Panda-Monium!

Er, how many times do you think that title has been used? Haha. Anyway, I just wanted to share some of my favorite panda pictures today. This first one came from cuteoverload.com, one of my very most favorite sites.






This next one is from a greeting card.







This is Tare Panda! I collect stuff with him on it - My best Tare Panda item is car seatcovers that I got while Jian and I were in China last summer.







This is a panda that I took a picture of at the Beijing Zoo --- Look at his cute little fat rolls on his back!!




Please check out my auctions on Ebay -- I have a few things ending today including a New England Patriots toddler jersey and some scrapbooking stencils. http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/dawnoctopus_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

Hello Kitty psychoanalysis test! For all you Hello Kitty nuts... Let's see if you really are nuts!

http://www.sanriotown.com/psycho/psycho6/psycho6_us.htm

Craftster Make a Friend Swap Package 1

Adoption News

Well, guess what? Yesterday I finally finished my pre-adoption application, yay! It was only the beginning of tons of paperwork and waiting, though. It was the first step, no looking back now.

It's amazing how many things that they ask you on just your pre-application---- Work references, personal references, physician references, the list goes on! However, luckily, I think that we will pass all of those things.

The next step in the process is a "Home Physical Standards" test. This includes making sure that you have hot & cold running water, heat, at least 50 square feet in the prospective child's bedroom, and other things. I hope that we will pass that one, too.

After you pass the house test they send you to parenting classes. I believe that it's 2 months of classes every Saturday. Hubbles is *not* going to be happy about that. I forgot to ask the lady if BOTH of us have to be at EVERY single class. I have no problems with going every weekend, but he has a lot of stuff to do with his volunteer work.

After you pass your parenting classes I think that you are all set to be certified as an adoptive family, and then they start trying to match you with prospective children. Hubbles and I are hoping that we will be able to get either an Asian child, Caucasian, or a mix of the two. He wants the child to look at least a *little* like us, but I told him that is silly-- You should love whichever child that they give you. And I'm sure he would... It just may take a few days! If it were a perfect world, they would give us a boy under the age of 2. I know it's not like ordering lunch though, you have to be flexible.

Hopefully if you are reading this it might have helped you start thinking about the adoption process. It sounds like a lot of work and it takes a long time, but in the end it's worth it.

Old School Nintendo!

Who loves Nintendo????

I am a big fan of Classic and Super Nintendo. One of my very few happy childhood memories is my parents driving to Toys R Us and getting me Super-Mario 3. I remember how freakin excited I was on the drive home, reading the instructions, finding out that Mario could FLY in SM3! It was also the second game that I was able to beat! The first game, of course, was Super Mario 1. I have never finished Super Mario 2, though, I guess that's why it's still my favorite :)

Anyway, enough memory lane. This week I have :
Tiny Toon Adventures, Konami Ending July 23rd. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250271364140&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

and

Jackal Ending at the same time http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250271364577&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

I <3 IKEA

Who loves IKEA???? Everyone I have ever met!

Last night after work I took the looonngggg and traffic-filled journey to Stoughton, MA to visit the 'kea. I got there shortly before closing, but luckily had enough time to visit the cafe and have some of the meatballs with that delicious, mysterious loodenberry sauce. YUM.
After shoveling down the meatballs I took a quick tour of the kids section-- last time I was there they had big stuffed octopus, and I was hoping to pick up a friend for the one I already bought, perhaps in a different color. It wasn't in the cards though - they still had the octopus, but only in blue, the same one that I already have.
It was on to the bathroom accessories section after that, I picked up a few shower curtain liners, and I was also going to get a new outer curtain, but they were out of stock in the one that I liked :( So far the only part I enjoyed about my visit was the meatballs!
Luckily on my way out I had to go though the lighting section, and it reminded me to get one of those light sockets on a cord, for a hanging lamp. I had gotten the MOST ADORABLE hanging light with koi fish on it at the mall the other day but neglected to get a cord. Until now.
I also picked up a small table for hubby to put his Xbox 360 on, but when I got home he didn't like it! He said it was too big... and too pink.
On the way home I came about 5 feet from death. I was on a backroad, going about 40. There was a smaller road off to the side with a stopsign, and a big van came barreling up to it, not stopping or even SLOWING. I started trying to break and swerve into the other lane, leaning on the horn-- The idiot finally realized he was supposed to stop, and we both came to a screetching, swerving halt in the middle of the road. He got more horn and a finger as I drove off, trying to stop my heart from beating out of my chest.

On to the auctions!
BOSTON RED SOX Bosox kids/youth jersey 12-14 med/medium
Kids Red Sox jersey ends this evening, and is at $2.95 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250269322903&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

Library book sales

You know what I love?? Book sales at the library!!!!!


The last library book sale that I went to was at the Bedford Public Library-- In Bedford, of course! They had the great idea of $10 bags of books. Anything you could stuff into a paper grocery bag was yours for $10, and that included the CDs, videos, and magazines, too. I was able to get a full bag of Sci-Fi and horror books, some of them quite rare. If I had been smarter, I think that I would have grabbed more than one bag full!

The book sale that I went to previously to the Bedford one was in Somerville. I got some good things there, too, but they were selling the books seperately instead of by the bag. I don't like it when they do it that way because I am less likely to take a chance on getting a book if I don't know if it's rare or not. I was however able to get a book called "Knitting Without Tears" for $ .50, and I made my craftster.com swap partner very happy. She seemed happy anyway!!!

I'll wrap this up with an auction, of course!

STALKERS edited by Gorman Currently at $1.95, and includes a short story by my personal favorite, RICHARD LAYMON!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250270307400&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

New Thift Store!!

Have you ever been to Savers? I took a trip there this weekend, if you're in the Boston area, it's located in West Roxbury. I got a few books and some other assorted stuff, but the *best* find there was their flyer! It turns out that there is a NEW Savers opening in Danvers, MA on July 31st!!! That's good news to me, because I am more comfortable driving to Danvers than West Roxbury, and also my Toyota dealer is really close by, so maybe I can hit the Savers when my car gets it's servicing! YAY! When I was at Savers I picked up a few things for auction...

kids/youth shortie wetsuit black/green s/small Deep See Brand

Currently at $4.95, ends July 20th http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250270294179&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015


Colorfusion Festival Flameless Color Candle SKULL


Currently at $3.95, ends July 20th.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250270312121&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

Thrifting!

My favorite place to thrift in my town is the Salvation Army! A long time ago when I lived in New Jersey (1999-2002) I worked at a Salvation Army. Everything about that job was great except for the pay! I worked in the back taking donations from people, sorted them, priced them, and put them on the shelf. Originally I was hired to price clothing, but I found the "things" to be more interesting, and since I had a great boss she let me do pretty much what I wanted. We had "volunteers" to wheel the clothes out and put them on the racks. The volunteers were men from the Salvation Amy alcohol rehabilitation program. They lived in men's dorms there, and were bussed to the store every morning for forced volunteering. You might think that these guys would have been a little creepy to work with, but that wasn't the case at all! They were really nice, and never did anything that made me uncomfortable. That's saying a lot, because I am easily made uncomfortable. Anyway, I know that the Salvation Army does great things for people down on their luck, and I am very happy to support them.
There are some other great thrift stores in the Boston area, but I find them to be more expensive than the SA, and some of them are really difficult to find parking close enough to the store. I always feel dumb carrying giant bags of used clothing down the sidewalk, so I try to park close.
I find yard sales to be hit-or-miss with great things to re-sell, but sometimes you can get lucky and find a church sale with clothes for $10 per bag. I actually hit one of these 2 weekends ago, but unfortunately the parishioners of this church weren't very trendy so I wasn't able to get many good things.

Anyway, I have some really good things ending on Ebay tonight!!

22,000 PERLER/HAMA/activity/melt/fuse beads +1 pegboard
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267165124&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015
At $24.50 with 10 bids!

BBW bath body works SUN RIPENED RASPBERRY body wash 8oz
Ends tonight, NO BIDS YET!http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267168832&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

KAWAII GOODNESS

Let's talk about kawaii! It means "cute" in Japanese, and it's used to describe some of the awesome products that come out of Japan, China, and other parts of Asia. Some of the brands and characters that I have seen described as kawaii are Hello Kitty, Doraemon, San-X, Kogepan, Nyan Nyan Nyanko, Rilakkuma, Tissue-san, MashiMaro, Tare Panda, and mannnnyyyyyy more.

When someone says "Kawaii Goods" usually the first things I think about are stationery letter sets, cute erasers, and stickers, but there are a lot of other products that might be called kawaii, like plush toys, useful things like tissue box holders that have a character on them, and lots of other things. Things don't have to be a cartoon to be considered kawaii, though! I have also heard kawaii used to describe animals and babies!

Up on Ebay this week I have a small assortment of kawaii goods for you!

partridge/swallow/bird ribbon for scrapbooking, cardmaking, or sewing

$1.49 with no bids yet! Ends in the afternoon on Jul-11-08. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267510346&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

Next up, MASHIMARO 2 seatcovers for the car!!

1 bid so far, at $14.49. Auction ends the afternoon of Jul-11-08. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267514110&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

I also have RILAKKUMA Relax Bear Letter sets & deco tape! 5 letter sets and one roll of deco tape.

This set was just added last night, no bids yet! Ends Jul-15-08 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250268503448&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

CASH CRATE

I'd like to do a little something different this morning -- If you are reading my Ebay blog, I am going to guess that you like to either save money by buying on Ebay instead of the store, OR you like to buy things to re-sell them.

What does that have in common??
WANTING TO HAVE MORE MONEY.

Have you ever taken one of those surveys on "The Internets" to supposedly get a FREE $100 Starbucks giftcard? You go through and answer YES or NO to a bunch of questions that try to sell you things. You feverishly click NO NO NO to all of them, ever getting closer to your giftcard... then... the last "question" is "Which of these $19.99 per month (or whatever) services do you want to sign up for?" and you HAVE to click on one of them to get your free giftcard?

Well, www.cashcrate.com/667225 gives you surveys like that, EXCEPT they PAY YOU CASH to complete them. It's not a lot of cash. It's $ .50 - $ 1.00 per survey that you complete. REAL MONEY. It goes into your www.cashcrate.com/667225 account, and every month that you have $10 they will send you a check!!!! So far in July it's only the 9th, and I already have a guaranteed $16.50 in my account, and another $19.40 pending.

Also, with www.cashcrate.com/667225, you get money for referrals. You will earn 20% of whatever your referrals earn, for doing absolutely nothing. So far I only have a few referrals, so I am not making a lot of money from that, but there are other people on www.cashcrate.com/667225 that earn a couple hundred dollars a month. I know that's not going to make you a millionaire, but just imagine if you went outside, and found a $100 dollar bill! It's kind of like that, but you *know* it's coming to you in the mail.

I know a lot of people are worried that www.cashcrate.com/667225 might be a scam, BUT IT ISN'T!! Just TRY it. You have to fill out your surveys with real information, so make sure you get a new email address JUST for filling out surveys. Otherwise your regular email might get filled up with spam. You will want to check that new email address regularly, though. Some of the surveys they send you sign you up for free newletters or cartoons through email, and you have to confirm your email address before you get your $.75 or whatever. That's why I have $19.40 in my pending account, because I haven't confirmed any yet this week.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!

Things ending Tomorrow! 07/09/08

XOXO Affection purse

Currently at $7.99 with one bid http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250266845423&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

Saves the Day band shirt! Really pretty black shirt with a lotus flower on it.

Currently at $4.99 with no bids yet http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250266849590&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015#ebayphotohosting

There are a lot more auctions ending tomorrow of various things, check them out!

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=dawnoctopus

Crafty Stuff!

This week I have a bunch of crafty stuff up, too. My favorite website is Craftster.com, and I have an obsession with buying too many crafting materials! I just can't resist those 40% off coupons that I get in the mail from Joanne's sometimes. I mostly like to sew with a sewing machine, but I also like to scrapbook and do embroidery, too.

Here are a few crafty items I have on EBay this week:

22,000 PERLER beads +1 pegboard - This auction ends Jul-10-08 at 5:36PM

So far the bids are up to $7.49. Here's a link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267165124&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

I also have up some scrapbooking stuff.

A lot of 3 rubber stamps http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267175136&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

And a hand craft punch http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250267176758&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015

First Post!

Well, here we are. I guess I am a little behind the times, I have never had a blog before. The little generic one on Myspace doesn't count.





The main idea behind this blog is to highlight some of the more interesting things that I have up for sale on Ebay. The secondary idea is to share some of my stories that I have about my visits to the thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets. I seem to attract rather odd people at the places who want to share their life stories with me. I am happy to hear them, and pass them on to you.





Today I'll start with my Gwen Stefani Harajuku Lovers Wind it UP purse/bag. This bag is NEW with tags, and retails for $56. It's currently selling for $9.99 with one bid. The auction ends on Wednesday July 9th at 5:19 PM.



Here's a link to the auction :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250266847027&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=015