Drowning in cash ....

This morning I crawled out of bed - made a cup of tea - and sat down to my morning ritual of checking emails, printing out postage labels for my parcels and checking Paypal for any miniscule amount I can transfer to my bank account.


Then I check my bank account.    A lovely number swims before my eyes, and I have to blink a few times to make sure I'm not dreaming.


The grand total in my account is just over $1000.


There hasn't been that much in my account for a few years.   

I dream of the wonderful things I can do with this money:


- pay the phone bill, the gas bill, the electricity bill, the internet bill
- buy my Dad's present for his birthday
- get my car its long over-due service
- go to the chiropractor for my back
- get a haircut by a hairdresser instead of hacking at it myself with scissors
- wrap my teeth around a real steak for the first time in years.
- replace my worn granny knickers with some new granny knickers   (oh the thrill !!)
- perhaps even *shock* - buy myself a BRAND NEW book or DVD!!!!


The possibilities are endless.    I feel a warm glow in my nether regions, about the delicious things I can do with this money.


Except for one thing.


IT IS NOT MINE.   It has been transferred to my account in error overnight.




You see, the lovely website where I attempt to sell my books Fishpond.com.au - has been fiddling with their website.    They've been having a really good poke around in there.   I sent a query to them only a couple of days ago querying why a couple of sales hadn't been applied to my account.


Now they've had a fiddle-fest and all the sales I've made from them in the past 3 years or so came up as not being paid.   I saw this yesterday evening and had a laugh.  At the top of the account it said that $925 would be paid to my bank account via bank transfer.    What a hoot!   Surely they wouldn't be silly enough to do that.


Apparently they are.   Apparently all those transfers are automated.   If the system say pay it - it gets paid.   Oh, their IT Department is going to be getting a thrashing.   I feel sorry for them.   Have they never heard of Beta Testing changes before they go live?

Oh well, I will just sit and look at this total in my account for a day and pretend it is mine - then tomorrow I will contact them if they haven't contacted me first.


Oh, my precious.  My precious!!!!

SLAP!!  <Ahem>.


Back to the real world.




My sales have been atrocious.   I'm talking a drop of two thirds in sales for 3 months that had me in tears almost daily.   So bad, I haven't been blogging because I all would do is moan about it, and that's not fun for you or for me. 


My friends on Ebay Underground had been talking about a "light being switched on."   I finally got to see that in action in my store last week.      In one day I had 10 sales - and it has still been pretty good.  Things I had gotten sick of looking at were suddenly bouncing out the red door.   Hurrah, I can finally pay some bills!!


Finally, here are some items I have sold worth mentioning:




This rare 1st edition book from 1918.     A previous copy on Ebay had sold for $40.    Mine sat for ages at that price, and then I decided I just needed some money to pay bills.  

Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

I thought my new foray into kids clothing was going to save my bacon, but they suddenly stopped selling.   Then I got this sale of Bulk 27 x Girls Size 4 Clothing.  Hurrah!!  

Sold for:  $47.95 (less $11 fee for stupidity)

Bought for:   $7

Then I got home from the post office and looked at the photo, thinking "I don't remember packing those dresses?"    Oh crap, I'd forgotten to pack 3 dresses that were hanging up.    I grabbed them and hurried back to the post office.   Yay, they still had my parcel.   I did surgery on it and added the missing clothes.    I got slugged with $11 charge for the extra weight.   Oh well, at least I remembered before it got to the customer.

These diet books I've had for 8 months.  I was selling them separately, and then decided to put them in all together.   Glad to see them go.    

Sold for:  $15

Bought for:  Less than $1

These lovely embroidery magazines I've had for a while.  Then somebody came in and snaffled up 4 of them. 

Sold for:  $22 (4 magazines at $5.50 each)

Bought for : $2

This Maths Textbook - I've also had for a while.   The buyer wanted to pick it up.  At the front door she stared at the book and said "I hope it's the right one.  I'll let you know if there's any problems."

WHAAAAT??!!   You're supposed to check that before you buy the frickin book!   I haven't heard from her, so all is well.

Sold for :  $29.99

Bought for :   $1

This huge gorgeous book on roses was in Like New condition.   It's huge and weighs over 3.5 kgs.  I'm surprised it took 6 months to sell.   Somebody bought it, and I am posting it to a friend of the buyer for a gift.

Sold for:  $24.95

Bought for:  $1

Ah, the lovely Squatter Board Game.  My sister found me this when she was op-shopping.  Always a sure-fire seller if it is complete.  Considering part of the game is 180 tiny plastic sheep, this rarely happens!

Bought for:  $3.50

Sold for :  $24.95

This is my favourite sale.   These sold within a few hours.   I got 4 of these magazines for free from my local op-shop.    Woodworking books/magazines are always a sure-fire seller for me.

Sold for:    $22.00 (for 4 magazines @ 5.50 each).

Bought for :   FREE

I'm thinking of branching into magazines.  Does anybody have any magazines they can recommend as a good-seller either in singles or bulk lots?


For now, I'll sit and gaze at my illegal bank balance, and not think about spanking.


Whoops, too late....

Did the earth move for you too?

Last week Melbourne had an earth tremor - 5.3 on the richter scale.

It was about 9:30pm at night and I was doing what I always am at that time - Monday to Sunday - sitting in the dark watching a DVD with a bottle of plonk, wine, fermented grape juice at my elbow.

First my chair started shaking.   I assumed it was a large truck driving by, or one of those wankers in their car with the bass turned up, making their tiny brain bounce around in their skull.

Then the walls started shaking and buzzing - they did this for about 20 seconds.    I sniffed my wine, fermented grape juice to see if it was tainted.

Being a nerd, I shuffled into the study to check Facebook.   Friends and family in the Melbourne area had felt the same thing and were commenting on it there.

Sniff!   And I had so-hoped it was a tardis, space-ship or bi-plane piloted by a hot pilot coming to take me away from this place.

Buggar.

I rang my mother to see if she had felt it.  "What earthquake?" she says.   By the next weekend, she had changed her story, and upgraded it to things falling off walls and my father being shot from his easy-chair.   *snort*

Now let me tell you another story - this was the NIGHT BEFORE the earth tremor, at about the same time.

Same scenario - me - fermented grape juice - TV - darkness - approx 9:30pm.

Cue a huge crash from the kitchen in the next room.     My heart began to thump wildly.   It came from near the back door.   Had someone snuck into the house, brushed against something and knocked it over?????

I searched around for a weapon - I had two TV remotes that I could turn into nun-chucks - but it might damage them.  There was a wine bottle, but I didn't want to waste what was still left in there.  

I shuffled across the room.    I was wearing a snuggie.  

And you can bet that I was wearing it with as much class and style as the woman above.   *SNORT*

Being vertically-challenged it hangs about 1 metre  under my feet.   When I walk in it, I have to kick my feet forward to make sure that I don't fall a$$ over tit.  The sleeves are about 20cm too long, so I walk with my arms straight out and upward to keep my hands exposed.

It occurred to me that the sight of me doing my zombie walk with my hair standing on end, wearing my unfashionable PJs, ragged dressing gown and snuggie would be enough to frighten off the most hardened criminal.

I reached around to turn the light on, and remembered that there was no light-globe in it.    Yes, I am cutting costs to get my bills down.  Bummer.     With a huge amount of noise and swearing I hit a button on my Rangehood - and turn on the noisy fan.   So much for my stealth-ninja plan.   I turn off the fan - and finally find the light.  

Then I see what caused the noise - a pile of board games that were on top of the bookshelf by the back door has fallen to the floor.    There's six of them - with contents spread all across the tiles.  One of my birds is flapping in his cage in fright.

But what caused them to fall?   I checked the back door - locked - and searched the whole house, looking inside cupboards and behind doors.   My flat is tiny, it didn't take long.   Nobody was there.

I could not figure out how the games had fallen down.

Causes I could think of were :

a)    My place is haunted

b)   A huge rat lives there that had pushed them off

c)    One of my birds had farted and caused a mini-tornado

d)   The games were sick of their miserable existence, and had committed mass suicide.

Now, I can only guess that there must have been a smaller pre-tremor the night before.

I still have to sort through the games as I just stuffed anything I found into any box.

If there had an intruder it would have been:   Intruder - 0 ,   Snuggie - 1

I really must buy a baseball bat,  medieval sword, or perhaps some ninja stars.

I could possibly have just a smidgen more respect now for my Snuggie.

Where is my cleaning fairy god mother ?

In my childhood home where I lived from babyhood until I married at 23 years of age, I had the pleasure of having the bedroom that was next to the toilet.   I still haven't figured out whether that was a subtle indication of my importance in the family structure.


In a household of 6 - the bog-house got a good workout.  


This wonderful bedroom was where I spent my childhood hiding from the world, obsessively *rating* the same songs every weekend, inhaling books by the hundreds and writing atrocious stories and poetry.   
All this to the soundtrack of toilet sounds from the room next to mine.


No wonder I have a warped sense of humour.

Because of the stunning location of my bedroom, I am quite frankly, chuffed, to announce these defining moments in my childhood.   I submit these to the Head Shrink Doctor as evidence :


* Listening to my little brother, proud to now be house-trained, loudly counting the number of turds he was depositing in the thunder-box.   Let me tell you for such a small boy, he had a production line going there.


* Gasping in awe over the thunderous farts emitted from a tiny, 100-year-old lady who stayed with us for a few months.   Was my little brother hiding around the corner, sniggering into his grubby little fists.  You betcha!  


* The same little old lady was let loose in the house at night.  She would wander around in the wee dark hours, scratching the walls with her fingernails like something in a horror movie; drawn to the siren call of the dunny.      I would lie there in terror with the blankets pulled up to my neck.   Then one night, it happened!!    The door swung open - and there she was, silhouetted in the doorway.  As I lay there quaking in terror, she shot over to my bed at great speed, propelled by machine-gun-like farts.     Then she tried to get in the bed with me.     I think it's the only time in my life I have ever screamed.     Once that happens to you, the sight of a big hairy spider holds no fear ever again.  I promise you this.


*  Before the interruption of puberty, I slept with the door open.   Every morning, at about 6am, I would watch my mother backing out of the toilet on her hands and knees.    Much as I'd love to say it was because she was driving the porcelain bus, and hung-over from partying the night before - sadly, this is not the case.   Every morning, my mother would SCRUB the toilet and kitchen floors - on her hands and knees.
I would watch in awe, because it was kind of like something out of a Catherine Cookson novel.   She did this for years.   There was no mop and bucket until many years later.

I bet you're feeling all warm and fuzzy now.




I don't even know how I got onto this subject.   Oh yes - cleaning.  

The other day I did my bi-yearly vacuum of the flat.   I felt virtuous afterwards, I could look at my carpet without shuddering.   The dust bunnies were no longer breeding in the corners.


But the thing is, the only reason I did this was because I'm expecting *visitors* this week.   


Before I go further, I should explain that I never have visitors.  Apart from a few ebay customers who want to pickup items, the only people who have been to my flat are my parents, my sister, my younger brother and my friend Sue, who I sell items for on Ebay.    For me having visitors is as rare as a UFO sighting  (actually, perhaps rarer).

My ex-in-laws visited once - a couple of years ago - just after I moved in.  I felt I should invite them then because they had helped me find the place at a time when all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and stay hidden from the world forever.     I never saw them for two years after that.   This was because I felt guilty, and I felt like I was a disappointment to them because I had not managed to 'do my duty' and pump out any grand-children for them.


About six months ago, I learned through another source that my ex-MIL was sick.  So I rang and found she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and had gone through a horrible time.  So I began visiting and taking her books and DVDs and flowers.    She was lucky enough to have a husband who looked after her, but I felt sorry for her, as her only child was living the life of Riley in the US and didn't care to interrupt his fun long enough to come home for a visit.   


Bottom line, we see each other regularly now, and I'm happy about that.   I always go to their house, because I'm not very proud of mine.


But now they say they might *pop-in* to drop something off.   Scream!  

My flat has not changed since the day I bought it.  The walls are still empty of pictures or decorations.  The garden beds still lovingly grow weeds.   The entire 'decorating' theme of my unit is called "Ebay Stock".   I have no knick-knacks, no cushions or throw rugs - I have towering piles of dusty videos, board games, books and cardboard boxes of misc.   I don't think that I could get away with saying that the new 'look' is rummage-sale-chic.  (Believe me, I've tried)


So I vacuumed, and I hung one small picture on the wall.  Then I got bored with it all.

I thought, sod it.  I'm trying to impress my ex-MIL who has a fantastic sense of decorating.  Everything matches in her house and it looks like a photo from Better Homes & Gardens magazine, but this is not me.


Everything does match in my place.    It's fairly clean, a bit neglected, and a bit of a mess - but then so am I.     Ergo ... my flat = me.


Done.   


Oh and my toilet, it's not next to the bedroom.  But since I'm the only one who gets to use it, whilst in occupancy, I throw caution to the *wind* and hum a jaunty tune just in case any nasty toilet flashbacks pop up from my childhood.  


Yes doctor, I'm quite sane.  Really I am.

Another Source Of Income - Paid Surveys $$$

First of all - here is a big bunch of flowers for my followers.    Thanks for your kind words.


I'm kinda embarrassed about my dark post yesterday, but it was cathartic - and it did help, as did all my lovely messages.    I slept well last night and today I feel better.


I bought myself a bag of kiwifruit - and I will try to eat one a day.  I'll probably just end up feeding them to my parrot, but at least I tried.  Right?


When I get down, I get really down - but then I bounce back like a rubber ball.


Today is a new day.  No more moaning for another month.




If you haven't already discovered the world of Paid Surveys, you should give it a go.   Here's a small glimpse into what appears in my In Box.


Yesterday, my sales were in the toilet, I hit my inbox to give it a clear out.


I received a new email from one of my many Paid Survey websites that I belong to.  It offered me this:

I nearly swallowed my tongue!  Get paid $50 to listen to 360 music tracks and give my snotty opinion on them?   Yes please!  I hit that Survey button as quick as I could, sure that I wouldn't qualify.   But I did.

So the rest of the afternoon, in the foul mood that I was in, I swapped between listing ebay items and listening to tracks.  In the end I found it quite relaxing, and very satisfying.


For each track, I had to select whether I:  a) had never heard of it,  b)  liked it   c)   Hated it.
If I chose a) - I had to choose whether I actually like the song or not.
If I chose b) - I had to choose whether I LOVED the song, or just LIKED it.
If I chose c) - I had to choose whether, I was just plain SICK of the song, or whether I HATED it so much, I would change the station.


This was a survey from a radio station obviously.  It was the easiest $50 I ever made.

The only downside - with this company I can only spend the money on :  Ticketek vouchers, online Magazine Subscriptions or Cinema vouchers.  Given I never go out, options 1 & 3 are out.    I now have $80 worth of Magazine Subscriptions sitting there waiting to go.   Hmmm, Mother's Day is coming up, I might use it for that.


I am signed up with lots of survey companies.  Most of these are Australian.


Opinions Paid
Cafestudy
globaltestmarket.com    (this is US based)
My View
Valued Opinions
What Do You Think
Your Opinion
My Survey
My Opinions
Pure Profile
Survey Village
Your Voice
Nine Rewards
Aussie Think


I have my In Box set so that any emails from these go straight into a folder entitled "Opinions".   I check that every day and go through the ones there.


This is my Opinions folder at the moment.  There's a few for me to go through.

Given I have already cleared out a few of these, I still have a lot to go through.  Because I belong to so many Paid Survey companies, I can get anything from 10 to 15 (even more) surveys sent to me a day.


All these companies are different.  Some offer points to be accumulated.  When you get enough you can redeem them for things.  Some offer cash incentives, also to be accumulated and redeemed.  Some give you an entry into a monthly prize draw.


The items that you can redeem points for are varied - usually gift vouchers at various stores.  Some will transfer cash into your bank account, others into your Paypal account.   Some will have options where you can donate your money to charity.  


Other companies pay you for reading emails - these are only small amounts (usually 10 to 30 cents) - but it all adds up in the end.


Here's a look at at one of the emails in my in box:

This is my newest company.  This one is nearly $5 for a 30 minute survey.  That's pretty good money.  The hint with these is not to just sit down and do them all in one go.  I have them open on a different screen and between ebay listing, I swap between them and do a few questions and then go back.  Otherwise I would get bored.


Especially if it's an a$$-rippingly boring survey on credit cards or mobile phones (my two most hated ones).


Surveys can be anything from 5 minutes to 30 minutes on average.  Some can go as long as 3 hours (taken over a few days).


If you want to find some paid survey companies to join, just google the words "paid surveys" and see what comes up in your relevant area/country.


My hints for joining are:


1.   NEVER pay money to a website to get the names of paid survey companies.  These are rip-offs.  You can get this information just by searching the net.


2.   If you have children you will get into a lot of surveys.   I don't, so I get kicked out of a lot of surveys for that.  :-(


3.   I list myself as a small business owner.    I get a lot of high-paid surveys because of this.  Even though I'm only a sole-proprietor company, my opinion is still wanted on many business decisions I make.


I currently get inundated with surveys.  I browse through them and choose the shorter ones and do them as soon as they arrive.  Anything with an interesting subject or a decent reward goes next.  All surveys have an expiry date which could be from 3 days to 2 weeks from the time you receive it.


RADIO STATIONS


Your radio stations want your opinion.  They will put you in prize draws or give you rewards to rate their music.   Just find the websites of your radio stations that see what they have on there.


This is one I joined last year.  Every week or so I get to "Rate the Hits" - they play me 20 of the new/popular songs and I have to rate them.   I wade through the current crappy music and give them a rating.   With only 20 songs, it only takes about 2 minutes.   I have to rate the songs on a meter that goes between  *This Song Makes Me Want to Vomit*  (just kidding) - to *I love this Song!*    Easy as pie.


This is the email I received yesterday from one of my stations, FOX FM:

This station has different prizes on offer each time.


In the past year, I have won:


~ 5 x DVD Pack
~ 2 x CDs
~ a $50 gift voucher for Coles-Myer
~ a $200 gift voucher to a shopping centre.  This is nearly an hour from where I live.  It's still in my purse, and I will get there sometime when I can afford the petrol.


In this email I've just received, the prize is some concert tickets.   If I won those puppies, I would fling them onto Ebay ASAP.


So once I've vented my spleen on such ultra-crappy music as "Puff Daddy Mo-Ho Featuring Miss Pooh-J Versus Bunghole Gang - and rated them as *this song makes me want to eat my own head*, I feel virtuous.

 I'm having a hand in trying to save the world from crap - sorry, rap music and possibly winning something - this is a good definition of a win/win situation.


The other side of survey companys, are ones where you get the chance to try new products and give your opinion on them.  Either you go to the survey company's office - or they post it to you at home.  You try the product and then after a certain amount of time, they send you a survey and you complete it.   You get the product for free, and sometimes you get sent a gift voucher, or get allocated points as well.


The last product test I did was in February, and I got sent a huge bar of bath-soap.  I did the survey, and then they sent me a $10 gift card as well.


I have also tested at home :  canned soup, panty liners, face moisturising cream, body moisturising lotion, tissues, Fish Oil capsules, herbal tea bags, fly spray and household cleaner.     There are others that I can't remember right now.


That's a pretty good service.    If you haven't done Paid Surveys before, I suggest you give them a try.  I find them very worthwhile.  Let me know if you do to.   Mention me as the person who referred you.  *wink*


Oh, this is the other bunch of flowers pictures I wanted to post.

Bwahhhhaaaa,  I wonder where they stuck the flowers???


Hope it made you smile.   :-)

In a Black Hole with a Black Dog ....

It's been over three weeks since my last blog.  Naughty me.


The past two weeks have been school holidays here, and also the Easter break.    My sales plummeted to the point where I didn't even need to go to the post office everyday, and on the days I did, I was posting no more than a $6.00 sales.  That is very bad.   No only my sales, but my life is disappearing into a black hole.


At the moment I have $15 in my bank account, and my amount of money waiting to go from Paypal to the bank account won't even cover the postage costs that I have put on my credit card.


I'm going backwards.


It's very scary.   It's very demotivating, and I feel deflated and useless.   The Black Dog is beginning to circle me again.

I know the sales can get lower during the school holidays, but this is the worst they have ever been.


For the past 3 weeks I've been eating packaged frozen meals, which are much cheaper than *real* food - and drowning my sorrows in chips and my *ahem* grape juice.     So now my weight and my digestive system have suffered.    I haven't done any exercise for over a year, I haven't eaten any fruit for ages, and any vegetables I buy shrivel in the fridge before I get around to cooking them.     I can't seem to get myself out of this rut.


I haven't been to an op shop for 3 weeks - I don't have the money to buy petrol or afford any new stock items.  I have spent the time going through my piles of stock at home and getting them listed - so seeing the piles go down and my flat looking a little cleaner is a good feeling, even if I'm getting no buzz from shopping and no sales.


I don't even have any sales from the past 3 weeks worth mentioning on this blog - or anything new that I've picked up or learned.  I am a big fat empty space.


I'm finding every tiny little setback is affecting me more than usual.  I've been worried about my Dad's health, and ferrying him & my Mum around to various medical appointments.  He's 84 in a couple of months, and is seeming to age suddenly now.   We were worried he was getting dementia.    (Personally,  I'm not surprised - living with my mother would drive anybody insane).    But after the tests a couple of days ago it turned out to be just a lack of Vitamin B12.   The doctors were very pleased with his *ahem* insides, and said he had the stomach and bowels of a man 20 years younger. 


Now we just have to worry about whether he needs a hip replacement or not.    Tests for that next week.  


I wish I was like my Dad.   He does not stress.   He lets everything wash over him like water over a duck's back.   I am a worrier.   At the first sign of things not going well, my stomach instantly produces enough acid to eat through steel and my bowels turn to water.   I am sure my insides are not in such a fine state as my 83 year old Dad's.


I just don't know how to relax, and *chill out*  Maybe I should start smoking pot.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Sue brought over a couple of pictures for me to sell.


These should go for nice prices at auction.


The first is called "Nymph" by J H Lynch

Here are the completed's.


The second is called " Woodland Goddess " by J H Lynch


Here are the completeds for this one.

They are retro and more than a little garish and tacky and quite large at over 1 metre in height.   But hey, they have titties on them.  :-)
I have put off listing them until the slump on ebay finishes.  Even this week after the school holidays have ended the sales have been appalling - I guess everybody's $$$ are still recovering from the holidays.


Sue now rings me every week asking "how things are going on ebay."   I told her I wouldn't put them up until after the holidays.    Now, because they will be Pickup Only, I want to list them so they finish around lunch on a Saturday.  I don't want them finishing on a weekday, because people will want to visit my house at night.  No way Jose!!   So I won't be listing them until this Saturday.


She rang 3 times in last few days and left messages.  One time I was out, one time I'd just sat down to eat my tea, and the 3rd time I was in the bath.   I didn't answer the phone.   It's beginning to stress me out.     I hate my home phone - I hate the sound of it ringing.   I don't like phones, and won't ring somebody unless I REALLY have to.   I guess it's just the way my brain is wired - or just the fact that I'm an anti-social old bag.


I need to get a life.  I haven't gone out in over 2 years.  I've lost interest in all the hobbies I used to have, except reading books.   I haven't seen a movie in 3 years.  But the sad part is, I don't want to go out amongst people.  I'm content on my own.  Yet still I feel empty and hollow and lonely.  I wake at 3am and start worrying over things I can't control : my aging parents, thoughts of me dying alone on the kitchen floor because nobody cares, thoughts of spending the rest of my life alone.


I'm a 64 year old invalid living in a 44 year old's body .  


My next book to read will be "How to not Sweat the Small Stuff", but I fear my inner cynic will just sneer at the words of wisdom.


With any luck by next week, I will be out of the doldrums, and not such a sad sack.  Until then, I had to check in and let you know I'm still alive, and barely kicking.


Until then the Black Dog is howling for a feed ......

Nightmares !!....

They say bad things happen in threes - so maybe this week will be less painful.  'Cos last week sucked. Hence the silence on the Blog airwaves, until this rant.   


Nightmare - Stage 1 :    It started with an email from Ebay letting me know that I had been slapped with an MC109 Copyright Violation for a DVD I was selling.  I was amazed.  This was a still-sealed in packaging DVD that I had bought off eBay a few years ago.   I bought it, forget about it, then decided to sell it, as it was brand new.


I looked at the DVD cover and compared it to others.  It looked exactly the same to me until, finally, I saw the cover was missing the "Sullivan Entertainment" title along the top that the other DVD covers had.     I unwillingly took it out of the plastic wrapping and looked at the disc inside.   Yes, it's a printed one.   I'll put it in my DVD collection, but it will bring me no joy knowing it's a pirated copy. 


 I did a Sherlock Holmes tracing back through my feedback left as a Buyer and found the culprit.  I was hoping to find the same DVD and BURN THEIR ARSE!   But they weren't selling it.  Foiled this time!  I will have my revenge.   *mutter, mutter, rant, snort*


Nightmare - Stage 2 :  The Dentist.   My dentist is lovely.  Fortunately he is young, because if he ever retires or moves away, I will be devastated.   I trust him, and he knows me and treats me gently as he knows that I am a wimp, and not-more-than-a-little-unhinged.     He knows I am a freak-a-zoid about anything dental.   I had put off the visit for a year, but lately I knew something was wrong.    He does the x-ray and says "One of the roots on your back molar is dead, and there's an infection under it."    I either pull it out, or do a root canal  !!!!


A freaking root canal!!!    I remember the last one - he kept having to give me injections because I kept feeling him digging around in the nerves there!!!   I think there was 7 needles altogether.  Never again!   NO WAY!   I said goodbye to that horrible molar.   Yup, that was fun, getting that puppy yanked out of my mouth.


Nightmare - Stage 3 :  Feeling sorry for myself, moping around the next day, I check my feedback which I do every day.


This hits me in the face:

This was from a sale over a month ago.   The lady said the disc was cracked.   I apologised and refunded all.  She seemed happy with that - out of the blue, I get this negative.  I sent her an email asking to change it, but I don't think she gives a crap and she's a newbie.


The next day I got an email from another seller.     He notices she left me negative feedback as she has done to him, and wants us to "join forces" and get it removed by eBay.   So I go and look at the feedback she has left.

Aha, now it all makes sense.  She went to leave negative feedback after his disc didn't work, and then remembered my transaction - she was pissed off - I got sucked into her pissy-vortex.


I'll have to tell the other seller "no go" with his idea of removing feedback, much as I'd like to do a Darth Vader on her arse.  Not only is it not possible in these circumstances, but the fact that she bought the same software from him that she did from me, just proves that she was telling the truth about mine being cracked.  Sorry pal.


So after those days I was a bit :

So I knocked back a few of my pain-killers (ie. wine) and moped around.  Then my sales started going down the poop-chute, I had to pull my finger out, or I'd have no money for further pain-killers.


Less whiney blog to follow tomorrow (if my finger isn't still stuck!)  :-)

Living with blank walls

I moved into my new tiny unit a couple of years ago during an emotional time.  I hated the place, and only moved here because it was all I could afford.  I had no "job" at that time, and my only personal income was my Ebay shop.  I went to see my local bank manager for a loan, I was a little proud because I said I was a small business owner.   He looked at my figures and said "Is that all your business makes?"   I came home in tears and put my head under the sheets and vowed never to come out again.   I said I would live here a year and by then I would have a job and I could move somewhere I like and enjoy life again.

Fast forward two years - and I'm still living in the same tiny unit.   My job interviews have been disasters, and now I'm focusing on getting my Ebay shop sales to a figure that won't make the wanker gob-shite bank manager laugh.   I find I'm liking these tiny walls that I exist between.


The trouble is ... that they're blank - not only that, now that I come to really look at them - they are beige.  Oh dear.


So, I'm sick of these blank walls.   I read somewhere that the way people's houses are decorated show their personality.    So, I guess that means I'm bland, empty and hollow.      The walls in my sister's house are so crammed with stuff, that it takes a spider an hour to get just to cross a wall.   Those poor spiders - they're very fit in her place.  In mine they're fat and lazy, just sliding down that smooth wall.  I want ninja spiders!

I have lots of pictures from the other house - they are stuffed in corners behind and between furniture, and in the back of the wardrobe.   I didn't want them in this house.  This was my fresh start and I wanted the pictures to be ones I chose.    But now I'm taking a fresh look at them - after all, they were my choices in the first place.  Why should they suffer my fate and get tossed aside?

These pictures have been sitting collecting dust for two years.  Lets have a look at them with fresh eyes.

Here is what I found in the first pile:

   

Why would I not want these up?  I used to do lots of cross-stitch.  Some of these are dated 1997 - wow!


I did a silk ribbon embroidery class with my ex-mother-in-law about 5 years ago.  I had totally forgotten about this one.

My mum gave me this for Christmas about 7 years ago.  My cousin Diane did this - it's a pastel drawing.

Not only did I find some things worth putting up, it reminded me that I need to get crafting again.  I've got three plastic containers full of DMC wool all anally numbered and ready to go.  All I need is a chart and some Aida cloth and I can get started again.   I'm even a little excited. 


I might leave the other pile for another day.


Here are some op shop finds that I have gotten over the last 2 years for decorating my blank walls.


This one makes me laugh - I did buy it two years ago for $2.  I proudly showed everyone in my family and said it was the first picture I had bought for my new house.   Where has it been all this time?   In the back of the wardrobe.


Look at these fat little birdies :-)

This cute little plate costed me 50 cents.  It's hand-painted and signed, dated 1988.  It already has little holes in the back for the picture wire :

I love this one because it's so bright and sunny.  It has no name or date on it.  I think this costed me $4 at the Salvos:

This one is sweet.  I like the lace-like look around the edges.  This one has a named etched into the back.  It costed me $1:
  

I got a couple of those plate-hangers for Christmas so I should be able to get these up easily.


What are the walls of your house like?  Are they filled with photos of loved ones or do they have gaping gaps in them?


So over the next few months I will make the goal of filling those blank walls and prove that I am not as boring as I think.   


I will post photos when I do put my picture/plates up to show that my blank walls are no longer alone - they have friends on it - they are not just there to hold up the roof.


Then soon, ** rubbing hands together **  -  soon, I'll have ninja spiders.