Tree Street Yard Sales

Now anyone that is even close to me totally knows where I live in TN lol

We got there at 6:30 today. Left at 11:00 and that is a new record! Basically its a ton of yardsales on 4 main streets and a bunch of little streets. This is my loot for this year:

Cool shell plaques from Kirklands that go with my other shell stuff (2 for $5). I eventually want my living room to be a beach theme, I am picking up pieces and parts when I catch them on sale. Also a cute little sing sign that can go anywhere (50 cents).


Hehe I've wanted one of these forever. It was still sealed when I got it ($3).


Osh KoshOveralls for the baby ($1) and a big shell for my flower bed (25 cents)


Retro tupperware ($1.50)

HA Do you see what I bought at a YARD SALE? Yup, a "I climbed the Great Wall of China" t-shirt in the sealed bag. I guess now I don't have to buy anything when I'm there (cool shirt! did you get it in China? Na, I got it at a yard sale).


Thank you cards and first birthday invites, just 25 cents each. This lady has tons of Hallmark stuff every year for 25 cents. I got one 20 pack of thank you cards baby themed, 3 packs of 10 thanks yous and 3 packs of 10 invites to baby's first birthday (I so hope I get to use those!).



2 purses - I don't normally buy purses at yard sales, I'd rather spend $100 on just one that I carry for a couple of years until its worn out. But I really liked these. The top one is my favorite, I don't know who made it. The black one is a Fossil, I thought I could take that to China. ($3 each)





After the yardsales Mom and I wandered around a bit and ended up at the farmers market. I thought these were pretty so I took a picture. I didn't think this was bad for $2.25, the little orange things are like bell peppers but sweeter. I am going to use the ripe tomatoes mom gave me (and a bright shiny green one), the red, green, yellow peppers, the jalapeno, onion and lime juice and make salsa and make some yummo tacos for tonight!

A purple bell pepper - didn't know they had those!

I'm pooped - I going to take a nap now - bye!

Whew!

I about didn't sell my stock today. I reduced it to $45.75 and bought a lot more shares to make up for the fact quite a few were making .29 a share. I could of gotten a smidge more, but I was stressing. I wanted to sell it in the high 45's and rebuy on Monday in the low $45s then sell in the mids lol

Total bought - 336 - total profit for the day was $131.04 yahoo!

Ok, so that starts me thinking... I did this entirely on my margin account. I guess since I am no longer new my margin resets like it is suppose to. I used Etrade's $ to buy around 11am then 4-5 hours later sold it all and paid back Etrade. But kept my $131.04.

With my cash and my margin, I can buy 500 shares one day. If those sell then my cash is locked for 3 business days but my margin resets itself 100%!

So now, let's pretend I'm able to flip the stock for 40 cents every day. I don't worry about the difference between the sell price on day one compared to the buy price on day 2. You only make money on stock when it's sold.

Day 1 - 500 shares - $200
Day 2 - 366 shares (remember cash is locked) - 146.40
Day 3 - 366 shares - 146.40
Day 4 - 366 shares - 146.40
Day 5 - cash is freed up! - 500 shares - $200

That is more than I make in a week at my real job. And I know I can't do this everyday but if I can do it just a couple of times a year....a girl can dream :)

Me Updates

I apologize to the 3 people that read my blog. So depressing I know. I've not heard of anything being set up relief wise for Costa Maya. About the only thing I can do it send money to it when I find it.

Now on to me, because duh, that is what this thing is about lol

I think this sparkly sums it up...

Carnival stock was so low, I decided it was time to go ahead and get my 100 shares. For those of you who aren't aware, they give $50 OBC (on board credits, its like ship cash for drinks, tips, pictures etc) for 5 days cruises and $100 for 7 day cruises. I have 2 7-day and 2 5-day (the 6 counts like a 5) booked and almost all paid for. So on a $4400 investment, I "made" $300 first thing.

So then I started thinking. I'd someday like a larger house but the things I'd like to upgrade will run $600 a month in mortgage. I know some of you are thinking holy cow!...I'd love to have a $600 mortgage! But I guess since I've been living mortgage free now for 32 months (and how sad is this...I don't know the day I paid off my mortgage but I do know it was 3 days after coming back on the Inspiration so I head over to my Carnival account and see that I sailed Jan 2005 lol) and suddenly the thought of having any payment and having to pay loan fees just to get the house, doesn't sit right with me.

Sooo what are my options? Either marry into money (haaa haaa haaaaaaaaa) or make more. I already work full time and with the kiddo coming in the next few months, well I missed out on that window (and shame on me, I could of really of earned quite a bit during all this time).

So as I am pondering this on the way to work (best thinking in the car) I started thinking about my 100 shares of Carnival. It's a wiggly stock, goes up and down by $1-2 every day. I got it! Buy low, and sell just a little higher!

As I log into my work PC, first thing I check my Etrade account (I know, I'm bad). Stock bought at my wanted price. For kicks...set it to sell at $1 more. It sold in 2 hours. I'm GOOD at this! lol

I had to set up a margin account and read up a little bit on what I was doing. Basically I use my cash to buy stock and it takes 3-5 days to get that "cash" back. So during that time I use my margin which is twice the amount of my cash balance. I am able to complete two margin transactions while the cash is making its way back (selling margin transaction number 2 pays off margin #1 and the cash pays off margin #2).

So I have been watching the market more than I need to and have decided that its all in the number of shares you have. My dad was nice enough to loan me a little bit so I could buy the original 100 and when I came into some other cash, zap- straight to Etrade!

So just for fun, I'll be tracking my day trading. Up to today, these are my totals. First transaction date was August 17th.

Cash I put in the account - $7500 (4400 to start)
Profit 1 on 100 shares - $100
Profit 2 on 136 shares - $176
Est profit 3 (today or Monday) on 176 shares - $137

My goal - new house! Maybe not cash out the account but to have enough in there so I feel comfortable going back into mortgage land.

I've also thought about totally redoing my house in it's layout and not buying anything new. I started looking at my backyard. My basement sticks up about 2 feet from the ground. About 10 more feet is buried. I have a large ditch between mine and my neighbor's yard that we both hate, it's hard to keep the weeds cleaned out and water collects there.

Sooooo imagine this. The back of the house is 35 feet long. Why not dig out my back yard and transfer the dirt to the awful ditch? I would need a 10 foot high retaining wall on the right side of the yard, about 15 feet long. The left side already has one! The back side might need a wall, but it would be low, like 2 feet. Building the 2 extra walls would allow me to turn my basement into a walkout daylight basement. I could put paver stones in the area and turn it into a patio off the basement. Eventually I'd put the master bedroom and bath down there, along with a family room and maybe another half bath. Upstairs I'd take that weird little front bedroom and turn half of it into stairs going down into the basement and the rest I'd build in an office so the space wouldn't be wasted. I'd open it up from the living room too. That would DOUBLE the size of my house.

Now the great question is, how much would this cost? I'd need someone with a backhoe to dig out and smooth the dirt. I need 150 SF in one wall and 70 SF in the second. I would need to take the existing windows and replace them. I would need a door section cut into the block. I would need pavers for the patio. I'd need water sealer for all the new block. I'd also need exterior concrete paint for the walls.

I am guessing 10K? I can build the short wall, do all the sealing and painting. I can replace the two windows and install the door after a professional cuts the block. I can lay the pavers. The big expense would be backhoe guy, the big wall and the hole cut for a door. What do you think? Doable?

Of course when I run this past a friend they comment - hmm - you could probably do the whole project for what you plan on dropping into that Camaro including the rooms and baths because you'd do so much of it yourself. DOH Darn you voice of reason!!

lol

If you all wouldn't mind to chant 46.24 several millions times for me today, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's my next sell price!

More pictures

The boards think that cruises to Costa Maya will be rerouted for 6-8 months to Belize or Rotan. I am guessing they can not tender with small boats because of the coral reef. I hope they figure out a way to bring the sand back, the shores look like all rock now.

More pictures. I am so glad I took 150 pictures that day, it might never been that way again.

This is the pier, May 2007. A cruise ship is about 1000 feet long if that gives you an idea to the sheer size of the Costa Maya pier. The Valor is on the left, the Legend on the right. If I had to guess I'd say the pier is 2000 feet long total.


Notice how long this pier is. Can you see the sections?



The pier leading into the touristy area.

What survived the storm.

6 sections. Out of how many? Just 6 made it.

To the right of the shopping area is a great resort called ChaChi.

This is ChaChi after Dean:

It's a true miracle that so many palms made it.

Remember this picture? It was one of my favorites. It is of the pool in the tourist shopping area right at the pier.


This is all that is left. The pool is on the bottom left corner of the picture, you can see it's outer curve. The square is where the pier met the shopping area.

And I know I've used this pic a lot but its one of the few with the lighthouse reference points, look all the way to the left.


Here is the lighthouse in May

Makes me so sad. These people had so little and they don't have the government assistance like we do. I wonder about the little Mayan women who sold me a woven belt for $5. They say that many tribes did not evacuate. Is she ok? I wonder about Barbara at the Cat's Meow. How is she? What about the guy from Nashville that sold those cool wrap shirts next to Barbara's place? What about the tile painter in the tourist shops? He created $5 works of art with just a 20 cent tile, a couple of bottles of paint and his fingernail.

So sad.

:(

Someone posted this on our cruise board tonight. On the top picture look at the ship and follow the dock to the left. Do you see the lighthouse?

Look all the way to the left..see the lighthouse too? :(


It's all gone :(

Just makes me want to cry

May 2007

August 2007

All because of this:

The Stock Market - things I have learned

1) When setting up an online account with Etrade, it will take 3-5 business days for your first deposit to go through. Unless you can wire it, if so, do it in the morning or you won't have time to trade that day.

2) Set up your account with a margin first thing. It takes 3-5 days after you sell your stock to get the money back into your account to buy something new. The margin is like a line of credit that you can spend during this transaction time.

3) Just because your Carnival stock goes up $1 in an hour, do not sell your shares even though it's your during your free commission month and its all profit. You will spend the rest day going oooohhhh why did I settle for $100? I could of made $115!

4) Ask IT to block Yahoo-Finance from your work PC first thing. It will make you more productive.

5) You will not be able to do after market trades for 7 days after you set up your account. Carnival dropped again at the price I wanted but I couldn't get it because I was too new.

6) Don't use Etrade.

Ok, I think that is it. Learn from me little ones, invest your $ wisely and have fun like me. I am going to be flipping Carnival stock around quite a bit. Wish me luck!

I feel the love, I've been tagged!

Julie tagged me!

FIVE THINGS I WAS DOING TEN YEARS AGO
1) Being married
2) Working at Disney
3) Living in Orlando
4) Loving living in Orlando
5) Being broke because Orlando is expensive

FAVORITE SNACK FOOD
1) Popcorn
2) Funyuns
3) Doritoes
4) Grapes
5) Bananas

FIVE SONGS I KNOW ALL THE LYRICS TO
1) Soul Meets Body
2) Wherever I May Roam
3) Let it Snow
4) Toxic (ya, feel bad for me)
5) Sunday Morning


FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE
1) Build a better house
2) Buy my mom a house that isn't on a hill
3) Buy my dad a house and hire someone to do lawn work
4) Buy new cars for me and my friends
5) Travel the world

FIVE BAD HABITS
1) Not exercising enough
2) Being messy
3) Not helping out around the house enough
4) Speaking before I think it through
5) Procrastination, see #2
(I totally stole all 5 of these from Lisa lol)

FIVE THINGS I LIKE TO DO
1) Cruise!!!
2) Plan out trips
3) Shop for baby loot
4) Thrift store/junk store shop
5) Hang out with my friends

FIVE THINGS I WILL NEVER WEAR AGAIN
1) my striped cocktail dress - the straps slip
2) Tapered jeans
3) turtlenecks
4) wool sweaters
5) anything that makes me look chuckier than I am :)

FIVE PEOPLE I TAG FOR THIS MEME
1) Angie
2) Kathy
3) Kim
4) Jennifer

(everyone else has already done this one lol)

Weekly Update

I've not logged into my blogger in forever and lookie, I've been tagged! I'll have to work on that a little later :)

I booked 7 of our 20 cabins for Jan and have a mix of new and old friends. It should be great, everyone is excited about the price and the destination. We will be roadtripping on Saturday then spending the night in in New Orleans for 2 nights. Monday we hop on the boat, Tuesday is our fun day at sea, Wednesday is Costa Maya, Thursday is Cozumel, Friday fun day at sea then back to shore on Saturday. We may spend Sat in New Orleans again, it just depends on what the group wants to do. I love the people are so excited, it really adds to the trip :)

We have 13 cabins left until the Friday after labor day if anyone wants to go :)

So after spending $500 on my and the baby's passage, I switched into frugal mode. I've been such a good child, taking my breakfast, lunch, snack and drinks to work in a little cooler. Many days I've not spent anything at work where my average is $10. I've not had an increase in my grocery bill either because I'm not wasting as much stuff. 90% home cooking is my goal!

The first big batch of stuff I made was a TON of spaghetti sauce. I used 2 pounds of zuchinni ($2), a bell peper the size of a softball (50 cents), a ton of dried mushrooms from the asian market ($1), a whole bag of celery ($1), 5 jars of Ragu ($1 a jar on sale, I thought that was good), a half jar of red bell peppers (from dollar tree, they are yummy- 50cents), 2 cloves of garlic (50 cents) and 3 pounds of reduced ground sirloin ($6). I also made a huge bag of rice noodles ($2) and 1.5 pounds of white rice (75 cents). Whew, $19.25 spent and a ton of sauce everywhere (because the rotten kitten likes tomatoes and she rolled around in the sink in the pot I made it in.). I got 12 quart size ziplocs and filled those up. They are very heavy on sauce which I like so it makes a big lunch or dinner for $1.60. Score!

Today I am heading to Blockbuster to cash in my last three online rentals for in store rentals, return a bag of stuff to TJ max from the nursery, return a bag of stuff to Ross from the nursery, run to the bank to deposit a rebate check (yay) and to do the $20 CVS deal. If you aren't a CVS follower, today is the last day you can get $20 of Kraft food and get a $20 ECB back. I have $9 in ECBS so I am investing another $11 that I'll keep rolling. You can also three free tubes of tooth paste this month :) I am trying not to buy anything but groceries this month and purge out stuff I don't need. Wish me luck!