Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 775936 times)

Babi · « **Reply #80 on:** December 13, 2009, 08:59:14 AM »

This is the place to talk about the works of fiction you are reading, whether they are new or old, and share your own opinions and reviews with interested readers.

Every week the new bestseller lists come out brimming with enticing looking books and rave reviews. How to choose?

Discussion Leader: Judy Laird

I have a number of things I would like to sell, since I don't have room
for them or no longer have a use for them. I made one attempt to
set up an account on eBay, but I need some guidance on how to proceed. I simply don't know all that's involved.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #81 on:** December 13, 2009, 12:30:53 PM »

Here is where I would start, BABI: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Starting-Business/dp/1592573339 I'd check it out of the library to see if it is written so I can understand it, how comprehensive it is and if it includes step-by-step procedures as the title promises. I might buy it but there are probably a slew of other books which would useful as permanent resources to keep on hand. Keep us posted. Good luck in your future career as an eBay entrepreneur.

winsummm · « **Reply #82 on:** December 13, 2009, 01:29:01 PM »

ebay according to daughter mine is based upon building a reputation with others so they will trust you and then mailing packages etc which is what turned me of completely. It's not worth the hassle.

claire

mrssherlock · « **Reply #83 on:** December 13, 2009, 04:26:52 PM »

Mailing doesn't need to be a hassle; USPS will pick up if you call. Plus you can print your own postage from your computer. There is the flat rate box, too, for bulkier items. A co-worker was selling on eBay, she was quite successful. Put all the profits into a separate bank account and had enough money after one year to take a three week European vacation. She enjoyed the creative side, arranging the items for the photos, writing the description, creating your eBay seller's name. She created a logo for her eBay ID, put it on all her paperwork such as the packing list, the shipping label, etc. She found some yarn at a thrift store and sold it on eBay, using a pair of my wooden knitting needles arranged with the yarn, quite fetching.

winsummm · « **Reply #84 on:** December 13, 2009, 06:02:56 PM »

she souns like someone who enjoys that kind of
operation. I do everything I can to avoid it. Maybe Ida, my friend/helper could set up something like that she has lots of interesting things that people she worked for have given her and needs the money. and then she can do it for me at her usual rate. we'd both make money. she has cut out the housekeeping for others although not for me and is now something more appropriate for what she is really good at doing "a personal assistent". she has this nurturing quality along with the usual requirements.

'am browsing my kindle and reading samples although there are easily half dozen books in progress. I like the variety.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #85 on:** December 13, 2009, 07:45:52 PM »

winsummm: That sounds like you would both come out ahead. I'd say, go for it!

Babi · « **Reply #86 on:** December 14, 2009, 08:13:12 AM »

Oh, my, JACKIE. Entrepreneur sounds terribly ambitious; I just want to
clear out a few things and maybe earn a buck or two doing it. The
'Complete Idiots Guide' does sound like a good idea though. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find there is one for eBay. I am handicapped in not
being able to print (the printer doesn't work) and being an even bigger
'idiot' when it comes to photography. That may be my downfall, right there.

CLAIRE, if I get that far I plan to take my sales to one of those places
that packs and mails. It may cost a bit more, but it would be safer. I
have the original mailing boxes for my collector plates, but I've also
had bad experiences with mailing things that got broken en route.

winsummm · « **Reply #87 on:** December 14, 2009, 11:28:11 AM »

morning is my wish i were dead time everything hurts and doesn't work well including my stomach. . . so naturally everything is too much except the cup of cold yesterdays coffee which will bring me back to life. right now I can't image doing anything at all about al this stuff. My heirs can hassle with it also the money which should make it all "better". everything is in trust for my two kids . . .hassle free inheritance.

I have shrunk so much my old zipper front robe is too long in front and has to be held up to let me walk without walking on it. I had an image of the old fashioned ladies of long ago holding up their skirts. THAT must have hassled them. back to coffee.

claire

winsummm · « **Reply #88 on:** December 14, 2009, 11:31:12 AM »

JACKIE your signature quote grabs me every time I go bye. 'love it. . . claire

mabel1015j · « **Reply #89 on:** December 14, 2009, 01:03:24 PM »

Me too jackie, especially after a full day of rain yesterday...........it's lovely.

Claire - i think about those women holding up their skirts quite often. The first time i visited the "Betsy Ross house" in Phila really made me pause. (it's not really the house she lived and ran a business in, but very similar to hers). She was a widow and her husband was a widower and together they had NINE children in a very tiny house of 4 stories. They had an upholstery shop in the basement and the stairs were typical 18th century narrow, windy ones. All i tho't of as i traversed them, down and up, was Betsy carrying a child on a hip and holding up her skirts and maybe carrying something else for her work.............arrrgghh.........wouldn't they be pleased to see that we can be much more comfortable in our slacks and sneakers and shorter dresses in the 21st century......................of course, that's assuming we aren't trying to be "CUTE,' i.e. 4 inch heels, tight, short skirt, etc. that some women these days seem to think is much more important than being comfortable...............i don't get it. Even in my 20s and 30s i was stylish, but comfort was still important............jean

mrssherlock · « **Reply #90 on:** December 14, 2009, 02:21:34 PM »

Winsummm: Those long skirts were dangerous and so is your robe. I have developed a habit of falling but haven't broken anything because I have fairly dense bones. The second time I almost fell from catching my toe in my pajama pants which are too long I decided that I'd rather have frayed edges than a broken anything so I shortened them by cutting 1 1/2 inches off the bottom of each leg. Wonderful peace of mind now.

winsummm · « **Reply #91 on:** December 14, 2009, 03:01:53 PM »

an hour spent with a needle and thread would ix it too. I'm full of food now and sleepy. maybe later.

Babi · « **Reply #92 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:10:32 AM »

Amen, JEAN. I was willing to follow fashion only when the fashion suited
me, and fashionable discomfort never made the grade.

Very sensible, JACKIE. Along the same line, I finally admitted last
night that it was time to start using my cane again. I went outside to
look at our decorated windows from the outside, and the combination of
dark, wet and uneven convinced me to pick up my cane. My daughter would have a fit if I fell because I didn't want to use it.
Sewing would be neater than cutting, JOANG, no question about it.
However, I have fingers that won't alway do what I ask of them, so
JACKIE'S scissors can be a useful alternative.

Oh, yeah, we're in fiction. I'm currently reading "Riders and Mystics",
"A Redbird Christmas", and "Cousin Kate". A got a lot of books to get to...and through.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #93 on:** December 15, 2009, 02:05:04 PM »

The inner voice which sounds just like my mother is scandalized that I cut off the bottoms instead of neatly turning up the hems. I did it anyway. They're MY pajamas and if anyone doesn't like the frayed edges they don't have to look at them.

maryz · « **Reply #94 on:** December 15, 2009, 03:53:17 PM »

GO, Jackie!!!

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #95 on:** December 16, 2009, 12:00:48 PM »

Yes, go Jackie. I have said something similar to DH, when he criticized my sweatshirt with the arm seams half gone! It was a sleep shirt only, and I figured, hey, you'll be asleep, and you can't see it. So, shush!

marjifay · « **Reply #96 on:** December 16, 2009, 04:53:12 PM »

Jackie, I love your remedy for your pajamas!

I had to laugh at your inner voice from your mother. I thought I was the only one who heard my mom's voice. Just yesterday, I looked at the mess of books and papers on my coffee table, and thought I really must straighten that up. I could hear my mother saying, "Marjorie! You really must do something about that mess!! (It's still there.)

marj

mrssherlock · « **Reply #97 on:** December 16, 2009, 06:11:17 PM »

It's taken me most of my 75 (in two months) years to stifle it. Isn't stifle a neat word?

JoanK · « **Reply #98 on:** December 16, 2009, 07:51:56 PM »

jACKIE: I'm 76 and haven't stifled it yet. Luckily, my mother was as messy as I am.

winsummm · « **Reply #99 on:** December 16, 2009, 08:16:26 PM »

mothers: mine was a nag and I stifeled her upon entering puberty. it has taken me until now at 81 to let her have her say about ANYTHING AT ALL. i.e. a woman should have her own money yep she was right as I learned when I got shuck of my husband. I couldn't have done it without her.

I have two pairs of pants with split back seams which I just look at now and then My Ida suggested that we each take one and have a sewing moment together. I liked her idea but not for now. procrastinating is my best thing as to sewing anything. My mother hated it too. She wasn't wrong about EVERYTHING.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #100 on:** December 16, 2009, 08:30:14 PM »

Joan: I'm messy too. Part of the problem is I have so much stuff. Another part is I like fixing things (solving problems) better than maintaining.

Babi · « **Reply #101 on:** December 17, 2009, 08:28:00 AM »

I don't have a problem with tidying messes; I tend to be an orderly
person. Unfortunately, I can't recall my Mother ever admonishing me to
dust. Pity, the place could really use a good dusting. And then my
daughter, who is most comfortable with mess, occupies the other half
of this place. I just close her door; she's an adult now and entitled to
her own choices.
(Having said that, I confess I still can't stop 'mothering' when it comes to her health. Hey, it's an inbred thing! Mother's can't help that!)

mabel1015j · « **Reply #102 on:** December 17, 2009, 12:47:36 PM »

For those of you who 75ish..............when i saw the ads for Larry King on Tues night having the cast of "Nine" and Sophia Loren was going to be on, i tho't "how old is she? She's been around as long as i can remember, must be in her 80's." Well, i looked her up and she's just 75. I also checked out Judi Dench and she TOO is 75. That was a good birth year......I see Joan and Jackie are also about 75............good year! ...................jean

mrssherlock · « **Reply #103 on:** December 17, 2009, 12:49:55 PM »

They don't make them like us anymore, do they?

JoanK · « **Reply #104 on:** December 17, 2009, 03:19:06 PM »

That's right!!

winsummm · « **Reply #105 on:** December 17, 2009, 11:13:08 PM »

JACKIE; I copied your post on ebay and sent it to IDA. SHE LOVES IT. thanky so much.
claire

Babi · « **Reply #106 on:** December 18, 2009, 08:26:50 AM »

Well, I recently turned 74 so I went to see who I could find from my
birth year. How about Mubarak, Candy Barr and the Dalai Lama? I'm
almost afraid to go on.

winsummm · « **Reply #107 on:** December 18, 2009, 12:55:56 PM »

astrological signs go with it. . .that birth month and in a complicated way the year too. I have a close friend who lived with me for six months. I learned to make a chart and what the commoner signs mean. Our sun signs are overall but they are the ones we use.,I'm mid march which makes me a pisces. that actually maes sense what with the emphasis on the arts and philosphy. the person is supposed to be laid back and easy going., Maybe I'll grow into that one. grin. year is 1928. so who else? any of you?

claire

winsummm · « **Reply #108 on:** December 18, 2009, 01:00:57 PM »

I just looked here

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/year/1928

lots of creative peope and politicians. so many actors who could also be politicians. thy seem to corilate positively. Sheirley Temple was a powerful six year old and she grew up to be a politician as an older adult. It helps to have charisma. look at obama.
claire

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #109 on:** December 18, 2009, 04:06:57 PM »

My birth year, just a few: Margaret Atwood, Margaret Drabble, Germaine Greer; a thing about authors for that year? And lots of sports figures!

joyous · « **Reply #110 on:** December 19, 2009, 05:27:43 PM »

Winsumm: I am NOT a person of "note" but 1928 was my year---12/21/28---will be 81 next
Monday.
JOY

winsummm · « **Reply #111 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:11:21 PM »

hi Joy

the solstice is tomorrow it is a joyous time are you named for it? smiles, claire

Babi · « **Reply #112 on:** December 20, 2009, 08:44:13 AM »

Congratulations, JOY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

And many more, in good health!

JoanK · « **Reply #113 on:** December 20, 2009, 04:47:41 PM »

Happy Birthday, Joy!!!

serenesheila · « **Reply #114 on:** December 21, 2009, 06:28:54 AM »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOY. I hope that you will spend your birthday doing things you enjoy.

I am another member of the birth class of 1934. Seems there are a number of us, here. Were the rest of you as affected by the Great Depression, as I was? My father is still alive, and makes reference to the GD, frequently.

Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope that the coming New Year will bring each of us, many blessings.

Sheila

Babi · « **Reply #115 on:** December 21, 2009, 09:12:28 AM »

I can't say I was affected by the "Great Depresson". I was too young
to be aware of it, but I heard many stories about it later from my father.
Mostly, they were the good memories from his wanderings. (He left his
home as a teen to follow the harvests.) He would chuckle as he spoke
of finding a stand offering cherry juice...all you could drink for a nickel!
He was dismayed to discover that he really could not drink as much cherry juice as he expected..

nlhome · « **Reply #116 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:14:57 AM »

I have a copy of You Have Seen Their Faces that I am reading just now. It's fascinating and sobering.

My parents didn't talk too much about the Depression, but my mother said that her family lost money, so that they went from being reasonably financially stable farmers to poor, and that what she noticed the most was that her oldest brother, who could remember the days of more money, was very resentful of his younger brothers and sisters, and that her mother had grown up in a wealthier family and wasn't able to adjust to the hard work in the big family. The older brother moved from the farm as soon as he could and worked as far from agriculture as he could. My grandmother withdrew into herself.

My father's family lost their farm in North Dakota and moved to Minnesota and Wisconsin. So I guess if not for the Depression, my father and mother wouldn't have met and I wouldn't be.

JoanK · « **Reply #117 on:** December 21, 2009, 04:20:10 PM »

All of us "depression babies" were affected by it, one way or another. My father had a government job, and hung onto it. But my mother worked for the Government, too, as a librarian. They made her quit, saying it was unfair for two people in one family to have jobs when so many were without.

PatH and I were born about 9 months later.

My mother came from a farm family, and she saw how many of her relatives and friends lost their farms. She was determined that she, and her children, own their homes. They paid off their mortgage as quickly as they could, and later gave us the money to pay off our mortgage.

I was trying to explain the depression mentality to a friend. We save, and use credit not at all or very sparingly. We don't buy anything until we have the money to pay for it. The opposite of the people today, who are all living beyond their means. I worry that our whole economy is a mirage of credit, and will collapse like a giant ponzi scheme.

Babi · « **Reply #118 on:** December 22, 2009, 08:20:40 AM »

Perhaps that is a result I hadn't recognized, JOANK. We had enough
as I was growing up, but little to spare. I still hate being in debt and pay
it off as quickly as I can. I use the credit cards for those emergencies
that I can't pay for in cash, and I never have more than two cards. I
shop for those with the lowest interest rates, too.
With my income, I can't avoid debt entirely, but I do keep it low.

winsummm · « **Reply #119 on:** December 22, 2009, 04:37:34 PM »

I cannot aforD interest. so the credit card that I do use gets paid off every month. I have others but don't use them as long as there is no fee. I'm afraid I might outlive my SPENDABLE and have to either sell this condo or get a reverse mortgage. At almost 82, I have about three more years at this rate, so maybe I won't outlive my self. I'm surprised I made it this far. Our family is not long lived.

claire

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 775936 times)