Engagement Photos

So I realized, I didn't actually get around to uploading our final 10...so in no particular order...here they are for your viewing pleasure!

People of Walmart: a sign of the times

I stumbled across this, and some it shocks me, but what shocks me more, is the amount of photos it shows that i percived as fairly normal....not too out of the ordinary when you go to store....and even more so at stores like wal-mart, target, zellers, etc.....

What a wierd era we live in, we have fought for the chance to have rights, vote, to express ourselves, to have roles as individuals in society and as an individual...and this is what we do with it.

Craigslist and stupidity

we were at ikea today looking at sofa-beds and we decided we like this one:

for 279.00 (Beakdown: 100 for the frame, 130 for the mattress and another 50 for the cover)

so think to myself, well since we have no money and dont have a house for another week an a half lets look on craigslist and see if we can find one.

so I come across this one:

IKEA SOFA BED WITH LOVAS MATTRESS ** IN AN EXCELLENT CONDITION - $250 (DOWNTOWN)

wait...so you are telling me a used one your going to charge me all of 20$ less?
  So then I email them, just because I'm curious to see why this person thinks they can ask so much for it so I sent them the following email:
　
Hi I noticed your add but its almost the same price as in the store, im wondering if you would take 100$ for the whole thing since it has been used and obviously not the same value as it would be new....if not i'd much rather buy new as would everyone else who sees your ad. Thanks.

And they reply this:



I think you are talking about the frame alone ... Anyways 150 ia really low price .

so now, not only will they not listen to reason or answered as to why its so expensive, but they are making thier frame 50$ MORE expensive then a new one at the same store they got it at
so I emailed them back and said "ok well best of luck selling it, but maybe you might have better luck if you didnt try to sell something more expensive then a new one"

If you search ikea on craigslist there seems to be lots of that

I want to scream: stop posting every day, theres a reason no one is responding, its called overpriced!!!

that person has posted the same add every day since october 24th
And they still have a sofa-bed a month since they have started posting that hasn't sold.
 So in honor of these wonderful people I would like to post the following article:

Common Sense: Helping You Sell Your Furniture on Craigslist
http://www.authorpalace.com/internet/tools-and-resources/free-stuff/common-sense--helping-you-sell-your-furniture-on-craigslist.html

It seems as if most people have forgotten how to use their common sense; either that or they just don't have any or don't care. Either way, if you want to use Craigslist.org to make money selling your old home furniture, use common sense before you list your couch or whatever it is you are selling. Why? Because common sense goes a long way.

For example:

No one cares about your custom-made dining room table. In fact, the only two people in the entire world who do care are you and the jerk who overcharged you to get that table customized (wait he doesn't care anymore because he already got your money, so it is down to you). Custom-made furniture only means something to the person who ordered it. To everyone else, it is just another dining room table.

Do not list your furniture on Craigslist until you are actually ready to part with it. This is common when people are getting ready to move. They want to be prepared, so they offer their old bookcase for $5 on Craigslist. A seller gets all excited as it is exactly what they wanted, but they are mad as heck because they can't come and get it for another week. Listen, if you have a really good item to sell on Craigslist and are selling it for a fair price, it likely won't even last 24 hours on Craigslist anyways, so wait.

No one is going to believe you paid $6,000 for a designer couch. Why? Because if you did you sure as heck wouldn't be selling it on Craigslist. For $6,000 everyone is going to rightfully assume you would keep that couch until it was literally standing on its last leg (meaning you would be lucky to get rid of it for free). Don't try and pull a huge number out of nowhere just to make yourself look good or to try and get more money. Sorry, but it won't work.

Another reason why it is important to not inflate your price on Craigslist is because buyers are smart. Don't make the mistake of assuming Craigslist buyers are stupid because most are anything but. You might be surprised to hear that they know how to perform a standard internet search just like you. Guess what this means? It means that they also know how to price compare. So, that TV stand you are selling on Craigslist for $200, the buyer can tell within minutes that they can mosey on down to Wal-Mart and buy the SAME thing for only $100. By the way, if your buyer had a temporary lapse of judgment and decided not to price compare until after buying the item, don't think you are in the clear either; expect some hate mail.

Never, never, and I really mean never list your furniture for sale on Craigslist without including a picture. So, you don't have a digital camera? Ask a friend, your brother or sister, or better yet go knock on your neighbor's door. Don't use not having a digital camera as an excuse. There are thousands of other couches listed on Craigslist with pictures included. Buyers will just go to them instead. After all, you may be selling a nasty couch covered in stains that isn't even worth the trip to see. On the other hand, you may be selling a like-new couch for an amazing price, but no one will ever know.

A place to call our own

We got it! We've put down a deposit, inspection went well....we now have a house!!! :) So excited! A little over a week till move in day!!!!

(see last post for more details!)

House Hunters

Its kind of strange when real life echos all those reality house hunting TV shows. As much as I am  excited to be looking at houses, its kind of the last big indicator of growing up. Wait...rewind...yes. We are looking at houses. Yes its  bit early considering we are not getting married until May, and Paul is in a lease until April...but its a buyers market right now and interest rates are at all time lows so we thought we would take a gander and just see what is out there. However we were not planning on finding anything that we loved and that met our very  low budget...but our awesome realtor pulled through and found a house that's EVERYTHING we could want and is one of the cheapest we have looked at yet!!!So all the sudden the casual seeing what is out there is put on Fast Forward.....to see if we can actually get the approval and get the place!!! Its a daunting task, especially since we know that at that price the house won't be available for very long!! Hoping that everything goes well this week and the mortgage broker can help us make it work. If so we could have a house before Christmas!!! And get to face the bittersweet task of home ownership, and growing up. 

Positive Adoption Langauge

 Language in Adoption. 

Being adopted, I didn't really think of the impact of language in a systemic way as judgement, but now that i am older and look back, it does have a huge impact on how that child views themselves. I remember when i was younger people would as if i knew my real mom. I remember thinking that was such a strange question, what could you possible mean my real mom...as opposed to my fake mom? Both my mom's are quite real...neither of them are ghosts or figments of my imagination. This list from http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/pdf/PositiveLanguage.pdf is a tool for you to rethink your own language around adoption to be more child friendly and less judgmental.

Positive Language                     Negative Language
Birth parent                                                                Real parent
Biological parent                                                        Natural parent
Birth child                                                                 Own child
My child                                                                   Adopted child; Own child
Born to unmarried parents                                         Illegitimate
Terminate parental rights                                            Give up
Make an adoption plan                                             Give away
To parent                                                                  To keep
Waiting child                                                             Adoptable child; available child
Biological or birth father                                             Real father
Making contact with                                                  Reunion
Parent                                                                       Adoptive parent
Inter-country adoption                                                Foreign adoption
Adoption triad                                                          Adoption triangle
Permission to sign a release                                       Disclosure
Search                                                                      Track down parents
Child placed for adoption                                          An unwanted child
Court termination                                                      Child taken away
Child with special needs                                            Handicapped child
Child from abroad                                                     Foreign child
Was adopted                                                             Is adopted