Shopping Sucks

Today was case in point why I hate hate hate Christmas shopping.  Joe and I went to Sears because there were a few things specific to Sears we needed and we figured we could get some other presents since we'd be there.  So, we have over $500.00 worth of items we were going to purchase.  We found out if we waited until 6:00pm we could get an additional 10% off of everything.  A $50.00 savings appealed to me so we decided to get some coffee and look around the mall until it was time.  It was a little after 4:00pm so we had quite a bit of time to kill.

10 minutes till 6 we decided to head into the store and gather our purchases to receive our $50.00 discount.  As you can guess all didn't go well.  First we had a sales person that was seasonal and temporary so he didn't really know a table saw from a band saw.  Maybe there are a lot of people that don't know the difference, but if you work in the tool section you really should know.  Secondly, our purchases were not ringing up correctly on the register.  Discounts that were supposed to happen weren't, items advertised were not the same as what they had to offer.  Needless to say I was about ready to go postal.  I remained calm and just said "forget it, I will spend my money elsewhere!"  If I have learned anything about shopping in this current climate, it's you need to be educated about what you are buying ahead of time because the salespeople usually don't know shit (especially this time of year) about what they are selling.  If I hadn't know that the new Wii systems came with 2 games, I would have overpaid for the system they had to offer by $50.00 (it was an old version that came with only one game).

Sears, you suck!  All was not lost however, Joe and I had fun just walking around and spending time together.  Plus we ended up buying a new set of sheets that we are both pretty excited about (not at Sears) .....Satin sheets with leopard print (get your mind out of the gutter).  The Satin part was Joe's idea because he doesn't like getting caught up in cotton sheets.  The leopard print was my idea.  I figured if we were going to buy cheesy satin sheets then they needed to be even more cheesy and be an animal print.  I can't wait to try them out and see who slides out and falls on the floor first.  

I'm On A Roll

My crochet sales are blowing up! Not doing that great yet on ETSY, but in the last week Amanda has sold about 5 items from the display I have set up at Miracle In Motion. I'm gonna have to get moving and replenish my inventory. I guess I know what I'll be doing in Florida. At this rate Joe is gonna get to retire sooner than he thought.

One of the items that I recently sold on ETSY went to a lady in Hawaii. Some little girl is going to be running around Hawaii wearing a dress I made. How cool is that! Gotta go, my yarn is calling.

I'm In The Money

I did it; my first Etsy sale.....and quess what I sold???? It was that damn scarf that caused me so much grief from the crochet nazi. My controversial scarf is going all the way to Utah. I'm halfway tempted to make another one just so I can have it up on my site, but that would be wrong and I just need to let it go.
IN YOUR FACE BIACH!!!! I feel better now.

$$$$$

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it..(come on sing with me) I'm about to lose control and I think I like it! I sold my wood lathe today!!!! The guy already picked it up and he wasn't even a psychotic killer. Just in case I had my hand gun stashed in the barn.
When the guy first called me this morning, I thought it might be another weirdo. He asked if I still had the lathe and when I said yes, he went all girly on me and was so excited he couldn't say a complete sentence. "Praise the Lord!" He yells. I really don't think we need to get the Lord involved, it's only a lathe. I could picture Bryan putting someone up to this to prank me. The fact that he was 40 minutes late didn't help my confidence either. He finally showed up (he was lost). He was for real. He was just a really nice over the top kind of guy. You'd of thought that he died and went to heaven when he saw the lathe.
After he left, I realized that I get that guy. He was excited like I get excited when I go to an auction or walk into a craft store. In his mind he just got the best deal ever. Oh my GOSH...he's the male version of me! No wonder I liked him.

Scam With A Capital "S"

I listed my lathe on Craigslist again. I mentioned before about the weird responses I have gotten. Below is the exact message I just opened.

Thanks for getting back to me..I really appreciate your response to my earlier mail.like i said i will like to buy this item so pls do withdraw the advert from Craigslist. I will also like you to know that i will be paying by check due to the fact that i will not be able to meet up with the cash and local pick up.I will have my mover to come for the pickup as soon as the check cleared and cashed..I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check.

1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or office address.
3.Your phone number.

Hope to hear back from you.

Really! I'm gonna give my full name, address and phone number to a complete stranger that I am supposedly never even going to see. And... I'm gonna take a check. I'm no handwriting expert, but I believe that anyone that types a letter with some of the "I's" capitalized and the others not is probably a psychotic killer. I'll pass thank you very much. I don't need the $100 that bad.


Patti's TOTD #6: If it sounds too good to be true, then a psychotic killer is behind it. People Suck!

How Big Is Your Hare?

I made my first sale today on Craigslist and I didn't get robbed or murdered. Both apparently have happened. The lady that inquired about the bunny hutch and asked if I would deliver it was the lady that bought it. I had her come out and look at it before I took it to her just in case she didn't want it after I go to the trouble of taking it to her. The hutch is partitioned off so there is room for 3 rabbits. She only has one, so I told her she could cut out an opening in the partition and the bunny could have access to the whole cage. Of course she asked if I could do that. Being the wonderfully nice person that I am, I made the cutouts for her. I took it that she was a single mom and I doubted that she had tools. She was really nice, so I was happy to do it. When deciding how big to make the cutouts, I asked her how big her bunny is. She says; "Oh, pretty big...probably about 25 lbs." Her bunny must be as big as Nicholas. He's not much over 25 lbs. I had her look at my bunnies to maybe help her gauge the size. She thought her bunny was bigger than mine. So I made the holes pretty large just to be safe. I couldn't wait to see this 25 lb. bunny. I delivered the cage and I was pretty happy that it didn't fall out of my truck. We got everything situated and she says; "There's my bunny." He was 25 lbs. alright, minus about 20 lbs. Definitely the size of my rabbits, maybe smaller. So she doesn't know her weights and measures very well. I don't know Geography very well. We all have our strengths. I never mentioned the bunny's weight just like I didn't mention the fact that the bunny didn't look all that healthy. You can tell by the eyes. Her eyes didn't look so good. All sales are final. No refunds in the event of death. That's just my policy.


PS: On my way to deliver the cage, I rescued a 45 lb. snapping turtle from the road so he didn't get hit. Ok, he was 45 lbs. minus 40.

For Sale

Don't people know how to negotiate a sale anymore??? Aside from the guy that wanted me to let him make payments on the car I have for sale, I have a guy that emailed me and asked me if I was out of my mind. Really? That's how you start a negotiation? He asked me in his email how I came up with my price and don't I know how sales are in Ft.Wayne? "No moron!" "I just want to sell my car." "Make an offer or shut the hell up!" He ends his email with: "but I'm really interested." So he insults me but he's really interested in buying my car. I emailed him back. "If you are so interested, then make an offer." You f---ing hill jack. (sorry, I just can't bring myself to type the f word.) I didn't include that last part in my email even though I really wanted to. I have been showing such restraint lately.

I also put an ad on craigslist for a bunny hutch that I made. It's too small for my gigantor bunnies. I got an email from a lady that seemed really interested. She wants it delivered. Really? Am I Sears? I think I'm just going to keep all of my old stuff. Dealing with the public is too much of a headache.

Want To Buy A Car?

I'm trying to sell a few large items from around the house. Actually we've been trying to sell Joe's Ford Focus since last summer. I've had an add in the paper and online. I only received one call from the newspaper ad which ran for two months. I finally decided to put a sign on it and park it at the end of the driveway. I had two calls in the first few days. One guy showed up the other day while I was power washing. It's kind of hard to conduct business wearing a rain suit and goggles. I did my very best to act knowledgeable and businesslike. He was a guy probably around my age, dressed nicely and well spoken. I thought for sure I was gonna make a sale. As we walked from the house to the end of the driveway, we talked about selling things and how you have to avoid scams and he told me how you shouldn't take cashier's checks from people because you can actually buy cashier's checks at Staples. (It's a long driveway we had plenty of time to talk). He drove it and looked under the hood. All the positive signs were there until my excitement was replaced with "Are you freakin kidding me?" As we walked back to the house he started telling me of his failed 23 years of marriage and how he used to own restaurants and had horses but when he divorced he gave it all to his wife....blah, blah, blah. Bottom line, he can't get a loan because his credit sucks. Welcome to the bank of Patti! His solution was to give me the title to a truck that he owns and I would keep the title to the focus, then he would make monthly payments and probably be able to pay it off in a year. I wanted to yell: "Are you F---ing kidding me????" I didn't though because I thought maybe he was sent by Oprah to test me and see if I would be a good Samaritan and then she would shower me with all kinds of gifts. He told me to think about it and he would call in a few days. I was polite and told him I would talk to my husband about it. In my head I'm thinking; there is no way in hell I'm going to do that. Who does that????? Doesn't he watch TV. There are tons of ads for car dealers where they say: "No money down and we don't care about your credit." Why doesn't he go to one of those??? Better yet, why doesn't he sell the truck that he supposedly has???? Very strange! He must have thought I was a push over maybe based on my attire. Maybe it was the gutter debris that spelled out "sucker" across my forehead. He doesn't know who he's dealing with. I wasn't born yesterday, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck, I got his number and it's 1-800-loserrr. Sorry Oprah, I guess I failed your test.