She got what was coming to her...

I borrowed this story from my friend Chelsea who got it here:

http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/how-one-ebay-user-got/?camp=syndication&medium=portals&from=yahoo

Reddit user BadgerMatt related a tale about how a buyer backed out of paying $600 for a sporting event. Here's what went down (edited for content):



I had tickets to a sporting event and couldn't attend. I made a 1-day listing and clearly stated that the tickets must be picked up in person within 24 hours (the game was the evening after the auction ended, so there wasn't any time to ship the tickets). A woman won the auction for about $600. The auction had ended at 10:00am and by 5:00pm she still hadn't responded to my emails trying to organize the exchange. Finally, at 9:30pm, I got a one-liner email: "I overbid and my husband won't let me buy these. Sorry and enjoy the game! :)"

I first tried explaining that I wouldn't have the time to resell the tickets (I already got turned down by the losing bidders). She said, "... that's not my problem. It's eBay, not a car dealership. I can back out if I want." I still don't understand the car dealership reference.

I was pretty upset. I was basically going to be stuck with tickets to an event that I couldn't attend. That's when I got the idea to convince her to change her mind.

I created a new eBay account, "Payback" we'll call it, and sent her a message: "Hi there, I noticed you won an auction for 4 [sporting event] tickets. I meant to bid on these but couldn't get to a computer. I wanted to take my son and dad and would be willing to give you $1,000 for the tickets. I imagine that you've already made plans to attend, but I figured it was worth a shot."

At 11:30pm she responded to Payback: "I'll do it for $1,100, no less. I can meet you at the game if you agree. I need your phone number."

At 11:35pm, Payback wrote: "Deal. Here is my number..." (Thanks Google Voice for the throwaway number). She called a few minutes later and made Payback "promise" to go through with the deal. She emphasized that she'd be out a lot of money if Payback backed out. Payback swore he would never do such a thing.

At 11:45pm, the woman emailed me: "Fine. I'll buy them. But you have to drop them off at my house tonight. I'll have the cash ready." So at f***ing midnight I drove to her house across town and met her on the road in front of her apartment building. She was a nasty and rude individual. Things didn't get any better when I told her I wanted an extra $20 for the trouble of driving there at midnight (yeah, pushing my luck, I know). It became very awkward and she literally threw 31 $20 bills at me. I counted them before handing over the tickets. I said, "thanks for the great transaction" as she flipped me off while walking away.

At 10:00am she called Payback to make sure they were still on for the exchange. Payback said that he could no longer go to the game and wouldn't be able to do the exchange. She blew her f***ing top and I swear started speaking in tongues. Payback said, "Ma'am, this is eBay, not a car dealership" and hung up.

I got a rabid email 10 minutes later telling me that I was going to hell and that she's reported me to the local police, FBI, and... the fire department. WTF?

HEY!

Saturday was my birthday. We went out to eat with the family... Mexican food... YUM!! And when Auntie Kelli showed up, she brought goodies for Haylie and Connor! Very typical. Sometimes they're great and sometimes I wonder if she did it just to irritate me. ;) This time, however, she brought Connor a Hot Wheels car and Haylie got stick on nails. She was SO excited! And I was excited too! It brought back memories of my childhood when I used to go to my Nana's house. She would always paint my nails. Or we would go over to the store and she'd buy me some stick on nails - SO much fun for a little girl! Kelli helped her get the right sizes on the right nails, and then Haylie walked all around the table, showing each and every one of us her beautiful fingers. She of course couldn't touch anything. She walked around with her hands extended in front of her, not daring to touch a single thing, for fear she'd break a nail. A few came off in the car when she was buckling her seatbelt, and the world almost ended, but luckily they were easy to put back on and didn't hurt when they got bumped off. We started driving into town and all of a sudden we heard Haylie exclaim, "HEY!! I CAN STILL PICK MY NOSE WITH THESE NAILS ON!" We laughed SO hard! I don't think I'll ever forget that.

Tree Hunting!

So, it’s not all bad when you don’t get the tree of your dreams. We had a BLAST walking around in the snow. Corry came with us and I am really loving having him around. He is such a help with the kids! We love him. :)

The “Tree”

               

Corry looks COLD!

Connor wanted “this tree” and offered to carry it the whole way! What a big strong helper he is! :)

 

Such a handsome boy. ;) I may have to frame this one…

 

And this one.

 

All warm and toasty! My mom got this for us when Haylie was a baby and it just fits Maggie. I love it. Takes me back…

All in all we had a great time getting our tree this year. Even if it’s not the perfect tree. Priceless time spent together, sharing laughs, telling stories, and making memories are what we will remember. Because really… Christmas isn’t about the perfect tree. :)

Our Bush.

This year I was SOOO excited to get our tree. It’s always really exciting, but this year I have these really cool new boots that go up to my calf, and so I didn’t get cold the entire time! You’re probably laughing but I’m totally serious.

So I assumed we would get this PERFECT tree and everything would be great! Well… we found a few trees, but kept walking, just so we could MAKE SURE we picked the best one. Anyway, we walked around for probably an hour and a half before we found this tree.

Kind of funny looking, right? I agree. But we always like to pick a tree that has a little character. So- we cut it down. And brought it home. And I hate it. This is what it looks like in our house:

I feel like it looks like a giant bush. Or a weed. It looked SO cool outside when it was still in the ground… it had snow all over it and it looked like it had a few long branches here and there sticking out… No. EVERY SINGLE BRANCH is sticking out!! 

Ok, so in all seriousness, it’s not that bad. It definitely has character. Maybe once we get the lights and ornaments on it, it’ll look a little better… On the bright side, there’s no way the ornaments can fall off. :)

Happy Birthday Papa!

My dad’s birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so we had a combined Thanksgiving/Birthday celebration! Didn’t get any pictures except these… oh well. :)

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you. :)

Meow!

 

 

Letter

Translation:

Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to my friend’s house to play with them.

Then she tells me, “Mom, I am going to my friend’s house for real.” Like writing it to me in a letter means she gets to do it no matter what.

:)

SNOW!!!

   

Little Connor couldn’t WAIT to get out in the snow. A VAST improvement from last year… Connor has a “thing” with his hands. Always has. Doesn’t like them to be dirty or sticky (He may or may not get that from me ;). But mostly, he doesn’t like them to be cold. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the store before it snowed this year, and so cotton gloves and tennis shoes were the best we could do. I kept telling him to wear Haylie’s old ones, but she went and said (in front of him), “But everyone will laugh at him.” Thanks Haylie. So once his little cotton gloves got soaked through, he took them off and it was a huge, dramatic, chaotic, fiasco.

Poor little Maggie was mesmerized by the falling snow. She just kept touching the window over and over again. I’m sure she would have loved to get out there if I’d let her… At least she was happily watching Connor play!

No Fair

I want eyelashes like these. 

 

You know.. the ones that are so long that you can actually catch falling snowflakes on them?

Time Out

It’s moments like these that reaffirm in my head, that a time out truly was needed. And that I am not a mean mom, ALL of the time. ;)

Ooh la la!

One day after school last week, Haylie’s friends came over to play. Little did I know that her friend Hailey, brought over some make-up! Yay! :/ Haylie came inside looking like this…

Gorgeous, Hays!

6 MONTHS!

It’s taking all of my guts to post this one… I can’t believe Maggie is already 6 months old. It’s KILLING me. What’s killing me even more is that Joe’s parents haven’t seen her since she was 3 weeks old! It’s a good thing we’re going to visit them right after Christmas… Joe’s mom reminded me yesterday that Maggie won’t know who they are which totally stinks! I SO depend on her to calm my crying babies when we stay at their house… ;) Just teasing Tami… I’m sure everything will be fine!

Anyway, in honor of Maggie turning 6 months (but not for another 2 days) I thought I would put up some recent pictures of her. Love ya Mags!     

This little grin melts my heart. What a happy baby!

This was last night… NOT ready for crawling…

I’m posting this picture against my better judgment… I have a “friend” who doesn’t know when to stop. She made some pretty irritating comments about Maggie and her extra rolls, but I love her rolly polly-ness. And I know Joe’s mom and sister will LOVE to see this picture, so it’s mostly for their benefit. :)

This picture was taken on the 30th of October at Haylie’s first basketball game. I know I’m biased, but seriously… doesn’t she have the cutest face?

This was last night in the tub… the first time I put her on her tummy in the tub, a few weeks ago, she FREAKED! Last night she actually liked it! And how could I not snap some pictures of her “Michelin Man” arms?? LOVE this girl!

Halloween

We’re a little late on posting about Halloween. I should say, I am. Life has just been very busy lately and Maggie is at the age where she’s figured out that crying equals Mom picking her up. SO… we listen to Maggie cry quite a bit these days. Because how do you take a shower or cook breakfast, lunch and dinner or clean house while holding a squirmy 6 month old (can you believe she’s 6 months?)? :(  

This year, we skipped Trick-or-Treating on Halloween day. Friday afternoon, the businesses in Benton City handed out candy, so after Haylie got out of school, off we went! And HOLY COW! They got SO much candy! Then, on Saturday evening, we went to a Trunk-or-Treat with my friend Bethany and her family at the stake center. That was SO much fun! I’d never done that before, and the kids had a blast! So between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening, we had more candy than we knew what to do with! In fact, we had so much, we started handing some out to Trick-or-Treaters on Sunday. :)  

Cute little Maggie almost didn’t fit in her costume! ;) She looked SO cute… people on the street would just stop and stare at her… I was surprised at how many people stopped to tell me “how cute the little mermaid was..” Really people?

Go Spidy!

Haylie was actually Ariel the mermaid. 

The whole fam!

Ho Hum…

It’s a pretty gloomy and quiet day today at the Rose house, inside and out. Haylie is doing some worksheets from school, Connor is quietly playing in his room with his Hot Wheels (with the door closed :), Maggie is down for her first nap, and we are all waiting, very patiently, for Joe to get home from his most recent job. He should be home on Wednesday (we hope). SO- I thought I would do a little post… just add a few pictures of this and that.

This little girl makes me so happy. Her cute little dimpled face just lights up an entire room. We literally spend the majority of our day trying to make her laugh and/or smile. She LOVES Connor… she can spot him a mile away and immediately breaks out into a huge grin when she sees him.

This was after church one day… 

What a big girl! She’s SO chunky- it makes me happy!

Again, just another silly picture. Connor’s chore is feeding the dogs, and for some reason he needed a hard hat for this one.