Monday, February 28, 2011

The Best Day

My daughter (and I) love a song by Taylor Swift called "The Best Day" where she talks about being a child and with her mom. On days like today where the weather is cool, and my kids are out of school, and we're out playing that song always comes to mind. Every so often one of them will be enjoying themselves so much they say "This is the best day ever!" Usually there is ice cream in hand or we're at the park.

Today, we went to see Mega Mind at the dollar theater and afterward stopped off at the Goodwill store across the street. My 5 year old had to pee and I had an itch to see what was on sale today.

My good day turned fantastic (THE BEST DAY) when I found out ALL GREEN TAGS were 99 cents. This never happens here. I read about other cities where they have dollar days every week and I pray that one day we will too. We have things like 50% off green tags, which is still good, but not as great as 99 cents!! I selfishly wished I did not have my kids with me, only so that shopping would be easier and faster. I have 7, 5 & 2 yr old children and most often while I'm shopping they are really good. However if the trip is too long (which is a fine line when it comes to Goodwill because I think they can sense anxiety) they get squirrelly. They play and chase and climb in and out of the cart. It can be a bit crazy for me, but gets worse when occasionally I get store employees giving me an eye or reprimanding my children (even though their behavior doesn't really warrant it) while I'm standing right there. That is what gives me anxiety. Today this one certain employee kept showing up around every corner as though she were ready to toss me out the store door. My kids were standing on the other side of my cart chatting, and she told me I needed to keep them right with me for their safety and the safety of the store. I understand, and I am all about my kids safety (and even the safety of the store and other shoppers) but they were so close, did she want me to be holding them all in my arms or what? Regardless, today I got some fantastic deals!! I am so excited to get them on eBay.

I'm going to be moving my Goodwill/ebay venture upstairs to a room which was previously our nursery, and getting it all organized so that posting will be more efficient. This week eBay sales were pretty fantastic. Here are a few examples:
APT 9 sz 16 Black & Cream floral skirt with tulle & sequin trim, purchased for $1.99, sold for $9.99
APT 9 sz 18W Black & Cream lined floral skirt, purchased for $2.99 sold for $10.99

ANN TAYLOR sz 6 Cream Silk Blouse, purchased for $5.24, sold for $9.99
After several false purchases over the last few weeks, someone actually paid after bidding on this Pretty City Triangles sz 11 Circles Dress. I purchased for $5.24, sold for $9.99


RALPH LAUREN Long Linen Skirt sz 8 Light tan, purchased for $2.99, sold for $8.99
MAGGY BOUTIQUE Animal Print Cream & Brown Dress sz 4, purchased for $4.50, sold for $10.99

LIBERTY OF LONDON for Target XS flowery Blouse, purchased for $4.99, sold for $7.99
WD NY Beaded 100% SILK SKIRT sz 12 Lined, purchased for $2.50, sold for $9.99
This CABI sz 12 multicolor beaded sundress I purchased for $4.50, and posted it early this morning/late last night at 1am and by the time I woke up this monring and logged into eBay it had sold buy it now for $13.99.


I LOVE Goodwill &
I LOVE eBay
I have realized why people have hobbies that they really love and are passionate about. I believe this must be mine, because when I left Goodwill today after receiving the fab news at the checkout that every monday is now a different 99 cent color ticket, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops!!


I (Heart) Anthropologie

It was by accident that I came across these 4 items... or was it?
MyDearTrash had suggested a month or two ago to learn the Anthropologie brand names because they sell well. At the time I thought it was sound advice, but did I learn them? No. As if the universe was prodding me these practically fell into my lap, or should I say jumped off the rack into my arms?
The first was a nice pair of cords which were excellently made and had pretty stitching and detailing (bling). They are Twill Twenty Two and when I brought them home and searched, Anthropologie popped up. I though Boy! I got lucky!
Twill Twenty Two Blue Corduroy pants sz 22 purchased for $4.99 sold for $9.99 - not a huge profit but I got smarter after this...
MOTH sz S Red knit top with beautiful crocheted collar, purchased for $4.99 sold for $13.99
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This one was a Little Yellow Button top with Anthropologie tags attached. It was really nicely made and I loved the tiny little yellow button that was attached to the manf tag inside. I purchased it for $2.50 and it sold within an hour for $19.99 

And last but not least... this Odille dress was new with tags but I did not know it. I picked it up, put it back, picked it up again and put it back again. The third time I reconsidered I thought, "What the heck? It will be my newest wild card." It was only $1.99. It was really nicely made, and the best part was the tulle and tatted lace underneath. When I got it home I stuffed it into my To-Do drawer and didn't pull it out for another week and didn't list it then either, and after anotherr week I pull it out and figure I'll try and get rid of it. I don't know what it was, the print on the skirt just bugged me. It looked more like yarn balls than flowers to me. Anyhow when I pulled it out to check sizing and material, Lo and behold there was an Anthropologie tag attached with an original price of $128!!!! I was floored. I listed it at $19.99 or buy-it now at $26.99. It sold in less than a day at the buy it now price!! I think this is my best selling story of all time.


And now - I watch for Anthropologie tags like a hawk!!!
 



Sunday, February 20, 2011

Uh- oh

Apparently we have a problem.............

And here all this time I thought the reason I was behind in blogging was soley due to my laziness....
Now I find out that I couldn't blog if I wanted to. LOL.
When trying to upload pictures to some blog posts I've already written I got this message:
Whoops! You're out of space. You are using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos. Purchase more storage
Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Google Docs, and is in addition to your free quota.

So....I'm working on it. Trying to decide what to do at this juncture. Check back for updates...

Friday, February 4, 2011

To Die For Orange Chicken


See those happy lttle Panda Bears holding their Oranges?
That is how I feel when I think about this Orange chicken. Now I have never been into Chinese or Japanese food. However, I do like some good Lemon chicken. In my experience that has been hard to find. I just don't like biting into weird pieces of chicken. But if I make it on my own, I love it. I rarely have time to do that though.  A friend introduced me to this chicken and I have been in love ever since!!!
It is by Hart brand and the bag says that there are 6 generous servings. That would be really generous. I think you can easily get 8-9 servings out of the bag, but I do have children so maybe my serving sizes are off. There are several different flavors you can buy, BBQ and Teryaki being the only other flavors I've seen. She keeps telling me that pineapple flavor is the best, so if I ever come across it I will have to give it a try. For now, Orange is my love.

You just bake the chicken fritters in the oven for 15 min, mix into the sauce which is in separate packets. And over rice it is divine!!


By the way, Food 4 Less carries it for about $3.98 on sale and regularly $4.98 ?? a bag and at Smiths it was $4.39.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Pretty in Pink


Aren't these wonderful?!

Okay some background?  These Keen brand shoes for older my daughter, who's feet just keep growing. She can't seem to help herself ;) We spotted these at Goodwill today and with a price of $5.99 they could not be passed up. If they hadn't fit her I could easily resell them on ebay. These are the awesome shoes her dad wears for hiking, adventuring, canoeing, relaxing, well almost all the time. The BEST thing in her opinion? "They're pink!" Of course. At REI these babies are $50. The adult version are $95. We have been blessed in finding these on steepandcheap (a website I'm very remiss in blogging about since we love it so much - a post of that soon) for around $35.
So that's our steal of the day, and yes they fit my sweet girl, just in time far Valentine's!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Wild card

Over at MyDearTrash the girls talk about buying a wild card, that is an item that could sell or could be more of a joke you end up with. I decided to try my hand at my own wild card, and bought this baby a couple weeks ago. However it took me some time to list it because I wasn't so sure about it. However I didn't want to keep it for my own, so I listed it.


The label said Fransesca for Damon & Jack Slote Las Vegas, and it was a size 16. When I tried to do some research on the web, I didn't get too much other than the feel that this dress was vintage. One because of the look, and two because Jack Slote Las Vegas was a dress shop that used to be downtown and is no longer around, and three someone posted about mobsters buying their wives dresses at this store. Funny background huh? In the end, I purchased it for $2.50 and after first accidentally listing it without a picture, it sold the second time around for $11.73!