We had a yard sale last weekend.  We called it a yard sale even though it was in our barn.  It’s pretty risky to hold a yard sale in May in Pennsylvania, since rain is a distinct possibility on any given day.  So we held the sale in our barn, but didn’t call it a barn sale in case people mistakenly thought we were selling tractors, cows or, worst of all, our barn.  We moved to Chester County in 2004, but our barn wasn’t built until 2008.  I should say it was REbuilt, since the original barn burned down (we are told) in 1980. The only part of the barn that sat on our property when we moved here was the stone foundation.  So we certainly did NOT intend to sell the barn last weekend, just some of its contents.

After raising two kids in a big house for almost 12 years, a family amasses a lot of STUFF.  No matter that I’ve been taking outgrown clothes and old toys to Goodwill on a regular basis over the years. There is just a lot of space in our house for things to accumulate.  Oh, and did I mention that we have a barn? It has become a kind of family storage facility.  When my mother-in-law passed away a few years ago, all of her stuff ended up there.

My brother-in-law had a few things he didn’t want to take with him when he moved to California, so we inherited them.  So before we backed up the truck at Goodwill, we figured we’d try to find some suckers, er, customers, to take a few items off our hands and make a little pocket money in the process.  We had a few higher priced items (foosball table, air hockey table, etc) that we thought would help make this venture a little more profitable than simply selling old crystal vases and used coffee mugs.

The sale turned out to be fairly successful.  We were able to shed some things that we would have otherwise donated (old softball equipment, CDs we don’t listen to anymore, even old coolers!) and people actually paid us for them. Never mind that we probably made about five cents (or less) on the dollar for any given item- it was found money.

So to reward ourselves for all of our (my) hard work, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Woody’s Crab House in North East, Maryland.  For the first time in forever, I told my kids that they could order whatever they wanted.  Woo hoo!  It was fun to have a night out when we didn’t have to be conscious of how much everything cost, especially at a restaurant that serves my favorite food, lobster.  So we feasted and had a grand ole time.  My kids are getting to that age where they aren’t super anxious to hang out with their parents regularly, so I cherish the meals we have together.  They actually seemed to enjoy themselves- or were they just high on melted butter and king crab legs?

Woody’s has a nice bar menu, and I noticed that they had a drink popular in the beach towns of our area- the Orange Crush.  I didn’t order one that night (I had boring white wine- WHY?); but I created my own version at home and it is so refreshing and perfect for the imminent summer season.  Its orange color will remind you of the sun- just in case you forgot what it looks like.  (I am optimistic that one of these days it will come back out from behind all of those ever-present Pennsylvania clouds.)

Here’s the recipe-

Orange Crush

2 oz clementine or citrus vodka

1 oz Deep Eddy’s lemon vodka

1/2 oz triple sec

2 oz fresh squeezed orange juice

2 oz Sprite (or club soda if you want it less sweet)

Fill a glass with ice, then add all ingredients in order into the glass.  Garnish with an orange slice.  As always, fresh squeezed juice is the best, but you can substitute store bought in a pinch.  I have to admit I used store bought when I made mine at home, but my next Orange Crush will be prepared with fresh juice.

Enjoy this sunshine in a glass- the real thing will come out one of these days!