I think big business has become very greedy.

• It is predicted that by next month, in Kansas, we will be paying over $4 a gallon for gas
• The Post Office has finally gouged the little guy right in the rear

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Hubby has taken the week off of work, they are working on the computer system and he is not able to do anything at the office so he decided to stay home and “hang out” with me. Right off the bat he discovered that I have a pretty good routine going on, I don’t know what he thought I did all day.

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It is 9:00 pm on a Saturday night. I have been sitting on the living room sofa (I love my couch, it is nice and comfy) photographing vintage hats that I have taken on consignment. I have my laptop computer on a TV tray … and I keep getting distracted. This is why I usually do all of my inventory stuff in another room with better light and a completely better setup all the way around. But I have been working 16 hour days for about 3 months and while I still had work to do I miss my husband and dogs, I never see my youngest daughter anymore but I miss her too.

She’s 18, out of high school and attending cosmetology school. She is a great kid. When she comes home in the evening, yes we still have a curfew, she comes and sits in my bedroom and we talk for at least 30 minutes. This is one of my favorite times of the day. Catching up with her.

I have been spending all of my time holed up in my little office listening to NPR radio (except when the President comes on) and working on the antique shop site. This is one of the drawbacks of working from home.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE WHAT I DO AND WHERE I DO IT FROM. I don’t think I could ever go back to work in the medical field or any other environment where someone told me what to do and when to do it, much less get in my car and be there at 7:30 or 8:00 am. But it is so easy to “do just one more thing” which turns into 3 more hours. Or if you can’t sleep at night… turn the computer on and work for an hour or two.

I love the freedom of being able to run out to an estate sale or garage sale that catches my eye or just go out in the backyard and play with the dogs for awhile. I am also here if my oldest daughter needs me to watch my grandaughter when her school is out for the day or if she is ill.

Now I have forgotten the point of this whole post other than I am piddling around and not working…. I guess maybe that was the point I was making.

I have made some progress on the next newsletter, worked on some additions to the website marks and information section and I have taken some photos and added some wonderful vintage hats into inventory. They will be showing up in the shop pretty soon.

Tomorrow we are going through boxes of my antique and collectible Christmas items, I have got to purge, these will be in the shop next week.

I will be taking Wed. and Thurs. of next week off to ready for Thanksgiving.

I will close now… and be unproductive for awhile longer before I go to bed.

I am an auctionaholic.

I actually stopped going to live auctions for quite sometime because they were costing me a fortune and we were running out of living space in our home. They can become very addictive but they are oh so exciting!!

Well…. I went to one over this past Memorial Day weekend, I justified it because it was only a block from my house and it started at 10:00 am. I drove by the evening before and it didn’t look like there were too many items sitting out so I figured that I would be home by 3:00 pm. Plus, it was a teaching experience, my husband had never been to an auction.

Right off the bat I bought the first item that came up for bid. A great set of 1950’s tumblers in a wonderful metal holder. Lot 2…. also went to bidder #73, that was me. There were a few items in this box lot that I needed and I also sold a couple of items I didn’t want to some folks so my $5.00 box lot only cost me $2.00.

That is the beauty of live auctions. If you win a box lot of items, invariably there will be atleast one person in the crowd that will buy one item from you out of that box. Several of my box lots this day included crochet thread, I wasn’t all that interested in the miles of crochet thread but several ladies were…. they bought the thread from me and I kept the goodies that I wanted.

I also bought a 1920’s oak 4 poster full sized bed for $110 and a bachelors chest with beveled mirror for $40. 2 vintage cans of Phillips 66 grease in metal cans, a copper boiler for $5.00!!!! And a bevy of many wonderful items.

It got to the point if an item wasn’t getting any bids the auctioneer would look out into the crowd for bidder #73 (me) and ask me for $1.00, if I would bid that 1.00 others would jump in and start bidding.

Hubby left the auction at noon and told me to call him when I was ready to come home. We finished up at 4:30 pm. It took 3 FULL pickup loads to get my treasures home and my wallet was about $350.00 lighter. But all in all it was a magical day and one I will be repeating again soon.

This kind of fun is not to be missed by anyone and I will not deprive myself I will just learn to budget.

This is off topic but I have to vent!!

I made a mistake, a huge mistake and I will assume full responsibility for the error. I mailed a package to the wrong address.

It was an eBay item and I had already mailed one item to this person, person #1. The last names were very similar and I screwed up and put wrong address on the second parcel. When the non-delivery to person #2 was brought to my attention I started going through my Post Office receipts and discovered the error.

Person #1 had been in receipt of the wrong package and their own package for almost a month and has not said a word even though an invoice to the correct person was enclosed in the package. Fortunately the item was insured.

Regardless, according to the Post Office this is a felony offense. They should have refused delivery of the item or at the very least returned it at my expense. The Lt. General for this person’s Post Office will now go and attempt to retrieve the item from this thief and I will leave very negative feedback about them on eBay.

I am shocked and appalled that our morals have degenerated to this level. I am angry that someone has to stoop to theft in order to obtain a stinking birdcage.

I believe strongly in what you put out there comes back to you threefold, call it karma or what you will. This is why I strive to do good, be kind and treat others as I want to be treated. But…. there is another side to me…. you DO NOT WANT ME MAD AT YOU. I can be mean and spiteful if crossed or if you mess with my family. I do not like liars, cheats, people that harm children or that don’t pay their child support. In my eyes these are the lowest forms of pond scum there is on this earth and I have a zero tolerance policy with these folks. There is no excuse for this type of behavior and this includes people that knowingly steal mail.

Comments anyone????