1/5/07

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Well, this has been a week of good bargains and not-so-good bargains. And you all know that I am a bargain-lovin' mama. First, I won something! Apparently I won something! I won some Murad Intensive Wrinkle Reducer from Allure magazine, and it's worth $150!!!! I REALLY want to keep it and use it and see what $150 face cream is like, but then I realized I'd rather make some cashola off it! They're going for $50 - $80 on ebay. So I have it up as a BIN auction for $80 with a "best offer" chance--something I've never tried on there before. I've received an offer for $45, but I really want at least $50, so we'll see what else comes in. Or maybe I'll just try again later and list it for less without the "best offer" option. I love winning free crap!

ETA: the cream sold for $68 + shipping! Woohoo!

We've made over $200 from selling our CDs on half.com. We've got tons more. If you haven't seen our "online garage sale" and like indie music, then email me at mpcsmommy @ yahoo dot com for a link to our 300+ CDs that are listed there. Most of them (with exceptions for ones that are rare and valuable) are listed quite cheap. We also sold the boys' race car bed on craigslist (since they got bunk beds for Christmas).

So my not so good bargain: the boys didn't get the movie "Cars" for Christmas, like we thought they would, so we bought it for them on half.com. The DVD we got is obviously a pirated copy! I'm so pissed. Lesson learned: I should have actually read the guy's feedback. Although it was mostly good and he had a high rating, many of the comments noted that they received bootlegs. I'm going to try to get our money back and refuse to pay to ship it back to him (I'm not spending MORE money on this thing). If he doesn't pay to ship it back and give us all of our money back, I'm turning his ass in. The thing was only $11, so I'll lose that if I have to, just to get him. Fucker.

Update: the guy gave me a full refund and told me to just toss the DVD. Said he was getting out of the "shady business." I hope he's telling the truth.

I've had fun hitting the after-Christmas sales. We all got some Christmas money, so I bought the boys a buttload of winter clothes, which they desperately needed; and a sled. I got some winter boots and slippers and B got some slippers. After months without shopping, it was great!

The weather here sucks ass. B loves it. But I hate it. I loved the first blizzard. But now we're on the 3rd huge snow storm and I am SO over it. We've always had mild winters here. What happened? We all have major cabin fever and I HATE driving in it. We haven't even had that much sun lately, which makes me feel depressed, tired, and hungry. I totally go into hibernation mode. Blah.
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Recent Reads: More non-fiction than usual!

"Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back" by Norah Vincent: Norah went undercover as "Ned" for 18 months, joining bowling leagues, a monastery, men's retreats, etc. This was a very interesting book, that explored the psychological differences between the sexes. I had to see a video of her after reading the book to see how she did as a man. I found this. She's pretty good. It helps that she's a tall, fairly "masculine" lesbian. Anyway, great book with some interesting food for thought.

"The Lost Painting" by Jonathan Harr: I could NOT put this book down. It was great and even kept me up late reading. It's a true story about the search for a missing Caravaggio masterpiece, "The Taking of the Christ." I was surprised by how interesting this book is, and even though it doesn't sound like my typical kind of book, I'm going to have to pick up the author's other book "A Civil Action."

"Literacy and Longing in L.A." by Jennifer Kaufmann & Karen Mack: My one fiction book from the break. This was pretty good. It's kind of like chick lit with a brain and is about a woman who deals with her depression and problems by holing up and reading books for days at a time. It comes with a handy dandy list of the all the books discussed at the end.

Currently reading: "Straight Up and Dirty: A Memoir" by Stephanie Klein: Ms. Klein is another blogger, one I haven't read yet. Awww, looking at her blog, it looks like she just had twins. Anyways, I've just started this and am having a little trouble getting into it, but it's about her joining the dating ranks again after a divorce. It's accurately described as "Sex and the City" for divorcees.