Ah, spring is in the air and what could be a more welcome sight than the multicolored flowers in bloom and the fluorescent hues of the garage sale signs on every other corner.I appreciate rummage sales. The opportunity to search among someone else’s things to find the perfect treasure for myself is my idea of a well-spent Saturday morning.These sales can be quite productive, as I find almost all of my daycare toys on garage sales. Most playthings are outgrown before they are worn out. Either the child gets too old for the toy or they simply have so much stuff that some things just have to go. I avoid battery-operated gadgets for obvious reasons and attempt to stick to the basics.One trip through the dishwasher with detergent and a little bleach and these toys are good to go. My little chickens are delighted when I bury new surprises in the toy box and muse after breakfast that I just may have gotten some new playthings. The dash to find the latest treasures in the mix is like feeding time in a piranha tank. My best friend, Brenda, also does daycare in Sioux Falls. We met over 20 years ago at a Mother’s of Twins Club meeting and became fast friends. We occasionally go rummaging together to compete for the bargains of the century. Comedy abounds on such adventures and memories are always created.Last year at the famous Kingswood rummages we were shopping away when I jokingly put on a bridesmaid-looking hat marked for a quarter at a sale and asked her if it was ‘me’. She made a face and that, I thought, was the end of that. While on these escapades I am notorious for holding up the most hideous of decorations or outfits and musing over whether or not it is my style. We crack wise and joke our way from sale to sale and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Brenda has a sharp wit and I have found her a worthy opponent to spar comedy with. We try to be careful not to offend any seller, as you never know what belonged to someone’s beloved grandmother or aunt. We save our cutting edge witticism for the walk or drive between sales, as we would never be insensitive to others. We know that nothing can be a bargain if it is obtained at the expense of someone’s feelings.At this particular sale where the hat was, we proceeded to buy a couple of little things and head on down the street. About a dozen or more rummages and four or five blocks later there was an antique mirror for sale, and as I looked into it to see if there were any waves in the silvering, I was horrified to discover that the hat was still on my head. I freaked at the fact that I had actually, though totally unintentionally, shoplifted from a rummage sale! I had never in my life taken anything that did not belong to me and I was almost physically sick from the thought.In my blinding panic we attempted to backtrack and find where the hat had come from so that I could pay what was due for fear that I would never again enjoy another peaceful night of sleep or worse.Unfortunately, we had woven so much that there was no finding our way back, so I have come to terms and have learned to live on the lamb. I still have the hat. Not that it is anything that I will ever wear but as a gentle reminder to be more careful. I don’t need the hat as Brenda has assured me that she will never let me forget. In all reality it is mostly her fault, because what kind of a friend would let another friend do such a thing? Of course we laugh about it now, but at the time I was quite distraught. This year we went to Kingswood on Wednesday night to scope out the early bargains. I ended up finding these wonderful heavy and long wooden-handled marshmallow roasting forks for my Camp OnAqua kids to use at the bonfire this summer. At a dollar each they could not be passed up. Brenda, knowing me all too well, insisted that they be put away in the car before she would go to any more sales with me. Somehow over the years she has gotten the impression that a long fork in the hands of a prankster such as myself would be a bad thing. She knows me too well.Rummage sales are my kind of sport. I have found many a treasure, I’m happy to report. They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Who could close the gate on such reasonably priced pleasure? Story ideas or comments can be e-mailed to Nancy at Nancy861@msn.com or please call me at 962-3411.