Skirt Style

What looks like eBay’s new skirt chart is a winner with me! I never am sure what to list many of my skirts as! The  picture chart helps this so much!

When buying just doesn’t go well…

 

I should stick with buying what I know. I have learned this over and over and over again. Today was one of those “agains”!

I purchase another grab bag purchase. Yes, and once again I paid for the whole bag just to get one water bottle.

Hey, I live in the Midwest. It’s over 100 every day. Got to have me some nice water bottles!

Ok, but maybe not a whole grab bag with 11 of them!

 

 

And that is why I was soo excited about this blue Camelbak. I’ve been wanting one of these, though not this one, which runs about $8 at REI, which we really need here in Tulsa, Oklahoma! Just sayin….

Anyway, notice anything special? Ya. Its the mouth piece. The thing that makes Camelbak’s so stinkin popular! Its, um…well, its just, lets see…. PLUMB NOT THERE!

“No Problem!” I thought. “I will just get one online…the big thing is having most of the bottle in tacked right?”

WRONG!

(By the way, this is a new bottle, not sure if ever got used!)

Ok, back to my unsound judgment story. Just had to through that in here.

Apparently these mouth piece cost… and I kid you not….$8-12 on EBAY. Got to love it.

Ok, so I don’t.

It' is ridiculous.

Ok, so it is also ridiculous that I got all those bottles and a Camelbak for 45 cents. But hey! I’m looking for stuff next to nothing…not for replacement parts that cost as much as a stinkin’ new bottle!

So I found someone who had one listed, and not sold, with a few other water bottle parts I didn’t want and asked her to just sell me that one mouthpiece for $1.50 plus $.50 shipping. Or maybe it was a him…the name was Chris. I have no idea

She/he wrote back and said:

Hey, I have lots of this Camelbak stuff, more than I want to bother selling. Send me your address, I'll send you one, you can pay me something for it if you choose to after you get it. Best --Chris--

Ok seriously. The world is right again…I mean who does that!? And to top that he/she lived in California which is the most expensive in State place to ship for me. Oh yea. This kid was raised right. I have a friend. Ok. Not really.

Anyway. Moral of the story is there are Chris’ out there on eBay to make all the jerks look like extra jerks and them look like angels. Thank you Chris’ of eBay!

He/she ended up sending it to me for free and told me not to worry about the price. How awesome is that!!???

So that is that story. Here are the other bottles I salvaged from that bag.

  

I’m hoping the rest can be recycled. Want them to be a bench I sit on someday! Lol!

 

I got some American Eagle shorts for my hubby to work in. He likes this brand but I rarely find it in his size. These were $5. I know, big spender on my Manly Man!

UPDATE: They don’t fit him. Apparently the size on the tag is not the size of the shorts. STINK! Going to try to sell them to get my $5 back! (I hope)

 

And now the newsboy hat…oh that hat.

   

Very nice isn’t it? Perfect condition. And what can beat leather?

NON-LEATHER. That’s what.

Yep. Didn’t read the tag. I am far to trusting of a person. This is actually made out of…get this.

Vinyl.

Yep. Vinyl.

Isn’t that what siding is made out of? Well lucky us. We can now wear it on our heads.

Great.

Ok ok, only 45 cents as well, but it doesn’t even fit me! Maybe I’ll give it to my brother as a Christmas present…hey, not a bad idea! Of course I’m listing it first….=)

 

Alright, on to the next disappointment of my life… er…day.

This really cool AND only 45 cent toy! Leapfrog…ya can’t go wrong now can you?

You sure can. At least if you are Handkerchief Gal! What can I say? I’ve got a rare talent. Hang out a while, maybe it will rub off.

Ok. Or run away screaming. That works too…

Because the above pictures, my dear friends, is a leapfrog baby toy that needs a TV, a hook up and a dvd to be functional. Oh, and it’s heavy. And I’m not sure if it even works cuz I do not have any of the before mentioned items. Completely not sure what to do with it. Sell it as is? No, they don’t sell on eBay. Sell it for parts? Maybe. But did I mention it is heavy? However, it was only 45 cents. At least I’m not making expensive mistakes. Yay me.

Blah.

 

 

Now check out my stylish new pocketbook.

Ok, not stylish, but I believe it is new. Maybe not worth much but…well, did I mention it was 45 cent sell day yet? Yep. 45 cents. Aren’t ya all jealous. Um-hmmm.

Actually I needed one half this size but I found this one and figured it was time to retire the one I already have.

I’m not sold on it yet. Cuz I empted my old one into it then tucked the “retired” one into a drawer. Yea. Not sure I like this one yet.

Piece by piece: selling big items!

 

A wonderful friend of mine heard I needed a swing for the new baby and gave me their very nice swing. I tried to use it but unfortunately the motor had gone out and it was rather useless to me though I did sit and rock him a few times!

As you can see it was far to large of an item to ship out if you want to keep shipping cost low. But I had read in a blog where selling parts can make you some money so I did. I took the whole thing apart. I put up of auction the tray, the seat cover, the fish (I only had 3) The battery cover, and the button cover. I figured anything else and the person should probably just get a new swing. The seat seems to sell as well but it wasn’t worth my time trying to package it up for the $10 I would make.

I notice a lot of watching on all the items and this is what I made off them.

 

Blue Button cover= $0

Yes, it didn’t sell, but it was worth a shot!

 

Tray= $5.35

 

Seat cover= $7.49

 

Seat Belt= $5.50

 

2 Fish= $4.25

1 Fish + battery cover= $4.50

 

Total= $27.09

 

I just looked these up on my local Craigslist and found that a similar swing is for sell, fully functional for $40! I made more than half of that and sold only the little parts! Yay!

This would also be a great way to get some money back if you buy a fluke toy 2nd hand!

Thrift store purchases…mainly for me =)

 

Well, today was a thrift store day, but sadly the clothing wasn’t on sale so I started to look at the other items.

Like these bags of stuff…and I mean stuff. Most of these pictured were on sale for 99 cents a bag.

A great deal if something of value is in them!

Any one know what these tracks go to?

I did find this barely used candle that had a $14.99 tag on it for 99 cents. I used to think that buying candles pre-burnt was gross.

I 

But now I’m not sure why I thought that. I mean, you aren’t going to take it home and lick it! You are going to light it on fire…not much more you can do to sanitize something! 

That said, some candles are still pretty gross and dusty. ‘Nough said.

This head protector and encasement is very similar to one I was looking at for my newborn. I had given up on buying one because the one I found on Craigslist was $5 with at least a $5 drive and a lady who didn’t really want to make it easy to meet. No thank you!

This one isn’t kiddopotumas like what I was looking at but it is almost the same. (there was a kiddopotumas one there but it was pink…and I had a boy!)

It came in 2 parts and though I don’t need the bottom part I got it so the whole thing was $2.

 

A book for my son. Any one else read these growing up? It was only $1! Starting to collect!

 

 

Now for these shoes I paid the marked down (but not sale price) of $3.98. Since White House/Black Market is a limited, albeit popular store, people on eBay look for their product. I posted these for $9.99 and might have to hold them for next summer if they don’t sell. Winter is coming and these aren’t quite winter shoes!

    

Back to buying stuff for us! This was for my super all-about-States son. It was taped and so I just hoped it had all the pieces. Lucky me! It did! All of 99 cents and we’ve already got that much enjoyment out of it! Whoop!

 

 

So I went for it. Invested in one of the bags. What for, you ask?

Well, after I pulled it all out I wasn’t sure myself. Do you see junk? I see junk. But not junk like I am trying to purge my house of…more like I’m-cleaning-out-an-old-person’s-garage type of junk! This is more like the junk I never WANT to pile up in my house!

Well, I purchased this for the black water bottle on the right. It is similar to the way the Camelbak makes their bottles and I’ve been wanting one of those but not about to pay $20 for one!

I also ended up keeping the two matching orange bottles so I can freeze them and send them to work with the hubby.

I loved the water bottle! It is missing the straw and already is dented a bit but it works great as long as you tilt it. (I can do that) And holds enough that I get something even after the kids drink out of “mommy’s really cool cup!”

Oh, and when it is closed it is spill proof. Also very important!

And guess what?

It is worth over $20 new. Go figure…

Glad the grab bag worked out for me. This is only the 2nd time I’ve done it!

Car time road tray!

I know, my title makes no sense. But you try coming up with a title for this!
Remember the TRAYS I talked about getting for free at a garage sale?
Well this is what the last one looked like when I was done with it:











I was happy with how it turned out but with not having much time to be creative, I decided to donate the other, larger tray. Then I had an idea!
I’ve wanted to make a Portable picnic play mat that I saw in the FAMILY FUN magazine May edition.

And yes, that is a photograph of the picture I tore out of the mag!
Basically they use a tablecloth, electrician tape, and black contact paper to make it. All fine and dandy until you price all that stuff and realize that do-it-yourself project can easily cost $30. No thank you!
So I had given up the idea (but kept the page) until I realized how much fun I could have with the idea and my donated tray. So I did the forbidden. I pulled the tray out of the donation box! Yes I know, sinner such as I am!
I started by painting it white:

Here you can see the ugly vintage mushroom that used to cover it.
 
After covering all of it’s former glory up with Kilz primer, (what I had on hand) I stole some of my son’s small cars and measured their width with pencils.
 
These wooden cars are the ones from his wooden train set.
 
Then using something to tape the pencil’s together at the right width, in this case I used a cap of a pen. and taped them together.


Then I quickly painted the “road” black with acrylic paint, staying inside and on the lines.
 
I then added some extra roads by freehanding it, making it a touch more complex.

Yellow paint added the road lines

I know, they aren’t perfect.

Then I added a lake. Yes, that is a lake, not a cloud. And I’m proud to say my son recognized it right off!
And some green grass. I didn’t do the whole thing green because I thought that would look a touch overwhelming.
 
Add the cars


 

And for a nice touch I added a stop sign, also from the train set. I used double sided foam tape I had on hand.
 
And a magnet that had broken off a food clip I had.
 
I intend to add magnets under each of the cars so they will stick when we are traveling in our car.
I am happy with how it turned out and my 3 year old son said, “Wow! Good job mom!”
Yep, all the praise I need.
Best of all he LOVES it and has been playing with it 24/7...almost. He wanted to sleep with it but I said no...I know, mean mom!
Now I have to go spray it with a clear coat!
Linked up here!