Jewelry Sale

Jewelry.  My girls are so fond of jewelry that if they're not buying it, they're making it.  After a summer of making jewels and accessories galore and storing them in little boxes scattered around their room they decided that the rest of the world should be graced with a piece of their beautiful homemade jewelry.  It was settled.  They were going to have a  "jewelry sale". 

The girls invited their cousin and a friend to participate in the sale with them.  But then in realizing the drama and cattiness that could result in working equally with 4 girls, they took it upon themselves to set up a corporation of sorts.  My eldest, Paige, decided that since she was the brains behind the whole production she should be the President.  She then called Gracie to be the Vice-President.  The other two girls would be the secretaries.  And then to satisfy her brother's desires to be a part of this special occasion she appointed them to security duty.  The boys were thrilled with their job and title of "security" but soon found out that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  Paige and Gracie insisted that they wear certain attire.  Black.  Everything black.  When Brooks came out wearing a charcoal suit coat and slacks with newly polished black leather church shoes I intervened and explained that he could wear whatever he wanted.  He settled for jeans, a t-shirt, a coyote jawbone necklace, a bandanna on his head, a ball cap and sunglasses.  (I swear I didn't encourage this!)  Very intimidating!  After the matter of uniform was solved the girls set up scenarios of what would happen if someone tried to steal something from their jewelry sale.  If the security guards caught the thief and prevented any harm to the merchandise, they had successfully passed the training tests and were then promoted to "senior security".  If they failed however then the girls would kindly relieve the boys of their duties.  Brooks passed.  Cort failed.

The date was set.  The corporation was organized.  Security was trained.  It was time to sell some jewelry. 

The morning of the sale the girls were up bright and early with their cousin making last minute additions to their product line.  Paige dressed in a skirt to look professional.  Then they began setting up shop in the front yard.  Tables were lined up and table clothes hung.  Signs were nailed to trees and taped to posts.  The bracelets, rings and necklaces were taped to tables to prevent wind damage.  And a real cash register was plugged in, filled with coins and ready to roll.  Then, to add variety to the store, coolers of Otter Pops and sodas were set out along with cups of lemonade.  Fossils and rocks recently found in the yard were cleaned and polished and set out on display.  Small papers of children's art were taped to the tables in hopes of selling it.  The girls were officially open for business.

Quite a few customers came through the store that day.  At first I was convinced that the girls were actually going to lose money when they continued to sell sodas and Otter Pops to their brothers and then buy them for themselves.  But as time went on they were busy negotiating with neighbors and strangers alike who were kind enough to stop and make the sale a success.  My favorite customer of the day was a middle-aged heavy set man who pulled his old truck to the side of the road and hopped out.  He wore a cut off sleeveless shirt and a ball cap.  I could see a woman waiting patiently in the passenger seat as this gentleman juggled tiny bracelets, rings and necklaces in his big rugged hands.  He was a sweet man who spoke gently to the girls from beneath his bushy FuManchu.  He was who I least expected to shop at my girl's jewelry sale.  But the girls showed him around and after several minutes of grazing he took his bag of jewels and left.  It was too cute and too funny.

Notice the ginormous tub of cheese balls
under the table for snacks.

Five hours after the store opened the girls started cleaning up their tables and goods and counted and separated their money.  Each little entrepreneur walked away beaming with $8 in their pockets.  It was a good day.  And more than anything I was happy to see the sale end because it meant that they would stop bossing me around.  Oh wait.....I've got a lifetime of that left with two sassy girls.  Deep breaths.  Count to 10.  It will be okay.  I will survive.  Right?