Wow, where did that year go?

Today I've had my first comment, thank you so much Melissa, and realised it's been over a year since my last blog post. Wow, where did that year go! Such a lot has happened this past year. Sadly my husband's sister's grandson, baby Rory, passed away in May last year from SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). It was very very sad, they are wonderful parents and we were all devastated.

Sadly my Mum also passed away in May this year. We thought she was improving so it came as a massive shock to get a phone call from the hospital at 5.30am and arrive to be told that she had already died.  No one tells you how hard it is organising the funeral and dealing with finances etc at such an emotional time. My husband and I already have Wills but as a result of this experience we are now planning our funerals.  Once Mum's funeral and everything was done we went on holiday to Madeira, which was a great help. I had peace and quiet to morn and read a few books, one of which I highly recommend and wish I had read earlier called Final Gifts by Maggie Callanan & Patricia Kelley. I found it very comforting and realised some things which I would not have done had I not read this book. If you are in the medical profession or have a close sick relative I highly recommend you read it as it could help you and them .

As you can probably imagine as a hoarder managing Mum's personal belongings has been a long drawn out process. Fortunately she did not have loads of belongings but for years she saved all her diaries, hundreds of photos and birthday, Christmas and get well cards.  Many of which I had hand made and given to her over the years. I didn't know this but now know where I got my hoarding tendencies! As the eldest daughter and card maker my Dad has given me all her cards. Not sure what to do with the cards at the moment but can't part with them. What has been very helpful is making a memory scrapbook of Mum's life in the week leading up to her funeral.  Although the book was incomplete I took it along to the wake and it was passed from table to table and was well received as I think it gave people something to talk about. I scanned all the photos, many borrowed from my sister and brother, and used the scanned photos for the memory book which I will give to Dad when completed.   I think he has also found  it helpful as he visits me every day and often will bring a photo or two and ask for this to be added to the book. 

On a happier note we were blessed with another grand daughter, Maigen in August last year. So we now have two beautiful grand daughters Evie 2 and Maigen whose 1 on 5th August. We are celebrating her first birthday next weekend at a local hall. To keep the cost down we will be organising the food so we have been busy planning.


Will find out how to upload some photos for you tomorrow!

Love Kathyx

Later.....

I spent a few hours reviewing how best to set up a charity Ebay site.  Looks like the way I wanted to achieve this is simply not possible. Appears that Ebay only want you to have one private account to prevent illegal shilling (bidding on your own or other known auctions to inappropriately increase bid values).  Fortunately Ebay make it very easy to sell online and donate whatever percentage you wish from 10% to 100% to the charity of your choice.  So I decided to use my current Ebay name, averyka. The charity I wished to support is Children's Hospice South West, who have already registered with Ebay.  They have offered tremendous support to my nephew and his family who are currently going through a very difficult period. 
Ebay offer links to all the major charities, over 5,000 charities are listed, and if your chosen charity is not there help is offered to get it registered.  With just a few clicks of the mouse I set up a template.  This means that next time I list a similar item it will be a much quicker process.  Simple.  So simple that I have already listed 2 items today. I wanted to donate 100% but the system does not allow you to take into consideration postage and MissionFish's (Ebay's charity partner) costs.  If you clicked 100% then MissionFish would deduct 100% of the sale proceeds plus their fees 3 weeks after the auction closed.  So in my case, with very low value items, and roughly 50% postage costs I would be out of pocket.  Hence I went for the 50% donation option to ensure that all my costs are covered. I can always donate a higher percentage when my goods are higher value.

I've now set myself 3 tasks today:
       1 - Make my daughter's 23rd Birthday Card
       2 - Take some "before" photos of the mess so I can upload these to this
             blog and check my progress!
       3 - Identify the first batch of goods to be auctioned on Ebay

Until tomorrow....in the meantime get busy preparing your first batch of goodies to sell on Ebay. I will detail how to do this next weekend.  If you are more experienced and already have an Ebay account then just go and take some photos and place your auctions.

Turning Point

This morning has been a major turning point, a big right hand turning point!  It's my daughter's 23rd birthday and I feel so guilty, as a card maker, that I have not made her a birthday card, yet I have a room full of card making materials but I can't work there due to the mess.  The caravan, which was meant to resolve this problem, as a fresh working and sorting area, is again full of boxes and stuff. I can just about walk in let alone work there!   However, it's crazy to have a craft room that I can't work in and I haven't even made a card for my youngest daughter's birthday.  I'm ashamed of myself! My husband and family have suffered enough and its time for me to change, take action and to stop procrastinating.  This morning I decided to start this new blog to help me track my progress and to hopefully help others in the same predicament.  I have a real problem in throwing out things with a value, I hate waste, so I plan to sell these items on Ebay and 100% of the funds will go to charity.  I have my own Ebay site, averyka, with 100% positive feedback, so you can check me out here, but as this is linked to my personal bank accounts I plan now to open a new charity bank account and start selling anything I can on a new Ebay site called Hoarders Gems (hopefully this site name is available, if not I will post the name chosen later).  I will look at ways to create the "how to" so you to can do the same and support a charity of your choice or create some funds to fulfill a wish for yourself or someone close to you. I think this will provide extra motivation to keep me and hopefully you going.  I'm off now to tip toe through the craftroom mess to try and select some materials to complete my daughters birthday card (when she's out this afternoon) and open a new charity bank account and Ebay site, Bye for now Kx