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7.21.2010

Won't You Be My Neighbor?


Brandon is world famous in Moscow for being the heart and soul behind The Fence, that bastion of manly craftsmanship. Ladies in the neighborhood love to fawn all over Brandon and his rippling forearms of might and courage.

But that Fence was nothing compared to the glory that went down on our driveway on Saturday.

Our yard sale filled up the entirety of the living room the night before.  We assigned prices on brightly colored sticky dots until the wee hours, and then Brandon The Famous arose at 4:30 to begin hauling pieces of our Moscow lives to the curb to be rifled through and taken home starting at 8:00 on the dot.

At 7:00 I pointed and stretched my toes and then headed to the kitchen in my undies for a bowl of cereal. That is when the entire bloody town of Moscow saw me in my undies, because the whole bloody town was in my driveway.

Our couch? Sold. Our table? Sold. Four years worth of my clothing? Sold. In, like, five minutes. My bronze planter stand that is so ugly it is cool? Not sold, and just in the nick of time!

Things began to die down around noon, and then randomly at 2:00 I went outside to find a man in his seventies serenading Brandon on my guitar with old songs he used to perform "while touring Europe in my twenties."

Our house was the center of the universe that day. We sold everything.

Now that the Moving Sale of the Century has ended, Brandon's status in the neighborhood has skyrocketed. "That sure was some yard sale!" is what the neighbors say in reverent tones.

And then I say, "Who was that?"

And then Brandon says,

"Oh, so-and-so from the down the street. Did you know his wife is French?"

And I say,

"Oh."

And then I  go back to thinking about whether I want an orange popsicle or a cherry popsicle when our walk is over, 'cause that's about all I'm good for these days.

12 comments:

  1. I hope the Holbs is enjoying his time in the spotlight. Before you know it all of your posts will be about the baby. Cute post.

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  2. These Holbs stories are great! I am looking forward to the rest of this week! Long live the Holbs! Nat, you're also great too!

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  3. You COULD be jealous of some of this attention, but you know better; just drink it all up that he's so good at what he does, and that he made your job quite a bit easier. Yes? Oh, the very thought of putting on a yard sale makes me shudder. I'm glad it was a success!

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  4. Wow. I felt as though I was reading about my own Hubs. He fulfills the same manly goodness in our neighborhood. Everyone loves him. All the ladies (in their forties) come outside to watch as he mows the yard. They drive by 2 or 3 times. Or they walk the block as if to get exercise. As if! And then they walk the block AGAIN. It's crazy I tell you! But don't I feel lucky?! :)Of course. We lucky girls!

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  5. It's nice to have such a popular hubs. Both of mine (yes, I DID venture there twice!) were useless so of course everyone ignored them all the time and even now most friends/neighbours can't for the life of them remember who I was married to. Mind you, if it wasn't for the kids, I'd have forgotten as well.

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  6. Awesome! I love yard sales...well shopping at them at least. Wonder if your Holbs yard sale tips are similar to mine?

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  7. Oh! sounds like I missed out. I should have sent Jeremy over...he digs yard sales. I was attending more important events. :)

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  8. AnonymousJuly 22, 2010

    "That is when I saw the entire bloody town of Moscow, in my driveway. In my undies."
    The first time I read that, I accidentally skipped the part about you being the one wearing your undies, and for a moment I read that as all of Moscow wearing them.
    Very funny moment of confusion there.

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  9. We have the same situation going on with Tim being all friendly like and me well not. I like you feel this is for the better as small talk is alarming to me and I feel the need to run away when confronted with such situations.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 28, 2010

    i thought it was HolbsWeek...you put up like two stinkin posts about him.....thats a PartialHolbs

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  11. Hooray for the Holbseller, and hooray for your rescued bronze planter! :-)

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