New Addiction

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."

Overcoming Addiction Quote by Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 - May 7, 1915)

Day 42

Sweat is dripping from my brow, I’m watching the clock, and my fingers are shaking. Just a few more minutes and the relief will flood my veins, my heartbeat will slow and I’ll be able to draw a steady breath. 5, 4, 3, 2, ….Damn! Somebody outbid me!

Okay, I admit e-bay is not a new addiction, but at least now I have a good excuse for getting my fix. If you’ve been reading my blog for the last year, you know that I’m very involved with a toy drive in the little village in Mexico we live in during the winter. It’s hard to come up with ways to raise money when I’m up here in the states. Last year I held a raffle that gave away some great items like free resort stays in Cancun and hotels in Merida but Paypal pulled the plug on that just days before the raffle ended. Seems they are not supposed to be selling raffle tickets on their site. Luckily we had already sold a bunch of tickets and were still able to hold the raffle and make a bunch of money. But this year I had to come up with something different. One thing that is expensive down there is good quality clothes, especially ones that fit us ex-pats that have moved to the land of the Lilliputian Mayans so I have been spending every free minute and every free cent I have (actually every free cent the cap’n has, just don’t tell him) buying up name brands like Ann Taylor and Liz Claiborne and Lily Pulitzer as if there is no tomorrow. Believe me you won’t find any of these labels in my own closet. I have never been a slave to fashion in the past but recently I’m starting to worry that my new habit may turn me into a certified “Bow-Head.” (Back in the eighties it was the fashion for woman to tie back their big poofy hair with big poofy bows. My financially unfortunate friends and I started calling the rich women in our town “Bow- Heads.” Rumor had it that these woman would only screw their rich lawyer/doctor husbands if they were facing Neiman Marcus.)

Once more I’ve digressed. So,I’ve been buying up these clothes in the hopes that I will be able to sell them at a profit at a rummage sale I’m holding down in MX when I go down to visit in a couple of weeks. All profit will go for the toy drive. Hopefully they will sell or else I’m going to end up with an even bigger variety of sizes then already resides in my closet. I’m optimistic. We had held a sale last year that was quite successful. I nursed a secret glass of wine during the whole sale. It started at 8:00 am. I think I’ll skip that marketing strategy this year. I have a hard enough time converting pesos to dollars without the help of Padre Kino (my favorite cheap Mexican wine).

Oops! Gotta go. There’s a pair of DKNY capris going off in a few minutes. I think I saw them on the rack at the outlet stores last week for $22 so I’ll probably only bid $35.

So today I’m out there doing my best to single handedly maneuver an economic turn around and keep the cap’n in the fiscal dark.