 |
Archive - June 2007 Helping the Disabled: Some Friendly Dos and Don'tsPosted Jun-25-07 10:35:43 PDT Since I've been disabled, I've been fortunate to interact with a lot of
people who want to help me. A heart-felt thank you
from me, to each and every one of them. Sometimes the help,
though well intended, is not so helpful. The help is always given
with the
best of intentions, but sometimes the end result is not so good.
All of these situations have happened to me. I'll Get That for You Please, continue to help, but rather than automatically doing it for me, ask me if I need help. Sometimes, I may be struggling to accomplish something that you can do quite easily, like picking up an item I dropped. You can pick that item up faster, and easier, than I can, but sometimes I really need to pick that item up myself, just to re-affirm that I can still do certain things. Ha, ha, ha! You Don't Need That Cane (Walker, Wheelchair) Yes, you are trying to get me to smile, and that can be a nice thing. However, I do need my mobility device, and I'm not particularly happy about needing my mobility device. I will always smile, and welcome, a friendly "hello". The Arm Grab and Drag I do move slowly. Please do not grab my arm and try to pull me along at a faster pace. Even with you grabbing my arm, I cannot move at a faster pace. The end result is always my having a sore spot on my arm, or I fall, or we both fall. However, in emergency situations, please feel free to snatch me up, throw me over your shoulder, and run like crazy. :-) I'll Take That Walker Out of Your Way My walker may seem like it is slowing my progress, but it is actually keeping me from falling over. I appreciate that you want to be helpful by getting things out of my way, but I really need to keep my walker. Yes, I have had a surprising (to me) number of people snatch my walker away from me in an effort to help. I am left stranded, until I explain that I need my walker in order to move without falling over. As my physical therapist so succinctly put it, "falling bad". Let Me Help You Up (Down) Grab I can really use help maintaining my balance, especially in a situation involving stairs without hand rails. But, please do not grab my hand, wrist, or arm and pull. We are both likely to take a tumble. Be certain that you are standing in a stable position, and offer up your forearm for me to hold on to. And, please understand that we will have to move at my pace (very slow) rather than your normal pace (much faster than I can manage). I'll blog at 'cha later. B- It Was Just One of Those DaysPosted Jun-24-07 07:35:45 PDT I'm speaking of yesterday. For me, yesterday was
one of those days where my physical problems were raging from the
moment I woke up, and my emotional fortitude had developed serious
cracks. We all probably have those days. Where there is no
feeling of serenity with the dawn of a new day, just the hurts and
stresses of the previous day rearing up as soon as eyes are
opened. I felt myself spiraling down into the realms of, "I
should be able to overcome this!" and "I should be stronger!" Not
a good path to be on. My day did improve, slowly. Nothing I can
do about the physical problems, except slow down and wait for the pain
to subside. I was able to do more about the cracks in my
emotional fortitude by plastering them up with forgiveness. I
forgave myself for not being strong for at the time. It
happens. I have to forgive myself for what I perceive as my being
weak a lot since I've been disabled. I did get a couple of new listings up. Most of what I have listed now are re-listed items. That's okay. Today, I have items to pack for shipping, and other items to prep for listing. Have a beautiful day. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Not a Good DayPosted Jun-23-07 09:30:41 PDT The entry title says it all. "We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated." Maya Angelou I'll be all right. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Listings and No Account Access Equals StressPosted Jun-21-07 07:02:27 PDT Updated Jun-21-07 07:02:50 PDT Greetings! Last night I could not access my eBay account. Argh! I have listings ending tomorrow, and visions of buyers wondering why they did not hear from me danced in my head. I tried to access my eBay account on two different computers, and I could not get in. Very frustrating. I did manage to access my account this morning. Once I could access my account, I could feel stress leaving my body Ah... I have no idea why I couldn't get in. Anyway, now I can access my account, and it's all good. I previously said that I would be listing clothing tomorrow, but that's not going to happen. This has been a somewhat rough week for me physically, so I'm behind on my To Do list. I want to sell everything I can right away to pay my medical bills, but my body is like, "Are you kidding me? That is so not going to happen." I'm going to have to pace myself better in coming weeks, so that my body doesn't rebel on me quite so much. Although I've been physically disabled for around ten years, I think (I've always been bad with remembering dates), my mind is still at pre-disabled settings. I've got to get my mind and body synchronized. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Blue M, Red E, That Spells...a Lot of WorkPosted Jun-18-07 13:37:17 PDT Greetings! Yes, I now have an About Me page. I even managed to put in some information about me. It took me two days, but the page is up. I am normally a list person - I make a list for everything. Plan out things to within an inch of their lives. For my About Me page, I went with spontaneity. Whee! Living life on the edge, baby! Bad move on my part. If I had planned out my page, it probably would have taken a couple of hours. Instead, I made it up as I went along. Rather than using "structure" and "purpose" as my guides, I went with "oh, pretty!" and "I likey!". I used this methodology to pick each part of my page. I was so happy when I had a finished product. I couldn't wait to post it, put it out there for the world to see! Every table lined up (in my browser window, anyway); every color I wanted; even a sparkly background! I AM A GODDESS! Then...I realized I didn't have any text on my page. Whoops. I couldn't really think of anything to say. The only thought going around in my head was, "man, that took a lot longer than I thought it would." Tempting though it was to type that phrase over and over, until my About Me page was filled with text, I broke down and typed out other words. Ah, shiny! An About Me page, with text and everything! I posted that page, and basked in the wonder that is HTML. Then, I realized that I had forgotten to put my auction listings on the page. Again with the "whoops". Anyway, the page is up, and going. I'm sure that I'll be making changes to the page, just not today. Back to the real world of prepping things for listing. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Calling a Code Blue on a Thread - Stat!Posted Jun-16-07 08:06:10 PDT Updated Jun-16-07 09:22:07 PDT Yes, today I'm thinking about thread killers. I
seem to have the uncanny ability to end a thread. Not always, but
often. I'm not argumentative, no Earth-shattering revelations,
nothing like that. I just make a post, and you can hear crickets
chirping in the background. Rather than calling it a gift or a
curse, I consider it to be an ability. It can be used for good or
evil. Sort of like call waiting, which also can be used for good
or evil. The thing is, I have no control over my ability to
terminate threads. I never post with the intention for doing in a
thread. It just happens. Hmm. Saturday is my happy day. It's the day I decided to not work on listings, or photograph items. Some folks can slap together a listing in record time. Even though I use templates, I always seem to take a while in getting the listing up on eBay. The photos? I obsess over the photos I take. More green! Less blue! Brighter! More contrast! Less saturation! I think obsessing over the photos is a good thing, it just takes a lot of time. One day, I will whip out the ultimate listing in no time flat. One day... Today, I'm going to eat guacamole, battle dust bunnies with a vacuum cleaner, and catch up on my reading. Life is good. Tomorrow, I'm back to working on new listings for next Friday. Purses and clothing, mainly. It should be interesting. I hope you all have a happy day, too. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Dressed, but Noone's ImpressedPosted Jun-14-07 10:10:58 PDT Hello! Yesterday, my nephew bought himself a gray, pin stripe suit. He looks very sharp and debonair in it. That got me thinking about how I dress. Since being disabled, I'm home about 99% of the time. While I've been at home, my attire has moved from casual/business to street-legal - a term I use to mean what I'm wearing covers me, but by no stretch of the imagination could be referred to as an outfit. Before I was disabled, I worked in the corporate world - business suits, with matching pumps. Now, well, now most of my wardrobe never even needs to be ironed. Very wash and wear. Due to my affinity for loose-cut cotton pants, many folks who come to my door assume that they have gotten me out of bed. The loose-cut cotton pants fad passed this area by, and loose-cut cotton pants are considered pajamas around these parts. Not that I stopped wearing the pants. Too comfortable to give up. I do dress appropriately when I am leaving the house, but when I'm home my nod to fashion is to wear a tee shirt in a color that matches my l-c pants. I think about upping my dress level, but I can't break away from the siren call of those l-c pants. Maybe one of these days... I'll be listing new anime/manga items tomorrow. Next week, I'll be listing some purses. Nice purses, and I hope they will find a good home. I have a few items of clothing, with tags, that I'll probably list next week, along with the purses. I still have many items to list, and a lot of medical bills to pay, so keep checking back for what's new. Have a great day, and I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Diet, DietingPosted Jun-13-07 18:14:33 PDT Greetings! I tried on a pair of shorts today, and, well...let's just say that the shorts and I were not compatible. This got me thinking about dieting. I've never been big on diets. I prefer lifestyle changes. Change my eating habits; change my activity level. I had made great strides in eating a healthy diet, but due to my recent illness, I have to make more changes in my eating habits. Yes, habits. And, habits can be oh, so hard to break. Overcoming the inertia of routine can be difficult. But, I am making strides. Here's to healthy eating, with does of chocolate now and again! When it comes to getting items ready for listing, I am an organizing whirl wind. Okay. Maybe, not so much. But, I do have next week's items ready to go. I'll be putting up the new listings on Friday. I have some bids on my current listings. It is all good. The end of another day. I hope it was a good day for all of you. I'm going to treat myself to an episode, or six, of Stargate SG-1, and call it a night. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Short and SweetPosted Jun-12-07 16:31:51 PDT Hi, all! This will probably be one of the shortest entries I will make. Just letting you know I'm still here. I've had a bad case of the sleepies today, and I just haven't been able to shake them. I've accomplished things, but I'm not awake enough to gather much in the way of coherent thoughts for a blog entry. Have a good evening, and I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Decisions, DecisionsPosted Jun-11-07 14:57:50 PDT Updated Jun-11-07 14:58:32 PDT I remember reading a newspaper article about there being
too many choices for folks. I disagree with that theory.
I've spent a good bit of time today driving myself nuts with making up
a new auction listing template. One standard format for all of my
listings. Easy. When I began making the template, I found
myself hopping from chocie to choice. Which color? What
size? Should I include a graphic? Of course, I was trying
out all of the different choices. Very time-consuming. I
became very frustrated. What to choose? Then, I gave myself
a mental kick. Pick the colors I had long ago decided on for my
listings. In no time, I was done with my auction template.
I realized that the problem wasn't that I had too many choices, the
problem was that I wasn't making a decision. So, today I was
reminded that when it comes time to make a choice, don't waffle.
Make a decision, and go with it. Here's a saying I like. I
don't know who the author is: Take Risks! If you win, you'll be happy. If you lose, you'll be wiser. Have a wise day. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- It's the Little ThingsPosted Jun-10-07 11:53:10 PDT Hello! Last night, and today, have been about the little things. Wonderful little things like Bear's (cat companion) timing to come next to me just when my mind is about to explode from frustration at yet another medical bill, and giving me a Bear hug - which is when Bear stands still and leans his head and neck against my leg. Little things like discovering the pasta bake thing I made which tasted so bad I thought I had wasted all of the ingredients I used to make it, is fixable with a dose of marinara sauce on top. Little things like seeing Shrek on television, yet again. Little things like qucikly finding my favorite pencil, instead of spending 10 minutes looking for it. Little things like the water meter guy telling me that they will shut off the water for repairs before actually shutting off the water for repairs. Nothing that will affect the flow of the world. Just little things that affect the flow of my life. Ah, prepping items for listing. The biggest problem is finding something to ship items in. I don't want a huge stock of boxes at home because I don't have the space for them, and what I'm selling now is "clearing out the house" type of items, i.e., I won't be selling them forever. For a while, it seemed as if I were tripping over boxes - literally and figuratively - every time I turned around. Now, I have quite a time finding boxes around the house. Maybe, I'm a great housekeeper, and I cleaned out all of the boxes I had. Maybe, I'm having memory lapses and can't remember where I put the boxes I had. Probably, the situation is a combination of both. Enjoy your day. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Yes! Yes! CSS!Posted Jun-09-07 08:56:34 PDT Updated Jun-09-07 10:52:37 PDT Greetings! Here's the new look for my blog. It is a work in progress. The blog look will change as I tweak the appearance. Many, many, many thanks to Shipscript. If you have not visited Shipscript's About Me page, I recommend you check it out. Lots of information, and more importantly for the CSS and HTML impaired, such as myself, lots of places to put in info and have a nice, shiny bunch of words pop out, ready to be pasted and used for creating an auction listing; About Me page; blog (yes!), and more. I still don't understand much of anything about CSS, but thanks to Shipscript, I don't have to know much in order to personalize my blog. Shipscript's About Me Page The logo over my blog is my old store logo. Hurray for me being obssesive about keeping copies of everything I make! With the seller name Bead Dance, I thought making a logo would be a breeze. Dancing bead, get it? But, it took me about a year to create the dancing bead. Many times I thought about changing my seller name to something like Blue Square - very easy to create a logo, just make a blue square. But, I stuck with the name BeadDance, and I love my logo. I'm using that baby until the end of eternity. Listings...sigh. Many items are waiting for me to photograph, clean up the photographs (I have no illusions about my lack of ability to take pictures), and write up auction listings on them. I won't have 100s of items listed at one time. I list only as many items as I can carry to the Post Office, on the chance that everything I've listed sells. Ha, ha, ha!..."Everything I have listed sells." Sometimes, I amuse myself. I'm planning to have listings ongoing, though. I'll be putting up new items on Fridays, so keep an eye on me! The kitties are doing well. The photo I use on my listings is of Mad Martigan and Meisha. Meisha crossed the Rainbow Bridge earlier this year. She died from cancer. I miss my beautiful girl, Meisha. Mad Martigan is well, and happy. I have two other kitty companions, Athena and Bear. I love 'em all. One day I hope to be in a situation where I can get a dog. I am nuts for animals, and they know it. Well, here I go to prep items to list next week. I'll blog at 'cha later. B- Long Time, No ListingsPosted Jun-08-07 09:07:29 PDT Updated Jun-08-07 10:46:25 PDT Hello to all. I've been gone from eBay for a year or so, due to
illness. I'm back, but my jewelry making business isn't. I'll still
make jewelry from time to time, and list it, as my health permits.
So many changes on eBay! Some good - such as being able to blog, and
some frustrating - like trying to figure out whether or not I clicked
the right button to get the little camera icon to show on my listings. The layout I've chosen for my blog is cute, but I might actually learn CSS in order to make myself a more personalized layout for this blog. Of course, I've been threatening to learn CSS for about 8 years, so don't look for a custom change to my blog anytime soon. :D I'm playing catch-up with the changes, but everything is looking good, so far. Physically, I'm on the mend. A hospital stay earlier this year capped off my time away from eBay. I'm still physically disabled, and I probably always will be, but the other problems seem to be getting better. The hospital, and all the medically related visits leading up to it, resulted in my having medical bills coming out of my ears. Which leads nicely to the next paragraph... Right now, I'm clearing out a bunch of stuff from around the house. A lot of anime manga and anime-ish collectibles and dvds. Maybe some anime VHS tapes later on. Don't worry, I'm not going to write exclusively about what I'm selling. Clicking View Items for Sale under the blog title will tell you what I'm selling. I will mention what's going on, and what I've got going on to eBay, from time to time. It's good to be back, and I'll be blogging at 'cha later. B- P. S. - The image I have up My World is of a pin I made, using polymer clay. It is one of my favorite creations. |
) 
 About eBay | Announcements | Security Center | eBay Toolbar | Policies | Government Relations | Site Map | Help | |
Copyright © 1995-2008 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
| |