Online Selling

I have been torpid for days… well, my body that is. I’ve been contemplating if I should jump into the bandwagon of online selling, hence, my failure to keep up my promise to this blog.

Lately I’m being lured into this industry because of how a lot of sellers profit from this. But, the best thing about this is that you are your own boss. I already have an idea on what to sell. I just need to do a little more feasibility study on this one. I know it’ll be hard at first. But, hey, that’s the principle behind every successful business, right? You must be willing to take risks and chances. For a budding entrepreneur it’ll probably cost me a lot. I’m not only speaking of the capital that I’ll be investing but as well as the headaches that will surely come with this. I’ve read horror stories about bogus buyers and joy reservers (jargons being used in online selling) and it somehow freak me out. Although, in hindsight, what they truly lose is their charm and patience when faced with these inconsiderate negotiators. Yep, negotiators since I think that there is truly no intention of purchasing the items, otherwise they would’ve lived up to their promise or if they changed their mind they should at least be mindful of the sellers’ feelings. All they did was waste the time and the energy of the seller/s who has been patiently dealing with them and awaiting for any payment that they expect should be made when due date comes.

Now, the probability of me diving into this is high, unless, I succumb to second thoughts. Questions running inside my head are:

1: Will I be able to fully commit myself once the demand increases?

2: How do I deal with complaints if the item/s is lost in transit (given that items are to be shipped)?

3: How will I answer to any last minute cancellations?

4: Can I do leg work according to the customers’ terms considering that I have no sense of direction?

5: Do weekends count as business days?

and toughest I guess is: 6: Am I really ready for this?

My husband who remains the pillar in my decision-making gives me the go signal. I’ve never really felt him discourage me once. He has sat through to each of my light bulb moment and has been decent enough to rationally interrogate me of my future project.  And that’s what scares me now. What if it goes downhill? Will my ego be able to accept defeat?

Well, it kinda makes me sick now just thinking about it. Normally, it takes a while for me to recover. Normally, I sulk in self-pity. Normally, I withdraw. Things might get rough and this venture may fail, but I know I still have my husband to see me through because normally, I would never hear him say ‘I told you so.’

Oh well, let’s just see how things pan out in the days to come. Hopefully, when I have mustered enough courage to grapple with these impediments I might be all over the online market soon. *wink*

photo grabbed here

Laudry Overdose

Just last week I promised to do the laundry at least twice in a week. However, I would always gravitate to my lappy and the tv as soon as I awoke. House cleaning is really not the first thing I have in mind every morning. So, I don't look forward to it unless I'm in the mood or want to keep myself preoccupied.

Now, yesterday I started doing the laundry since a week's soiled clothes have already piled up and I ended today. Oh, no... tomorrow since I still have a few towels and bedsheets left to scrub.Darn! My spine's already aching and my hands and arms won't stop acting up. Husband said to just have it sent to a laundromat at least it'll save me the trouble of the routines of laundry, but I'm meticulous to my soiled clothes and his and pragmatic 'cause it'll probably cost too much. Why bother when I have a washer and drier, right? Maybe when I get sick and can't do the laundry (which never happened since we got married years back), then I'll have it serviced 'cause I know that even if hubby offers to do it himself, he'll most likely end up disappointing me. He's best on the couch watching animal shows on Discovery or Nat Geo channels rather than duplicating my techniques on doing the laundry. Don't get me wrong he has other more endearing qualities than helping me with the chores and one of them is fixing broken things. Like this afternoon when my drier suddenly screamed a horrible noise, he was quick on his toes to check up on me... errr, the drier. And yep, almost a year of being the drier that it should serve me, I almost fell on the floor to conclude that it has already started giving up on me. Please, not yet. So, to prove my husband's worth in the DIY department, he rushed to his tool box and extracted a couple of tools some of which I've only seen for the first time. A few screwing (no pun intended) here and there and my drier is good as new... well, somewhat.

I realized afterwards that had it not been for the handyman that he is I'd probably end up squeezing the remaining clothes which can worsen the condition of my aching hands and arms. Well, at least we both served our worth. He might not be the perfect candidate to be a substitute in my absence or in my unpredictable future demise, at least he remains my perfect handyman. And so to end this charade with my spin drier, I will have myself some coffee while I rest my back and catch up on The Good Wife.

A Pricey Happiness

The other day I woke up to the sound of my beeping phone, several reminders that I received a text message. Still groggy at 2 am I found an alarming message from my husband who’s at work. Said he’s feeling super low, shabby, and all over the place. What gives? He can’t even tell. To appease his low spirits I kept up with him until 3am exchanging texts filled with mixed contents… some made sense while the rest were just “ yeah, “ “I know,”  “it’s ok,” “ be strong,” and “you’ll be fine.” It’s like trying forcibly to make someone smile despite my inability to cheer myself at 3am. And finally, he said his goodnight again with the assurance that he’s already fine. Big smile, I worked wonders on him in just an hour!

The next day when he clued me in that he’s on his way home, there was a certain tone of merriment in his text message. I was relieved to know that the sourly husband is now Happiness personified with a capital H!

A knock on the door, hubby appeared, smile reached up from ear to ear. I almost felt like a mother after a child won an oratorical contest only this time the child became materialistic. He reached out from his pocket and showed me his new toy. Just when I thought I made magic happen, I instantly sunk at the sight of the culprit. A shiny, sleek, black Blackberry 8520 was held up in my face ready to be admired. My husband was bought and his happiness was expensive. But, who am I to argue, he brings home the bacon and if it means rewarding himself from the stress of work then so be it. Besides, maybe it was about time he upgraded from his old touch phone to a fully functional and professional mobile phone.

My CTS

Christmas, New Year, birthdays, earthquakes, tsunamis, and a send-off to the airport went and I have not a single entry… nada! Going by the daily routines in my life as a housewife, left me neglecting the one thing that helps me sane… writing. So, this 2011 I hope to keep up with the commitment I made to myself, one entry a day. A little late, I know, but better late than never as the old cliché goes.

It could be hard for me at times because my overzealous mind wanders all around the living room floor… overzealous yet devoid of any thoughts and ideas. Finding what to do next was always an easy task, though, so I wonder why I stopped. Well, not really stopped, maybe, a better term would be a temporary froze-off.

You see, my hands always got in the way. Haha, seize the humor for it is more painful to enumerate the causes that delayed my resurrection. And as of this writing, my hands together with my shoulders are acting up ageyn… as the Brits would put it. I found out through thorough research and endless electrical pains that shoot from the tip of my middle fingers up to my shoulder blades that I actually have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Unfortunately for me, both hands, arms, and shoulder blades have started to react to the symptoms. Although, the perpetual nagging of my husband to see a doctor and have a more credible physician (in comparison to me) examine my pains have not transpired yet, I may still be actually wrong. But, looking at the signs and symptoms and waking up at night because it was excruciatingly difficult to dismiss the pain---which is again another and more disturbing sign that this needs treatment, my findings are more likely to be accurate.

 

This is not really the first time that symptoms started showing up. Years ago, I relied on my own wits and decided that the occasional tingling pain on my index, thumb, and middle fingers were just your typical numbness when the hands and wrists are tired from a long period of a tedious or repetitive work. But, through further reading I found out that the people who are more at risk of CTS are electricians, chefs, secretaries (endlessly typing/encoding reports and/or taking notes from their bosses), construction workers, sewers, even Julianne Moore joined in the picture, and then HOUSEWIVES!. Does this mean that my condition worsened from staying at home and doing household chores? The years spent at the office and busying myself with crafting and manual writing (which I still prefer most of the time) and spending an enormous amount of time in front of a computer is already taking its toll on me. But, no way will I credit my being a housewife a major contributor to this condition! Oh, maybe parts of it. *wink*

Armed with a new medical term and fear that my CTS may get really worse than better, I walked myself to youtube.com for self-help videos on how to perform a self-therapy. I was skeptic at first. But, following the instructions from this bald muscled-man everyday since my discovery of his videos, I’d say there were improvements. These exercises may not be much and I still need to see a physiatrist, also to provide a good physical therapist referral, but, hey at least it allows me to sleep through the night.