Saturday, August 4, 2012

A major milestone!

Darn me, I forgot the camera and batteries again, and of course, I had to take pictures of the jewelry I made for sale this week, so my camera batteries are nearly dead, and I can't find the blinking recharger. I know it's here at the apartment still somewhere, but I'm not sure where, so I have to hunt it down. I think I know where it's at, but I still gotta look.

There's actually a couple of minor, and one major, milestones that have happened this week. Minor milestones include me deciding to start using eBay for some of my sales again, because Yardsellr, as much as I like it, is starting to hike fees to both sellers and buyers to ridiculous amounts, and I refuse to put up with that. Plus, despite promoting things through Facebook and Twitter regularly, I have had a whole two sales in six months. Not worth my time and effort to keep trying with it. I do like some of the features there, but the lack of actual sales on a free-to-list site really makes it hard to keep wanting to use it, even without the fee issues. eBay's fees aren't that bad overall, so I'll give it a shot there again, as I use it frequently for buying anyhow.

Another minor milestone is I found some of my old jewelry-making supplies (not all of them, though, the rest I found at the trailer today and left there instead of hauling it all back, as it's quite a bit!) here at the apartment and made some bracelets and earrings to sell. I've got an album up on the farm's Facebook page and as I'm in several auction/sales groups on Facebook that have recently started up (and have a LOT of people in them), I'm pretty sure some stuff will get sold through there.

Third minor milestone is that the stuff that's already AT the trailer has been unpacked and put away. I was looking for my birth certificate (which I could have SWORN I'd packed and dropped off there), but I couldn't find it. I may have to order a new one, so we can tag the car in Arkansas and get me a new license there. Ooops. But it's only $26 to order one by mail, so that's not too bad, and I'll have it in hand in a few weeks.

But the major milestone is today. For about $31 in parts, and another $30 or so in tools (a DeWalt hex key set and a set of bolt cutters), we got the splice fixed! Well, Q fixed it, in 3 1/2 hours of labor in 105 degree heat. He took quite a few breaks for Gatorade and rest in the semi-shade of the house, so as not to overheat. But it is DONE. I get to bury it this week, as by the time it was done, he was totally worn out. And he let me make the first cut in the wires to fix the splices. Those bolt cutters work well (Kobalt, I think) and actually are easy for me to use, but the wire was pretty hard to cut through, so it meant I had to use both arm strength and my thigh muscles to push the handles together. How Quentin managed to do it with just his arms I don't know, but it shows my muscle tone is for crap compared to his. And he's a freaking string bean of a man! Sheesh! People think I'm joking when I say he is tall and wiry, but I ain't kidding ... he is strong and very slim, and that makes a lot of things go so much easier. Now we just have to get $145 together for the deposit for the electric and do the paperwork for it, and we have juice. Plus Q will call for the TV and internet so we'll have our various entertainments, and the 'net that I use so much for blogging and business.

While he was fixing the splice, I was doing the unpacking and looking for my birth certificate. I have to say that the trailer now looks more like a home than it did before. It's kind of nice to have books and videos on shelves in the front bedroom (my future office/craft room) that I like to watch/read, my little desk set up in there ... and my cookbooks setting on the kitchen countertops leaning up against the microwave ... and the baking dishes tucked into the cupboards ... and the towels and washcloths tucked away in the linen closet. So much done and we are pretty happy with the results of today's work. Now it's just hurry up and wait till we have the utilities on, so we can finish moving.

I have to say we are both excited about today and exhausted. Whew!!!

4 comments:

  1. If you already have a driver's license, you should be able to use that instead of a birth certificate to get one for Arkansas. And, if you have proof of ownership for your vehicle, and insurance, you should also be able to tag your vehicle in this state as well. I don't think you'll need a birth certificate for any of that.

    It depends on the power company, but if you will be on Entergy, your deposit will be billed to you. At least, that's how they did for me.

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  2. Hey Heather I did Ebay for 6 years,loved it until it went up and I closed my store and have just been stocking.What I'll do with mine heaven knows. Someone said try Etsy but it looks expensive too. Glad you are getting setup in your home. Next month we are ordering our propane hot water heater. We are collecting all of our stuff early.

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  3. Hey, hszoo ... We already checked and AR does require birth certificate for retagging the car, as well as insurance, the old title, etc. So we know what we have to have. Reason for the BC is because I go by my maiden name and we are adding hubby to the car title when we retag it, so I have to show my birth name as well as our marriage license and the other stuff to show how my maiden name carried on. It's a PITB, but, hey, at least it's an EASY fix, compared to some of what we'll be doing over time, lol!

    Annnightflyer - Etsy isn't that bad at only 10c to list something, but the traffic isn't nearly as good as eBay and you don't have the choice of as many categories. I may have to recheck into opening my store there myself, instead of or in addition to eBay. Lord knows, I do love eBay to buy roving for spinning, though the last several months, with double rent and my commute and hubby's eating up paychecks for gas, it hasn't happened. Can't WAIT till we get moved! Glad to hear you guys are finally getting your hot water heater, as having water hot and cold is so nice. We'll be hauling water for a few weeks till Q gets our plumbing fixed, and even if we don't have a water heater by winter, we can still heat the water on the hot plate or camp stove for washing up and doing dishes. It's camping in the trailer time, almost, lol. But we know it will be difficult but a lot better for us than the tiny apartment where we are at.

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    1. I like the stuff on there but boy some of it is expensive(giggling)I was always told I sold my stuff too cheap(hubby was working a good job) but you know I had a good rating and still do. now I just order from others.I just got some of my garden stuff in and my water filter,I love it!Shhh got it from Amazon ha.I posted some pictures too.

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