Rock 'N' Rummage isn't your mom's lame yard sale. It's an event that brings the yard, garage, market and fair into the bar. Rock 'N' Rummage is a true alternative garage sale, selling music memorabilia, books, DVDs, CDs, artwork, clothing, vintage items, jewelry and handmade crafts. Hard-to-find items are abundant, and everything from horror movie posters to autographed Insane Clown Posse CDs turn up on the Rock 'N' Rummage tables.

Filmmakers Casey Schwochow and Beth Amber started Rock 'N' Rummage in the fall of 2005 and created a music-, drinking- and merchandise-centered event. Over the past year, Rock 'N' Rummage has taken Detroit by storm and popped up in several local bars as well as events such as the Fourth Street Fair.

In recent years online shopping and eBay have really taken off. But if you still want that personal shopping experience, a night of Rock 'N' Rummage might be just what you're looking for. One of the unique aspects of Rock 'N' Rummage is that besides taking part in shopping, you are invited to take part in setting up shop and selling your own stuff. No reservations are needed, and there are no fees for the tables.

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What I hate most about elections is that they so often seem to go on forever. Oh, the losing politicians fade away quickly enough, and the meaningless slogans are soon forgotten.

But the campaign signs often stay around for months, littering the landscape unnecessarily.

Across the nation more than 20 million campaign signs were put out this election season, according to The New York Times.

A recent Times article said officials in nine states have imposed new restrictions on where campaign signs can be posted and for how long.

Delaware, for example, has begun charging campaigns $25 for each sign still on public property 30 days after the election.

Virginia is allowing deputized volunteers to remove signs from public property.

In Columbus, Ohio, the traffic administrator mailed letters to all candidates pleading with them to take down their signs within two weeks.

Even businesses have gotten into the act to remove the eyesores.

In some areas, Chick-fil-A offered a free chicken sandwich to any customer who turned in a political yard sign the day after the election.

Officials with the chain said the idea was not picked up by any of its Florida restaurants.

However, in one North Carolina restaurant 3,500 campaign signs were turned in.

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Brilliant Idea!

Chances are if you've had a garage sale you've had something stolen or you've been worried about it.

Cheryl Burnett frets about it. She lives in east Mesa and recently had a sale along with neighbors on her street close to Brown and Power roads. She says every time she has a garage sale she's convinced someone will snatch an item when she's not looking. Cheryl laughs when she tells me she has never even had anything taken so she's not quite sure why she worries about it - but she does.

"It's a bit ironic because here I am willing to get rid of things for just pennies but at the same time I'm worried about people just walking up and taking stuff. I guess because it would be a violation and that would bother me," she said.

As you know, I go to a lot of garage sales and I occasionally hold them. And, yes, I've had something stolen, too. But you know what, even though I've had a few things swiped from my garage sales I'm still convinced the good outweighs the bad. After all, at garage sales we can meet new people, declutter our homes and make some decent pocket change.

And if a less-than-honest shopper shows up, there are a few things we can do to prevent stealing.

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I've been reading letters about all the Halloween decorations being stolen. This month at a garage sale, an antique was stolen. This was done by a grown-up.

How do we teach our children that stealing is wrong when parents do it and think it's all right?

I do hope this person doesn't have any children, so she can teach them to steal. If she does the right thing, she will return it and nothing will be said.

If not, I am sure she will be punished at a later date.

It doesn't matter if you steal from a child or a little old lady; stealing is stealing

[News Source]

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. It's a morning meant for party-style shopping at Liz Bly's home in Yorktown, Va.

About 15 friends and neighbors sit on folding chairs and sofas, catalogs in hand, pencils poised to write notes -- maybe fill in an order form.

The women are not looking for stylish food storage containers or fancy cookware. Instead, they are there to learn how to use a "soil blocker" to get their garden seeds off to a good start.

Lisa Ziegler stands in front of them to explain and demonstrate several little-known gardening tools and products. For instance, there's the dibber, a T-shaped aluminum planting hand tool that's perfect for small bulbs, she says. There's also a multiuse trowel that digs planting holes, removes weeds and smoothes soil.

She also peppers her program with educational tidbits. She advises the women to consult their local Virginia Cooperative Extension office when they have plant questions, and encourages them to adopt gardening habits that benefit the environment and health of the Chesapeake Bay.

"This is 'edu-tainment,' " she tells the women at Bly's gathering. "Whether you buy or not, you take something away from this workshop."

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“Having a yard sale is a reminder of every mistake you’ve made when you were shopping,” a friend recently told me.

At the time, I was in the throes of aching back, mental exhaustion and wondering if my sanity had, at last, left me. Yes, I was definitely recovering from having a yard sale.

The situation had become desperate.

It was either have a sale or move out to get more room for all the stuff I’d bought.

I couldn’t imagine how I had ended up with so much stuff until I remembered all the days I had come home with the car full of items I was certain we needed immediately and could not live without.

Or I had a car full of items on sale that I was sure I would never find at that rock bottom price again.

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When most of us want to relax we might read a book, see a movie or maybe even take a nap, but not Jerry Ritter. He grabs a chain saw.

"This one's driving me crazy. I've been working on it for two weeks now." Sounds odd that something that drives him crazy makes him relax but it does. Jerry goes to garage sales every Saturday morning looking for things that don't work. Then with a little elbow grease and mind bending he makes them new again. Kind of reminds me of the Island of Misfit Toys in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas special. He gives new life to things many of us would give up on and throw away.

"I find all kinds of things to work on. Stuff like that fascinates me. And it keeps my mind going . . . it keeps me sharp."

Jerry, 72, searches for broken appliances such as microwaves and lawn equipment, clocks, watches and anything else that looks hopeless. I met Jerry recently at a garage sale in Mesa. It was a good sale where I snatched up two nice-size plants for $4, but I did pass on a box of junk for sale. Jerry didn't. He grabbed the box of miscellaneous items for $3. I was intrigued. I had to find out why someone would want a box of "stuff " - something most of us would've put in the trash instead of the garage sale. Turns out he saw materials he could use to fix his collection of items on his operating table in his garage.

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