Some of the Finest Business People I know!

I'm going to take some time now to let you know about some excellent people I've worked with over the last few years. I can't do it all in one post at one time, but I will get a start and be adding as I go along. I will be inviting them to also add their own links and info too if they so choose.

There are quite a few auction/sales sites out there today. Not every one fall into the EBay trap. I used to sell on that site when I first got started, back when it was actually a fair site. Like so many now, I left a while back due to their ever changing policies, fees and restrictions. They've gotten a little too big for their own britches it would seem. When I left there I had/still have over 1700 positive feed backs, proud of every one of them too.

I will only brag on those sites that I have respect for and know to be a good clean and honest site with no hidden agenda. The sellers that are listing on these different sites are known to me to be A+ #1 sellers. Quality items, good communications with buyers, ethical handling of sales and so on. In today's economy, which just defies adequate description anymore as to the failings of the so called leaders of this country, we as buyers and sellers are being left hanging out to dry!

Who can afford to buy anything anymore? How can we afford the gas even to get to a Mall or shopping center to try and find something in our meager budgets?

What was it that Norm said one time on "Cheers"? "It's a dog eat dog world out there and we are wearing Mighty Dog underwear!" (could be a different brand but you get the gist!)

So, what do you do when you have a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation or any other special occasion coming up? You check your bankbook, you look at the little bit that's left on your credit cards, you see your gas tank down to the 1/4 mark, you want so much to show someone you care with a gift and you wonder what the heck can you do!

On-Line shopping. To be frank about it, I never used to trust it either! When I started selling on-line I learned a lot about what to look for, how to pay with secure sites, it took a while but I slowly became more at ease with it and now it's how I do darn near all my buying. If I could find groceries on line around here I would do that too! I've truly never had a problem with buying on-line.

The first thing to do is to check out the seller. Look at the feedback (ratings from other buyers) and one of the most important things is to READ their entire description of the item you are interested in! They all have Terms of Service, READ that too. Find out how they ship, what they charge for it, when they ship, what types of payment they accept and why, see if they have a return policy and if none is listed, ask them! Do that first then there are no "surprises" at the end of the transaction! If you still have questions about ANYTHING at all, then send them a message! All sites have a button to click on to "ask seller a question"! Use it!

I'm going to start off with MilBid.com. (it's the link I have the handiest actually!)
This is a great new site, potential all over the place! High standards, excellent variety and it is a site devoted to supporting our troops, both in the U.S.A. and overseas where so many are in harms way right now.

These links will take you to my particular site but you can access the home page (just click on "home" at the top) from there and find out more of what they are doing and what they stand for!

But, there are others too! I can vouch for the following sites, the admins are the hard working people that any one can identify with. Honest and diligent in the way they monitor their sites, just so buyers can shop with confidence. I have high respect for them believe me.

http://www.alsoshop.com/

http://www.bonanzle.com/

http://www.milbid.com/index.php

http://www.overnightauctions.com/cgi-bin/Auction

Remembering Mama part 2

This is me at about age 2 or 2-2-1/2. I was a little doll all right! LOL


I was the caboose. Mama was 40-41 when I was born. The surprise package that doctors told her wouldn't happen! So much for medical knowledge back in the 40's. I was a pretty good kid, although with a much older sister and brother that thought I was spoiled rotten (hardly!) and neither one of them could see the necessity of my being around most of the time.



I also had a bad case of 'wanderlust'. Once I got my bearings on two feet I was constantly wandering off. My sister would come in from school and Mama would inform her that I was gone again and to assist our local police department in finding me! The local cops knew me by name and were aware that I knew nothing about boundaries. I just followed the Sun and butterflies, perhaps a kitten or puppy that I just knew would lead me to exciting adventures. Thank heavens we lived in a very small town in the Napa Wine Valley and just about all the local townspeople knew me too. They were used to me wandering down the main street and pressing my nose against the ice cream parlor window. Eventually a customer inside would come out and offer me a cone! I knew how to play them! LOL


Can you imagine that happening today! I shudder to even think about it.

I would get switched too! I eventually grew out of that as most kids do. I know my sister was glad of that, she was tired of taking up her afternoons hunting me up. I found a kitten once and carried it back to the house with me, up the stairs and onto the upper screened in porch just off the attic. The kitten and I both fell asleep out there. Later on I was awakened by a police officer that had been recruited once again to find me. He was the only one that evidently thought of checking the attic and of course there I was. Got a small switching for that too.

I used to accuse my parents of never moving anywhere unless there were Apple, Peach or Cherry trees close by. I had to go get my own switch and if I didn't get the right one I got extra switches. Don't get me wrong, I was never abused! I made lots of mistakes and was punished for them. But bet me, I never made the same mistake TWICE!

Sometimes I'd made the really bad mistake of running when I was about to get a spanking or the switch. Wrong move. Mama always said she would not chase her kids. They had to come home eventually to eat! LOL Buddy, we would sure get it then! She had a whistle. When we went outside to play which we did lots of (no t.v., game stations, computers) and it would be time to come in, she would blow the whistle. If we didn't come right away she knew we had gone too far and we were in trouble! That was how we knew our boundaries, by the sound of that whistle!

When Mama lost her sight and had to really adjust to a whole different existence there were funny moments even then.

There used to be a group of people from the Deaf-Mute Institute that would come around selling little flowers and would give cards that had the hand signs printed on them. I remember once there came a knock on the door, Mama answered and suddenly called to me to come right away!

When I got to the door I saw what was going on and couldn't help myself, I started laughing. Laughing so hard I couldn't get my breath. There stood Mama, blind, trying to ask the person outside "what do you want, who is it?" She couldn't see him and he couldn't hear her! Of course with me laughing so hard, the man outside didn't know what was going on, even tho' he had a confused smile on his face and Mama was trying to ask me what the heck I was laughing at!

Once I got control of myself and told her then she started laughing too. I wrote out a quick note to the deaf man and told him what was going on. He started laughing too and we all must have looked like idiots, but, it was funny.

Mama always had a way of making things look easy, even tho' the things she did required so much more work than we ever realized. She insisted on doing most things herself. We helped with cooking and cleaning of course, we had chores always. But for her own personal needs, she took care of herself. Once we were all grown and gone, and after Papa passed away, she refused to come live with any of us. She'd say "No way. I have my own hours, I don't like your music and I wouldn't probably keep my mouth shut. It's better we stay friends!" Then she'd laugh, tell us she loved us and to drop by or call once in a while! She was something else.

More later.
Thank you!

Remembering Mama

I've always been told that I had a 'gift for gab', and it's probably true. However, that applies to person to person, face to face encounters for the most part. I've always loved to write and I do a good bit of it as time allows. Then there are times when I sit here, face this blank page and just go brain dead! Nothing comes forth, no brilliant ideas, no encouraging words of wisdom. Just a strong desire for a 3rd cup of coffee and to sit outside, listening to the Hummingbirds. I would too, except it's a little too early and I don't feel like putting my shoes on! LOL

No, as the human mind does often times, it starts to wander. For some reason I remembered my Mama and some of the funny things she did over the years. She was a character from the word go. Most of my friends feared her but they respected and liked her. There were lots of times a friend would come over and wound up talking to Mama and listening to her advice. She always said that "if you ask my advice, that's fine, you don't have to take it. BUT, if you ask you're damn sure going to listen to it!" The fella's in my life never, ever dared to even try to 'get over' on her, they had a feeling that lightening would find them and they'd just become dust! It's strange that she had that kind of impact on young people, but she sure did. And laugh? She could tell the best stories, mostly about her childhood and absolutely make you a believer, then she'd toss her head back and laugh til' she'd almost choke! By that time any of us that were listening would be doing the same thing, laughing till we rolled! When I was old enough to date she'd always tell the boy I was going out with, "You are taking out a Lady and I expect you to bring one back!" She wasn't kidding either.

I should tell you now that Mama was blind. She lost her vision when I was pretty young, I'll guess I was about 10 maybe when she was completely blind. The end result of abnormal cataracts and a botched surgery. She managed pretty good for the most part, always maintained a positive outlook. She once said to a lady from the Braille institute who asked her how she actually felt about her blindness. Mama just looked at her and said "Well, some people cry a lot. Me? I swear a lot." And she did too.

Her senses were so keen it was uncanny, and just a little scary at times. I asked her once if she was absolutely sure she was blind! She just sat there, giving me "that stare" that only she could do, and would say "Well, just keep wondering, it'll come to you one day!" Then she'd chuckle. Absolutely the only person I ever knew that could ask you a question, answer it for you and call you a liar all in one breath! She had a wonderfully warped sense of humor. I inherited part of that and I know my daughter has it, she is so much like my Mom.
There was this one time it was my turn to vacuum the house. Mama had this old Electrolux canister vac that sounded a lot like a Jet airplane revving it's engines. Anyway, I didn't want to really so I thought I'd just sort of pull it around a little and then kill some time standing and reading a comic book. As long as it was running she'd know I was working, right? We had carpeting in every room but the bath and kitchen. That Electrolux could suck your back teeth out if you put the nozzle to your mouth. Of course no sane person would do that but we're talking about a kid that just had to learn from experience here. But, I digress. When I was "finished" I'd holler out that "I'm all through Mama." She'd come back with "That's good, thank you! Oh, by the way, go ahead and turn it back on now and do the corners you missed, including the center of the rooms, also, there's an attachment for the hardwood floors, try that one too!" It was her way of telling me that if I do the job right the first time, I won't have to do it twice. I told you she had a warped sense of humor.
Oh, there's lots of things that remind me of her. I'll write more about Mama and some about my Papa too. He was, in my opinion, the best man that ever walked the planet!

Don't forget to click on the banners below to visit my two personalities. It's just so much easier to shop on line. No gas to use, no taxes to pay, no fighting traffic and paying either parking lot fees or meters and all that stuff. Contact me if you have any questions.

Remember, shopping on-line is simply a much saner and economical way to handle your needs, especially when you have to budget so closely!

The following sites are, in my opinion, the best. I know an awful lot of the sellers there (I list there too! hint-hint) I know to be extremely honest, ethical and fair. The admins on each site are the finest people I know and they watch their sites very closely to make sure that no one is operating in an unethical manner.

http://www.alsoshop.com/

http://www.bonanzle.com/

http://www.milbid.com/index.php

http://www.overnightauctions.com/cgi-bin/Auction

Throughout my blog you will find links posted for sellers from each of these sites. Please give them consideration when you find you are in need of a product or item. They will simply NOT disappoint you!

Many Thanks!

I'm back again with more thoughts and information!

Go ahead! Click, and see items you just know you can't live without!

Yes, I'm just a tat late doncha' think? It's truly been awhile. I have a problem with scheduling my time it seems, too many interruptions.

Just recently my DH (that's darling hubby to all you newbies to the 'net out there) and I have pretty much completely retired. Big whoohoo there huh? We were newspaper people, you know, the ones that put those heavy rags in all the machines and businesses! Over 9 years we did that, 365 days a year, night work, no days off unless we could find someone trustworthy to do it for us. That didn't happen until recently when we did find a very nice, dependable lady that was needing work and was willing! SO, we hired her and finally managed to get a couple days off once in a while. We decided, after the gas got so high that it was actually costing us to work, that we would give it up entirely. I do deliver magazines, one day a week, for the paper, but that isn't that hard and the money is a necessity.

So much for the short run-down on what my outside work has been.

My first love is selling on-line. I know, I know, you are thinking "Oh sure, here comes the sales pitch!"

Well, you're right and then you're wrong! I fully intend to include some links to some of the finest sellers you will ever have the priviledge to come across. They work extremely hard, offer excellent items at more than a fair price and are ethical! Buying on-line can be hazardous to your pocketbook, everyone pretty much knows that. You have to be diligent in your shopping, you have to READ the descriptions and not be afraid to contact the seller and ask questions if you are in doubt. That's the sane thing to do! That old saying "Let the Buyer Beware" doesn't have to come true if you just do your part in buying smartly.

I sold for a long time on EBay, that is until they started going crazy and increasing their fees while taking away all the benefits, 'specially to us smaller sellers, then it was just time to leave. I had/have over 1700 positive feedbacks there and am proud of every one of them. I have always, and will always, treat every customer that chooses to shop with me as if they were the most special person on earth. I have always gone out of my way to work with customers, I want to earn their trust and good will. It's basically just that simple. I can't do that if I treat them unfairly or dishonestly.

I'm going to be adding more as I go along. I'd appreciate any and all questions or commments if you feel so inclined to do so and I will answer just as soon as possible. I check my e-mail a lot and often!

Remember, check these sites out if you truly want some great bargains and fair prices from honest people!

http://www.alsoshop.com/

http://www.bonanzle.com/

http://www.milbid.com/index.php

http://www.overnightauctions.com/cgi-bin/Auction