I am back in working order after being sick for a few days. I’m trying to get caught up on a lot of things, too many in fact. But such is my life. Those blog posts still need to be scanned and then posted. I need to update my other blogs, our website and list some items on eBay. In between all of this, I’m trying to do some more volunteer work for DOUA.

The most annoying thing besides feeling exhausted and my hands hurting from typing (my knuckles are getting a work out and that old arthritis is kicking in), is that no matter what I’m doing online is taking longer than I would like. A good friend suggested that I need to upgrade my computer memory.

Is it worth it to do this or better to purchase a new computer? I’ve been wanting a laptop for ages now. I guess I’ll have to price laptops and weigh the pros and cons. I don’t like making these kind of decisions. I’ll wait to see how things go after I do some temporary file and internet file cleaning. I’m going to see if I need to defrag too. Sometimes these little things get me over the hump and I’m happy for a while longer. Only one way to see though and that’s to try it out.

No not Lost, the TV show, but something we’ve sold on eBay. I’m beginning to think that organizing the closet in the office wasn’t such a great idea after all. If I left stuff everywhere I probably would have known exactly where the item was. I read or was told once that if you have a messy desk but know where your things are, that you’re OK. My cluttered mess was horrible to look at, made it difficult to keep the room free of dust (which is really important for Peanut’s allergies) and took up too much space. It also make me anxious because I’d have to shut the door any time someone came to visit.

I have to be realistic. I don’t think that I lost the sold item just because this office is cleaned up. No it’s because I don’t keep things in order. When things are listed they’re supposed to go into a cabinet. Then they can be found easily, packed and shipped.

But where is that darn book we sold? I’m waiting on Hubby to come home. He usually looks around, takes a few minutes and finds it. It’s like he has a magic wand or something.

photo credit:jaqian

There’s nothing wrong with children having responsibilities of their own to do. You know, something called “chores”. I don’t understand why some parents think that their children shouldn’t have to worry about doing work around the house as if it’s like forced labor or something.

When I was younger I had lots of chores to do. First and most important was my school work. Then came the list of things I had to do each day except Sundays. The type of responsibility grew as I did. I began doing things with my mother or under her supervision like setting the table, or dusting on Saturdays. I moved up to making dinner when my mother worked and cleaning one whole room from dusting to vacuuming.

I know doing these chores taught me that I didn’t get a free ride in life, everyone had to work and pitch in, that material things didn’t come easily and that I was trustworthy and capable.

Today I had Peanut take on a chore that she hadn’t done before. It was very successful. I told her to clean up the home office by putting things away neatly in the closet. I did sit there with her to supervise, but as time went on she was figuring it out for herself. I kept quiet. She was able to determine what was worth keeping, what could be sold online, what could be put in the thrift store bag and what was ready for the trash.

She went through some books to sell, some used cisco equipment that was ready for the thrift store, some old papers from school for the trash and some photographs for keeping.

Did she get any money for doing this? No, this was part of her household chores. She gets paid for things that she does that are over and above her chores.

If you are a parent, what do you do about chores, about an allowance? I’d love to hear some comments.

Hubby and I are veteran eBay sellers. Finding wholesale items to sell is often difficult. I’ve heard of people who have been through lots of grief because they’ve been scammed by wholesale sites. Some of the problems people have encountered is purchasing bulk items only to find poor quality items, not receiving their items at all, or learning that others are selling the same exact products at flea markets for very low prices.

I have purchased wholesale lists from eBay members. I’ve also been involved with an eBay group for wholesale information. It helps to learn from others about their successes. I was looking to find a jewelry wholesaler that offers quality and trendy jewelery because I’ve seen many sellers make a lot of money on selling jewelery on eBay. Some of the reasons are that shipping is low, jewelery makes a nice gift, jewelery is often bought for various occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas, Halloween, and bulk jewelery can be found at low prices.