Estate Sale and Birthday Party

Aug 18, 2012

Patricia and I hosted a birthday party for our two grand daughters yesterday. Although we see them often during the year, we don't see them with all their friends. Surprise, they are all growing very quickly.

Alexis is 11 and about to enter 6th grade. I had Mrs. Fields for 6th grade and she impressed on me the necessity to work hard to excel. When my corrected essays were returned, I always found lots of red marks. Thank you, Mrs. Fields.

Chloe received a bicycle for her birthday and rode off, like she had been riding for years - with training wheels, of course. There are days when I think I need training wheels.

The soon-to-be 6th graders know the words to every song on the top 20 list. One young man said, "although I know the words to all the songs, I find it hard to remember my phone number and teacher's name".

Today Patricia and I went to another Estate Sale. Lots of people were there looking for treasure. We found some great Items that I now have to research and list in my EBay Store.

Estate sales pull at my heart strings. In one way, it is sad to walk among the possesions of someone who has passed away - especially with a crowd of strangers. I noticed that I must not be alone in my feelings because everyone walks and talks softly. Perhaps they are worried about breaking something. When I find a treasure that I want to rescue, my thoughts change - now I am going to provide a good home for a prize possession of the deceased. In a way, their spirit lives on in someone else's hands. I hopefully will also make a profit in the transaction when I sell their item in my EBay Store.

I met a member of the Flat Rock City Council yesterday. He is the father of one of Alexis's friends. I told him I was in the midst of adding a community information page to my Website. He asked if I would mind promoting the Flat Rock Riverfest on September 15 & 16. I said I would love to do that. Hopefully that will drive more traffic to my website and subsequently to my EBay store. We shall see -- I am new to the Internet Marketing - Social Networking game. I will take every chance I can and try every avenue to increase traffic.

August 2012 -- Back to Work

While preparing for Career Number 4, Internet Sales, I have been researching marketing techniques. The necessity for creating a blog was raised as an important step by three different articles on the subject. I added an item to my todo list -- Create a Blog.

My friend @eddiehudson3 has a really cool blog. I decided to emulate eddie's sucess. When I went to create an account on BlogSpot, I found, to my surprise, that I already had a fully functional blog. I must really be getting old. I had completely forgotten that the blog existed.

It is time for an update.

I am now five years older and have watched my weight climb back to its highest point and then receed again to the 275 range. I am still on weight watchers online and try to record my food intake and activity each day.

During the five years since my last post, I accepted a position with United Airlines, working as a Reservations Agent. In that position, I sit at a computer for eight hours per day talking with customers on the phoine, providing service to help them solve travel problems. I stopped going to the gym and began wathching CNN. The result was a slow and steady weight gain.

In January of this year, I was diagnosed with Gillain Barre Syndrome. That is a condition that causes the immune system to attack the nerves in the limbs. It causes numbness, tingling, partial paralysis, loss of balance, and extreme weakness. After 5 weeks of intensive hospital rehabilitation, 6 weeks of in-home rehab, and 4 weeks of out-patient rehab, I was cleared to return to work.

My weight is back under control due to hospital food and a rededication to exercise and food tracking. I am making a promise to myself -- do not let the weight pile on.

Wish me luck --

bob eiferd
bobeiferd@aol.com
@bobeiferd
www.brownstownmarketplace.com
eBay - Brownstown Marketplace
Etsy - Flat Rock Marketplace