Awesome Yard Saler

I realized I'm an awesome yard saler (yard sale seller?).

Or maybe I just happened to go to crappy ones today. Well, it's Labor Day weekend, so prolly the professional yard salers are all taking the weekend off.

I thought it was normal to put basic price tags on things.
Like "Everything in this box 25 cents." And definitely for big ticket items.

Of course if you don't have price tags, you can change the price on a whim. Set a general price you'd be happy with, and figure it'll be negotiated down. There's no point in setting high prices that people won't want to take your junk anyway. The point of a yard sale isn't to make money, it's to get rid of junk.

And then the mess.
It might be a lot of hassle, but things w/ small parts should be baggied together. And it'd be good to give a little wipe to get rid of the dust. Obviously you're sorting through your junk to determine if you're gonna keep, toss or sell, right?

Cleaner looking things fetch better money yo.
And couple of cheap things baggied together is all more appealing too.

Clothes should be organized too.
1. Hang the pricier clothes (like coats/jackets, dresses) on a hanger, preferrably on those portable coat racks.

2. Toss t-shirts into plastic bins by price. The 25 cent bin, the 50 cent bin, the $1 bin. (Of course I set my t-shirts at 25 cents each, which seems to be a lot lower than what most poeple sell them for... but if your other option is to donate to Goodwill, you can get rid of a lot of shirts at 25 cents)

3. Jeans are really the only thing that can be laid down on the ground (on top of a mat or sheets, please) and people would be willing to buy.

So I went to 7 yard sales today.
The one in Beverly Hills was a no show (unless I just couldn't spot them). I was really looking forward to this one, cuz it's in a good neighborhood & said they'll have children's clothes & toys.

The two in Palms could have been better, but it was a mess. I did pick up two books for 50 cents each, altho they were having such a bad turnout, I probably could have negotiated down to 3 books for $1. But I'm not much of a haggler.

One in Culver City was meh. They were selling brand new blankets, so they might have a store somewhere? The other one had clothes lined up nicely, but too small for Popo. And awfully low selection... Like they have a yard sale every other weekend w/ a few new things every time.

The fundraiser one for special needs children was a big big mess, but I think it can't be helped b/c they just get a lot of donations & can't figure out a way to organize them all. Too bad the clothes were directly on the floor, and it was too hot for me to dig around. They had a few good toys, but the noise was too loud for me to tolerate at home.

And the one around the block was organized, but didn't have anything I was looking for.

Maybe it was a bad weekend, or the location is bad.
I might venture out to the Santa Monica area one of these days.

Freebies: Zyrtec

I haven't been on the Walmart freebie page in a while, so I went to check it out.

And they have Zyrtec samples!
Highly recommended for those with allergies.
It only worked 50% on Kurosaki for me, though.

Go get.

Oh, I also requested Rachael Ray's dog food sample.
Not that Koge is a dog, but she eats dog food. And human food.

New TV Season, Yay!

Being a TV junkie, I welcome the new TV season.
I wouldn't be so bored if we had cable, but Sat's not going for it. Especially during the off season. Of tennis, of course.

I watched a little bit of Heroes yesterday. Got bored & started playing Chocobo.

Dee said How I Met Your Mother was on last night. Barney's in love with Robin? Ewww. Ted proposed to his girlfriend? Who's he dating now? She hasn't watched Star Wars? See! There are plenty of geeky girls who haven't watched Star Wars!

Today was all about L&O SVU for the Yama sisters.
Sasami opted for Fringe. We watched the first episode w/ Dave & it was kinda gross.
Vu said to watch Fringe on hulu & watch Korean drama instead.

Tomorrow... Criminal Minds & Lipstick Jungle?
We'll just look forward to Survivor.

PS. My sinus infection (as diagnosed by Sasami's co-worker) is slowly getting better. My ears stopped popping after I took two doses of Sudafed. I forgot to take it tonight, though. But I still have a lot of mucus.

Mini Chocolate Cornet

I've been getting random hits on my chocolate cornet photo on Flickr.

I didn't realize until I was working on BEI's titles that らきすた has a thing about chocolate cornets. I really don't know how it relates to the show (probably the main character likes it?), but ヲタmust be searching for it on Google or something.

Anyway, I went to Marukai Pacific Market today to buy some 差し入れ forじゅるる's brother who was moving. I went to the bakery to buy some food for ourselves, when I saw a plastic container with miniature versions of their 菓子パン. One of them was a mini chocolate cornet.


Look how tiny it is!


It tasted like a normal chocolate cornet. Except there's less creme compared to the amount of bread, so it's not as sweet. I think I like this ratio much better.

Freebies: Del Taco, Baby Wipes, Monitor Wipes & Cat Food

Once again, I'm digging around for free stuff.

Here's one for the boys:
Del Taco - two free chicken soft tacos + a shake for your birthday
If my birthday didn't pass, I'd sign up for this for my free strawberry shake...

I also requested for free baby wipes (for じゅるる's brother, who's having a baby soon), free monitor wipes, free cat food (for Koge), free cereal & free feminine products.

I forgot to mention that I started getting the freebies in the mail. Apparently Dave laughed at me for getting the freebies... what's wrong with getting a box of Multigrain Cheerios? Or doggie snacks for my cat? Or a packet of Benefiber? I should take photos of them next time.

New Ralphs Card

じゅるるand I went to Ralphs, and we were greeted by a young woman at a table. She asked if we wanted to sign up for the new Ralphs card.

It seems like Ralphs is getting rid of the old card system, and starting a new one. It's the same Ralphs Club savings, plus you get points for shopping there. And something about getting a gift certificate when you accrue points.

So I looked it up.
It's $1 = 1 point. 500 points = $5 gift certificate. $5 for spending $500... not so bad.

They have four different colors to choose from.


じゅるるpicked pink, because it'll stand out.
He gave me the spare key ring card, but I told him Sat would want me to use her card b/c she'll want the gift certificate. I guess they could fight over my purchase points.

PS. They were giving away cookies, candy bars & water, but we didn't take any. I should have taken the bottle of water...

Freebies: Multi-Grain Cheerios

My weekly sweepstakes addicts anonymous mailer came today.

Today's hit items?
Multi-Grain Cheerios from Walmart.
Energy saving lightbulbs (2 of them!) from Energy Watch.com

I also requested for wild flower seeds (for bees), multi-surface wipes (for furniture) and feminine wipes. TMI!

Too bad I don't drink coffee or want a skanky tank top from Wet Seal.

Quickie Car Wash

I had a lunch date with A-san & K-san from Japan, so I decided to get a quick car wash... cuz my car is covered with dust & ickiness. Ichigo's been too busy moving to get my car washed at the cheap Korean places in K-town.

I went to a Shell station nearじゅるる's, since they have a self-serve car wash stand.

I filled up a little bit of gas & got the basic wash. Six dollah.

It's been a long time since I used the self-serve car wash stand, so I listened to every sentence said by the machine. With all the excitement, I forgot to take a photo of the machine or the car wash stand entrance.

But I did take photos while I was inside!

Soap sud spray


And the giant brushes


If I had a Japanese blog about life in the US, I'd write all about this...

My car is now semi-clean.
I didn't drive slow enough through the blow drier at the end, so I have white spots here and there. But better than having a dusty car.

Parking Ticket... Tricked!

I got a parking ticket this morning.

I could have sworn the side street's street cleaning day was Thursday, but the sign said Wednesday.

But if the main street is also on a Wednesday, where is everyone supposed to park?

I was pretty certain street cleaning was on Thursday though. So I took a a close look at the sign.

There are new "Wednesday" stickers on the signs.

I think the city is trying to cut costs by having street cleaning in the same area at the same time, so they don't have to pay extra staff hours. And maybe to save gas.

At least it's only $35. If it were Santa Monica, it'd be $60.

Sweepstakes: InTouch Magazine, Gatorade

Three posts in a day? Yes, this is what happens when I'm working from home. Another reason not to become a freelancer. I spend all day writing blogs (that's part of my job!) and looking up sweepstakes to enter.

So Sweepstakes Addicts Anonymous pointed me towards several of the enter-once-per-day sweepstakes.

I don't bother returning to these sites, but InTouch Magazine has almost 40 sweepstakes on one site, so I might happily go there daily to enter.
In Touch Magazine's Win It

I know it's a tabloid magazine, but they have a one-click feature that will let you enter automatically every day. It's too easy? Well, I'm not really expecting to win.

And Gatorade.com's Out of this World sweepstakes. I guess you can pick your $75k ultimate out-of-this-world experience. But don't you need several millions to go out into space?

Oh no! I'm getting sucked into these sweepstakes pages.
I'm supposed to run errands today too. Time to switch back into maid mode & go buy milk, kitchen trash bags & bread.

Freebies: Shampoo

I got the weekly newsletter from the sweepstakes addicts website. That's not their official name, but that's what I like to call them.

I never checked out their freebies section, but it said "Free Pantene Shampoo" so I had to click.

Yes, I requested my free shampoo pack.
Free Pantene Pro-V Expressions

There's lots of free things out there. I don't need all of them, but here are some interesting ones.

Free Pup-Peroni snacks for dogs. I'm guessing Koge (cat) would eat this, so I requested free samples.

I thought of Ards when I saw the free walking journal. It's only for businesses, who want to motivate their employees to become healthy & walk more. Maybe Sofie can order it for Ards.

And a free colorectal cancer awareness pin! It's actually a very cute blue star-shaped logo (at least I'm assuming that I'm getting this logo as a pin)


Isn't Katie Couric an advocate of colon cancer screening? I think her husband died from it.

Sweepstakes Life: Random Stuff for May

I was watching Ellen today & two of the viewers got a free vacation to Hawaii courtesy of Embassy Suites.

So I went searching for my own free Hawaiian vacation.
I didn't find any, but decided to sign up for random sweepstakes.

1. Malt.com - trip to Scotland
2. LetsTalkColorado.com - trip to Colorado
3. Monster.com - MLB All Star Game trip
4. Macys.com - Tasso Elba wardrobe (mens' clothing)
5. BabyUniverse.com - gift certificate to baby clothing stores
6. Ghiradelli.com - trip on Amtrak

Hm, none of them are that interesting.
I'll look for more when I'm bored in June.

Pizza Hut Grill Sweepstakes

I'm a sucker for sweepstakes.
It's probably because I watched the entire run of Nasubi's Life on Dengeki Shounen TV series.

So today's sweepstakes.
Pizza Hut's grill-an-hour sweepstakes

I didn't win today.
And they said I have to come back again tomorrow.

I usually forget, so I thought if I link from my blog, I might visit more frequently.