Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Show Me The Money!

Forty count pack of diapers, $11. Five pack refill of wipes, $11 . Watching your newborn grow before your eyes, priceless.

So, is the American dream owning a home or spending time with your child. Maybe both? All I know is that I'm diggin' this little venture thus far. One problem. It doesn't pay that well... or anything. I have been attempting to find a way to make some "diaper cash" while tending to our little one and have yet to discover the best way.

I have tried a few things, but to no avail have yet to make any revenue. While cleaning out the garage one weekend I came across some items I new I should just part with and decided to take some pics and put 'em online. This is frustrating, especially for myself, because I tend to hate people. That's right. Truth be told. I can't stand getting a call from a foreigner, only to run in circles trying to figure out what is being said and what is being understood... I just have to hang up at a certain point. Then you have the jerks that call for the details on an item they saw an ad for. Huh! Read the ad and find those details. But, worse yet is the character who calls to set a time for a visit and never shows or even answers when called upon to see what is going on. It gets worse yet. It has only happened once, but this ass actually showed up, made an offer, which we agreed upon and said he would return the next day at this time with this person la la la. So, when that time came and he was AWOL, I called and got this long story and he rescheduled to the next day... and did the same exact thing. Sorry loser. Onto the next guy. People are ridiculous and have absolutely no consideration of others. The bright side is that sometimes the good person does follow through and it all works out. I just hate the B.S. along the way.


In the past month and a half I have found a few ways to make some cash and still have the ability to chill with Grace. With some of these ideas I am still waiting for results. I have seen magazines saying "make thousands working from home". If you look into that you'll be hard pressed to find any ideas of how to work from home with a little one strapped to you. These ideas will take that into account.

  • Sell your junk or unneeded items, as mentioned above, whether it be a garage sale or classified ad or even a grocery store flier.


  • Cash in all your loose pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Sure you're not making money, but at least it's in a more spendable form. It adds up quick.


  • Cash for cans. Scrap metal in general can be had for free. Some people will even pay to have it removed. Do you have beer drinking friends? Give 'em a pale for their cans. Look for junk ovens and other appliances in classifieds and take it away. Now, I'm not saying to be one of those dirtbags "stealing" peoples gutters and riffling through dumpsters but that's your call.


  • Sell Avon. I have a friend who does it. I know nothing about it. Really... it's a friend!


  • Do you have a camera? Sell stock photos. I could go in depth on this but there is so much material out there so just google it. I have been using istockphoto and it hasn't really paid off. Kinda a pain in the butt. I have learned a few things though. Give it a shot. Maybe it will pay off for you.


Crafts. From birdhouses to knitting. What's your hobby? Sell framed photos if you like playing with your camera. Make wind chimes. Knit scarves. Some crafts are fun to do with the kids given they are at that age. Enter a crafts show to show it off.



  • Write. Build a book, write an article, or even blog. You never know what it may turn into.


  • Turn your past occupation into a gig if it will fit. You may have to work after hours. If you did accounting you could do something I'm sure. If you did something not possible to do around a baby you could always do it when mama gets home or even on the weekends... if you have the time.

  • Do you have a green thumb? If your garden is getting too large, if that's possible, divide your plants up and sell them at a fraction of the cost a garden center would.


  • Try throwing a bake sale. Never done it. Except in church. May work though... and I'm sure the kids would have fun too considering thet're old enough.
Regardless how limited you are, there are still opportunities out there. Again... something is better than nothing.


On a slightly different note, today is/was the 7th anniversary of the attacks against the USA. My hats off to you... all of you. R.I.P.

































































































































Monday, September 8, 2008

What'd I Get Myself Into?

Just over 4 months old.

Well, I am about fed up with Comcast's internet service as well as their customer service. Grr!Besides that, all is well and I am really beginning to worry about what's to come. Our little munchkin has taken my glasses off, pinched me repeatedly, and is grabbing things at random. Sure she doesn't know, but that's what worries me. What happens when she realizes how to throw things?

So, now that things are progressing as they should, I can't help but think of the stairs, knives, table corners, tools laying around (all Dani's of course), and the dreaded skull and cross bones under the sink. Baby proofing, less naps, and way more activity (from the baby that is). Too much to watch out for, yet I honestly cannot wait. A little person wobbling around on her own, speaking crazy talk more than she does already, eating rocks (trying), more and more giggles, ticklish toes, food... the real thing... or one step closer. As messy as it will be I am really looking forward to "helicopters" and "airplanes" and the swatting them away as they're landing. Too funny. At least the first few times.

Grace had her 4 month checkup a few days ago and we got the news we were so excited to hear. Onto cereal and then baby foods. Cool. Too bad the doc said I must wait a bit lonfer for my pilot's liscence. Upon Dani's arrival home from getting the cereal, I found that my lovely wife was way more excited about baby food than I was as she had grabbed two of everything. Two sweet potatoes, two beans, two of this and two of that. We can't even give her that stuff for a month or so. Were the floods coming... Armageddon maybe? I thought she jumped the guns a little until the rains came for four days straight. Just nature tough.

The first feeding was very interesting. The look alone said a million. I don't believe that she was too impressed as the looks of wonder and confusion quickly turned to disgust and distaste. Then came the liquid vitamin. Woe! Not good at all. In goes the spoon at out comes the mixture. I'd say maybe 50% of what went in made it own the hatch. She took it well for the most part and actually began to figure it out the next time around.