What's Happening Today

I went thrifting today. BAD idea. I made it to just one thrift. Ha. The verse Philippians 2:14 comes to mind (thanks for making us memorize it Mom!). 

So let's just say that my knee is not great. On the positive side, I did get an appointment at the pain clinic for the 3rd week of January. This is thanks to my awesome knee doctor who personally called on my behalf. If it wasn't for him it would be three months before I got in. 

Ebay is slow for me since I am not listing too often. I am spending most of my days catching up on YouTube episodes of Shark Tank and Dragons Den (Canada's version of Shark Tank).

We are looking forward to flying to Anna Maria, Florida in one week. We are flying Allegiant airlines and we are only allowed one personal item. Yup. No carry-ons. No suitcases. Just a tiny little bag. It will be fun to see what fits in my purse. We have never been to Florida in the winter and we are excited to get out of the snow & cold. 

Top 10 Ebay Sales - 12/27/12

Before I get into the ebay stuff, here is a quick knee update. I went to the knee doctor today. He referred me to a pain clinic. The pain clinic is booked solid for THREE months. 

But my doctor was good enough to call personally and hopefully I can get in much sooner. The pain clinic is going to call me Monday to schedule a date. I am very thankful that the doctor caught the problem before it is irreversible. He believes (as do I) that I have RSD. The pain clinic will confirm it. 

And now onto ebay stuff! Here are my top ten sales for the last two weeks. Things have been a bit slow but they are picking back up a bit. 

1. Beretta tweed jacket, sold for $50. 

2. Vintage Emma Domb dress, sold for $79. It still had the original 1960's tags attached. 

3. Men's Stratojac jacket, sold for $26. I stuffed this into a bag at the bag sale last week. I bought two bags for a total of $10 and got a bunch of stuff! 

4. R&M Richards ruffled dress, sold for $25. 

5. Joseph Ribkoff jacket, sold for $25. 

6. Ann Taylor animal print sheath dress, sold for $40. 

7. Anthropologie Lithe skirt, sold for $50. I purchased this for myself at Goodwill about 4 years ago. I wore it and then stained it. Oops! I tried to clean it and made it worse. I listed it and just disclosed the marks. It sold for $50 even with the flaws. 

Here I am wearing this skirt this past summer.

8. Stenay plus sized sequin top, sold for $28.

9. Dress Barn plus sized skirt & jacket set. Another bag sale find. The bidding is at $30 right now. 

10. L. L. Bean men's shirt, sold for $40. I priced this one high since it has a U.S. Marine Corps Tartan plaid print. I found this at my bag sale last week and so I paid about 50 cents for it. 

And here is why I love ebay. I purchased this years ago at TJ Maxx for my home. I had it on display in my bedroom. I think I paid about $8 for it on clearance. It just sold for $11.50. 

And another sale from something laying around the house. A Sunbeam blanket heater controller. Our blanket was all pilly and we chucked it. The controller was still good and I sold it for $11. By the way - we got a new blanket from ebay for about $40. They retailed for over $100 in the store.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Photos

I'm off to Target to get cards & wrapping paper for next year super early on the 26th. So I thought I would post this tonight - on Christmas. I hope everyone had a great day. 

My father-in-law made it home in time for Christmas! My hubby picked him up Christmas Eve (around 3:30pm) and we left for church around 4:15pm. It was a close one but we made it to church and had a great Christmas Eve service.

Christmas morning we spent with my father-in-law. And then we came home and I made a few dozen cookies. This brings the total to approximate 4.2 million. Ha. 

Then off to my first Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I have sold dozens of sweaters on ebay over the years but this was my first party. 

Almost all of the 30 or so guests wore an ugly sweater. I couldn't believe it. (Short story: We were once invited to a themed Scottish wedding. It was printed right in the invitation that the guests should wear Scottish garb. We were the only guests to wear something resembling anything close to Scottish garb.) 

Some were super creative. The winner included a "Christmas" fish stitched to a sweater. The fish's mouth held lotto tickets and everyone was given one. We won a free ticket on ours.

Yes, my husband is wearing red sweats. Yes, this was his idea. Isn't he the best?

The host & hostess got a new dog and it was fun to hold him. 

A few photos taken before the party. I found the sweater AND skirt at Goodwill a few years ago. The little feather thing in my hair was found at Michael's for about a quarter! I originally planned to wear an elaborate floral wreath in my hair but it turns out that I am awful at making floral head wreaths. Ha. 

Notice the awkward shoes? Yup, I still cannot wear heels.

An ebay post is coming soon. As soon as I sell a few more things ;)

Christmas around the house

We have been busy this week. I made 60 dozen cookies this weekend!

20 dozen were for our annual church Christmas get-together Saturday night. My husband plays guitar while our pastor sings Elvis Christmas songs. We have a ton of food and just have a good time. 

My hubby is in red and the pastor is in plaid.

30 dozen and 5 dozen gluten-free mini muffins were for church this morning. 3 dozen were for the children of the church who had their final practice before Christmas Eve. They will be singing two songs and they are SO cute. The others go out to neighbors. 

I will be making another 10 dozen tomorrow for two different Christmas parties we attend including an ugly Christmas sweater contest. Can I just say how excited I am for this? I have the perfect outfit which I will share later in the week. I am making the headpiece later today. Yup, it includes a headpiece.

My father-in-law is still at the hospital with liquid in his lungs but he should get out before Christmas. 

On Wednesday I had over a friend and her five kids. We always do a craft and this month's was a scrap paper wreath. This was my mock-up. 

Our Christmas plans include making breakfast at my father-in-law's house and giving him a few gifts. Then back home to relax for a bit and get ready for a party. 

I hope everyone has a very, very Merry Christmas!

Quick Knee Update

Well, today I went back to the knee doctor. A quick recap: I injured my knee about two years ago. In that time, I have had 6 MRIs, 3 knee surgeries, 3 knee doctors and 2 cortisone shots. Today I had cortisone shot #3.

My new doctor said my last MRI showed I had a tear in my meniscus. Again. For the 3rd time. And no, I am not a runner. I'm not even the least bit athletic. Ha. Thankfully it is a horizontal tear this time which means it is fairly stable. The last two were vertical.

He gave me a cortisone shot. If it helps (and I will know in 3 days if it helps), I am good to go. I will continue with cortisone and it should help.

If it doesn't help, he is sending me to a pain clinic. There is a chance that it is RSDS. For the 99.9% of those who haven't heard of RSDS (and I was one of those up until today), it is a rare condition where the symptoms are basically swelling, pain and tenderness.

At first I thought the doctor was telling me it was all in my head. But after I asked him flat out if he thought it was all in my head, he assured me that it is a very real thing.  If I have it, it is still in the early stages which is great.

So there is the update. He doesn't want to do a 4th surgery since this will possibly make it worse. I'm not sure how it could be any worse honestly but I am trusting the doctor on this ;)



On a very positive non-knee note, we found out tonight that one of our Compassion kids, Princess (isn't that an awesome name!?!) is safe & sound. She lives in the Philippines with her family. There home was wiped out by a storm last year. They found another home at the end of last year. We have been praying for her and wondering if she was hit by the typhoon. Compassion let us know today that she was not in the area that was hit. We are so happy.



And one more update. Guess who is back at the hospital? My father-in-law! He wasn't feeling great and was kind of out of it. He said he was having a hard time breathing and was blacking out. We had stopped to drop off groceries on the way home from my doctor's appointment. And off to the ER we went. After an unusually long wait, he got in to see a doctor. They are doing X-rays & bloodwork since he has had pneumonia twice and has had heart issues. They admitted him. Poor guy. The good news is we got him a strawberry milkshake, curly fries and a hamburger from the most-wonderful cafe they have in the hospital. Haha.

Top 18 Ebay Sales - 12/16/13

This morning I am driving to a small little thrift about 20 minutes away. They sent me an email last night with news that they have their annual "fill-a-bag" sale. You get to fill a brown paper bag for $5. I can fit a LOT in a paper bag. Last year I bought four bags and counted about 30 pieces. 

I have been using my new washer & dryer for the last few days and I love it. It is so fancy. I feel like I should dress up when doing laundry. 

Here are some of my recent sales: 

1. Vintage Spencer Alexis dress with a few stains, sold for $33. 

2. New Vineyard Vines mint green sweater, sold for $30 with 14 bids. 

3. New Nine West gray skirt suit, sold for $31. 

4. Eileen Fisher merino wool jacket with pills, sold for $43 with 12 bids. We have a saying on ebay: "Don't fear the flaw". This sweater was pilly even after I shaved it. I could have easily just re-donated it. But I thought I would give it a chance. I always disclose the flaws. Some sell, some don't. But it is worth the try.

5. Talbots blue cashmere sweater, sold for $26. I purchased a lot of 15 cashmere sweaters on ebay for $75 with free shipping. I sold the 8 most flawed in a lot for $50. The next three brought $75 and I have 4 of the nicest left.

6. I Love Lucy throws. This one sold for $32 ending with 20 bids. The second brought $20. I purchased these each for $2.99 at Goodwill. 

7. George (this is a WAL-MART brand!) leather gold jacket, sold for $35. This was purchased by an international buyer. 

8. Isaac Mizrahi Live! (sold on QVC) floral trench, sold for $35. 

9. Vintage J. Harlan black dress, sold for $31. This was part of the lot I purchased in September. I have made back 4X my investment and still have over half of the items on ebay. 

10. LOGO by Lori Goldstein top, sold for $35. This brand is sold on QVC and is made of the most dreamy material. 

11. Long suede skirt with fringe, sold for $50. 

12. Geiger long skirt, sold for $31. This one was listed three months ago. Some things sell right away but most sits for a few months. Remember, you are looking for ONE buyer out of millions.

13. Anthropologie Odille skirt, sold for $46. 

14. Berek heavy knit cardigan sweater with a fun horse design, sold for $46. 

15. J. Jill coral pants & long jacket set, sold for $73. 

16. Isaac Mizrahi Live! (yup, QVC) velvet dress, sold for $33. I would have kept this if it was my size. In fact, I tried to find one in my size but couldn't. Isn't it pretty? 

17. Rudi Gernreich vintage knit top with flaws, sold for $53. 

18. Vintage Tadashi dress, sold for $33. I love dresses from the 1980's! 

Journal

I will do my normal "Top 10 ebay Sales" soon. Perhaps tomorrow. 

I wanted to blog about life around my house right now. I use this blog half as a personal journal, half to hopefully help ebay sellers. The two don't always mesh. 


I belong to a group of about 300 ebay clothing sellers who have their own board. We post questions and enjoy each other as co-workers every day. We encourage each other to list and complain about buyers. We had a Secret Santa and I got my box yesterday. It was so fun to open.

On Thursday I went to my third knee surgeon. My first surgeon was young - about my age. The second was old. I believe he was about 80-82. This one is right in the middle. Ha. I have faith that he will be able to come up with a fix. I am willing to do almost anything at this point. He wasn't sure what was wrong. My knee is very squishy due to a lot of fluid (i.e. swelling). 

I went for bloodwork after the doctors and for an MRI Thursday. I think this was my 6th MRI. I go back to the doctor on the 19th to find out what is going on. 

On the plus side, I now have a wonderful collection of hospital socks: red, several gray pairs, tan and blue. Ha.

It is snowing again. We have quite a bit of on the ground and more is expected. I am okay with the snow at this point in December as long as I don't have to go out. Today is one of those days. 

Last night we got our new washer & dryer delivered. We purchased them & the pedestals on the Home Depot website on Black Friday. The pedestals showed up UPS two days after we purchased them. 

They were suppose to be installed. Home Depot advertises free installation. However, ours were not installed. Ours are sitting in the middle of our laundry room. There was something about the delivery men not being able to hot wire them. They are still quite lovely just sitting there.

And so we called up our contractor friend and he came over this morning. He is shopping for the parts right now. Hopefully we will have working machines by tonight. 

My husband making me laugh with his crazy poses.

Well, that is about all for now. I am off to take some photos for ebay and hopefully list a few things.