LEOPARD SKIRT--ULTIMATE STYLE ICON

OK!  We all know that I love love love eBay.

I also love love love leopard...

I have Tory Burch Leopard Revas (no I did not take them back Andrea)

I also have Leopard Keds

So the other day I came across a wonderful Leopard Skirt from Bloomingdales (how prophetic) on Ebay--the description says:

This is a gorgeous leopard print skirt by Patrick Christopher, purchased from Bloomingdales.  This is a great fall piece.  The fabric is:  82% rayon,  18% silk and is fully lined, 100% polyester.  It is a shiny, velvet-like texture.  The approximate measurements are:  waist - 16 1/2" across, lying flat,  length - 23" from waist to hemline. It has a back zip closure.  This was originally $178. at Bloomingdales.

I purchased this for a theme dinner at a corporate meeting and won't wear again.  I am doing some 'Fall Cleaning' and am listing some great items that are a fraction of their original purchase price.  Great opportunity to pick up some pre-owned clothing items.

This would look so cute with tights and combat boots (am I really 60??). Seriously, how could I resist...all this for $16.99 (a reduced-price yet).  I placed a bid, and as I am getting my pedicure, I get a notification on my phone that I have won the auction.  I immediately hit the buttons to pay for this auction.

I am checking my mail tonight and I get a "Thank you for your PayPal payment to MadKate1994."  I looked and thought--that cannot be.

MadKate1994 is my lovely niece Lauri's eBay account.  When I looked at the invoice in a size larger than my iPhone (ie postage stamp) there is a note that says: 

Cathi you ding dong I will send you the skirt you do not have to buy it.

What are the chances that two people from the same family would be attracted to the same skirt...or that randomly one would purchase it unbeknownest from the other. Did I mention that we live on different coasts and see each other rarely.

Even more depressing, I know that I will NEVER look as good in this skirt as my lovely niece did.

Maybe it would make a great pillow. 

Ebay the big Equalizer!!!

SMALL WORLD

It is a small world after all......very small.....and I do not mean that we went to Disney, because we did not.

I had an auction going on eBay for some yarn left over from my shop...Classic Elite Sand in a lovely orange color.  When the auction closed, I got an email from the buyer to have it sent as a gift to an address in Iron River, MI.

Iron River Michigan!  I could not believe it.  That is where my father was born and raised and would still be living there if my mother had not enticed him away.

Iron River Michigan!  Home to approximately 3,000 people since they merged Stambaugh into the town.  A community that used to be based upon mining.  As a child, I remember my Uncle Shorty and his family coming to visit us in Denver...descending upon us would be a better word.  Uncle Shorty's vacation was an incredible 13 weeks a year.  They stayed with us for many of those weeks making my mother insane (and particularly unpleasant).  I was well into adulthood when the lightbulb went off and I figured out the lengthy vacation was to attempt to get his lungs cleared out prior to the return to work in the mines.

At any rate, it was a jog down memory lane.  I remember beautiful weather in the summers while visiting as a child.  Catching fireflies in a jar.  Sitting out in the yard on a wooden swing.  Trying to find the warm spot in Ice Lake.  My Grandparents house had a stove that worked with wood, not electricity.  They made their own sausage, until my mother found out what she was stuffing.  There was a stuffed moosehead in the attic.  All of the things that made for great stories while growing up.

That being said, I have never shared any of these stories with my own family, so this will come as a shock to all.