We went to an auction last night, now we are broke

Last night we went to an auction for the kid's school and church. It was the first time I was at one, and I think the first one that Jenn went to one where she was a guest and not running it in some capacity. I could be wrong about that last part, but Jenn is in bed and I can't ask her now.

We had a good time. Jenn was smart about it and got some people together from our son's class so we could be at a table where we know some people. Also, the other people had been at this event before so we could ask them questions. We probably should have asked them more.

This auction was part silent and part live. A dangerous mix, if I may say so myself. When we first got there we checked out the silent auction goodies to see what kind of things we liked. Turns out we liked a lot of things. There was the usual things, dinner certificates, wine tasting, various food and personal services, some hotel stays, some sports trinkets and some things made by the various grades.

On the live auction side, there were more things made by the various classes, principal for the day, dinner with the pastor and a motorcycle riding day with a bunch of people. Jenn wanted to try for the flag that our daughter's class made since it would go in the kid's play room. Our son wanted us to get the principal for a day for him. He said we could spend $1000 on it for him. How nice of him to set a limit for us.

It turned out we didn't win any of the live auction items. The principal for a day went for a few hundred more than we were willing to spend as did the painting. The dinner with the pastor went for over $2000. That better be one hell of a dinner! (Hiyoooo)

As I said, this was my first auction and I didn't know what to expect at all. With it being run by the school and church I thought it might be a little on the stuffy side. I couldn't have been more wrong. The Vicar in charge of the youth ministry ran the auction along with the 5th grade teacher, and they were great. The kept it lively, funny and entertaining the whole time, which couldn't have been easy since it ran for about 2 hours. Maybe more.

It was fun watching people get caught up in the bidding, though nobody went crazy, but I was terrified of pointing out anybody to Jenn so they wouldn't think I was bidding on anything. I didn't want to be on the hook for 700 bucks for something we didn't want, good cause or no. Every time I had to rub my eyes or scratch my forehead I felt like I should hide under the table. That would have been one expensive scratch. (That's what she...oh, forget it).

So while we didn't win any live auction items, we weren't so luck in the silent auction. When it was over and Jenn gave me the list of things we bid on to see what we won. The list was long, but she told me not to worry too much. Well, I started to get worried as I kept circling things we had won. I think I stopped and eight things, two of which were hotel stays, and went back to Jenn in line. I told her we were in trouble. When Jenn got the file folder that was bulging with our receipts in there, I knew we were in deep trouble. Two trips to the car later, we were heading home with a lot of things we didn't need. A basket of beanie babies, two different pet baskets, a training session, two baskets of school related gear...the list goes on. Imagine if we did win the two other things.

But, hey, it's all for a good cause, right? Plus, we did get most things below their value. Besides, it's not like we pay tuition...oh, wait...

It was a fun night though. Next time we just have to not get caught up in the deal, just get stuff we really wanted. Like that original picture made by Tom Skilling. That would have been cool.

In a completely unrelated matter, I witnessed first hand to how a dog reacts when his leg falls asleep. It was pretty funny. It involved a little jumping, spinning around in circles and finally plopping on the floor afraid to get back up. He's okay now, in case you were worried.