Monday, February 15, 2010

George Carlin Talks About "Stuff"

i have stuff and stuff and stuff...now i'm selling it on e-bay! littlemarymixup is on e-bay!!

selling stuff!

big day today! i've begun the e-bay biz... so exciting for me...it's the perfect way for me to have a little "shop" of my own. i've been wanting that for so long. it's just that i've lived a life of retail and wholesale and banking sales....i love the retail life and don't love the saturdays. i know if it's your store...you love it. only, i know me and i would be crying over a missed lacrosse game or a day sailing at the beach....and the rent!

now, i have a little spot to sell vintage things that i love or the multitude of clothing still in the closet with tags. just that "stuff" again..."stuff" piles up and it's my quest to get it out....electric guitars, unmatched silver, a few little wedgewood cups i bought in london, old jewelry....just "stuff."

i can really appreciate the old george carlin standup routine where he talks about stuff. i remember a few years ago when i was invited to "parties" where one very excited and enthusiastic woman would be standing in a group of other women.....innocent, unsuspecting women, just happy to break up a routine week, some were there just to glug some vino....before i knew what was happening, i'd be all pumped up over some baskets made by hand from ohio! there would also always be one woman or more who not only collected the baskets but had met the president of the basket company....and had made suggestions that would be available in the new line. people would buy these billion dollar baskets and chatter about them for weeks.

until the next "party" where another chirpy voice would be singing a song about scrapbooks. everyone should have scrapbooks of their children....not just the 843,000 pics per day that i had taken to record everyday of our babies' lives since birth...and already proudly slipped them into fine leather photo albums! photo albums were pase'....your child would be deemed deprived if they weren't presented to the world one individual photo at a time, in 3d! there were beautiful papers and stickers and scissors and paper cutters and carry alls. it was a world that could be mine. it would bring out my creativity, it would be a keepsake for days to come! and, i could pay money and be welcomed at scrapbooking parties with other happy moms just like me. yikes! i had friends who scrapbooked. they were creative and fun....i was afraid to be a part of the cult.

some reasons worthy of mentioning...i was in between jobs...or "in the midst of a career change" depending how you look at it. my sweet cousin came to visit. we were planning to go to lunch. it was a great idea! i thought that would be nice...i was trying out the "ladies who lunch scene"!

it was a new world i was entering...and it wasn't the lunch bunch, it was finding out that my cousin was there to sell me mary kay cosmetics. she was giving me a free makeover. ooh, what fun. a little dab here, a swish of mascara there and oh, did i mention that she didn't want to just sell me a mascara or a lipstick. she was telling me the money to be made at mary kay. it was no joke...pink cadillacs were just the beginning...for just $100., i could become my own boss. talk about catchy...especially while i was unemployed. so, i promptly wrote the check, i got my very own kit engulfed in pink...i not only had a mascara...i was an entrepreneur. there would be sales meetings! structure. and then i went to a meeting. that's how far i got on that road to riches! i was scared off by another cult of women with puffy pink lips and cheery cheeks!

i have no shame. when i was in my 20s, with a very good job in sales, a great guy that i worked with did a similar bait and switch...this was the beginning of my long journey...down the sucker path. kevin, told me about this great business opportunity. if i just met him out in a newly invented town at a hotel, i could be included in a very special event that would be even better than my sales career. hmmmm, never one to turn away an oppoortunity that comes knocking on my door, i told kevin that i'd meet him after dinner.

this was an opportunity. it was the best of the best who would become better than the best. all i had to do was write a check or charge this start up kit and i'd be on my way......and it was no time before kevin was holding my (don't shriek!)$450. for a kit of nu skin. i was off on my way...until i realized that nobody ever heard of nu skin....and thanks to me, no one that i knew would ever hear of nu skin. before my check was cashed, my enthusiasm was lost. ever the optimist, i've been open to lots of exciting opportunities!

it seems that i need a 12 step program for 12 step businesses that will give me the life i deserve...a yacht, an island...whatever. i get moved in the moment. it's taken years, but i have slowly backed out of those little house parties. i would pay you not to invite me.

the last time i bought something at one of those parties...the pressure is intense...i came home with THE best apple slicer ever made...for about $20. i got out cheap and left tire marks in the driveway as i sped away!

it was a problem...not anymore. i've gone cold turkey. it was the candle party that did it. candles, on a beautiful fall night, i had abandoned my sweet family to sit through a candle seminar. candles for the fireplace, candles for the bathroom, the mantel, the bedroom...the woman was a happy piromaniac! i sat on a friends couch and i thought why on earth am i here listening to this woman extol the virtues of candles...and i just have to say no.i would say no. i did say no.no, no, no, no, no, no! and my life became my own....i was free.

so, i do have "stuff"....lots and lots...for a variety of reasons. i give stuff away, i donate stuff, i hand me down stuff......and now, "littlemarymixup" on e-bay
is where i'm selling stuff!
http://clothing.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=polo+skirt+size+2&_sacat=11450&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=polo+shirt+size+2&_osacat=11450