So we survived!

OMG! SO the storm took out of power for a day. Things got pretty scary and school was closed for 3 days. Lots of damage done, but we were lucky to just lose some tree limbs and have some minor flooding on our street, others were not as lucky. Trying to get things cleaned up now and back to normal. I hope everyone in the path of this thing is getting prepared. Everyone should definitely have hurricane kits that are in the zones for these things, this was just a tropical storm and it was definitely as dangerous as any hurricane we have had lately!

Getting Ready for Tropical Storm Fay

Just a quick note to everyone that since we are in the path of T.S. Fay we are getting ready (we are pretty much ready) and are just battening down the hatches and waiting it out. School is closed tomorrow and we do not know about Wednesday. I will update with the outcome once it passes. All the best to everyone in Florida!

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school for the kids. I officially have a HIGH SCHOOLER! How did this happen?!?!?! Just yesterday he was in kindergarten, I swear.... Now he is out for the bus before the sun is up and I can see the nervousness on his face, but there is a hint of excitement as well. Alot of first for him. First time going to school alone (without his trusty sidekick little brother), this in itself is huge since they fight alot but they are glued to the hip most of the time. My other is going to 8th grade and is not so happy with his schedule, he has wait for it, gasp(!!) choir... Not. a. happy. child. He wanted anything but this apparently. So he feels double whammied, not big brother walking to the bus stop with him or making sure he got all of his stuff AND he has choir, well isn't this just great! (ok, yes he is a little dramatic, but aren't all 13 year olds..) I am so proud of the boys but I am a little sad. Somewhere along the road someone replaced my babies with young men and I was not prepared for this!!! Bring on the girlfriends and driving now right??? (oh and someone bring on the liquor because I am gonna need it!)

Str8 2 U From Me Dishes & More sells MORE

So I am getting decent sales this week and I am ecstatic! I have had a definite increase, I hope due to my continued work on the site, as well as the additions that have been made in the categories. We are not thru yet. By the end of the summer, I expect to have well over 500 items just in dishware, along with over 100 books! This is in addition to taking wish list requests for certain long ago favorites that people are looking for, or just an in demand book that you may be wanting. I am also branching out my ads and trying to get as much visibility as I can to get the word out about us, so please pass us on if you know someone who is interested or if you think we have cool stuff! Thanks!!

STR8 2 U FROM ME DISHES & MORE HAS MORE!

So it has been a while since I updated about Str8 2 U From Me Dishes & More, but my store is actually doing well and getting a new department! We are now adding the "More" category and it is starting with BOOKS! I have 1000's of books and I have finally started getting them into the store! I have decided to wean myself off the "other" site and devote more time to Str8 2 U From Me Dishes & More. A cool thing we have implemented is pattern identification and the wish list. If you are looking for a pattern and do not know the name of it, simply send us an email with a detailed description of the color and the design and/or include a picture and we will see what we can do to help you name and locate your pattern! We try to have answer to you in 24-48 hours. I have had a few of these emails and the customers have been so grateful for this service! I am so excited about the changes and the new inventory that I have been and am adding.
Here are just some of the things we are offering:

• Discontinued dinnerware patterns (some current ones as well this is Corelle/Corningware/Pfaltzgraff & Pyrex)
• Discontinued replacement pieces (place pieces and accessory pieces)
• Pattern Identification
• Books- Current & Classics in Hardcover & Paperback- all genre's (we are also accepting wish lists for books you maybe looking for!)
• Games- Classic & Current Systems and games (My husband handle's this department and is currently gathering a ton of inventory for this, so stay tuned!)
• Clothing- New & Pre-Owned for the whole family, even formals!

I am so excited about the up and coming changes that we are making and hope you will check out our new endeavor, even if it is to drop us a line and tell us what you think!
Just click the link on the right or
do so here: www.str8-2-u-from-me-dishes-and-more.com

Hope to see you soon!

Braces X 2!!!

So something I have been dreading for a while now has begun. BOTH of my children are in need of braces. I knew this day was coming, but I didnt want it to happen so fast! I cannot believe how much braces are and how little insurance covers.. After Insurance I am kicking out about 9K!!! Oucha bah-goucha! I can tell by looking that my oldest needs them, and I am thankful that we are starting now so he can be done with them (hopefully) by his senior year. He is not liking the pain so well and knowing what lies ahead, he definitely would opt out if he had a choice (WHICH HE DOES NOT!) He will be having teeth pulled and visits are almost bi-weekly at this stage (we are only at the beginning!) My youngest at first glance, has straight teeth. Well, the Dr. decided to take his impressions and those pesky X-rays, and blew that whole idea out the water. The poor child has teeth turning and his fronts will be a "V" if he doesnt get them now, so of course, he too is in the process of pain. After both children getting spacers, we now have anchors in for the baby and top braces and bands on the oldest, as well as anchors on the bottom for the oldest. Baby boy goes back Wednesday for his actual top & bottom braces so the milkshake train (along with his pudding & jello compartments) will be pulled into the station and hanging around for quite some time. I will keep you posted with pictures to follow. You will be amazed at my oldest sons before and (in a few months and years) after shots. The baby, not so much since they caught his early, but man them x-rays were enough to sell me!! Ok, so off to get my next post ready which is totally devoted to my store.

TTFN!

Str8 2 U From Me Dishes & More gets its start!

So, I made my FIRST sale yesterday at my new online store! I am so excited if you couldn't already tell! I have been slow at stocking the store due to various reasons, just basically trying to juggle alot and several hits of sickness at the house, but as of now I am motivated to make this my priority! To those of you who have looked in my store and have not seen what you are looking for, I apologize. I am adding inventory ALL DAY today, and I am sending out another coupon mailer in the next coming week or two, so I hope that you will bear with me and keep checking back, as I am able to offer better deals at my store than I ever could elsewhere and the best part is NO BIDDING WARS! So stay tuned and check back to www.str8-2-u-from-me-dishes-and-more.com because the deals are coming!! Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Happy Easter!

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Easter!

Getting Str8 2 From Me Dishes & More up and Running AND GIVING BACK!

WOW... So I really didnt think it would be THIS hard to get my store up and running! I mean, I knew it would take some work, but it is taking a LOT. I am so proud that I am venturing out on my own with Str8 2 U From Me Dishes & More, and I just hope that I can get it to where I want it. Doing the inventory is crazy! I have so much stuff that it is taking weeks to get patterns listed and counted so I can have the correct count for sales. The most difficult part for me so far has been back end work. Putting the site together, working out all the little glitches and making it look like I want it. It has been a thrill though. My page hits to my site have been awesome, almost 700 to date! I am still working on getting items live and I hope everyone is patient with me, but it will be worth the wait. Once I am done I will be doing a grand opening sale and sending out a coupon to my loyal shoppers and hopefully I will have a HUGE success!

On another note, I am dedicating a page of my store to Tricia Lawrenson's Trust Fund. I am an avid reader of her husband's blog Confessions of a CF Husband

as well as Tricia's blog. Tricia has a Trust fund called 65Roses4Pattysue , Here you can find info about donating to her Trust as well as reading her blog. I have been collecting different toys and kids books and such and I am going to have them available on my GIVING BACK page. All proceeds from the sales on the GIVING BACK page I am going to donate to Tricia's Trust. I have been thinking about what to do for them for a while and I thought this was a great idea. Please go to GIVING BACK for more info, and THANK YOU in advance for your support.

It's official Str8 2 U From Me Dishes and More is Live & Open for Business!

I have opened my new store. I researched my options, looked at several layouts and the cost, and decided to go with Yahoo for the time being. While my store isnt fully stocked yet, I expect it to be ready for shopping within the next coming weeks. There are things being added daily as I add inventory but my full inventory in all of its glory wont be up for a while I suspect due to the size of it. I will also be adding new items and taking requests for items, something I havent done before, so its a new thing I am trying. I hope you enjoy checking out my store even if its to browse as I have found some pretty cool stuff over the years! Feel free to email me if you are looking for something, particularly a pattern in Corelle, Corningware, Pfaltzgraff or Pyrex, I try to pick up most anything I see in vintage patterns and popular ones as well. If I dont blog for a few days it's because I am stocking the store! I am going to be sending out a coupon for my Grand Opening, so hopefully that goes over well. "See" you soon!

What's a girl to do when EBAY is involved?!?!?!

So I am in limbo this week as EBAY has instituted some ludicrous new fee changes and feedback changes, instantly infuriating most sellers and causing them to go on strike. The strike started today (2/18-2/25) and will be in effect for one week. The fee change doesn't bother me nearly as much as the feedback change. I am currently at 98% on feedback (I have 2 negatives from jerk ebayers who wanted to extort me for money, long story) but otherwise my feedback is awesome.

Several things bother me about the feedback change. The main thing being I can no longer leave a negative or neutral feedback for a buyer. this may sound great for buyers, but really its not. Instead I will leave no feedback. Why do you ask? Simple, if I am selling and I have no leverage with feedback, it is not important to me to receive it, let alone leave it. I do forsee it being used to hijack a seller into refunds that arent deserved or replacement items,etc and who wants that drama?? Also feedback will only go back a year now. This too is wrong. Many have worked hard for YEARS to build up a reputation, now it is meaningless. Lastly, it is claimed that if you have a bad buyer you will receive protection, um-no, that isnt technically the case, as I have learned that if you file a non-paying bidder (NPB) and the "bad buyer" responds to it, but later leaves you a negative, it is valid and wont be removed (the protection comes when they do not respond, then if they leave you a negative it will be removed, but in fact they were doing this anyway so I dont see what is new about it, I guess it was mentioned for the benefit of those that didnt know this was the norm. The most awesome teeth-kicking part, you ask? Oh well simple Sally, that would be the part where you are required to use paypal (owned by ebay) and then if they think your transaction is suspect, the buyer doesnt leave you a feedback, or they smell rain in the air, they are now going to hold funds for up to 21 days (interest for them not you btw) or until you tell them something that makes them think you are trustworthy. Let the bloodletting begin...

So I ask again what is a girl to do? I have an incredible amount of inventory to sell, and perhaps nowhere to sell it. So should I open my own store on my own website and pay for advertising to it (can do this through google) or should I suck it up and pay the piper? I am participating in the strike at this point, but it remains to be seen if it makes a difference...

Let me know what you think

Leaving on a Jet Plane..

So my hubby is leaving me in 7 days and going to Texas. He will be gone for 14 days and I am incredibly sad. I know it's for work and it is a good opportunity for him, but I don't have to like it. He is glad to be able to visit his family, but he told me he doesnt want to go, because he wishes I could go with him. Isn't that sweet? I don't know what I am going to do with myself for two weeks. This will be the longest we have been apart since we started dating!!
On the plus side for him, he will get to visit all of his family and he hasn't seen them in 2 years so they are really excited. Plus, his brother and wife just had a new baby so he will get to see his newest nephew. That's cool... I always hate for him to go away or for me to go away. The last few times I had to go out of town or back home was for deaths in my family (went back to New Jersey) and for my egg donation/IVF retrieval, so it was not for vacation, ya know??? Speaking of egg donation, I think I maybe having to do another one for my friend for a sibling so it would be VERY SOON this year before my 35th birthday. Egads, I am apprehensive about getting back in that boat!
Ok, I know I am rambling but I was unpacking all day and I am tired now so I wanted to jump on real quick before I call it a day. Before I turn the lights off, check out my ebay store, it doesn't have much in it right now since I just got my stuff unpacked and situated the way I want, but I have an outrageous amount of Corelle, Pfaltzgraff, Corningware and I even have cool vintage items that I will be getting up.
I also plan on doing a big listing push/fundraiser for the blog I mentioned previously (Confessions of a CF Husband) to benefit his wife. God put it on my heart to do this so I am. I hope to get that going in the next few days. So check back to my blog and my store. Thanks for playing and goodnight!

True Testament of Faith and Love

Here is a great blog that I have been reading. This is the story of Nate and Tricia Lawrenson and their baby Gwyenth Rose. Tricia is battling Cystic Fibrosis and their life and journey is beautifully told in this blog by Nate. If you have the time, give it a look, and make a donation, in fact do it even if you dont have the time. This couple is amazing.
Confessions Of A CF Husband: Fast Track

So many celebrations, so little time.

So today is 2/14 and I have decided not to buy into the flowers and candy dream and settle for some quiet time not having to cook, who could ask for a better gift!! I just am not feeling the V Day celebration this year. I think it has a lot to do with just celebrating my 6th Wedding anniversary on the 9th. It feels like overkill to go out to dinner ask for some gift I dont need and all the nonsense that comes with the day. No offense at all to the hords of people out there that do celebrate today, as normally I am right there with you, but just not this year. It could also have something to do with the fact that we are still trying to get moved into our new place and I am not in a celebrating mood with tons of crap lying around everywhere! We are 19 days into this move and due to the gi-normous amount of ebay stuff I have on top of everyone else's stuff we are not going to be moved in until summertime (or atleast it feels that way) up until last night we still have boxes on the porch and under the carport... So I think I am gonna order pizza and take the night off with a good movie and if I am lucky I will convince hubby to join me. Happy V- Day to all of you who are braving the night out, be safe!

The rest of the story

So, some time ago I started telling you all about our IVF journey in our quest to add to our family. For those who dont know, I suffer from secondary infertility due to a hysterectomy (needed for several reasons). I was married at the time with 2 young children and didnt see myself divorced and remarried to my soulmate just 4 short years after this surgery. I figured I was done with my family and given the fact that my then husband had a vasectomy, we had decided that were done and two kids was plenty.

Well, fast forward to 2 years and I have moved on from that marriage and am raising two kids. I meet a wonderful man who is younger than me and has no children. He takes to the kids and is great with them and as we date I tell him that I cannot have children due to my surgery. He says all the right things and makes me love him more. We are married by February 2002 and have already diiscussed surrogacy as the answer to our family building, he jumped right in with both feet and was like, "let's do it". In the process I ended up becoming an egg donor twice and helping two couples realize their dreams of parenthood. I managed to freeze my own embryos and even made it to transfer but nothing ever materialized for various reasons and all my embryos are gone now.

To date we still have no embryos and our quest to add to our family has been put on hold permanently. We are happy with the path we are on right now and with one teenager and one pre-teen, we have decided to spend our years together doing whatever we want, not trying to add to our brood. This was a hard decision for me, harder than it was for hubby, which does ease my pain. My main feeling was if he suffered from the "what if's" and " I shoulda's" later and I was not at an age where my eggs were viable, then I would feel bad. He assures me that he knew there was a chance we would never have any more kids when he met me and he didnt marry me because he wanted kids, but because he loved me. I know, he is awesome right!?!?!.. So I will be 35 this year and that was my cutoff year for doing a retrieval and freeze with my eggs. Needless to say this birthday later this year will be bittersweet.

I cannot complain about anything regarding kids because the fact is I have had two children, a natural birth and a c-section, and I while I never had the little girl I wanted, I am so fortunate to be Mom to two amazing sons. So that chapter has closed but believe me the ride has just started because my oldest son brought home a packet he couldnt wait to show me from school... His L___n High School Freshman packet to pick classes... Uh, wait---- HIGH SCHOOL, how the hell did that happen!!!! Stay tuned to my continuing freak out over this, apparently when I wasnt looking someone hit my ass with the old lady stick and gave me a highschooler in place of my sweet boy!

Moving

Moving sucks... No, strike that moving doesnt suck, PACKING AND UNPACKING sucks! I have been moving almost every year since I can remember. I know, I know I am crazy- this is another blog for another day, so moving along. This move was a bitch inparticular due to the fact that the place I moved from was over 2000 sf, while the new place is only 1260sf. Now for most people, if you move into a bigger space, you get BIGGER stuff. Well, we are no exception, but not only did we get bigger stuff, we got MORE stuff and on top of that we decided to get a lil more, cuz let's face it, who has too much stuff right!?!?!--WRONG! We do! The packing and moving took a week. You know you have it bad when your husband has to take a week off work to move and you use the weekend on the front and the back of it and finish JUST in time even if it is 2am the day you are to be done. So now we are in the new place. I use the term IN loosely, due to several issues we have faced since moving in. Nothing terribly major, but enough that it puts a dent in your unpacking plans. You know trivial things like, the tub leaking in bathroom#1, or the shower full on not working in bath#2. Flood in the kitchen from washer spewing its guts from the laundry room forward, and now the leaking kitchen sink. (the plumber now knows me by name) To date it still looks like we are still moving in, complete with crap strewn throughout the house, and the everyday hunt for keys, shoes, or whatever you need in that moment. Oh yeah, did I mention the several boxes and kitchen table under the carport where my ride should be?? Yeah, we havent unpacked diddly and so far kids, it aint lookin like we are doing that anytime soon ('specially with me not doing a dang thing in that area when I should be, but hey no ones here so who knows right!?!?!)

Ok since I am bitching, how about what I love about the move. My privacy. I love not having to hear the neighbors in the next apt. or in the parking lot. I love not having to park in a parking lot. I love having a front and back yard, although I am going on record to say that while I love having them both, I surely will not be in either of them doing yardwork. I will gaze upon them lovingly from the screened in backporch (which I also love). Ok, so I am not a total witch now am I?

I know I have to update and account for the last years that I havent been on, but the long and short of it is I am no longer in the market to have a baby. I am happy with what God has given me and my children are great, and that is enough. I will elaborate and I would now but, these boxes really are needing to get unpacked and being the super awesome person that I am, I really should get to it.*


(*ah-hem, hubby gets off work in 30 mins and I got about 45 total until he gets home, so it SHOULD atleast look like I tried to do something today)

Later dudes....

New Adress, New Blog

So it has been YEARS since I have blogged and I felt it was time to start fresh. So many things have happened in the last 2.5 years, so let me catch y'all up! First, we moved from Texas back to the East Coast! I am not in Jersey, but im closer... I no longer work outside the home. This is a HUGE change for me and my family and it has taken some getting used to but I do enjoy the time it affords me to be there for my kids and help them through the teen years as those are difficult as we grown-ups know. Yes, I now have a TEENAGER! My oldest is now 14 (will be 15 this year!) and my youngest is 12 (will be a teen this year!!) That is a rollercoaster ride, I tell ya! With hormones and the arguing, sometimes I dont know which way is up with those boys! I left work in 2/06 and havent looked back. I sell stuff on Ebay (gotta love Ebay!) and that is a job in itself. My wonderful hubby graduated from college and is working at a job he loves and excels at. This also affords me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home-mom, and (gasp) on the PTA! I never thought in a million years I would be a PTA member let alone a BOARD MEMBER! So, alot of things that keep me busy. I have so much going on right now with our move to the new house that I wont be able to update daily, but I PROMISE it wont be over a year before I do!