Two Noras and a Community Spotlight

Someone in the neighborhood treats Super Junk Day like a free shopping trip and rolls off with two kids’ bikes and suddenly it’s not a cute curbside story anymore. We talk through what happened next, why an AirTag made all the difference, and the practical reality of keeping tabs on kids and their stuff when devices die and summer schedules get messy. If you’ve ever wondered whether tracking tech is worth it, this real-life moment makes a pretty strong case.

From there, we take a hard left into the internet’s favorite category: food and wellness trends that feel one step removed from parody. Think National Cheese Day, National Tetris Day, the so-called Bible diet, and even energy drinks branded with religious imagery. We unpack the appeal, the discomfort, and the marketing choices that turn faith into a product label. Then we hit a headline that truly tests the limits of our appetite for news: a Spaghettios worms story that is equal parts horrifying and impossible to ignore.

Next, we bring it home with a community spotlight on the St. John of the Cross Parish Garage Sale, a 51-year tradition that runs like a mini department store inside a school. You’ll hear how donations are handled, how volunteers clean and stage items, why people line up before sunrise, and the genius of a $10 “shopping spree” that clears the building fast. We also share where the money goes, including scholarships and support for multiple charities, which makes bargain hunting feel a lot more meaningful.

If you love neighborhood stories, community events, practical tips, and a little pop-culture chaos, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who lives for a good sale, and leave a review so more people can find us. What’s your best secondhand treasure or your worst curbside mistake?

Mike Haggerty Buick GMC
Right on the corner, right on the price! Head down to 93rd & Cicero & tell them the Noras sent you!

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Transcript

Summer Starts And Small Joys

SPEAKER_04 0:07

Hi, thanks for joining us today. It's Nora. And Nora, we're sure glad you're here. Yes! I feel like it's still that's season five glow. You do. I was gonna talk to you about that. I have that summer glow.

SPEAKER_05 0:18

This is one of my very favorite days of the year.

SPEAKER_04 0:22

I know.

SPEAKER_05 0:22

Last day of school, I love it so much.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

Same. So it's so good. Just putting the lunch boxes away. Just being like, ugh, you don't have to go to bed yet. Well, the other thing is we waited a while, June 5th. I know our high school kids really crawled to the finish. It's been an eternity. Rory got home from his last final today and was like, hooray! He was like, Do I have anything I have to do today? I was like, a haircut. He was like, that's it. I'm like, the day is yours to help me. What would his perfect day be? Oh, popcorn, video games, movies, and maybe some Hershey bars. So like a chill day. Just it's a perfect, perfect weather because storming. Storming, rainy. It's weird though. It'll rain for like five minutes pouring and then stop.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

Well, it'll rain for just long enough for me to go cover up all my stuff that I put out for Super Junk Day.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

That was I noticed that you covered up your things. That was very kind. I've gotten rid of a brand new dresser. I've gotten rid of a side. Wait, the one you just bought from Wave Fair? Yes. You got rid of it? Yeah. Well, you couldn't return it? Well, I got a new one. I just bought a whole new one.

unknown 1:34

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

No, no, they sent me a new one. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:37

Oh, okay. And we didn't have it in us to build another one. So I wrote a little note on it. All pieces and instructions are intact. Top two pieces are broken. And then when somebody came by, I ran out and I was like, this is a gem. It's a $700 dresser for free, but two broken parts.

unknown 1:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

And they were so happy. I was like, look, here's a little accent rug, too. And she put that in the car. That's amazing. I know. So I think it's all in the way you market it.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Showcase it. Well, I'm so behind my stuff is this is gonna get thrown out there. It's gonna look like

Super Junk Day Curbside Chaos

SPEAKER_04 2:14

a tornado. Be careful what you put out there because I had a run-in with Western Springs Police Department today. Thank God this is a happy ending.

SPEAKER_05 2:21

But they are true heroes. My youngest was coming home with a pal and stopped at his house, and they helped one of their neighbors move a table inside. And in the meantime, someone came by. For those of you who aren't local, Super Junk Day or Garbage Day is when you put all the things you don't want out on the curb and people drive around the neighborhood and pick it up.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

I mean, the intention is that the garbage company takes it to throw it away and dispose of it for you. But really, what happens, other people, it's almost like a buffet of discarded items. A smorgage board.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Yeah. So my son and his pal left their bikes a little too close to the parkway, and somebody came and scooped them up.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

I have a brilliant friend. We have a brilliant friend. I really need to do that. I know. She said it was really to keep track of her son. But she puts crime stoppers. Yeah, now she put a air tag on the bike. And I had called the police and they swarmed to the scene. Oh my gosh. And sure enough, the air tag helped us locate the bike. Because do you think if it was not for the air tag, you never would have found it. Oh, they were out on the prowl. They were gonna find this. Oh, they were probably figured they were still in Western Springs. They were committed. Yeah. Oh. They were. So the happy ending is that both boys got their bikes back and lesson learned. Lesson learned. Air tag. I mean, air tags are a beautiful thing. So I think we're putting one on John's bike. Yeah. I'm gonna put one on Kevin's now, too. Because sometimes their Apple watches run out of batteries, and then you're like, don't they sta? Mijo. Right. Right.

Food Holidays And The Bible Diet

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Um, hey, happy National Cheese Day. Well, eat your cheese while you're playing Tetris because it's also National Tetris Day. Rory's Rory's in heaven. Cheesy popcorn. So yes. Oh my. Who I wonder if the cheese people and the Tetris people are gonna love. I wonder if blocks of cheese, blocks of Tetris.

SPEAKER_05 4:24

Yes, there you go. Yes. I think the people who follow the Bible diet can also celebrate this day.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

The Bible diet? You heard of the Bible Bible diet? What is it? Honey, milk, fish, slim, slim gym still. Do you remember those commercials? Step into a slim gym. And it was like Macho Man Randy Samsung. I understudied for Macho Man. Slim. Sorry. Slim your frame in Jesus. Slim your frame in Jesus. Jesus' name. What?

SPEAKER_05 5:03

This knucklehead, Caleb Bundy. No, no. Is equal parts foodie and faithful?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Claims you should treat your body like a temple. And ultra-processed food is a sin.

SPEAKER_04 5:17

Oh. And biblical eating is really just going back to what God designed for food. So anything in the garden of Eden.

unknown 5:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Are apples allowed? Maybe apples aren't allowed. Ooh, that's a trick, Evil.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

She nicks sugary indulgences such as ice cream and Starbucks, along with crunchy treats like deep-fried Chinese food. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

And now she's in the name of leading a healthier life for the Lord. She has 50,000 followers.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

And adheres to the over 100 foods mentioned in the Bible. Interesting. That's her approach. Grains, clean meats, raw dairy, healthy oils, and legumes. No. That's so interesting because I read an article about people who are using Jesus to market their energy drinks. Jesus to market the energy? Yes. So this is a total different thing. It is full of the Holy Spirit. Oh, well, yeah. But look at this. It's called Yah, like, no joke. It's called Yahweh Energy Drink. Take him anywhere. Zero sugar, zero calories. And it's called Berry Blessed. That's a funny name for it. Where do they sell this holy water? I don't know. Oh, here's another one with Jesus on it. Who's buying this? I don't know. But the article was saying like they're kind of treating him like Mickey Mouse or like a like a spokesperson. I don't think that's okay. I think that's very strange. Right? Like this one, because listeners, it's it's a very romanticized Cristo. Yes. A picture of Jesus, and he's he's had a blowout. His beard looks great. He's got his eyebrows done. Yes. A crown of thorns. Maybe some Botox. Yes. Yeah. It's a thing. So this lady is using the Bi using the Bible. I wonder how she feels about Yahweh. Energy drinks. I don't understand the name. Yahweh is a for Jesus. It's like it was a another term for God. It is?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yahweh. Oh. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Huh. All right. So she said, oh because energy drinks were definitely not around in biblical. Yes, this is not part of, let's be clear, listeners, this is not part of the Bible diet. Bible diet. I wonder if you can drink wine on it. Oh, only if it was water first. True. So I have two food things. Both one is definitely gross. One might be gross, but Oh, gee. Great. Yes.

Worms In A Can Nightmare

SPEAKER_04 8:07

A woman in Florida opened up a can of spaghettios to share with her daughter. First of all, what grown woman is sharing spaghettios? Spaghettios. I well, I know. You never know. There were worms in it. I'm sorry. Oh my gosh. That's so sick. There were worms. I don't want to take a picture of that. Parasites. Oh, I'm surprised that all those chemicals didn't just like kill worms suckers. I mean, they didn't have a real picture of it. Okay. But bless her heart, she like had dead abdominal pain and like her daughter was sick. They're only asking for $75,000. I feel like you could way more. Yeah. Oh. Is it Cam a Campbell's company? It's I think it is. Yeah, Campbell's. Yeah. Why are they only asking for she needs a new lawyer? But it was one of those things, because they have a picture of normal spaghettios without the worms in it. And I looked at it, I'm like, yeah, you would not see like if a worm in there. Oh, it's so sick. Okay, we have it. I'm sorry. And I told you right when you took a drink of water, which was like a little bit more. No, that's because I knew there were worms in there. All

Firecracker Pop Oreo Taste Test

SPEAKER_04 9:16

right. So we've tried a lot of Oreos. Mm-hmm. Oh, do we have a new one? We have a new Oreo. I'm I have to say, I'm not. I don't think these are gonna be great. These are darn. Cute packaging. They are Oreo limited edition firecracker pop. I would serve them for a view of a basketball game or football game if I was having an Arizona party. Yeah. They're so cute for 4th of July. They're darling. But so it's a red, white, and blue frosting, just like those the classic popsicle, classic, classic popsicle. But it's blue raspberry, lemon and cherry flavor cream. And chock full of red dye 40. 40 and all the dyes. No worms though. Oh, these are so cute. They're so cute. Oh, I think I'm gonna love them. My daughter tried to spit it out. She did? Well, cheers. So I'm not, I'm excited. Okay. I hope you like them because they're yours. It's a lot of cream. Oh, it smells like a candle. I like them. I'm into them. They taste like bubble yum. They're not bad. They're really good. Actually, I really don't mind this, but I I'm leaving them at your house.

SPEAKER_05 10:28

The blue raspberry tastes like bubble yum bubblegum.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Not as bad as I thought they were gonna be. This gets my stamp of approval. I still don't really I don't think I'll eat any more of them because I'm leaving them at your house, but wait, are you leaving them at my house? No, Tabby said it a lot. Sorry. What? Well they're very cute. I want to be on that team that creates Oreo flavors and tests some. You would be good at it. I think I would be bad at it. Well, you have to I would I would never approve anything. Some sensitivities. Exactly. Sensitive palate. I'm worried that my mouth is gonna be blue. I'm worried I'm gonna eat the whole package. Oh good. Enjoy. Yeah. I'm in good health. Well, have I told you about this lady? She's not a lady with spaghettios in her worms. Or worms in her spaghettios. I think I would rather find spaghettios in my worms. Say, oh well. Not that

Seashell Car And Whimsymaxing

SPEAKER_04 11:28

anyway.

SPEAKER_05 11:28

She started this little project where she covered her entire car with seashells.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 11:40

It started out that she was just kind of walking around on the beach collecting shells and she was trying to decide what to do with them. And then she decided she was gonna cover her car with them. So she collected all these shells, she sorted them all, she got the hot glue. Oh no. And she took her smart car and transformed it into this darling little like pedazzo. Yeah, she's from New York. This is the Sheldon 3.

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

And it took her several years to create this.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

It's cuter than I thought it was gonna be. So cute. You know where she gets her gas?

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Shell?

SPEAKER_04 12:20

The shell station.

SPEAKER_05 12:22

She said it sparks joy and connection with people of all ages.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Oh, and she lives in New York? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 12:28

Her husband wasn't super on board, but it just became a cute project she couldn't stop thinking about. She said she put a couple shells on her car and then it just blossomed from there.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

She thing because she didn't just like throw them on willy-nilly. She really had a design in mind. She did have a design in mind. So I thought for all you crafty people out there. Start, you know, and sometimes you have to shoot shells. And you're like, what do I do with them?

SPEAKER_05 12:52

Ahead of her time, because they describe this as a whimsical car. Yeah. And whimsy maxing is a new zeleniaal trend.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 13:01

Which is a Can you give me another example? Is that a thing? Yeah. Approaching life with a more playful vibe and more curiosity.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Oh. Is that really a trend? I don't think that's a trend. I think that's just being whimsical. That's just a a state of mind.

SPEAKER_05 13:19

Perhaps spontaneous trips for ice cream, colorful versus neutral.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

I know.

Decision Fatigue And “Satisficing”

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Yeah, well, there is a psychologist who just there was an article in the New York Times about ha the secret to happiness. What is it? He says it's limiting your choices. And just choosing what you want and not going too far to the deep end into of, oh well, I could do, you know, where should we go on vacation? Well, we could go to twelve different states. It's like, no. Pick pick your state, be happy with that, and move on. So simple. Keeping life simple. His daughter was interviewed and she said he basically had like an outfit to wear, an outfit in his closet, and an outfit just in case. Like he to the extreme. He said, You're making decisions all wrong. We have too much information. You're looking too hard to find answers. Because we have like unlimited resources to research, and that if you and I am guilty of this. Like if I'm looking up something, I'm like, oh, but then there's this review or this review or this says this and that and the other thing. And he said, searching for the best thing is not the goal. Because you should just a way to make better decisions is to just what is good for you right now, not necessarily like the best thing.

unknown 14:46

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 14:46

Which is really hard. Yeah. Huh. And he came up with a word he said satisficing. Like sacrificing and satisfying. So satisfying and satisfy and suffice. Oh, suffice. So it's kind of like I'm satisfied, this will suffice. Yeah. It's kind of like what I say. It sounds like he's settling, but he's happy. So he said, if you consider a limited set of options and choose one that is good enough and then move on to live your life. Do you just want your life to be good enough though? But then I guess I can see where he's like, but then you're not like, oh, I should have done that, or you know, I have this, but I wish I had that. It reminds you kind of what we used to say in college when I worked in the scene shop. We would say good enough for who it's for when we were building things. That's funny. Which is kind of it's it sounds a little flippant and a little rude, but actually sometimes you're like, it reminds me sometimes with kids' stuff where it's like they don't need it to be. Oh, for sure. Yeah. This is good enough. Yeah. This is fine. This is enough. This is enough. Yeah. And so maybe that is a good takeaway from this article that it's like, you know, it can be enough.

unknown 16:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Yeah, I'm on board. So, anyways, that I have one other piece of very exciting

Sweaters With Shorts Trend

SPEAKER_04 16:13

news. Go for it, girl. You know, it's an in a wait, don't wait, don't do it. A big trend in Los Angeles, something you love. Oh. And something you love. So not sweaters. Well, no, it's two things together. Is it iced tea? It's sweaters and shorts. Oh, I love shorts. And I love sweaters. This is a big trend in Los Angeles. Well, not I mean, I know you're not on board with those shorts. Sweaters and shorts. Great. I love I love long sleeves and shorts. I do too. Well, I don't love shorts. I like that bag too. Isn't that cute? Yeah. But I got really excited as well. Good. I have a couple long, I have a couple sets that are sweaters and shorts. Oh. Like, how cute is that? Like a J. Crew roll neck sweater and a pair of shorts? I'm so happy. I am too. Look at us. I know. Blending both Nora's together. Jelly. All good things. Yay. Well, should we check in with our sponsor? Let's do it. Nora. Have you heard about the Buick S-U V sale? S-U-V sale? I've heard of the S U V sale. Oh no, it's S Y O U V because they want you in an SUV.

SPEAKER_05 17:26

Well, one thing I do know is Buick makes an incredible SUV. Mm-hmm. Or as you say it.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

S U V. And right now there's fantastic deals at Mike Haggerty Buick GMC. Oh, would they have an SUV though that's going to fit my family of six? The Buick Enclave probably has just what you need. And all Buick models are 0.9% APR for 36 months, bonus cash, or a CCR component. Oh wow, what a deal. And you can build these things just how you like them. Customize your own Buick SUV at 93rd Cicero. It really is for you. It really is just for you. Head on down to 93rd and Cicero or check them out at highgritycars.com. I sure will. I'll see you later.

Parish Garage Sale Origins And Schedule

SPEAKER_04 18:12

So today, listeners, with our fifth season, we're trying something new that we're calling community spotlights. I think you said we have a few tricks up our sleeve for this season. A few tricks up our sleeve, you know. We had the wonderful pleasure of meeting with two very important ladies in our community. Two of the three co-chairs for the St. John of the Cross Parish Garage Sale.

SPEAKER_05 18:34

So we invite you to take a listen. Hello to Karen. Hello to Jenny. They are joining us here from the St. John of the Cross Parish Women's Club to talk to us about. Welcome, ladies.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Thank you for being here. We love having guests on our podcast. So this is really special. Thank you. I love being a guest. And this is special today, especially because it's in our own neighborhood. Yes. Yeah, it is right down the block.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

June 20th is the St. John of the Cross Women's Club garage sale, and we want the scoop on it.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Well, it's the 51st year. Wow. We did skip a few years when there was construction.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

You know, two for COVID.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

And COVID. Yes. But this is the actual 51st event. I had no idea it had been going on for that long. Right. So it started in the rectory garage.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Oh my garage sale.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah. You know, because they built the rectory, they built the school, and then they built the church. And then they built the pairs. So were the items in the original garage sale just from the rectory and the school? No, I think people donated to it. But I think it was like privately, you know, it was much smaller scale. Obviously, the garage is a bit big.

SPEAKER_05 19:46

But and as it evolved, then you just realized you had so many neighborhood treasures that you had a bit to find a bigger space.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Well, I didn't make that choice. I think years ago they decided let's move it to the school. So prior to COVID, the garage sale took a lot more time. The minute the children stepped out of the school, the garage sale moved in and set up all the rooms. And that took about a week to I remember my kids doing service hours, and it was like that sign up genius was extensive. Right, right. And so then after that, they would have an they would have several drop-off days. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

It went for a whole week. It would go from morning until night. Right. For a week. So that was a long long time.

unknown 20:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah. And it took up the entire first floor of the school and the upstairs gym. Yes. After COVID, it had to get streamlined. Um, we were told. Okay. Okay. And we're like, oh great. Now what do we do?

SPEAKER_04 20:46

We had to really kind of had to rein it in on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

We decided we don't. I said, if I have to if we're running it, we don't want three weeks. Yes. Yeah, three weeks. Right. And and a lot of our volunteers are getting older. They're aging.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

And I, you know, although they love it and they live for it, we don't.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

You may have other things on your calendar for the summer. One piece of your summer podcast. Sometimes if you give people that long, they'll take that long. But if you say it's a day, that's exactly right. It's like we're to condense it.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

But then when we did condense it, we were like, we did it. They swore it's a good idea. Like you built it to the book. So it had just kind of like grown legs and kind of grown into this enormous thing that didn't need to be quite so big. And when we tried to make it more efficient and compact, it actually worked just fine. It did.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

So we got it down to a week where on Monday we get our room set up. Tuesday's drop off. Yeah. And Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they have that time to price and set up their rooms. And then Friday afternoon, we let our coaches shop. Well, that's nice. And then after that, the volunteers, and then after that, Any of our charities because the women's club supports about 15 plus charities. If they want to come in and get something, they can do that. I think that's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

That speaks to the volume of items that you have donated, that you are able to have that many rounds of pre-sale, essentially, and still have enough.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Oh, so much. I mean, we don't even sell. I think if we're lucky to sell half of what we get. And so to clarify one day drop-off.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

So that is quite a day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

And so to clarify, then drop-off this year is June the 16th. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Tuesday from 10 to 8.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

And generally we have to have cones in the parking lot to because at one point it they were backing up to Wolf Road. Yes. Droppings down. I know I have a little pile of yes. Do you take blackout curtains?

Donations Rules And Behind The Scenes

SPEAKER_02 22:51

We don't take curtains. Oh no! And so the thing about COVID, we realized okay, there's some things we shouldn't be taking because of COVID. Sure. So we got rid of like linens and towels, stuffed animals. Yeah. We decided not to do books anymore because that ended up being a very heavy endeavor. Of all the things you've collected, what is the strangest? Well, there's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

And keep in mind, we are not an explicit podcast.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Well, there's a lot of things we'll say, what is this? Oh we don't know what it is. Well, we don't know what it is. Carry it around and say, you know. Oh, yeah, I know. What we do do is when we do find something strange, we put it aside. Oh. And at our dinner, we have a dinner on Saturday after our appreciation dinner is Saturday, right after the sale. And we have a raffle. Oh, that's funny. So we've given so yeah, and so that's the entertainment. Oh, yes, dynamic.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

So that's part of the entertainment of the dinner is the gifts that everybody collected that are kind of out there and strange and weird. And it's it's just hilarious when people win them. And sometimes it's like the most mismatched thing for that person.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

We had a parrot lamp last year, and the year before we had that uh bird mask or something. It was very odd. A lot a lot of odd things, and we're just like, okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

But good on you, ladies, for finding the you know, the humor, finding the joy in it, which is also probably why you've been on this committee for so many years. I'm sure there's a lot of behind-the-scenes laughs. A lot of laughs. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you had to describe this event to somebody in one sentence, what would you say? How would you describe it?

SPEAKER_03 24:32

I would say it's a massive sale with really great stuff. Multi-generational.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Multi-generational volunteers, especially. Yeah. Five to ninety five.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

Well, it is truly a family volunteer opportunity where moms can bring their kids. And that's how I got started. When my kids were little, I could bring them with me. Where are so many volunteer opportunities you can't? You're right. Yeah, they just want the adults. So that's how I got into it. And but also just it is massive. Like we try to describe the layout people. It's the whole first, you know, most of the first floor of the school, the entire gym is clothing, and people are like, wow, and we have pictures, and it's a little overwhelming.

SPEAKER_05 25:13

A family volunteer event with really good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:15

Yes, multi-generational.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

It kind of reminds me of like, have you ever been to one of those, like a market at Istanbul, or you know, like where just stalls everywhere? So like all the classrooms are looked neat. Yeah, like we're just you know walking through.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

But every classroom is a department. So more than every department has a co-chair, more than one co-chair. And then they always have these very dedicated volunteers that have helped for years and kind of know their stuff.

SPEAKER_05 25:40

And kids can get service hours there too, can't they?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Absolutely. Absolutely. And we have paid heavy lifters. I saw that, yes. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Were you interested? I can see those guns in my schoolnosis is flaring out.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Maybe next year. Okay. I'll get a trainer. But you we we realize that you know none of us can do that.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Is there a a section or a department in the garage sale that you think is underrated that maybe isn't as visited as some of the others?

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Well, I think hardware is kind of a guy thing. Okay. But this year we're adding small appliances to the hardware department. Underrated? You know, it depends on what we get donated.

SPEAKER_05 26:21

Maybe it changes from year to year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Based on your infantry.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

Some rooms will be a little more full than others from year to year.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

And then some will have to something got put in the wrong room. You know, that that would sell better in trust. Okay. Or interest is kind of the marketing of selling in decor. A lot of times the co-chairs will walk the rooms to see if there's anything that should go in their room. To just be moved around. Yeah, that they know that they'll get more money for it. And then also, like in jewelry, we've made thousands of dollars in jewelry that is real. From gold and silver. Gold and silver. We take it to a place and we get a wow, you get a brand. We have some of that gold and silver in our home.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

I have a patron. My youngest lives for the St. John of the Cross garage sale, John Westfall. And that's where he gets his chains. Oh, yes. He will be the first to tell you that one of them was complimentary during the half-price sale last year. So yeah. Oh, he loves that. Of course.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

And you know, that's the fun part is to see the joy on some people's faces. I mean, we we had a woman who walked away with what I know was close to a thousand dollar double stroller and she got it for $50. Yes, and it was in good condition. Because we we try to we tidy things up if they're a little, you know, dirty, stinky, whatever. Yeah, you know, and make it look nice. And I I give a lot of credit to the women and the men that run our our rooms. They they knock themselves out. They do.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

And they love it. As far as like be what you might not know going on behind the scenes. And I love this so much as these volunteers take such ownership of their room and the stuff in their room. And so the jewelry is inspected and cleaned, and hardware is plugging everything in to make sure it works. And in clothing, they are staging. We have mannequins, they are taking their best scarf and their best hands.

SPEAKER_05 28:16

They may want to take a look at the sale.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

I think then truly try to make the goods in as fine a condition as possible and as appealing and visually staged and things like that. Furniture does that. So there's passion in there. It's not just like a junk sale.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

No, no, they take pride. Yeah. A lot of pride. And I think that's evident because your line is out the door.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

Yes. And around the corner. Well, I've said for customers.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Do you have people year after year?

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah, there's this one woman, she's always first in line at 5 30, 6 o'clock in the morning. I get and go over there and take pictures and talk to people. And and then this year and last year we had the scouts, the brownies selling donuts and water bottles.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

So outside before the sale starts is kind of a fun vibe. Because people are they bring lawn chairs and it, you know, they're you can get coffee and donuts and what time do people start lining up fire? 5 36.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Yeah. That's dedication. And then do you only let a certain amount in, or do you just open the doors and say go? We let everybody in. Like it it works out.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

If it gets really crowded, then they hold off a little bit. But we have security at the door. We have security throughout. Yes. And yeah, we have to have a fire inspector come the day before, make sure we have three foot aisles. So everybody has to be very conscious of what they're doing. And they do, they take it very seriously and and yet have fun at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

We're so lucky to have this. We had a garage sale at Nora's house, and we we definitely could have gone to you ladies for some point. All right, before we wrap up, I want to know what's the one thing you're most excited for this

Shopping Spree Finale And Fundraising

SPEAKER_04 29:56

year?

SPEAKER_02 29:56

We could talk about the shopping spree. Oh, yeah. Oh, oh. That was started last year.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

Well, yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

We realized But it's new. It is new. We realized that we still had a lot of stuff left over, even after our half price. And you know, our goal is to try to get rid of as much as we can and make money. But after that, then we have to give stuff back to charities and we had a free box set up outside. Tell them about the shopping spree. After the half price sale, and during the sale, we announced that this is going to happen after half price. After half price, we clear the school, let people in for $10 a person, and they can take whatever they want.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

That is fun. It's really fun because but it's even more fun for us because the physical work involved in packing up the it's a win-win. Getting that stuff out of the building is tremendous and exhausting. So people are literally paying us to do the work that we would otherwise be doing on cleaning.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

And I bet you there's things that people are like, well, I don't know if any of I'm gonna take it because I pay my $10.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Right, right, right. That's brilliant. So they were walking out with huge rugs and you know, stuff that it's really hard to Yeah, oh, sure. Yeah, the bigger the item, the better it is for it. But we do have wonderful charities that will come. We are excited about the shopping spree. And then Heidi, who I want to give a big shout out. Shout out to, who is our third coach here who couldn't be here. You know, she does a lot of the stuff on Facebook. And so she put on free box that on the north side of our building where all the volunteers come in, not the main area of the school, we put stuff out. And this is on cleanup day. On cleanup day, which is Monday. Okay, and we have to get the school back to the way it looked the previous Monday. Oh shoot.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

So we take pictures of all the stuff that's we put outside, and people come and they take for free. And they it's a massive amount of stuff, and you're like, nobody's ever gonna take all this stuff. And they do and they take all the time. This is my dad.

SPEAKER_04 31:59

Dad's favorite game to play at their house. He likes to put things out at the end of the driveway and then just be like, he'll be like, all right, I put it out at you know, three thirds. How long is it gonna take? He's like, I can't believe so took that. That's what I just did with our my features. I know. Right, and it's oh, you know, I'm happy that if somebody like we put out chairs once that were broken, and someone's like, These are still good, and they're like, we don't know how to fix them. So if you can fix them, they're yours or less. Yeah, no problem. God bless you. Take this happy for you to find. Well, thank you guys. Thank you for taking the time to share this because it's great information, it's fun for the community. And the SJC Women's Club is pretty spectacular. You guys do so many wonderful things and events throughout the year, not just the garage.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

It's a really wonderful and this is their biggest fundraiser. And so let me just explain very quickly where the money goes. Yes, please. Oh, god, a huge chunk is set aside for the Father McDonald Scholarship Fund, which helps students that want to go to Catholic high school. After that, whatever money is left is distributed to all our charities. Oh we do give a stipend to the church and a stipend to the school, but the rest go to our charities. So we don't keep any of the money.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

People are always so surprised to hear that. They think we're I thought it went back into the fundraising for ourselves. Yeah, we it goes.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Okay, I thought it went back into the parish. And then some of our expenses are now being taken care of through sponsorship. We thought, well, if the festival has sponsorship, why can't we? So right now we've got probably close to getting close to over $2,000 in sponsorship. Wonderful. It really helps a lot. It does. It defraises.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

Well, we wish you all the best with drop-off.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 33:39

And with setup, and with shopping, and with cleanup. And we hope you have a really fun dinner too.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

You're invited to come on any one of those days. Even just to look.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

You know what we should do is we should take some pictures so that on our Instagram we can hype it. Not that you need people, more people can come. Well, we can always have people come. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

The 16th is our drop-off. That's our busiest day.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Maybe we won't come that day.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Literally, we'll take any hands we can get for any amount of time. Yes. Like if you can give us a half hour hour, we'll take the kids.

SPEAKER_05 34:11

And I sent it to my high schooler kids, my high school kids. Oh, they did.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

Oh, in my eighth grade, my surface hours, and they love it.

SPEAKER_05 34:19

And if people want any more information on the garage sale times, the specifics, the drop-offs, they can check it out on the St. John to the Cross Parish website. Correct. Correct. Well, thank you, ladies and ladies for being here and good luck.

SPEAKER_04 34:32

Bye. Thank you. What a pleasure to have Ginny and Karen here in the studio to talk about something they're so passionate about. Sure, and how grateful we are as a community to have three women who are so dedicated to helping the parish and others. The parish, and they do so many good things, the women's club. It's really a lovely organization that does so much for our parish and beyond. So we're grateful to those ladies. Check it out. Go do a little shopping at the end. Go find the treasure and uh let's launch into

Highs Lows And Summer Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_04 35:04

highs and lows. Mm-hmm. Where yeah. Oh, Milo. I didn't get my last day of school pick. I get a last day or first day of summer. And I didn't get it. So I have a disjoint. I don't know if this would make you feel better. I have like my St. John's kids, and then I have one of Aiden from the in like the laundry room because I thought it would be funny. And then I never got one of Rory today.

SPEAKER_05 35:25

Well you the day There's still time. You still have time.

SPEAKER_04 35:27

So it's like piecemeal.

SPEAKER_05 35:29

I'm also disappointed to report that I have a book thief. I have a book that I meant to bring. Somebody cleared out my library. Do you think it was from super garbage too? No, it was yesterday. Or my neighbor said we have a literal thief. But you they're going on a trip?

SPEAKER_04 35:47

With a really long plane. Okay, well, I will bring one of my books then, so then it's not. I don't want to shut it down. Oh put a lock on it. Yeah. Or like a passcode. Yes. Right? I think that's a good plan. Where are you? What's your look? All week I've been wanting to clean my basement. And it it is been stupid hard for me to get down there to actually do it. Physically to get down there? Or just lasers, moats, lava. I just every time I go down to do it, like a child needs help or something else happens, and I can't do it. Today is always tomorrow. But I want to do it before the super garbage table. Will they find any good bucks? Yes, I'm gonna, yeah, I know I definitely at least have one, but my high has just said it's summer. I know, I love it. Just like not having to be like, go to bed, get your homework done. Did you study? All the things. All the things and my high is I am getting my hair cut tomorrow. Oh yes, for the first time since November. Oh gosh, no. Why do we do this twice? I don't know. We do this all the time. All the time. So it's a long time. You can do something crazy. Oh yeah. Like a pixie cut. Like a bob. Ooh. But it'll feel nice. But actually, you were the one that encouraged me because I see the same gal that Rose sees. Yes. And yeah. Oh, well, she'll be really happy to see you. Yeah, she's gonna see Captain Gray soon. Oh, well, happy haircuts. Happy haircuts, happy Sonage sale. Go check it out. And we'll tune in uh next week. Bye. Bye.