods and there is a woman named Pat who owns a home just outside of our lot. to our benefit, she has yard sales monthly. today, was one of those monthly yard sales - thus i spent most of my day with Pat, working the yard sale.

the point of all of that, is to share a bit about Pat. Pat has a special needs child who does not like to come outdoors often. She lives alone with this 17-year-old son of hers and her dog named Zeus (a one-year-old German shepherd). Pat was born in Brooklyn, NY and came to Modesto in the early 70s because she had an uncle out here that she was able to live with. years ago she started doing yard sales as a way of bringing the neighbors together and helping out some people. and so, here i was today with Pat, mixing with the neighbors.

Pat has numerous "regulars" at her yard sales, and i was able to witness several people stop by today just to say hi to Pat and see what new stuff she has this month. it was the most incredible thing to see all these different kinds of people come by and see her, and hear stories of how she knew the different people. for example, one women works down the street in a home for young, pregnant teenagers. it seemed that they had known each other for years now.

she in fact shared with me that she used to just purchase extra furniture and then just give it away to people when she found someone who needed it. now, i could choose to not believe Pat when she told me all of this (and some of it, honestly, i didn't), but then we started talking about the economy and materialism, and something changed in our conversation and suddenly Pat became like a kindred spirit.

she's an ex-hippie, thin, dyed red hair (and I mean RED hair), high-pitched, exuberant woman who either waved or yelled hello to every car that passed today. but, it was really cool to spend my day today with Pat.

well then this evening i had another kick-butt book club meeting. we discussed Ayn Rand's Anthem and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. great books read together.

i need to sleep now. and....i haven't showered in oh...4 days.

emily rose