Inked Mom

Just thought I’d share this because this guy was such a jerk.

First off, I’ve sold a lot of stuff on craigslist.  It’s a great way to get rid of stuff you don’t need without having to spend money on an ad, or pay to ship it to someone - or giving ebay a cut.  We’ve even bought a couple of things and for the most part have had great experiences.  I’ve met some nice people.

That being said, I am VERY cautious with dealing with people on craigslist.  There are scammers out there - I’ve had them contact me through my ads.  The typical - “I’ll send you a check for more than the amount.  Cash it, send the rest back with the item”, etc.

I also don’t deal with rude people such as, “I want this.  Tell me how to get it asap.”

I did have one, I won’t say bad sale, she was just an idiot.

I was selling an ipod shuffle.  One of the bigger ones - not the clip on.  I think I sold it for $15 or so.  Cheap.  Anyway, the lady came and got it.  Then about a week later I get an email from her.  Wish I had kept it but it went something like this:

“I need to bring this back.  You sold me something that doesn’t work!  This was for my teenage son’s birthday and he was so disappointed when he opened it and it didn’t do anything!”.

All I could think of was, oh my god, they are really stupid.

I nicely (really, it was) emailed her back something along these lines:

“I am really sorry that happened.  It was working and charged when I sold it to you.  Did you make sure it was charged?  Did you put music on it?  When I gave it to you there was no music on it.  You have to load your own music through itunes (which is free).  I would be more than happy to look at it and see what the problem is.”

Never heard from her again.  I think they thought it came with music or something….

Since then, no issues with anyone.  Until the other day.

I’m selling my son’s metrophone headphones for drummers.  Very high end, studio quality.  I had one person ask a bunch a questions through email. I even sent him MORE pictures than posted in the ad.  At the end of all that, he asked if I would ship it to him in Boulder if he prepaid for it.  Uh…no was my response.  Apparently the 15 minutes drive was too much for him (scam alert!).  But that wasn’t the worst.

I had a guy email and all he said was, “Please call me. Chazz (insert phone number)”.

I don’t ever call anyone until we’ve worked out a deal.  I don’t want to give my phone number out on the caller id.  I’m a woman doing all this and I’m not going to trust anyone!  Not to mention, I hate that - “call me”.  I generally ignore those all together.

But I did email him back, and this is what I said:

“I’m not comfortable calling people without knowing why.  Do you have a specific question regarding the headphones?  I can answer anything through an email.”

Mind you, this guy knows nothing about me, if I’m a woman, elderly, whatever.  But apparently I hit a nerve of some sort because this is the response I got:

“I was going to try and buy them from you, and set up a time I could take 3 hours of my life to  drive from South Denver all the way to Longmont,
But now I do not care.
I mean dealing with a person who is uncomfortable talking to prospective customers?
Gee al quaida must have you locking your doors and wearing a tinfoil hat.
forget it, keep them
I don’t want to make you come out of your bomb shelter to sell some used headphones…
It is no wonder everyone around the globe thinks we are idiots.
Americans quaking in fear afraid to talk to each other”

I was so pissed that I was going to fire an email back to him, then realized it wasn’t worth it.  I have a feeling he wanted to pull some scam and was annoyed I wouldn’t pick up the phone.  That scam would have been either trying to dick me way down on the price, or, like another that have happened to me through emails, “since you are trying to sell things on craigslist, have you lost your job?  I’ve got this incredible opportunity.”  (Really, I’ve gotten those too).

I’m mean come on!  If you really are interested and have a simple question, just ask it in the email like everyone else generally does.  But insisting you call so they can talk to you, is fishy.  At least in my book.

What’s even funnier about both of these guys - one couldn’t drive 15 minutes to get the item, the other made a big deal about taking 3 hours of his life to get it.  I’ve had people drive up several times, all the way from south Denver to get things (Halloween stuff to be exact) far less valuable.  So whooptie doo buddy!  Wow!  3 hours of your life - I should be so honored!

My hubby read it and thought this guy was cuckoo and was glad I didn’t call.  With all the bad press craigslist has gotten lately, ANYONE is smart to be extra cautious.

Wouldn’t it be tempting to put his phone number up here and then he could get tons of calls from all of you.  I can wish.

I KNEW I should have taken a picture of the weird garage sale item we had picked out….our choice was a rooter tool (snake thing) that Shane found buried on a shelf in our garage that at some point his dad probably left here with a bunch of other junk tools.

So we put it on the tool table in our garage sale.  Marked for 50 cents.

Honest to god - it was the first thing that sold.  A tool for the shitter sold first.  It was hard not to laugh during the sale of that one.

What’s with old men and the little bits and pieces they buy at garage sales?  One old guy bought a funky wheel.  Others would ask what something was (seriously, if you have to ask what something is/does at a garage sale, you shouldn’t be buying it) and then - they’d buy it!  Guess it was something they suddenly discovered they couldn’t do without.

So we got it over with, it was successful, and I was true to my word - nothing that didn’t sell was allowed back into the house or on a garage shelf.  It was all dropped off that day at the Longmont Humane Society thrift store.

I’ve once again sworn off garage sales - for now.  I’m sure I’ll do it again in 3 years or so….. until then, I’m done!

Okay - it’s my website, so why not?  Shameless advertising.

Our unit is 1200 sq. ft and on the outside of the complex - so if you have a large vehicle you are trying to back in, you don’t have the other units in your way. We also have added a storage loft.

For pictures of the area and the clubhouse go to the following link:

http://www.garagetown.com/gallery-co.html

Our location is the Del Camino location - it’s just off of I-25 and Hwy 119 in Longmont, Colorado.

Oh, and if you happen to like that little Lotus, it’s for sale as well!

If you have any interest, feel free to email me.

GarageTown Amenities:
Owner’s Clubhouse
Two Secured, ADA Approved Restrooms
Grounds Maintenance
Fully Paved Drive Aisles
Exterior Hose Bibs/Potable Water
Video Surveillance System
Enclosed Trash Dumpster
Exterior Security Lighting
RV Cleanout
Trash Dumpsters
24 / 7 Access

Unit Amenities:
Insulated Commercial Grade Buildings
Individual Heater with Thermostat
3 ft. Pedestrian Door
Cable & Phone Prewired
Limited Office Use
Separately metered 110amp, 3-phase Service Panel
30amp dedicated RV Circuit
Garage Door Opener with Keypad
16’ to 20’ Interior Ceiling Height
Dry Fire Sprinkler System
Fluorescent Lighting

I know I’ll be wondering Saturday morning why in the world we decided to have a garage sale - but we are having one.

I guess when we started remodeling the inside of the house I got the bug on to start purging and things started piling up!  We are also putting our storage condo up for sale and that means all of that stuff either has to fit here at the house or go bye-bye.

So we’ll have our garage sale, I’ll vow afterward to never do one and again, then in about 2 or 3 years we probably will.  We just seem to accumulate stuff.  My husband is not as bad a pack rat as his dad (I’m not sure anyone could be!), but he does have a tendency to keep some things for possible future use.

The funny thing about garage sales is the crap that you think no one would want, is what goes first.  I’m always amazed at what people will buy.

Maybe I should “seed” the garage sale with a couple of really bad things I think in no way anyone would buy and put a price on it that I think no one would pay.  Hmmmm…. if I do I’ll take a picture and post the results.

Until then, it’s back to putting price tags on stuff….

Things seem pretty boring lately.  I don’t have the exciting “southern” life my one sister has - seems like they are always going to social functions that look like fun.  Either people don’t do that here or we are not running with the right crowd.

I don’t have the witty stories to tell of being an older mother of a small toddler like both of my older sisters either.  I have a 15 year old who studies, works and plays video games.  Not much blogging materials there (at least for now and I suppose I should be grateful).

So that leaves me with the husband and the dog.

We’ll go with the dog.

So when we adopted 5 year old Bridget last September we were well aware of why she had been surrendered twice - she is a fence jumper.  She jumped the fence a couple of times right after we got her, but we were persistent in keeping an eye on her and would bark commands when we would catch her about to jump.

It really seemed to work and we were so proud of ourselves for seemely “fixing” this problem and being able to let her out in the back yard on her own for periods of time.

But oh my, this dog is hard headed and has decided to take things into her own paws…..she’s started jumping the fence again.  This is very frustrating because she loves to be outside, but can’t be left to her own devices for any length of time.  It really varies.  I can forget she is out there for a few hours, run down stairs and she’s still back there.

Leave her back there for a few minutes and she’s gone.

Each time we’ve gotten a call - “Hey, I have your dog.  She’s very sweet.  How in the world did she end up in our back yard though?”.

She doesn’t always play well with other dogs and I’m very afraid one of these days she’s going to get in some one’s back yard and go postal on their dog.  Now she does play well with Ginger next door.  What I wish she would do if she just has to jump a fence, is jump in Laura’s yard and just stay there and play with Ginger.  But she keeps on going.  Poor Ginger probably wants to keep up and play, just doesn’t have the ability to follow her along in her fence jumping sprees.

So for now, we are back to square one - heavily monitoring her every move.  I’m up for any suggestions….

So I’m already more than a month into 2009, but I’ve never been one to make New Year’s Resolutions.  But today while I was running I was giving some thought to things I’d like to do differently, or make sure I keep on doing.

First off, I want to try and not stress so much about finances.  With so many people out of work, and some very dear friends of ours out of work since early November, I need to keep reminding myself to live in the here and now - and for the here and now, we are doing fine.

Are we getting ahead?  No.  But we are able to pay all of our bills.  Sometimes I get so focused on the future - our retirement - where we want to be 5 years from now, etc. (which is all fine and good), that I forget to enjoy the “right now”.  And that while we do try and save money here and there by cutting some things out, we also have to live a little.

Next I came to the realization a little more than a month ago that I’m getting older - and slacking off on my exercise routine doesn’t work.  I didn’t totally quit in November/December - I just back off.  I was a bit burnt out, and had stuff going on with my health.  Lo and behold I gained weight.  Not much but on my small frame it was really bothering me.

So I’m back to running 5 miles and day and lifting weights every other day.  I can’t stress enough, especially for older women, how important weight lifting is.  It’s beneficial in so many ways.

I want to become a better listener.  I have a friend who is inspiring in that department.  She truly listens.  I know she does because weeks later she’ll ask me about something we talked about.  She knows the names of all my family members and asks about them.  I’m always amazed - and ashamed - because I struggle sometimes to remember certain things I know she tells me.

And finally, I want to try and lighten up.  Been trying to do that for years.  One day at a time.

Oh - and one more thing.  Try and do better updating my website!

So I’m finally getting around to writing a review of the Rise Against concert in Denver on Thursday, November 13.

This, according to the radio, was a sold out concert.  The Fillmore was packed.  We’ve been there for sold out concerts before but I had never seen it that full.

We arrived a little late, so we only caught the last couple songs from Gaslight Anthem.  From what we heard, they were pretty good.  After that it was Thrice and then Alkaline Trio.  Both pretty good.  I had only heard a few songs from each before, so I’m not completely familiar with their music.  We were there primarily to see Rise Against.

I’m not sure Rise Against could ever put on a bad concert.  But right from the start, we both noticed a problem.  The sound was horrible.  It wasn’t as noticeable when the other bands were playing, maybe because the sound wasn’t as loud.  But as soon as Rise Against got up there, I think because everything got cranked up more, then sound became muffled/muted.  And not just a little.  A lot.

I know it wasn’t just me - my husband immediately said the same thing too.  And after the concert my ears weren’t ringing, so it wasn’t like it was just too loud.  It was just bad sound.  I don’t know if it was the equipment or what.  I thought maybe the packed room effected the sound quality?  Maybe where we were in the room - perhaps those closer up could hear better.  I’ve been to plenty of concerts at the Fillmore, so I know it wasn’t the venue.

I knew every song they played - but I’ll admit - there were a couple where the sound was so muffled, it took me a minute to realize what song it was.

Overall the crowd had a good time.  But weren’t as wild as I would have expected and it might have been because of the sound issues.  There were a lot of people on the sides and more towards the back, just standing there.  This is the third Rise Against concert we’ve been to and the most subdued crowd (compared to the others) that I’ve seen at one of their concerts.

We had a good time.  They put on a great show.  It would have been an amazing show if the sound had been better though.  When he went acoustic and played Hero of War it sounded perfect.

I would bet they’ll be back around since they didn’t play many songs from the new album.  I remember only three.  I would have liked to have heard more since I really like the new album.  Their set overall seemed short.  They could do without having quite so many opening bands and give themselves more time on stage.

Things are getting a back to normal a bit now, now that Halloween has come and gone.  But amongst all the craziness of our Halloween party and Halloween night haunt, Dylan turned 15.

And that means he got his learner’s permit.

We knew the day was coming - he had it planned so long in advance.  He took driver’s ed during the summer so that on the day he turned 15 he could have that learner’s permit in his grubby hand.  That’s the only way he’d be able to have that driver’s license in his hand when he turns 16 since the law in Colorado requires the permit to be held for one for year before issuing the full driver’s license.

So let’s see….he’s had it now for a couple of weeks.  I’ve been out with him once.

Not saying I won’t be going out with him over the course of the next year, but we’ve all determined that Shane is much better suited for sitting in the passengers seat next to a student driver than I am.  I think my white knuckles and pretend foot brake gave it away that I was mildly uncomfortable.

I have tried to think back to when I started driving.  I can’t remember it.  But I also learned out in the country, driving was vastly different back then.  Now there is so much more traffic, more distractions.

The one thing about being in the car with a new driver is that it is kind of a refresher course for yourself regarding your own driving skills.  You realize how much stuff you just “do” without even thinking about it.  And all of that, you must teach to your child.  It doesn’t come naturally.  And that’s the scary part.  You begin to realize how much on auto pilot you are a lot of the time when behind the wheel.

So we are two weeks into this and overall, Dylan is a good driver.  Lot’s to learn, but he’ll get there.  I’m glad we have a year before that first time we see him drive off without one of us in the car with him.

I think I may invest in the company I buy my hair color from…..