Week 13: Let's Admit a Couple of Things

This week I sold a helmet to a guy who is trying to outfit his 3 kids in ski equipment. This is actually a banked item as I sold it last week just 2 days before he took off for a family ski trip to Smugglers Notch. I asked him if he needed any other ski equipment and he said he did so since then I've found 2 more helmets and 2 pairs of boots that I can sell him. Hopefully he'll still want them.

I have to admit a little white lie here...the picture isn't of the helmet I sold him. I forgot to take a picture of it so for today's purpose I just took a picture of a much older helmet that I'm sure I'll never be able to sell as it's an original that I wore as a teenager. What a difference! It's sooooo heavy compared to today's models! Let's also admit something else while we're at it...don't you think helmets are incredibly hideous looking?!

SOLD: $20
CATEGORY: Sports

3 Month Anniversary!

Hey, it just occured to me...this week is the 3 month anniversary of the blog! I can't believe all this time has gone by. It seems like I just started this task yesterday.

Today my colleague was asking me about my craigslist challenge and how it was going and if it was still fun or becoming laborious. I told her that I still enjoy the challenge of trying to buy or sell something each week for 52 weeks. However, sometimes I forget to ask questions to the buyer. That's how I get my little stories about them and if I don't ask questions, I don't get any stories which is exactly what has happened to my last few sales. With that in mind, I'll try to be more pro-active with the questions!

WEEK 12: Broken But Gone

Well it only took close to 3 months but I finally sold the crystal decanters. The drag is that I had 6 perfectly good decanters to sell and between transporting them to the buyer I broke one of them! Oh well, I got rid of a big box full of stuff today and that always feels good.

SALE: $50
CATEGORY: Household Items

WEEK 11: Geronimo!

I have to pat myself on the back for a moment. Here I am on vacation but have a one day break where I can get home for 24 hours and I've made a sale! I just sold 21 Geronimo Stilton books to a lady buying them for her ferocious little reader. It's a win-win all around...I get rid of the books, she gets a pile of books for her daughter and my kids get to split the money (I told them I'd let them split the money when it comes to kids books or toys that get sold).

Now, back to the slopes! :)

SOLD: $60
CATEGORY: Books

Dear Craig: No Rest For The Vacationer

I want you to know how devoted I am to you. Here I am on vacation and STILL trying to feed this beast. Yes, I'm still selling. I can't tell you that I'll be successful but I want you to know that I'm still trying. Good luck to me.

In the meantime, have I told you how amazing the Spring skiing in the mountains is? Sunshine, warm weather, no hat, moguls, 6km runs...this is the life. I feel sorry for people who don't enjoy skiing or winter for that matter. It's got to be one of the best pleasures in life bar none. Glory and bliss. :)

Week 10: Things Are Looking Up

It was a tough week. It's hard to sell anything while sporting bronchitis and a migraine. The whole world seems to stop functioning, or maybe I should say I stop functioning. The world continues to rotate while I stay fixed, stuck in time, concentrating only on breathing and that spot on my forehead behind my left eye that causes so much pain that I have to lay in a dark room with ice-cubes on my forehead for 3 hours. The kids run wild, work suffers, the house is a mess and so am I.

On the bright side, things are looking up and I'm starting to feel better. The migraine is gone and the breathing is better. I honestly thought this was the week I wouldn't sell anything but luck was on my side and I sold 6 framed prints to a man who told me he was out of work. Once he found out where I worked I think he was hinting for me to hire him or put in a good word for him or something like that. It's so sad to think of all the people that were laid off last year.

SOLD: $90
CATEGORY: arts & crafts

Does It Count?

Does it count that I sold something this week and then told the guy to wait a couple of weeks? Come on? I'm sick. I should get some leeway. The story is, I posted my most successful post yet! I have a 40 foot lattice fence in the backyard that I want down but it's in good shape so I'm offering it for free to someone who will take it away for me. I had about 15 takers in a matter of hours! The problem is that the ground is still frozen though so we have to wait a few weeks for it to thaw so the posts can come down so I'm delaying the sale.

This just makes things extra hard for me this week. Bring out the worlds smallest violin please...

Sick Contingency Plan?

So what's the contingency plan if I'm sick? I don't feel like selling something this week. I'm just trying to breathe! Something simple better drop in my lap or I'm done for this week. If there was a cure for the common cold I'd buy that but, alas, there is no such thing.

WEEK 9: So That's What Calves Are For!

This week I sold a 'Spiderwicks' book to a lady who bought it for her daughter. No interesting story to report with the transacation so instead I'll give you an update from last week's transaction which was boot camp! Yes, I joined boot camp last week and Friday was my first class.

It turns out that a former Marine is running the camp and although there were 3 other people in the class with me, this Marine gave me way too much attention! (Whenever he wasn't looking at me I tried to cheat!) The class was supposed to be 1 hour long but I think it ran closer to 1.5 hours. It was non-stop moving and stretching and pushing yourself to the limit! Tony, the Marine/trainer, really needs to learn how to count though. Whenever he said there were 3 seconds left it turned out to be about a minute and then when he said we could rest for 10 seconds he would count as fast as he could to ten.

The next day I thought that I'd be feeling it the most in my abs but I was completely wrong! It turns out that I haven't used my calves my entire life! How do I know this? Because I haven't been able to walk on them all week-end!

SOLD: $10
CATEGORY: BOOKS

Dear Craig: Good for the Soul

People come and go throughout life. Some people touch it for a moment and you continue on unchanged, some people linger in the background much to your chagrin or happiness but they are a constant, while others seem to drop in for awhile and are able to leave a lasting imprint on your being and you remain forever marked by their presence.

It's many years (even decades) later and I found myself thinking of one such person last night. He was the Camp Director of the overnight camp I went to when I was 10-14 years old. Simply, he was an amazing influence on us. He seemed to single me out and made me feel very special. In retrospect, he was such a natural born inspirational leader that I'm sure he made every single camper feel the same way.

I've often wondered what happened to Walter over the years and so I looked him up on Facebook and found him. He's retired now but we exchanged a few emails and I was able to tell him what a great camp director he was.

Once in awhile, it's great to reach out to someone from our past like that and I encourage everyone to do the same. Feels good for the soul.