This Chaps My Hide...

as a buyer, I mean.


Recently, I made a purchase on ebay. This is not too unusual, really.( Many people believe in the reality of eBay and it's existence is scientifically provable.) However, the seller happened to be a slow shipper. As in 5 days slow! To top it off, I never heard one word from them during those 5 days.

If you expect to have happy buyers, don't do what this seller did.  I would have been far less annoyed with the slow ship time if I had heard from the seller before that shipping label was printed 5 days later.

Buyer notifications don't have to be long,wordy explanations about how your back is out and you can't stand up straight due to the huge hump on your back plus your dog died and your husband left you because of the hump on your back and you're just selling on ebay to try to feed the 1,000 cats you've hoarded adopted.

No, keep it simple. Most people don't care if you have personal issues unless it inconveniences them in some way. Instead, keep it simple. Just a simple  "Hey, thanks! I'll get this in the mail Tuesday, as stated in the listing. Thanks again!" is enough information.

See, you've done 2 things here:
1.) You've acknowledged your buyer by thanking them.
2.) You've restated facts that should already be in your listing.

At this point your buyer should understand hat to expect and as long as YOU follow through, all should be well and you won't have ticked off buyers, like me.

Shelf Make Over: Finished!

Remember this shelf I picked up at the thrift shop??

Yep, that's the one.  After about 3 weeks of working on this beast, it's finally done! There must have been a thousand layers of shellac on it, I'm not kidding. It was awful. We sanded and used primer and finally got it painted. Beadboard was painted purple and tacked onto the back. FINALLY, it's done!

This is Miss Bella's play space. Gone are the tacky plastic toy box and beat up wooden one. Gone are all those baby toys no longer played with. We've done quite an over haul. Best of all?? Everything in this picture( besides the purchased beadboard) was either free or thrifted! Yep, everything right down to the thrifted $9 Pottery Barn Kids area rug. 

This is why I believe it is completely unnecessary to buy new when you have kids. All it takes is a little effort and some elbow grease. 

Frustrations: Just a little venting

I know I'm not the only one who gets frustrated with eBay buyers.  Of course, I prefer to list my item, sell it, ship it and only ever hear from my buyer when they leave positive feedback. Easy peasy, right?

Most of time, it goes exactly like that. Once in a while you get one of those people who 1.) either only looks at pictures or 2.) only reads the listing partially-many times this is only part of the title and then this person wants to back out of the transaction after they've paid.

These kinds of situations give me a migraine because of the effort that must go into getting these people to understand the process and how much they can cost us if they don't get it right when they answer the Request To Cancel Transaction.

I had a person do this recently-AGAIN.  I was sorely tempted to Just Say No! I had to wrestle struggle with my inner disciplinarian and her desire to make an example of this person.(Yes, in another life I would have made one helluva Dominatrix.) However, my desire for good eBay Karma won out over my fantasies of buyer flogging and I was nice and let them out of the transaction. I hope they remember how nice I was about the whole thing. Is a Christmas card too much to hope for??? Probably.


I know if the shoe were on the other foot, I'd want an understanding seller. In this house $30 is a small fortune these days and I couldn't afford to "lose" that much money.  Now that eBay is having issues with it's search function showing items with calculated shipping dead last, every penny counts for sellers as they see their sales drop off or stop dead. Here is an article -and another about it if you've missed this brouhaha gaining speed as sellers notice drops in sales. Just as soon as I get a little energy I'll call and add my voice to the complainers. Might as well, everyone else is complaining lately! Plus, I'm cold so that makes me cranky.

On the other side of my little world, autumn is here in full swing. The other night we made a fire in the pit and roasted weenies and marshmallows. We enjoyed a great time outside and then came in to watch a scary movie in honor of the Halloween season.  Our fire has been going all weekend and it's doing a pretty good job keeping us snug as we cuddle up in front of the t.v. for a marathon of Scooby Doo cartoons.  I've even started looking forward to the Christmas season, which I don't usually care much about.  I guess I'm hopeful that the new year will bring new opportunities.Until then, I'll be right here in front of the fire.

Baby and Saffron Rice

Around here, we buy basmati rice in bulk and make saffron rice. Our kids like it so much that they often want it as a snack during the day. Belle is no exception. We made rice the other day and she sat beside me eating  while I worked on the computer. As you can see, she enjoyed it very much!

We used to live near a delicious Mediterranean restaurant where saffron rice was served in heaping mounds. This is also where my kids developed their love of garlicky hummus. Ok, I admit I nurtured my love of feta cheese at this restaurant, too. Anyway, when we have the rice, it's like we're not far from that favorite restaurant.

I have a large brick of feta cheese in my fridge which is used for many dishes. An easy snack platter of pita, greek olives and cheese is good for movie nights. Bulger wheat salad is a summer staple when yummy garden tomatoes are plentiful.

This is the recipe for saffron rice we started with. We've adapted it to our own tastes over time, but it will get you started.  

Don't be intimidated by what you may read on the internet about how to do saffron rice "correctly". Food snobs ruin the enjoyment of food so often it's not funny.  I'm not pretentious when it comes to food. I'd rather enjoy a meal and a laugh with Paula Deene than suffer an evening with Anthony  Disdain er, Bourdain. So, if you must read, take it with a grain of salt and dive in anyway!

Yard Sale Hordes

Photo taken from the safety of the mini-van while the hyenas paces and hooted. Sorry you can't see all of them, they're behind that van across the street!





I've learned that start times for yard sales vary depending on where you live. In our neck of the woods, sometimes we have them start Friday evening. Such was the case this last Fri. Apparently, it was the only sale in town and it seemed like EVERYONE showed up! Well, everyone with nothing better to do at 5 p.m. on a Fri. evening.

My oldest daughters were shocked at how many people were standing in front of the garage door waiting for someone to push the button. The driveway people stalked back and forth looking and sounding very much like a pack of hyenas. Every once in a while some oldster would let loose with a hysterical cackle, sending shivers down younger spines.

Eventually, someone opened the door and flood gates were opened! People swarmed the tables, some rudeness ensued and the moms with strollers generally hung back because they couldn't get in or feared maiming. That was ok, tho. My girls squeezed in and eventually so did I. I only went inside once I'd claimed a vintage enameled bucket from the driveway. Through all of this the only thing I could think of was that "Yard Sale Blood Bath" blog. The potential for bloodletting was rather high.

The first thing I spied was a blue kettle, which I dropped into my bucket. I was ready to take down any rabid granny who got in my way by swinging my bucket into her blue haired head! You'll be glad to know it wasn't necessary due to some well placed stink-eye warnings.

Eventually, in all the pushing we also claimed wrestled free an antique-ish quilt, Pottery Barn curtains for Miss Bella's new bedroom, a quilt and sham set, a navy blue rubbish bin with magnolias? dogwoods? painted on the sides.

Some of this stuff is destined to be resold on either etsy or ebay. Not sure which, yet. I'm making my first foray into "consigning" items for resale, too. YAY! We made it through a yard sale that was more mosh pit than garage sale and have some treasures to show for it. If pillaging was ever anything like this sale, I have a new found respect for any Vikings in my ancestry.


Oh and I should tell you that I think we'll be linking up with Apron Thrift Girl for Thrift Share Monday!

FINALLY! Running Amok At Rummage Sales

I finally managed to escape leave the kids home and hit some rummage sales this weekend. There weren't very many but I did find a couple of cool things I might sell. Plus, I found a few things for here at home. It was a strange feeling to go to the sales all alone. I wonder if I looked like I was running amok? I certainly felt like I was running amok, all crazed and child-less-ly berserk!

One thing I've been keeping my eye out for is a new area rug. See, we have this landing at the top of our stairs where 4 rooms ( 2 bedrooms, living room and kitchen) branch off. Below is a pic of the space after the addition of the yard sale rug.

This spot needed an area rug to help dampen the echoes we have with all wood floors and ginormous rooms. DONE! We now have a just-right-for-now rug. I am still wanting another one for the screened porch, which is also a biggish space. There are actually a few things I'm looking for to put out here but a rug would be a great foundation, wouldn't it?

I also found a gaming system for my boys. It's a Gamecube and was only $5 and came with 2 games. Of course, neither game was appropriate for them, so we picked up a Harry Potter game for them to play.

My favorite find was a set of tole coasters. I haven't decided what to do with them yet. I think they'd be a great addition to the porch on a table but I still need a table! Maybe next weekend I'll find it.

Just because I love Rhoda's Link Party at Southern Hospitality, we're linking to it! One of these days I will figure out how to add her button to my posts.

Abandoned Chairs

Back before we packed up and moved out here to the old schoolhouse, I asked my hubs to see if the chairs up above in the photo were for sale. Our neighbor had these 4 chairs stacked behind her garage all abandoned and needing loved. One of them is a rocker which matches another rocker I hauled home from the resale shop.

Hubs went over and struck a bargain with the neighbors and hauled them home for me. All I need now is some spray paint. I think I'll keep these the same pastel shades they had been. One was pink, one was turquoise and one was baby blue and one green.

Ok, actually on second thought maybe I should paint the screened porch first? I see lots of painting in my near future.

To Be Painted List:

Bella's toy/book shelf
Motel Chairs
Porch

These are the first 3 projects I want to get done. I'm off to the hardware store!