The eBay Way

When I first started eBaying in March, I quickly became addicted to buying. I was timid at first, so worried I would get taken advantage of. But then I started putting bids on items, watching them throughout the day, and the end of the auction, I would either feel the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

My first purchase was a Wii Fit balance board plus the Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus games which I got for well under the $100 asking price at the store. And I've definitely gotten a lot of use out of it, although I've been slacking lately. After that purchase, I would search for things I "needed" constantly and end up with DVDs and other items in my mailbox every few days or so. Then I got the itch to sell.

I decided some of the things I would normally give to Goodwill could actually earn some money in a yard sale, but I didn't want to bother with that: getting up before the crack of dawn, pricing everything with little stickers, haggling with people who want to talk you down from a quarter to a dime. No thanks. So I put 12 items up for bid the first day and expected great things. Then I got worried I hadn't judged the shipping correctly and my bids would be so low that I would be paying people to take these things off my hands. So I took off some the heavier items that hadn't yet received bids and put them on craigslist because there's no shipping involved there. None of the craigslist goods have sold yet, but at least I won't have to ship them if they do. I got a bite on my camera but the woman's never emailed me back.

Now that I've successfully sold a few items on eBay, heavy and light, I prefer to ship on the lighter side so I don't lose my shirt. No pun intended. My friend has been blogging about her Dave Ramsey experience and the "snowflakes" she's been collecting from selling coupons on eBay, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's pretty simple shipping. Stuff them in an envelope and slap a stamp on. So far, I've sold 3 sets of coupons and a gift card I've had for several years that still has the full amount of money on it. I couldn't believe how much I got for that.

I didn't really know how to go about this, so I just did what made sense to me. I grouped the coupons into similar categories and tried to rack up the money count. Like, $45 in coupons for Dole, Yoplait, Totino's, etc. $50 in coupons for Bounty, Windex, Scott, Charmin, etc. I've even got $95 worth of coupons for some health and beauty products. Coupons are back. I mean, they've never really went away, but I think they're trending right now. It's cool to coupon again. Kind of like the breastfeeding comeback. Talking 'bout my generation...

Anyway, the eBay thing is a daily adventure and I'm making a little bit of dough on the side so I'm happy. I get a brand new batch of coupons every Sunday and sometimes through the week. I still clip my own but there are so many I have no need for. I could swap them but if there's someone out there willing to pay a buck fifty for me to ship them out, I'll take it. I have had to relist many of them because they didn't sell. And if it gets too close to the expiration date, I'll just toss them in the trash. No harm done.

I'm also considering putting some books and jewelry up for bid on eBay. I went online and sent some books to a few entities that will pay me a few bucks for them. But some books they just won't take. So I'll see how this goes, could be heavy to ship. And I have a lot of jewelry I never wear. It would be interesting to see if anyone wants it. I can't make a living out of this but every little bit helps. And I love to declutter!

Little Houdini

My dog, Jack, is a free spirit. He does not like to be confined to small spaces. He also does not like to be left alone. And if you do either, or both, you pay dearly for it. In fact, Pmo has to tie Jack up outside when he's mowing or else Jack leaves a nice little present inside. And when I leave for work, I make sure all the bedroom doors are closed because Jack's been known to create a trail of unpleasantness if I don't.

So when I had to work a dayshift this week, and the dogs were going to be cooped up all day, I did what I always do when they're put up for more than a few hours. I barricade them in the kitchen with a tall piece of black cardboard and a couple of chairs. That way, if there is an accident, I can clean it up with no problem. I can't use the baby gate that keeps them in their bedroom at night because the entranceway is too wide. And I have a feeling Jack would jump over it if he really wanted to. He doesn't really care about being cooped up at night anymore. As long as he's not in a pet taxi.

Anyway, I threw my plan into action and start with Bug, who was good to go. He just curled up on his quilt I tossed on the kitchen floor and looked at me like, "You still here?" Jack, however, needed a little more coaxing. Physically. I had to pick him up and place him in the kitchen because he wouldn't go on his own. As I slid the cardboard across, Jack was whining from underneath the kitchen table. And I knew he didn't like it but I didn't want any surprises on the carpet when Pmo got home. Just gotta tough it out, kid.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Before I left work, I was even talking with a co-worker about Jack and his "separation anxiety" as they call it in the dog world. And right before I went to the booth for the 6pm newscast, I get a picture like this from Pmo:

Yep. Jack had chewed a mouse hole and found his freedom. I've used the cardboard trick several times when we've been out on day trips and he's never tried to destroy it. The good news is there were no other messes.

I would have loved to set a camera up to see how the process went. Did Jack stare at the tall black wall for awhile... thinking how he could get on the other side and back to the couch and carpet? How long did it take him to realize he could chew through it? Did he do it in the morning or the evening? Did he have to test it out... chew for a little bit, try to get through, then realize he needed more space? What was Bug doing all this time, watching? Did Jack chew a hole big enough for Bug to fit through? I doubt it.

Nevertheless, our little Houdini has outsmarted us once again. I have another dayshift coming up next week and I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Leave the dogs loose like normal and hope for the best? Or invest in a less destructible barrier? It really doesn't matter. What Jack wants, Jack gets. Whether it's freedom or retribution, it's never my choice.

Back to the Future

The staycation is about to come to an end. We return to work tomorrow. Boo. But I'm not too disturbed by it. Here's what we ended up doing. We started with a wedding and ended with a birthday party. In between? Made a trip to Eddie Bauer and visited Perry's granny. Tried to stay cool at Holiday World's Splashin' Safari and did some shopping in Owensboro, ate at Moonlite BBQ. Plus we celebrated our anniversary at Patti's Settlement.

We seemed to do a lot of eating and not much exercising on staycation. I plan to jump back on the Wii Fit Plus, starting today, and get a hold of my eating habits. I'm sure I'll get scolded by the Wii. There's just not much you can do about it on vacation. Who wants to practice restraint when you're supposed to be enjoying yourself? Besides your schedule and routine gets totally thrown off. I also want to get back to my financial fitness. I still have plans to pay off the motorcycle soon and have no vehicle payments at all. I also hate the fact that my student loan is still hanging around after 10 years. Must buckle down and get to work on it.

But it's not Monday morning, it's Sunday morning so I'm going to dive into the newspaper ads and figure out what we're going to do today. Supposed to be hot again. I'm guessing we'll run some errands and probably hang around the house some more. Thinking about giving Jack a haircut. We have Avatar to watch from Netflix. And next weekend is the 4th of July so we're having some friends over. I need to make some plans for that.

I think our first staycation went well. We packed in plenty of stuff but still relaxed a lot. I love being home and am grateful not to be on the road or in a motel this time around. But we won't sit still for long, we're already thinking about next year's big adventure :)

Staycation

I've been a bit under the weather lately so walking, cycling and yoga have taken a backseat to whatever's going on with my head. But it's given me time to plan our staycation. We went to Key West in April and had planned to go somewhere in the northeast, rent a cabin in the mountains or maybe even head out to Yellowstone in June. But the two trips were so close together, and Key West was not cheap, so we decided to do a staycation. No packing, no lodging fees and we have all the amenities of home at night because, well, we're at home. Plus the dogs can stay with us and we don't have to ship them off to Grandma's. We've also got a wedding and a birthday party that week so we'll be around to attend those functions.

Here's a look at the highlights: LST 325, Mesker Park Zoo, Reo's Holiday Drive-in, The Spirit of Jasper train excursion. And some of these attractions are absolutely free because we get tickets through work, like Holiday World, an Otters baseball game, and a Lincoln play at the amphitheater with a meal catered by Black Buggy. We will head out of town one day in order to go to Eddie Bauer in Edinburgh and grab some port at the Brown County Winery. But besides that, we're pretty much staying in the tri-state. In fact, I had other ideas about the Howell Wetlands, Burdette Park, Patoka Lake and Scales Lake Park in Boonville but I couldn't cram them all into the itinerary.

That's the great thing about a staycation. If you don't get to do everything you wanted to do, you can do it some other weekend because you live so close. You're not missing out on a thing.

Fresh Start

Why don't we make resolutions at the start of summer instead of the new year? It's the perfect time. Graduations and weddings are taking place. Babies are being born. A new batch of flowers has popped up during spring. There's a whole slew of fresh starts. What happens at the beginning of the year? From December 31st to January 1st, what really changes? Nothing. It's still cold. It's still dreary. It's still winter. Who wants to turn over a new leaf when it's gray and freezing?

That being said, I've started some new ventures lately. I'm wearing a pedometer now and trying to walk 6,000-10,000 steps a day. I'm also dabbling in yoga in the hopes it will ease my back pain. I've seen a doctor for a physical, something I haven't done in years. My last regular doctor was Dr. Syler back when I was a kid. I've chosen to go to clinics for the past 15 years for my infrequent medical care, where no one knows me or my medical history. Not a wise move. But now I've established a primary caregiver who has guided me in supplements and other medical advice. That's right. I'm taking my vitamins again. A bunch, too. Seems I have a low Vitamin D count that could be contributing to my back pain. I'm also on fish oil.

We're also busy with the regular events of May. We hit the wine fest over the weekend and that was a good time. I've been to a baby shower and a birthday party in the past few weeks. We're taking Mom and Dad up to Joni's this weekend to meet the new baby and hang out with the family. We have a wedding coming up in June plus our own anniversary. And I'd like to begin work on some house projects I've been thinking about but I don't know where to start.

Life is full and good.

Trending in 2010

Hell must be freezing over. So far this year, I've hooked up cable and internet at home, I upgraded the RAM on my computer to make it functional, I started tweeting, I joined Netflix, I'm shopping more online, I have a smartphone, I'm now texting and considering adding data, and I am thinking about watching Twilight. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?

Actually it's all good stuff but I feel like I'm eating my words. But, hey, this is America. A girl can change her mind, right? What's that Sugarland lyric..."find what it means to be the girl, change her mind and change the world..." Well, I guess the world is changing me. And I'm enjoying myself so far. So if you have my phone number, I am welcoming any texts you send my way.

Right now, I'm trying to log on to Twitter to see when I actually started the account because I think it was this year but I'm not sure. But it's over capacity. I hardly ever use the thing but when I want to, it's impossible to log in.

Nevertheless, I think I'm fairly caught up on the trends for now. Moving on. Next blog might be on tipping. I've had several conversations with people recently about the art of gratuity and I feel further discussion is warranted.

Mitzi Lately

It's been more than a month since we got internet at home, and I've only posted one blog. I thought I'd be writing more but I've been downloading music and shopping a lot online. And, of course, Facebooking. I've also been pretty busy this spring. We just got back from our Key West trip last weekend. A lot of preparation went into that one. And yesterday I took Mom to see Bon Jovi in Nashville. Pics of both can be seen on my Facebook page.

But busy times also lay ahead: Mother's Day and Hannah's birthday, which are usually celebrated on the same day, a trip to Joni's, another vacation in June, and plenty more stuff in between. I'm ready to grill out or something. But basically, things are pretty good right now. I'm getting back to weeding and landscaping the yard since it got warmer. Such a tedius job that I hate. Pmo is trying to get my motorcycle going again. And Key West taught me that I am not fit enough for snorkeling and bicycling all over an island without suffering a physical hangover, so I'm trying to recommit myself to be more active. I might try swimming and riding this summer along with walking the dogs.

Speaking of, Bug and Jack had a nice vacation all their own at "Grandma's" where they rode the four wheeler with Dad, taunted Simba (Mom and Dad's pug) and visited with neighbors. But Jack was definitely ready to go home when we came to pick them up. He always jumps up in my arms. Bug was indifferent, he always makes himself really comfortable there. And he doesn't jump :)