We survived the Holiday Weekend....Did You?

It's been a little while since I sent up a new blog post.  I got all hog-tied into the Thanksgiving to-do list!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family.  We gathered at Heathers and Kirks, with wonderful food and a large enough dining room for us to have a lovely set down dinner!

Thanksgiving evening Xavier came over to have a sleepover!  Little did we know he was planning on staying "2" nights.  He was all packed and being the pushovers we are when it comes to our Grandkids, his wish was fulfilled!  He was spoiled properly, ate lots of junk, played games, watch movies, helped Papa pack, all the things that make special memories for a 4 year old and us old people!!  This also allowed his Mom & Dad to shop till they dropped! 

Saturday night was wonderful, I got to hop into my bed with no little feet up against my back, we took off the dogs collars, so no metal tag shaking.  It was wonderful and I slept like a log!

So my main focus for the next month is working on Christmas Presents, putting the house in ship shape for the Holidays and waiting for a visit from our Son and DIL!  I have a yellow ribbon around my front tree that got put up the day Todd shipped out to Afghanistan, I am waiting for his return home to help me take it down!!  Just a hug from my boy will be Christmas enough for me!

So I have way more projects than I need to do before Christmas, plus some shopping added in!  Good thing I don't have to ship this stuff out and I have right up until the 25th to have these things done!  LOL  I work well under pressure and have been a procrastinator, and a take on more than you can handle kind of girl most of my life!

So we are down to weeks now before the entire family will be back together and I am so geeked about that.  Erin, sent me a picture a couple of days ago, when my email was still working (another story) of the family together right after Todd got home!  We sent our flattie selfs out with Heather for this shot and to experience all the fun with Xavier!  He enjoyed tossing us in the snowbank and walking on the beach with us!

So I am off to do my thing!  I would share what I was doing, but it's Christmas presents so lets keep that info secret!  Dilly

This is how you sell an item on the Bay!

So what do you think it is?  It fits into our find the unusual rule.  Hubby saw this at a Lansing Goodwill.  The first sign that this is something of value is that it is made in Italy.

 Here is where the useless information we store in our heads comes into play.  See that white sticker it says "Dance Depot USA"  Since our oldest daughter was a dancer, a dance teacher and a choreographer we had Dance Supply books all over the house for over 30 years.  I know form keeping her in tap, ballet and jazz shoes that nothing comes from one of these places for cheap!  So we take out the smartphone, go to Ebay, under completed auctions we find that this exact item sells for $50 to $80 dollars.  The Goodwill price is $4.99.  OK, we have something to sell!!

So once we have an item, it goes home on the inventory shelf.  When hubby is ready to write it up, first it is cleaned, those stickers and permanent makers for price need to be cleaned up and taken off.  The item needs to be checked to make sure it is working correctly, powers up, does what it is suppose to do.

Now photos are taken, several, hubby is the over achiever with photos, and that is nothing compared to his packing ability.  Photos taken, measurements if needed are taken, anything that we will need to write the item up for Ebay.  Weight and size are needed for shipping estimates that are in the listing. 

Now that we have all the things that are necessary its time to set down in front of the computer.  We have templates set up in Ebay that give our sales rules, such as when we ship, how we ship, etc.  This can take up to a half an hour just to pull everything together.  We need to decide if the item goes up for auction and if so how long, maybe we list it with a set price Buy It Now.  It really depends on the value, the time we need for people to see it, is it seasonal (Christmas Tree Stand) and do we need to sell it quickly!

Our Pro Arch, an arch stretcher for Ballet Arches......Yup that thing is for dancers to stretch and strengthen their arches.  It was listed yesterday for $49.99 with a $75.00 Buy it now for 7 days.  It lasted 24 hours and sold tonight for the $75.00.  Since it was a Buy It Now the item has been paid for, the shipping was paid for and tomorrow it will be shipped out.  Here is a link to the completed auction write up on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Artform-Dance-Supply-Pro-Arch-Foot-Stretcher-Stretch-Strengthen-foot-ankle-396-/251187444299?category=28065&nma=true&si=FfRkzI09nlcAH6xJkR8STzNiGUU%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

So that is how we make our living for the past 14 years.  Today we hit Lansing again and brought home about $400 of inventory to start the process all over again!

I'll cover the shipping in a couple of days!  Until then, enjoy Thanksgiving.  I hope you are all surrounded by people you love and wonderful food! 

Dilly

Equal Time for my other 4 legged love!!

In the last 6 months Miss Kylee has had a lot of time and space in my postings regarding her temperament, surgery for possible cancer, neck torsion and finally her stomach flipping.  All the while her buddy Dozer gets no space, just because he is a sweetie and healthy!!  So time to change that.

HEEERRRREEEES DOZZZZZZZER!!!!

A little over two years ago we had Kylee who was then 2.  She was a sweetie but totally attached to hubby, his puppy, his little girl.  So after some whining on my part I started looking for a dog to call my own.  It took a while, but one day when checking out Craigslist, I found a litter of puppies south of us in Coldwater that were looking for their forever homes.  These were Great Dane/American Bulldog mix babies.  We took a ride down to check them out, and I found most of them with 4 white paws, a white chest and muzzle.  But hubby saw the one with the white hourglass on the back of his neck.  By the time we walked away, I had picked out what then I was going to call Harley!  The pups had to grow another couple weeks.  But I had mine all picked out!  Thats my little guy at 6 weeks old! By the time he came home he was Dozer, the same as brother who stayed with the Birth MOM.  Thanks Amber for giving me such happiness!!

Now I figured out he would stay shorter and thicker with the American Bulldog!  Here is Mom and Dozer the day he came to live with us.  We weren't sure how Kylee was going to welcome Dozer, but all went smoothly.  She played with him with such patience and obviously realized how small he was!

The two dogs began a friendship that grows stronger everyday.  Dozer my little man, grew and grew and grew!  They played and played!  They love tug of war no matter if it is a plastic bat, a rope, a ball, a frisbee!  They race around the yard like they are antelope being chased by a hunter!  Then they both crash and burn!!

Dozer is still my big boy and is now 2 and  he is taller than Kylee by a couple of inches, thinner and has a tongue at least 3' long that licks and licks!  I need to get him a tag my friend makes that says "Can't control my licker!"   So I didn't get my compact and thicker dog.  Our Vet says the only part of Dozer that isn't Great Dane are his shorter ears and a short body length than Kylee.  The rest of him is all Great Dane!

Dozer is calmer, loves everybody and his personality is 1st rate.  Other than a cut in his paw, nothing on the medical side of him either.  He always wants to set in your lap, lay his head on your lap, just be close to you!  He is a favorite with both our grandsons which of course, he styles their hair with his tongue!!  He loves his Dad too and tries to beat Kylee out when it comes to Daddy time!

But most of all he is Mom's Big Boy and we love him. 

Here he is today with his chewie at 125 lbs, 34" at the shoulders, can eat out of the kitchen sink, and take up an entire 7' sofa if he wants.  Such unconditional love he offers every minute of every day!  Mommy loves her Dozer!!

The four footed kink in our plans!

So we are planning on ditching everything and living here and there in a decent size travel trailer.  Well that means our two fur babies will be going with us and have to be well behaved neighbors so Mom & Dad don't get kicked out of the RV Park!

Yesterday we were reminded that isn't going to be so easy!  Kylee our 4 year old Great Dane is going to cause some problems.  Dozer our 2 year old will only cause problems if you get close enough to be licked to death!  His tongue can attack you from 4 feet away, but other than that he is a loving, well behaved guy!  Yesterday we stopped because Dozer was crying and he had to go potty, so we stopped in a large country park and Randy was walking them.  A gentlemen an his lovely golden retriever came out of the woods and Kylee went ballistic.  Thank God Dozer on the other leash took that moment to take a dump and acted as an anchor for hubby!  Well after Kylee calmed down we looked at each other and accepted the problem we had been avoiding.  Miss Kylee and her aggression!

Now the first two years of Kylees life she was the even tempered sweetie.  She still is to us, our family and especially the two grandsons.  Mr. Brock, 1 yr old can do his drunken sailor walk through the house and push Kylee out of his way.  Xavier is giving her hugs most of the time and she loves them both.  But have a child, a biker, a dog or anything walk by the house outfront and she goes crazy.  She is even worse in the van, she can rock a full size conversion van and look like she is coming through the windows.  We have NO idea what caused it or if any one thing caused it!

Kylee has been to two dog classes, she failed the first, and hubby couldn't understand the instructor on the second, so that didn't work either.  She has a electronic bark collar, a remote bark control sound thingy and just lately a citronella collar we can control.  But, nada, nothing!!!  Miss stubborn will never have mosquites and acts like she is deaf!! 

The worst that has happened is we were walking both dogs on a path in Kalamazoo, with Dozer and I out front.  When a dog and his owner were going to pass, the dumby let his dog run over at Kylee, she went balistic, and Dozer turned around (we had already passed them) and dragged me over the pavement!  She has never bit anyone or even tried to!  But we are at our wits end. 

So today we started doing research on trainers that we would either work one on one with or actually take Kylee and if need be Dozer to be boarded and trained.  We are talking big bucks, but we want this change in our life and we have to do what we have to do to make it happen.  We figure we have already spent close to $500 on classes and training crap.  Let alone the DVD's and books!  Add in the frigging big bucks that we have dropped this past year to keep Kylee healthy.  The training is a drop in the bucket!  We are changing our life style to end the stress, well some stress is knowing our dog could be a problem, so we might as well nip that one in the behind too!

Hug your furbabies for me!  

So what is a Treasure Trail?

So most of you have seen me post "hitting the treasure trail today".  You probably wondered, OK maybe you have never given it a thought, but you will find out today what that means!

For the past 15 years my hubby has made our living selling on Ebay.  He was doing ebay before most of you ever heard of it.  The first day we had a computer hooked up to the the internet hubby typed in the word "Auction".  He found the little newbie place called Ebay, not quite a million things listed.  They were up and down all the time, with problems and servers named after reptiles!  Randy was in heaven!!  36 years ago when we were dating I introduced him to his first auction and things have gone crazy since then! 

Randy started picking up antiques, and going to auctions and flea markets looking for things to sell.  In the beginning if I wasn't with him, he would call me and have me do the research on the item.  Research means you go on Ebay, go into the listings for completed auctions and see what things sold for.  You CAN NOT go by what people are asking for items.  So many have their heads stuck up the place where the sun doesn't shine and they just pay for listings and never sell anything!  I love to go to places and see printings of ebay listings taped to an item.  The price is huge, but when you go into completed listings you see something is selling for $50 regularly and some twit is asking $150.  You can't do apples and oranges on Ebay and expect to make a living.  You also have to be prepared to carry around a lot of useless information in your brain.  You have to know that something has value, you don't have to know how much value because that does change.  Plus that is where smartphones have made our life a little easier!

So our treasure trails consist of loops we take in MI.  We have several we do regularly.  We hit Goodwills, Salvation Armies, Volunteers of America, Hospice thrift stores, Habitat for Humanity Stores, Mission resale shops Etc.  Occasional auctions, flea markets and in the summer a few Fridays we do yard sales.  If we do what we call the Lansing Run we hit 15 stores, Grand Rapids is close to 30 stores, locally we have 8 stores.  On a lousy day $100 to $200 of resale value, on a good day $500 to $1,000.  Our investment is 10% to 20% of  what we expect to sell the item for.  Higher priced items can be 50%.  It's all a crap shoot, but it works for us!

So when you are setting down to dinner, or in front of the TV my husband has dragged me out to hit a few local stores.  He loves to find something that will pay for dinner, or just needs more goodies to write up!

We will walk the store, looking for the unusual or things that we know have value.  Remember the useless info we carry around in our empty heads.  Oh, Oh hubby has spotted something!!

He has spotted a sliding door insert/pet door!  Now we know these things use to be around $100, because we checked into getting one for our big babies.  The price is $19.99 so here is hubby reading the information that was tapped to the box.  Looks like the original owner, never got around to installing it and all parts are suppose to be in the box.  The great thing about Goodwills, is you can return the item.  Many times an item does not have all the parts, or doesn't work and we have to take it back. 

Ok, time to pull the cell phone out, check out what the EXACT thing sells for on Ebay.  Not what someone wants, what they have sold for!  Hubby finds this item sells for $100 - $150 and it is added to the cart.

Now we have something to sell.  On my next blog I will show the work that goes into inspecting, cleaning, gathering listing information, writing the item up, taking photos, and actually listing the item.  That doesn't even cover the dimwits that ask questions that are covered in the listing, or other silly things potential buyers ask!!!  Oh, I forgot most of the time, the items has to be packaged and shipped too!  It, just means hubby works 24/7 most of the time, which is the reason we are getting rid of everything and giving him some retirement time!!  Oh, shoot he will still do Ebay for the fun of it.  Why throw away all that useless information you have been carrying around in your head all this time.  Plus we really do enjoy it, just don't want to have to depend on it to cover the bills anymore!!

Enjoy another week and I will see you in a couple of days!!
Dilly

So how do you divide up almost 40 years of memories and crap?

The reason I started this new blog is to share all the upcoming changes we are going to be making in order to downsize.  We need to get down to a decent size travel trailer here in MI for the summer months. We would also have another smaller trailer to travel with to investigate the country and figure out where we want to make our winter home.  Did I mention we have a 3 story house with 2 bedrooms, play room, sun room, craft room, studio, office, work room, living, kitchen, dining and 3 bathrooms, in addition to 3 rooms lined with shelves in the basement.  They are all stuffed to the rafters.  Yes we are collectors, clutterbugs, and hoarders!  It is all the dang good deals and treasures we find along the way.  We are such suckers for a good deal!

The major start to seperating ourselves from some of this stuff starts after Christmas.  But during Christmas we will be seperating out the decorations and goodies we have collected over 36++ years together!  I am trying to figure out how to do this fair and square, but that has bit me in the butt over the years.  Of course the kids will get their own personal ornaments I have.  Then there is the nativity, kneeling Santa, large Santa, etc. etc.  So I think I am going with a dot program.  Each of our adult kids will get a color and they can mark the items they would like.  That's the easy part, figuring out who gets to pick first is the sticky part.  Heather can only go first so often because she is the oldest.  The two girls could come to blows over some of this, Todd the martyr might finally speak up and say ENOUGH!  Who know's, I certainly don't want hard feelings, but how do you split up memories?  If you have suggestions I am here waiting to hear them!

Now I am a keeper of everything, I can't even begin to tell you all the craft crap I have and have kept FOREVER!  That is going to be a hard one to seperate myself from.  I know I can't have 5 years of yarn supplies, enough fabric to cover an entire house if sewn together,  Art markers from 20 years ago (yes they still work).  I think I will keep my small watercolor stuff, all my crochet hooks, my sewing machine.  I will have to instill the buy what you need, make and get rid of the leftover rule.  It will be hard, but you gotta do what you gotta do to fit 20lbs of crafts in a 2lb cupboard you have allowed yourself in a small trailer.

Then we get to the sentimental, family hand-me-downs!  We have had two large auctions in our lifetime.  We have sold most everything, but not the sentimental, family memory stuff.  This time will be hard even if it is just seperating it out to the children!

Here are photos from the last time we unloaded before we moved here.  The first time was in Vermontville 30 years ago!  Other than the actual hauling out all the stuff, it is pretty easy and it goes away, and somebody hands you a check whens it is done.  We will probably sell a lot of stuff before we get to this point.  But it is a way to get rid of Everything all at once and not drag it on forever!!

So for now I just walk through a room, and figure out what I keep and what goes.  Nothing much in the keep list other than wonderful memories and photos!

Dilly

Traveling with 2 Great Danes!

If you have followed my daily travels at all, you know that we are on the road 2 or 3 times a week.  Don't worry I will share a  treasure trail with you soon.  Today we are going to talk about our doggies going with us.  Not just little furry babies, but big 125lb Great Danes!  Kylee and Dozer are our 4 footed children and when the word "go" is issued they are shaking and waiting at the kitchen door to get loaded up and hit the road with us!

So if you want to transport two big dogs, you need a big mobile dog house to make it possible! Here is our version.

Our dogs ride fabulously and love to make themselves comfy riding for up to 10 hrs on one of our days on the road!  Here they are just loaded in yesterday, waiting for Mom & Dad to buckle up and get going!

The TV & Dvd player are not hooked up, the wooden console works more like a baby gate and keeps the furry kids back where they belong.  So far we have never come back to the van and found either of the dogs in the front seat, but there is always a first!!

This is usually what the back looks like, rolling down the highway to our next stop! Dozer is usually curled up in the single seat or laying on the big dog pillow on the floor.  Yes the floor is littered with dog toys and chewies, but remember I said it was a mobile dog house!  Yes, we have tried dog seat belts, they have chewed through hundreds of dollar of those!  They might not be as safe as they can, but they are with us.

Traveling with two dogs is not quick!  You have to stop frequently to walk, and take care of doggie needs.  Plus water dishes and a gallon jug of water are always with us.  The dogs typically eat before we leave, and again when we get home!

It's a long day, they are so happy to be us.  But when you look back and see this face you know it's time to go home.  Dozer know's his way so well he starts his whimpering at the end of our street.  He knows a no leash run in the yard is on his list of things to do when he gets home!

Now if we could get Kylee to stop barking at roller skaters, bicyclers, joggers and dogs as we go down the road it would help.  She is on a citronella training collar that sprays on demand.  Lets just say we don't have to worry about mosquitoes in the van!!  She is improving, but she is a stubbon, Diva Princess!! 

It's not easy, but we wouldn't change it for the world! 

Dilly

Hello!! Here is to a new beginning!

I had a blog a couple of years ago, it was about gardening, glass, crafts, and my family!  I tried to get back into it so I could fire it up and had to start from Scratch!  So here is the new blog, some things have changed and some have remained the same.

I won't be talking about glass, oh maybe the selling of all my supplies.  I won't be talking about gardening, unless it is to transplant goodies at my kids houses.  I will of course be talking about my family from time to time, they are the MOST IMPORTANT thing in my life!

If you followed DillysDays then I left off a year ago.  Our son, Todd, was just being deployed to Afghanistan.  Some of my last photos were of Xavier, my grandson, and I tying a yellow ribbon around the tree out front in my yard.  Well the ribbon is still there, but our son, the Marine just got back 4 days ago and I am waiting for him to come home next month to help me take the ribbon down!!!  Knowing he is home is just spectacular.  He lives in NC with his Wife Erin and their dog Nika!

Another thing that has changed, is our Grandson Brock.  He is now a year old, walking around like a champ and babbling continuously.  I can't wait until words are formed, he has been saying a lot of stuff for 6 months and must really have a lot on his mind.  Shannon and Shawn want to so much move out of their house to something larger.  I will keep my fingers crossed. Unfortunately in the last year we lost their Lovely Daisy, our first Grandpuppy.  We still have Dylan the Great Pyr, Kolbe the cat and a recent addition Brewster the orange Himilayan to spoil! 

One of the big changes in the last year is our daughter Heather, hubby Kirk and oldest Grandson, Xavier have moved farther away.  It was nice and convenient with them half a mile away.  But they really hated their neighborhood and wanted something nicer.  The are now about 8 miles away in Marshall, MI.  They have a lovely home, in a great neighborhood and they are enjoying everything about it!  Buttons their little Affenpincher/poodle is right at home with the floor to ceiling windows, it's like he is outside all the time with all the comfy of being inside!

Wowzers I guess there have been a few changes!!

Hubby and I are starting to take baby steps to make big changes in our life.  We are burnt out, bummed out and tired of all the daily crap.  We have been giving it a lot of thought and we are ready for the next step.  The new blog will be about us, sorting through crap, getting rid of stuff (almost everything), selling the house and starting a new life.  You can laugh and gasp as we make changes or rethink changes as the next couple of years come and go. 

Our plans right now are to sell everything in the next 2 years. I can see another auction in our future! LOL  Set ourselves up here in Michigan with a seasonal site with a large trailer, and eventually have something in a warmer climate for the off season (winter).  There are a lot of things that determine the whats and wheres.  For one thing, where will Todd and Erin be in two years?  We want to be involved in their life and since we are not sure what they have up their sleeve, that decision is out there!  I know we don't want to pay lot rent for the entire year in a warmer climate, so that is another decision. 

So come along for the ride, see the decisions along the way!  Some will make you laugh, others could be dang stupid, or scary!

As we plunk along for the next two years, I will be sharing the daily stuff as it comes and goes!  If your reading this have a wonderful day!

Dilly