Yard Sale, Craigslist Etiquette and Random Whining

So I've been gearing up for a yard sale for quite some time, and originally planned it for last weekend, but then I got sick and just wasn't prepared so I pushed it back a week.

Then after pushing it back a week Thursday rolls around and I'm still completely not prepared enough to start a yard sale the next morning, so I decide to do Saturday only.

I realized quickly that Friday's do the best in OKC for some strange reason.  I guess that is when all the hardcore yard sale folks come out because even though we had a steady stream of traffic, in comparison to previous years we were really lacking foot traffic.

By the end of the day we didn't do too shabby, a couple hundred bucks in our pocket, but we still had MANY big ticket items left that I was sure would have sold.

I'm also learning that at yard sales, you actually can make more on the tiny dollar here, five dollars there items than the big ticket things.  I decided that I would list some of our larger items online at Craigslist thinking that it would be less headache.

It wasn't.

I was wrong.

REALLY wrong.

Sometimes everything goes smoothly on Craigslist with the transaction.  You post an item for said price, person contacts you in kind an courteous manner.  They show up at said time, hand you cash, pick up the said item and are on their happy little way.

I said SOMETIMES.

There are several things that people do to annoy me on Craigslist, but I'm gonna stick to the top THREE of my Craigslist pet peeves.

Craigslist Idiot #1 "What is the lowest that you are willing to go."

Really? (In my best Amy Poehler voice)  CI?  (craigslist idiot)  Really?  If I wanted to sell my $40 item for $10 I would have posted it for ten dollars, not $40.  I understand negotiation, and wanting to get the best deal possible, and even I expect a little price negotiation and haggling, but lets learn how to do it properly.  Quote me an offer of an actual dollar amount and we can go from there.  Coming right out and asking me though "How low are you willing to go?" Really? Makes me insane.

CI #2 - "Can you please txt me a pic of it?"

Really?  I am one of those Craigslist shoppers that 99.9% of the time I will not even LOOK at your add if it does not contain photos.  Therefore I always do my buyers the courtesy of adding a quick photo or two to my posting.  Asking me to text a photo of the picture to you (while using short text) just makes me irate.  I mean REALLY? My response to this last night was the following "there were photos added to the post.  Here is a link once again to my post showing the photos." and I sent them a link.

CI #3 - "Can you deliver the item?"

Ok, I guess that maybe I may be the CI in this circumstance for not posting "pickup only" but sometimes I just think that is a given.  In the retail world I do not call up Petco and ask them to deliver me a dog crate, I go and pick up the item that I want.  If you don't want to pick it up sometimes stores WILL offer a delivery option but REALLY you have to expect a fee for this, and you definitely can't be trying to talk me down on my price while asking me to drive an HOUR to deliver you a DOG CRATE.  Really?  There is a section on Craigslist informing you where I'm located in the city so please don't act shocked when I tell you my nearest crossroads folks.

Ok, I promise I'll stop my rant now.

So, I got the purple sofas out of my den.

Here is what my den looked like if you recall:

Those overstuffed sofas just were not doing it for us anymore.  They were taking up a TON of space.  They never sold in the yard sale, but I have a couple interested folks on Craigslist, so we will see how it goes.

I've gone back in forth in my wonderful world of crazy indecisiveness over the past week whether to try to recover these two Wingback chairs that I currently have in my possession or just buy new chairs for this room.

Recovering furniture is NOT an easy task, and since the two chairs are not matching I'm afraid that it will look odd.

When we got them side by side they really don't look THAT much different.  One is slightly bigger, but I plan on putting a table between the two of them so they won't be THIS close when complete.  Also maybe I could add a "his" and "hers" pillow in each chair just to be kinda cute. 

Right now I'm like 99.9% sure that I'll recover them. 

I will probably change my mind tomorrow.

I tell you folks, I'm crazy.  I don't know how my husband puts up with me.  That's all I need is another project that I can't finish.

Oh, by the way, I finally got the baskets and fabric for my entryway bench.

forgive me for this craptastic photo of my bench

 We are almost there folks, almost there...

Randomness

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, because well I really haven't.

It's been a crazy few weeks here on the home front.  We all came down with some kind of cold and mine is still lingering on.  I just can't shake this sinus stuff. Problem is when I have all this pressure in my head I just can't make myself work out.  It's been THREE weeks since I've been to the gym and the more the time passes the more I begin to stress and stress that I haven't been going.

I've GOT to get back into it next week.

Last week also why we were all sick, my oldest played Little Red Riding Hood in her school musical "Into The Woods."  SUPER proud of that girl.  She is such a sweetheart and has so much talent, and she is absolutely gorgeous.  Her inside matches her outside though, she is wonderful through and through.

One of my dear friends asked me if I was wearing flannel pajamas.  NOPE just my big long thick jacket. (though as sick as I was and as cold as it was in there that may have been a better solution.  I think if you look close I have icicles hanging from my nose.)

Last week I also ordered my girls bunk bed.  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of it.  If you missed my post I rationalized not building a bunk bed because we are just SO busy right now.

It's probably a good thing.  Remember my entryway bench?  Yup, still working on that.  I have ONE more coat of paint then poly to put on it and I'm done.  This project has been slow going for me but really I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.

Back onto bunk beds.  Yesterday I went out to buy the girls comforters and everything is CRAZY expensive for the cute stuff.  I found one at Kohls 65% off.  It's SUPER cute but has not ONE bit of purple in it, but the colors seem to blend.  My girls walls are a purple/lavender color.  I went ahead and bought them but I'm freaking out that they won't look well in the room.

It seems like it may blend ok.  I don't think Lucy is gonna let me take them back.  She seems to REALLY love her new comforter.

Also I've been in the middle of a pretty great parenting bible study by Andy Stanley.

It never ceases to amaze me that God puts me exactly where he wants me.  This is SO completely relevant to areas of our parenting life right now it is great.  It's so simple, yet so wonderful.  I'm learning SO much about the importance of relationships in my kids lives.  It talks a LOT about how this generation tends to be experience rich but relationally poor, and how to fine tune/dial in and out certain relationships in the kids lives.  I'm loving it.

The ONLY hiccups is the memory verse memorization that comes along with the bible study.  Arrgh that has me sweating bullets come Monday morning group time ;)

As if we were not busy enough last week my husband had drill (for those of you who don't know he is in the National Guard) AND we had our cub scouts blue and gold banquet.  Blue and Gold is like our BIG event of the year, and I was the chairman in charge of getting the banquet put together.

Thankfully it went off pretty well.  I'm so proud of my son he earned his Webelos badge!

My husband pinning on his badge

Sorry for the blurry photo, that's the best I got.  (as you can see my husband was still in uniform...came straight from drill to the banquet).

Isn't he just the most handsome boy scout ever?

Ok, him and Bear Grylls.  Behr Grylls may be the most handsome boy scout ever, but my son is right up there ;)

img from the scouting pages.com

I kid, I kid.  (My husband can't get jealous because I'm pretty certain he has a man crush on Bear Grylls).

Also we have been strongly thinking about cutting the cord on our cable.  I'm still in the research phase to see if I can actually do this, but it's looking promising!  The only hiccup right now is the stupid data caps that Cox has placed on their internet service.  I could write a whole blog post rant on that but I'll spare you the agony of me on my soapbox.

So, needless to say we have been pretty busy.  I don't ever see it slowing down anytime soon, but hopefully I'll start feeling better and get my train back on the track.

Decisions...Decisions

Yet another blog post that mentions my hero Thrifty Decor Chick. Seriously, this gal is my hero. Ever since I saw her post on her staircase I was all like "hey, I could TOTALLY do that".

Here is my vision:

From Thrifty Decor Chick's blog, her staircase

Here is my reality:

My carpet is just gross

Anyhow, the railing is worn from 20 years of wear and tear (and one suicidal dog but that is another story) and it is in need of some desperate TLC.  The problem is the wooden boards underneath my banisters are HIGHER than the wood underneath the carpet.  Therefore I would not have that nice brown stained uniform look all the way across.  There would be this "drop off".  Therefore I axed the idea of actually having the wooden stairs of my dreams and decided I'd just do the railing and leave the stairs carpeted.  Also because of having little ones, the carpeted stairs were a better plan.

See, the carpet is "level" with the wood on the side (those are my dogs marks there you see)

But if you know me, that's just not good enough.  Once I have a vision in my head, I need to find a way to complete it.  So I started doing some research.  I ran across one blog where the girls stairs were the biggest mess underneath.  Her trim on the side was not level with her treads either and she made it work.  I thought that maybe I could just keep ALL the trim-work white, and add molding to the inside next to the stairs, then do the treads only dark (either painted or stained depending on what type of wood I'm working with.)

See white trim higher than black stairs (mine would be brown)

The carpet NEEDS to go, but that just isn't in the budget right now.  I COULD do the rails and give the carpets a GOOD cleaning, but to do the stairs properly the carpet REALLY needs to be removed to make sure all the trim-work gets covered properly in the paint/stain.

My crazy thought is lets just rip up the carpet and I'll do it and make it look decent.  If we hate it, well we re-carpet it later down the road.

My poor husband.  I don't know HOW he puts up with me.

So, I started pulling back the carpet to see what I was dealing with. 

My wooden stairs do not nearly look like the mess she had.  In fact, they looked pretty decent to me.

This is not my BEST visual.  Please don't mind my UGLY tile.  I can't do anything about that now.

My husband is like 190% sure that we have builders pine underneath there (and I'm pretty sure he is right because he usually right like 99.9 percent of the time - he is a REALLY smart man), which pine doesn't stain the greatest.  It's not the best wood to be working with.  Still, crazy stubborn me thinks I can somehow pull a rabbit out of my hat and make it work.

I want to get this done, but I want to do it right.  But I want to get this done, like NOW.  The war rages inside of me, and in the meantime I can't think of anything else but THIS PROJECT.  Can you say OCD?  It's maddening I tell you, just maddening!

Craigslist

I don't know what it is with me and my luck on Craigslist, but I always have THE WORST experiences.

People jerk me around, never come to pick up when they say they will, they try and get me to give them things for free, and people are just downright rude to me. It's to the point where it is just not worth the hassle to make a little bit of money.

I recently tried to sell my broken TV on Craigslist. I didn't ask much but thought someone handy could fix it. That didn't work so I just offered it for free to get it out of my garage. Once you offer something for free, the offers start FLOODING in.

There was another TV I was selling and some guy wrote me saying he wanted it. I told him ok, come and get it. FOUR days pass by and I receive an email that goes something like this:

Thank you for your quick response. Please consider the item sold to me. I will be paying you via check. I will send my delivery man to come and pick up the item. Please send directions.

Obviously this was some kind of scam. If it wasn't he was just the biggest prick I've ever seen in my life.

Also, if I find something I want, I email someone about it. They NEVER email me back, or they write me back saying it's sold. If it is sold DELETE YOUR POSTING ALL READY. Geesh.

So this lady comes by last night to look at this vanity I'm selling. Her and I have been talking over the weekend, but with our wedding, and some of her family issues we were never able to get together. She decided to come by yesterday, no problem right? She was supposed to be here at 7pm. She shows up at 9:00 at night! 9:00! Her and her daughter stand in my living room looking at it for 15 minutes. She tries to talk the 7 year old precocious girl into it, but the 7 year old is finding ALL kinds of problems with it (it's not big enough, she has to bend over too much to write on it She can't open the drawer right). I mean, are you friggin serious? You are letting your 7 year old make this decision? I don't even let my ten year old make these decisions on furniture.

They leave, said they will let me know today if they want it. I think she is going to try and talk her daughter into buying it. At this point I don't care if they take it or not. It's not worth it. I'm only selling the thing for $30. My time is MUCH more valuable than that.

I think I'll just call Goodwill and have them pick up my stuff from now on. It totally isn't worth the hassle.

Honest Scrap

I must say that I'm completely flattered that another blogger friend of mine would pass along this Honest Scrap award to me. I think personally she is one of the funniest bloggers that I've ever read, and I look forward daily to checking her blog to see any new posts that I can totally relate to as a wife/woman/mother and chuckle at her humor.

Ok, so I guess this is one of those "tagged" things. The rules are that I list ten absolutely true statements about myself and then tag ten other bloggers that I find worthy (hopefully I have ten I can tag if not I'll tag as many as I can, and all are worthy...)

So here goes: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God:

1. Since I have been pregnant (especially over the past month) I've been watching the Food Network. A lot. A WHOLE lot. Not that there is anything wrong with watching this channel under normal circumstances, but lately I've been watching it like a lion would watch a gazelle, sitting they preying on it, drooling over it.

2. I've been making dessert almost every night. This would account for the extra 10-20 pounds I've gained with this baby. That being said though I've been making these wonderful brownies, then you take them out of the pan hot, put vanilla ice cream on top then smother it in caramel syrup. OMG it's the best thing I've ever tasted. A moment on the lips is TOTALLY worth it on the hips.

3. I hate dogs. I mean, REALLY hate dogs. I think it is because they are so "needy". With a cat you put out food once a week, stick a litter box in the garage and they basically take care of themselves. Dogs are a completely different story. Also because they smell and are pretty much disgusting. The funny thing is that I always have at least TWO dogs at a time, and I always seem to have the most dog drama of anyone I know. I can't seem to ever get rid of them.

4. I have identity issues. I used to be a person who wasn't into brands, and would snub my nose at the girl who would go pay an astronomical amount for a handbag. After all it's just a handbag. Then I moved to this neighborhood and school district and all of a sudden I feel like I have to live up to this certain standard and I start to conform to it. I am now the girl who has THAT handbag. Of course I NEVER pay full price. I refuse. So here I am torn between to lifestyles, the frugal one that I strive to embrace, and the other part of me that wants an extravagant lifestyle. I am working though to find a good balance and impart that into my children.

5. I am haunted by the fact I never sent out thank you cards for my wedding presents. I know I'm an AWFUL AWFUL person. Someone told me I had up to a year to send them out as far as etiquette goes, so I took this to mean I could procrastinate. Then we moved out of state, and things just got lost in the shuffle and it never got done. I still feel horrible about it to this day. I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for it.

6. I love labor, hate pregnancy. I LOATHE being pregnant. I'm not one of those women who feel like they bond with their baby or adore being pregnant. I personally think those women who say they love being pregnant are total liars. I like labor not because I'm some kind of freak who likes pain, I like it because it's my own personal version of "A Baby Story." It's the most exciting part of all of it, getting there, being in the hospital, being the center of attention, and finally seeing your little baby. Also I have pretty easy labors, so I'm lucky there.

7. I wish I was closer with God. I'm just never where I want to be with him. I'm a Christian and I love Christ, I just know that I need to be better, but then again who doesn't feel that way.

8. Also being raised charismatic/Pentecostal and having all these emotions attached to God is very different than being in more of a Baptist like atmosphere, where those emotions are missing. I don't get that "church camp high" that comes along with the charismatic lifestyle. I'm having to totally learn who Christ really is, and it is difficult, and heartbreaking because I feel sometimes as if I've had him ALL wrong. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, they are just both very different.

9. I have a pretty shady past. I have a hard time shaking the feeling that I'm still THAT girl. It constantly makes me feel unworthy of friends, relationships or leading at a church. I know in my head that Christ forgives, I just think I haven't forgiven myself yet.

10. End it on a funny note (since I got so serious). I'm a hypochondriac. My husband pointed this out to me a few weeks ago. Here is how that conversation went down:

Him: You need to stay of WebMd. You are a total hypochondriac.

ME: I certainly am NOT. I am just informed and cautious about our health.

Him: How many diseases have you thought we have had in the past six months?

Me: (sit there and ponder this for a moment)

Him: Diabetes? Swine Flu?

Me: Yes (sigh) and yes. And Lupus, Lyme disease, Pancreatic Cancer, and Spinal meningitis.

Ok so he has a point. I need to stay off WebMd.

Ok, so I'm "tagging" the following people on this.

1. Ginger (because she is HILARIOUS and only has one blog written and I need more)

2. Treasure

3. Mom

4. My hubby (because he is HILARIOUS and needs to blog. I'm in withdrawal)

5. Melissa

6. Erica

I don't have ten people to tag on blogs because not everyone writes them that needs to have them (ahem Lanie, Sarah and my brother to name a few).

There you go. You know WAY more about me than you should. Now go and confess something yourself.

If I end up in the looney bin it's YOUR fault

That is my statement to my SUPPOSEDLY loving husband, whom has been "messing" with my head for several months.  So if I end up committed it is HIS fault.

We have a hospital nearby our home, and I drive by it nearly every day.  There is a cross on top of the hospital that gives the illusion of movement, however while driving by you can't really tell if it is moving or if it is an optical illusion (because it's right by a freeway that goes 70 MPH).  I used to be certain it did move until one night we were parked by the lake and I could see the hospital at night and the cross NEVER moved an inch.  This is when I started to question myself.

I have gone on and on about this thing daily for the past year, and state that I'm going to take a lawn chair and park on the lawn in front of the hospital to PROVE once and for all that the cross does indeed move.  My husband would always tell me "you are crazy the thing does not move".

Well, last week as I drove by it the cross was facing west, but when I came home it was facing north!  I was SURE now that it does move.  This was proven.  I tell this to my husband that and he again tells me I'm totally off my rocker, and that it DOES NOT move.  We argue a bit but get nowhere.

Anyhow, last night we took the access road the entire way instead of the turnpike (trying to save money and not eat up our Pikepass unless we are in a hurry).  Well, the access road has stop lights, and I'm not driving so this gave me a perfect opportunity to truly LOOK at the cross on the building.  It moved.  I saw it move and there was no doubt it was rotating.

Jamin begins to laugh hysterically.  He said "From your hospital room when you had Evie I had a perfect view of the shadow of the cross."  He paused a moment to let this sink in "The shadow moved".  I felt like slapping him.

This he says was his little way of telling me not to doubt myself when I know something is true.  I say its a way to make your wife think she is absolutely crazy.  Thanks babe.

The Christ in Christmas

I was in Wal-Mart today for the third time this week, doing a mad dash up and down the aisles, counting on my fingers how many gifts the kids will have under the tree and starting to stress about making sure they have enough presents.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks. I've got it all wrong, and I know better.

What have we done to Christmas? This is the time of year where we are to celebrate Christ's birth, coming into this world to save us, and we have turned it into a complete circus.

Jamin and I have been watching several Christmas movies and specials, a tradition around here each year (by the way DONT watch Jingle All The Way...stupid stupid stupid movie with a HORRIBLE meaning to it). We watched the 1930's version of "A Christmas Carol" and it was so wonderful. The kids were excited about spending time with family, about the food and the little things, and going to Church on Christmas morning. Old movies like that are wonderful, I just love them.

Of course all these Christmas specials (except for Charlie Brown Christmas - which I have to give them credit for even saying the word "Jesus" on television since it is so taboo now a days), all these Christmas specials emphasize time with family and being together and yes they leave you with a nice warm and fuzzy feeling, but how many of them actually mention what Christmas is truly about?

We are living in dangerous times. Where we are afraid to call a Christmas tree a Christmas Tree...now it is a "Holiday Tree". You can't wish someone a "Merry Christmas" because it may offend them, you have to say "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays". It makes me sick sick sick. We can install foot washing baths in NYC for the Muslims, but we are not allowed freedom of our religion because Christ may offend someone.

Ok, I'm done ranting.

What I'm saying is maybe this year instead of worrying about our kids (who have everything all ready) let's teach our kids about giving and having the character of Christ. Christ gave us his life, he gave us everything so that we may live.

The Soundtrack to my Life

I was watching music videos yesterday and I started to think about all the wonderful music that is out there, and about all the songs that have impacted me (lyrically). So, I thought it would be interesting to write about these songs and what each one of them means to me. I'm going to try and go back as far as I can remember and start there, and work up until present day. If there was a soundtrack to my life, this is what it would be (the year is the year the song effected me, not the actual year it was written).

1996 - Newsboys "Lost the Plot"

lies. Let's be blunt. We're a little unfaithful. What do you want? Are you still listening? 'Cause we're obviously not. We've forgotten our first love. We have lost the plot. And why are you still calling? You forgave, we forgot. We're such experts at stalling, that we've lost the plot.

I get such a vivid mental picture when I hear this song. I see flashes of images in my head of all the horrible awful things in this world, if I was to ever make a music video this would be the one I would do because this song brings such vivid imagery to my head.

1997 - Third Day "Who I Am"

But do you know who I am? Have you seen the things I've done?

This was a time in my life where I was doing everything wrong, and this song spoke to the innermost part of my soul. This was my cry to God.

2002 - Pink "Just Like A Pill"

Your just like a pill, instead of making me better, you're making me ill

For those of you who knew what was going on in my life at this time, you totally understand this one.

2003 - Dave Matthews Band "Grey Street"

Theres an emptiness inside her and she'd do anything to fill it in and though it's red blood bleeding from her now it's more like cold blue ice in her heart. She feels like kicking out all the windows and setting fire to this life. She could change everything about her using colors bold and bright, but all the colors mix together to grey and it breaks her heart to grey.

This song maybe hit me at the most horrible time in my life. I so deeply related to this song and this particular lyric I just could sit there and cry. It was like this song was written for me. But I did just that, I sat fire to my life and painted it bold and bright colors.

2004 - Bush "Letting the Cables Sleep"

You in a sea, on a decline, breaking the waves, watching the lights go down letting the cables sleep...Whatever you say it's allright, whatever you do it's all good

This spoke to me at a time when I was in love, actually it spoke to both Jamin and I. This was a proclamation of how we were going to live our lives, let the lights go down, turn off the TV, and just talk about everything. This song basically explains intimacy.

2004 - Alanis Morisette "Everything"

You see everything, you see every part, you see all my light and you love my dark. You dig everything of which time change, theres not anything to that you cannot relate, and you're still here

I heard this song about a month before I met Jamin, and I listened and I said to myself, if I ever fall in love again, if I ever get married, this is how the man I marry will feel about me. He will love everything about me, the good and the bad, and it was just so, when I met Jamin I knew he was it. I knew this was the song that I would walk down to in our wedding.

2005 - Sia "Breathe Me"

Be my friend hold me, wrap me up, unfold me, I am small and needy. Warm me up and breathe me

I love this song. I never get sick of hearing it. The music and the lyrics flow together so beautifully. The very first time I heard it (on the show Six Feet Under) I can't explain completely what this song means to me and how it deeply effects me, I can just say that it does. To go into any more detail would be far too personal.

2005 - Newsboys "Kissing Your Cares Goodbye"

And they all fall like a million rain drops falling from the blue sky kissing your cares goodbye

I wouldn't say this one deeply effected me, this is my happy song. Whenever I'm feeling down I can play this and it makes me smile for some reason.

2006 - Casting Crowns "Praise You In This Storm"

And I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands, for you are who you are, no matter where I am, and every tear I've cried you hold in your hands, you've never left my side and though my heart is torn, I will praise you in this storm

The first time I heard this song we were coming back from Shawnee and we just found out that I had a miscarriage. Everything in our lives seemed so turned upside down at this point, but this song spoke great things to me, that God was with us, and had not left our side.

Ok, that's about it. I'm sure there are a zillion more songs, and much "cooler" songs, but these are the ones that I can think about right now.