top bidder

As you know, we bought a house and officially moved in last Saturday. That afternoon in our new backyard, my parents, Jake, Mary, Ben and I all relaxed in the lawn chairs my parents brought up, enjoying some Red Baron frozen Pizza and Red Stripe beer, after an exhausting morning of moving. Eventually Allisa, Delip and Thelma dropped by and as soon as I started to take in all the excitement, it finally hit me - I HAVE A BACKYARD and MY FRIENDS and FAMILY are going to visit me - HERE, in my BACKYARD. OH my gosh, I was elated and couldn't believe how amazing it felt. So many fun times to come....

So, back to the house - our new cute little 1924 bungalow that has a screened in front porch, living room with a real wood burning fireplace, dining room with built-in buffet, two little bedrooms, and a totally charming retro kitchen (that needs to be remodeled at some point - but we can say it is charming right now because we just moved in). In our tiny little bedrooms we have two tiny little closets and with my love of shopping, I mean, dress code for work, there just isn't enough space for all my clothes or for that matter, Jake's. He is just going to have to fold all 100 of his Threadless t-shirts and move to the basement. His clothes, not him.

With a new house on my mind, every domestic cell in my body has taken over. I NEED FURNITURE. I need curtains, rugs, tables, bed frames, desks, and most importantly a dresser to help contain the explosion, I mean, necessity of all my work clothes.

So craigslist and eBay have become my new best friends.
Hello eBay.

Logging in a few days ago I started my search. danish modern dresser. antique.

Voila!

Of course I find one that I like. Watch this item? Yes, of course. It is added to My eBay. Great. Perfect. I can now watch this item.

Yesterday I get an e-mail from eBay that says - Hey, this item that we have let you watch has only 5 hours left to be watched. Do you want to bid now?

YES I DO WANT TO BID NOW.

I have never "really" bid on eBay. A few days ago Jake started to explain to me how eBay works so I felt confident that I had some idea of how bidding works...the only bids I have made have been out bid, and they were just "pretend" bids because I knew they would be out bid.

I know I know. How can you make a pretend bid on eBay? You can't. But I can think they were pretend if I want to.

I see that bidding starts at $400. Great, I can do that. You have been out bid. Well fine, how about...$450. You have been out bid. At this point, now I am curious - how much are people really going to pay for this dresser? I seriously didn't think my bids were ever going to add up and I just wanted to try one more....I enter $500.

YOU ARE THE TOP BIDDER.

Oh shit. I am? Oh god, NO! I don't really want to pay $500 plus $99 in shipping. Crap.

To make a long story short. I e-mail Jake to let him know what I have done and my situation sparks quite the argument, I mean conversation, between us...money, shopping, clothes and how eBay really works. There were some tears and frustration but eventually we accepted that whatever happens, happens, and it is not really the end of the world.

But there are still 4.5 hours left for the biding to end. Being the optimistic person that I am, I believe that someone is going to out bid me--but Jake, the "realist", thinks I of course will win and we will have to pay $500 plus $99 in shipping, for this dresser.

We decide that we will just have to wait and what better time then right now to dig up our garden in the backyard. Fast forward to 4 hours and 15 minutes later....

15 minutes left to go....Jake and I sit down to enjoy The Office and as the show starts to skip on his computer I get distracted back to reality. I grab my iBook and log-on to my eBay.

4 minutes 35 seconds left....
Refresh.
Refresh.
Refresh.
2 minutes 37 seconds.
Refresh.
2 minutes 27 seconds.
Refresh.
Refresh.
Refresh.
1 minute 13 seconds.

YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID. BID NOW!

Oh my gosh!!!!!! I've been outbid! I've been outbid!!!

Do I want to bid again, eBay asks?

HELL NO, I just saved $600 dollars and my relationship.

Thank you eBay.