Monday, May 19, 2014

Life

Like everyone, life has gotten a tad busy.  Which the slug in me doesn't particularly like...we prefer a nice, even pace.  The weather has continued to do it's climate change, global warming, let's screw with the people below kind of thing.

This weekend we went off to Columbus, OH to watch Emily play in her first Nationals for Elon Ultimate Frisbee Women's Team.  Grammy came along with Hunter and I.  Saturday it rained, sleeted, hailed, rained some more all at a balmy 48 F.  Sun finally came out long after the games were done for the day.


Emily is right in the middle in black #18.  See her?



See the chick in the white on the left with #39 on her shorts?
Emily is right next to her in a black jacket.


Sunday woke up to 39 F but full sun.  Got up to 68 F and was a beautiful day.  The women came in 11th place  and the men came in 2nd.  Had a fun time but do believe I have a cold.  I have not been that cold in a long time.  Emily will be home Wednesday for the ENTIRE summer.  Yay!

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I have managed to do a few more things on my 101 Things in 1001 days list.

#12   Start a vegetable garden...We have lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, squash, cucumbers, and hopefully okra (hey, we are in the south...have to have okra)

#15  Install a security gate....Not quite done but in the process.

#27   Eat a tofu dish...Did this in Charleston.  It was really good.

#30   Find a new church home...and it's 2 miles from my house!

#36  Play in the rain...(See pics above) Okay technically I wasn't playing but...

#86  Vote...I voted in the primaries for our county

#94  Sell things on Ebay...Okay, let the rant begin:

I decided to use a "service" suggested by Ebay.  They send you a shipping label, USPS, you write out your list and descriptions, box it all up, off it goes.   They unpack said items, evaluate each item, decide what will sell, what will not.  I sent in 11 items.  The BIG one was my Reed Krakoff bag that has gotten one use, that I paid a bunch of money for, that I was expecting to recoup maybe half what I paid.  Bastards wouldn't even list it.  Said it did not meet their requirements.  WTF?!  Anyhoo, of the seven items they agreed to sell only my yellow Banana republic handbag sold for $37.  I get 70% of that so roughly $26.  They take $10 to ship all my shit back to me.  So for all that I got $16.00.  Sixteen friggin' dollars!!!!  My stuff is on the way back and I am anxious to see the bag.  Did a huge stain/gouge get on it?  What?  What is wrong with my stuff?!  Sigh.

Kind of depressing.  I bought me some Fig Newtons for my trip this weekend...I'm off to finish the box!




27 comments:

  1. i love frisbee but never played this sport - have missed out.

    meanwhile i still haven't done my list let alone start selling stuff on ebay.
    in fact i might have to put the ebay bit on next years to do list!! There are loads of services everyone tells me about but you dont seem to get hardly anything after fees to all relevant parties...

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    1. I am not happy at all about the Ebay thing. Now I know to just make better choices or give to Goodwill. I found the whole process insulting really. Ultimate is new to me also but it is growing in popularity quite rapidly. All in all it was fun but the weather was horrible. we took four other young ladies to dinner Saturday so that's always fun to meet Em's friends.

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  2. BB, Now Em is your updo girl if memory serves? and quite a good one if she is. Many of my formative years were spent near there. My 'Estella' is an Elon alumnae who tells me it is now known as the "Barnhard (or Brown) of the South" or something like that which she quoted from her heavy reading of Town & Country.
    I share your pain re ebay as I'm researching selling through Amazon with them doing fulfillment and I'm wondering if it includes "the courtesy of a reach-around."

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    1. ...many of my formative years were spent near Elon I meant to say

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    2. Emily has now finished her first year. She has definitely blossomed and we believe she chose the perfect college for her. We have spent a lot of time in Asheville but have not ventured past Elon for visits. My mother in law actually went to a private high school in Winston Salem and brother in law lived in Raleigh for several years. Good luck with Amazon. Hope your crap sells better than my crap :)

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  3. Well yay for Em! And that's warm temps for us here!

    I never cease to be amazed at how little consignment brings in! It is ever depressing and makes me not want to spent crazy amounts of money on things now!

    Love your bucket let is ever changing. I have to do this!

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    1. I did find it quite insulting. I didn't want the stuff but surely some one else would. Nope.
      The list does help me keep focus. I look at it every month and pick one or two to do. Am curious what the last thing accomplished will be.

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  4. Why dont you sell your things yourself on ebay?
    At least then you will get the money.
    I hate selling on ebay,it is way better on the JCA market or on IG.

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    1. I am a slug, sloth, lazy, lazy, lazy...I thought this would be an easy way to do it. And hey, I got $15.90. What am I going to spend it on?

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    2. What? Visiting the great state of Ohio wasn't on your bucket list? Did you just forget to list it? Glad that you got to experience several of our weather options. We like to say that if you don't like the weather today, just stci around for tomorrow.
      How many boxes of Fig Newtons can you buy for $15.90? See we are so optimistic in Ohio!

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    3. Too funny. Your weather this past weekend was crazy. They did a great job with the tournament. We did Westerville Sports Complex and Heritage Park. But no chicken biscuits at McDonalds!! Not sure what I'll spend my dough on...so many possibilities.

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  5. Yay for Em coming home for the summer. She's one quarter finished and the next years seem to go by even more quickly. Hopefully she had a great time while you all froze. Life is indeed better when the kids are happy!
    It is a good thing to know about EBay. I have only tried a few consignment shops. I had similar experiences. By the time you sort, store for the appropriate season and haul things to the shops, the money is not worth the work. I have resumed Goodwilling and try not to think about all the new items with tags that were such great "bargains" . I have gotten a bit better with the intake and trying to reconsider purchases before the return windows close. Shoes are a remaining issue though.
    Great job on the bucket list. Now try hard not to spend all of that $15.90 in one place.

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    1. She froze her patootie...it was miserable weather. My whole Ebay experience was not what I was hoping for. I will stick with Goodwill at least it's a swift kick in the teeth. Ebay was a bit too punishing. I am still awaiting my rejects in the mail.

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  6. Ultimate frisbee is my kind of sport-- fun for Emily!

    Maybe you know someone who knows someone who'd do the EBay thing for you and keep some of the spoils; a friend's husband is a whiz, does photos and claims he can sell anything. Maybe even my MIL's Christmas plates that landed in my basement and are leaving one way or another.

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    1. I am pretty turned off by the whole self sell thing after this fiasco. I'll just give it away and some one can rave to their friends what a "find" they made.

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  7. Frisbee looks fun. Nothing makes me happier than healthy, sporty kids: I'm trying to install that in my own kids. Well done on the church home - and so close is great. I have to drive a ways to find Christians I can stand. :)

    I'm doing the veggie garden this year too. I have no green thumb but let's wish us both well on that front!!

    Bummer on the ebay thing. They are silly to not jump at the RK bag!! They are lovely.

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    1. Both kids have always been athletes. I don't see Emily ever being sedentary for long. Sports are especially good for young girls...I think it helps with self assurance/confidence and helps to keep them focused on who they are, their abilities, not just boys, boys, boys.

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    2. Jen, you are too hilarious about having to drive a ways to find Christians you can stand :))

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  8. Great going Em!! Both of my kids played sports through HS but not beyond. Your totally right about sports and confidence in girls!! My daughter at 29, still plays in a softball league every spring and a girls football league every fall. She's broken several fingers, but it keeps her strong.
    That's bull about your EBay experience. All that effort for so little return! I'm lazy, I just donate my stuff.

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    1. I am sure once em is home she will whip me into shape by doing some tortuous butt/gut thing. I have always just donated but I saw dollar sign potential with ebay...Not.

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  9. Hmm..Ive never sold anything but I hear about people having great luck buying things on ebay. It seems like it would take a lot of time to scroll through everything to find what you want but maybe I am just inexperienced.
    We have had to sit on the wet and bitter sidelines for many a game so I feel your pain. But at least you were rewarded with sunshine afterwards.
    I love your list idea.

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    1. We are old pros watching the kids from the sidelines and being very loud fans. I just wasn't quite prepared for that kind of weather. Was fun and will hopefully do again next year.

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  10. I looked into a couple of those "sell-for-you" services - repugnant. Rip-off. Repulsive. Other words starting with R.

    I've bought a lot of things in categories I know something about, and I notice that the small Ebay sellers that I feel most comfortable with, the ones who don't have hundreds of things listed, have set up procedures - and over the years, ebay has simplified all of this, the shipping, the buyer-seller communication, that kind of thing. And buyers have gotten more knowledgeable. I used to get great buys on things no one recognized but me. Now there are bidding wars, which are good for the sellers but make me edgy.

    I'm betting no one at your ex-reseller had even heard of RK. Peasants.

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  11. OK, noted re: the eBay services and will scratch off that possibility, though I didn't know that existed.

    Ah yes life, isn't a pile of kids on an open field the best? Congrats on your vegetable garden and a few more off your list. Sorry about your cold but yay for Em being home for the summer.

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  12. They wouldn't take a Reed Krakoff bag? Incredible! Why didn't you use it do you think? It sounds amazing. I was just thinking what a great service and it seems so free, in the end they find a way to make money though don't they.
    Am very admiring of your daughter doing the frisbee and getting into the nationals no less. I have no hand eye thingy co-ordination at all.

    "chick in the white on the left with #39 on her shorts? " and your daughter next to her, I would see her but my eyes that are too old. I used to have good eyes but they've gone overnight along with the neck.

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