Japanese Beetles and Those Little "Grubs"

I want to talk today about the little Japanese Beetle. Those damndable little pests have all but ruined my yard! I won’t go into all the details about the grubs, you can read read all about them here.



Last fall we noticed our front yard grass turning brown and dying. I thought it was because of all the rain we had. Then we found them! All we had to do was take the heel of our shoe and scrape against the sod. Well, there was no sod. All the dirt just “peeled” up and after going down about 3-4 inches---there they were. The little white buggers that were eating the roots of my grass to stay alive and emerge this summer into the ugliest, pestiest beetle ya ever saw!



After doing consider research and making many phone calls, I decided I couldn’t afford a yard man, I couldn’t afford the expensive stuff they sell at the co-op, so I settled on Bayer. Yep, just like the asprin! I even called our local extension office and they recommended this product even before I asked. They explained that it has some new ingredients in it that work extremely well. They further explained that because grubs are now emerging as a really huge problem in many areas of the country, most manufacturers of control products hadn’t kept up with the industry and Bayer had created a product that showed very promising results.

Let me just add, many, many people prefer milky spore. However, the length of time it takes for that to work, which I understand it does very effectively, we could lose our entire 2 acres of yard!

I applied a first round of Bayer Grub Killer Plus. a few weeks ago and just today, applied a second round. I’m gonna get those little buggers if it is the last thing I do!!! (And it may very well be---they are hard to control).

We won’t know the effects of the killer until later this year, but you can be assured I will be applying another round in July and August. Then, I will be applying their Bayer Grub Control this fall.

More Items Listed at

www.onlineauctions.com. I hope you will take a couple minutes to peruse some of the items that I have listed at www.onlineauction.com. And don’t forget, there are over 50,000 members with over 14 million items available at OLA. There are no buyers fees required, just registration and to sell---it only costs you $8.00 a month for unlimited listings!

I probably won’t be back until Monday. I wish you all a wonderfully pleasant weekend. Kick back, relax---take time to smell the roses!

Where Is Customer Service and Why Did It Go Away?

Sorry---I wasn’t writing on Tuesday. I FOUND A JOB! Actually, an at-home job, which fits in perfectly with the care of my mother.

But I don’t want to write about that today. I want to discuss CUSTOMER SERVICE or rather, the lack of customer service in our society today. And, along with that customer service comes the topic of “responsibility for your actions”.

Scenario: I took some rather expensive shower curtains to our local Peerless Cleaners. I’m not even going to hide their name ... not that many people from my area will even read this, but more importantly, they deserve to be called out.

Now, these were expensive. I bought them a few years ago when I was working and got them because our daughter was getting married and we were going to have house guests. I totally redecorated the guest bath and these were “the perfect find”!

They were 100% cotton, but the tag said to dry clean only. I was actually going to wash them, but I thought ... I don’t want them to shrink, so I will get them dry cleaned. This cleaner is actually about 9 miles away, our town no longer has a dry cleaner (anyway, one that I would trust or THOUGHT I couldn’t trust them.

The cost: $20.00. Kewl--I could handle that. But, when I picked them up and hung them, they had shrunk 8 INCHES...! That was my main concern for not laundering them myself, that they didn’t shrink. I called and took them back. However, as I was carrying them back into the cleaners, I discovered some unknown red spots.

The manager tells me they can ‘stretch’ the curtains and they would get the spots out.

Fast forward - very slowly - to 4 weeks later. Still no curtains. Still no compensation. They would only give me 5% of the retail value ($80) because they were 4 years old.

Fast forward - again very slowly. Peerless Cleaners has had these for 4 weeks. After I filed a claim for my money back and compensation for my mileage and reimbursement for new curtains, they had to check to see if the tag from the manufacturer was faulty. Then they had to contact their insurance company.

Oh---did I mention that they assured me that this process would be handled within a few days.

Not so. I still don’t have my curtains. I don’t have any compensation for my curtains.

And, I have not received the FIRST phone call from anyone at the company. Not the manager of the store. Not her team leader (supervisor, I am assuming), not the general manager, whom I have called numerous times. Everyone says they will get back with me. No one gets back with me. Up until today, I have been nothing but polite and kind, but certainly, I have displayed my unhappiness about these mishaps.

So, I called today. Told them to get the curtains back within the next 2 days and I wanted reimbursed for the original $20.

NOW---she’s not sure where they are.

I want customer service. I want someone to care that they have ruined an expensive pair of shower curtains (there were 2 at $39.99 each). I want an apology. I want a coupon for free dry cleaning. DANG, PEOPLE. I want to be treated like a customer.

Instead, I have been treated like this person who is trying to rip them off.

I know. It’s not going to get any better. The younger kids don’t know customer service because they haven’t been taught by their elders. The stores don’t give a rat, because they are going to continue to have customers, whether I shop there or not.

My money isn’t worth anything to this dry cleaneres. Their value of me, as a customer, is nil.

So, I will hopefully, eventually get my curtains back and make them do until I get new shower curtains. I will use my mouth as a billboard to tell everyone I know not to take their items there. As a side note, even the manager told me that it takes a long time to process claims because they have so many!!! NOT GOOD!

I just ask that anyone and everyone who has poor customer service at any business---STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS. Don’t let them mow you under and succumb to their asinine rules and policies. It is my money. It is my item. I have a right----(hopefully).

If you are a buyer or seller on www.onlineauction.com (or any other auction site), can you imagine the fallout if you provided poor service to your customers? Yep, there would be neg after neg after neg.

Now, I just have to figure out a way to NEG Peerless Cleaners in Fort Wayne, Indiana!

NOW--AS A REMINDER

I haven’t had a chance to list anything new because of my new job (which I will talk about later this week). However, please take a few minutes to go to www.onlineauction.com. and check out my items. I would truly appreciate it and hopefully you will find something that strikes your fancy!

WHY THE ADS ON THIS SITE

Some of the ads--certainly not all--help me through advertising reimbursements. Don’t hesitate to click on any of them--and if you do--thank you!

WISHING ALL WELL & SUCCESS

I hope that all buyers and sellers at onlineauction.com. are enjoying the benefits of online selling. I wish everyone well and encourage all who are checking out this blog to definitely take a shopping trip to www.onlineauction.com. I thank you and all 50,000+ sellers at OLA thank you!

Do YOU Remember the '60’s?

Okay -- I just gave my age away! Or close to it. But I was a teen growing up in the '60’s and they were the best times of my life.

We had “Teen Canteen” on weekends and in the summer during the week. Bands and music would play at the Honeywell Center in the town I grew up and in the summer, we danced on top of the upper deck at the community pool.

During high school, our favorite place to go was Fisher’s! Owned by a local family, it was a small snack-bar restaurant, had a fully-stocked candy counter and in the back were pinball machines, pool tables, a jukebox and everyone went to Fishers! We would go there during lunch, with tons of people piling into cars to make it there in time for a hamburger and fries -- (back when there were no closed lunches at school...you got to leave and report back on time for afternoon classes). Weekends were nothing if you couldn't 'hang' at Fisher's!!!

We cruised “The Point” (as in Penguin Point), we cruised Epps (another hangout, especially for nighttime after games) and later, we hung at “The Kettle”.

Speaking of cruising, when I got to drive for the evening out, there would be 4 girls in the car. Many times right before we would go home, we would stop at the local gas station. Each girl forked over a QUARTER and dad’s tank would be back to where we began! (Let’s not even go there---$4.00 a gallon...geesh)!

High school basketball and football games were “the bomb”. A social must! And after games, there were usually dances. It was my freshman year and the first dance after a football game. There was a huge fight in the gym with the opposing football team! I was scared out of my wits, but it was soo very exciting and certainly the talk for a long, long time!

We won the first conference football game (my hubby made the winning touchdown!) in many, many years during my high school years and the "office" would not let us celebrate. So, of course, the senior class president led the entire school on a walk-out! IT WAS SOOO EXCITING! An unauthorized day out of school and I still remember the shocked look on the principal's face when the class president announced it. Of course, the upper classmen knew what was coming, but us lowly underclassmen ... we HAD to follow!!!

Remember the floats at homecoming? We would spend hours at “flower parties” making tissue paper flowers for the floats! And of course, we all remember the crowning of the Homecoming King and Queen! The stadium lights would go out, the winners would be crowned ... and everyone was (or wasn’t) surprised when the lights came back on to shine on the lucky girl and guy!

All girls wore skirts or dresses to school. Special days, which happened once in a blue moon, we got to wear slacks! Guys had to have their shirt tales tucked in, had to have belts and wearing socks with shoes was an absolute must!

Does anyone remember the darling little “blue bloomers” that we had to wear for gym class? Oh Lord---enough about that!

Did your school have a cheer block? We did. We had little pullover cotton blouses that we wore. One side was orange, the other side was black ... school colors! Be in the cheer block or be square!

And, we can’t forget the drive-in theatre. If a carload of girls went, we always met back up at the car after the movie, laughing because no one even knew the NAME of the movie, let alone watched it. If we went with our boyfriends ... ‘nuff said!

Do you remember that school always started after Labor Day and was always out by Memorial Day? Graduations in our town were actually in the middle of the week (ours was on Wednesday). We had to wear certain colored shoes, the caps had to be pulled down upon our forehead (never pinned back to save our hairdo) and hosiery was another “must”!

This is just a short synopsis of life at my high school life. I hope you will share some of your experiences.

Additionally, if you are a teen in the '60’s (or even if you weren't), please

click here

for a great flashback to the best time of our lives!

Just a Little Reminder!

I'm still making a small living by selling online. www.onlineauction.com is "the bomb" for auction sites, so please check it out! There were certainly no online auctions in the '60's, but even with the "Age of the Internet" ... the '60's are still near and dear to my heart!

One More Thought

I am writing this on Sunday night. Today was our granddaughter's 3rd birthday and even though we celebrated with her a couple weeks ago, it was so sad not to be able to be with her today. She had a party, neighborhood children and adults came over. She got to pick out 3 balloons yesterday and one she picked out was "SpongeBob" because that is her little brother's favorite right now! How thoughful! (Probably no prompting by her parents!!) By the time we were able to get hold of her, she had "crashed" on the couch and we never got to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her on the phone. Her life will go on---our life will go on. Aren't grandkiddies "the bomb"!!!

HAVE A TERRIFIC MONDAY!

Happy Thursday!!!

Good morning to everyone! And Happy Thursday.

I am really jammed today and tomorrow, so new musings won't be here.

I do hope, however, that you feel free to click on the links, read previous blogs, and post your comments! I truly like hearing from people!

There will be more next week..but sometimes LIFE just gets in the way of other things we enjoy doing more!

Don't forget..check out my listings at gemini749...that's at www.ola.com. There are additional listings I have done for friends...you can click here to see those as well.

Please remember...items are ALWAYS cheaper at www.onlineauction.com

Happy shopping! Please be sure to email me if you have any questions regarding items listed! Thanks for looking!


Have a terrific day---a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I will see ya'll back here next week!

It's Tuesday--Let's Talk Items For Sale!

But first--before business---a little update on the weekend's birthday party for little 3-year-old granddaughter! Here are a couple pictures of the birthday girl and her brother! She was sooo surprised to get the Barbie with all the princess dresses. Of course, she loved her tap shoes, leotards and tights...but she's not quite sure what it is all about yet! Wait until this fall when the tap classes start!!! Then you will get a full report! Little bro doesn’t stop moving long enough to be surprised at anything!

Now On To the Money Side Of This Blog!

I ask that you go to onlineauction.com., click on the NEWS in the yellow banner at the top. And please read. OnlineAuction.com is most definitely growing and all 50,000+ members can’t wait for the rollout of the new site the end of June-first of July.

Give the site a chance....a very good chance! It isn’t necessary to put all of your “eggs” in one basket. Don’t hesitate to diversify your listing sites. But definitely---give OLA more than a cursory glance! I, personally, think you will be pleased.

What’s for Sale?

I had a chance to list a few things yesterday at OLA!


First up is this Aluminum Tea Strainer. I do know that it was brought back from France in the 1950's by a family member serving in the military.



Next is this Cobalt Blue Stoneware Spittoon/Cuspidor. This piece is in remarkable condition, has one 1/16” chip on the side toward the bottom and has a wonderful, vintage patina!

Do you like vintage glass reamers/juicers? This Hazel Atlas Reamer is in perfect condition...no chips, cracks or breaks. It would serve as a marvelous piece to your collection...or you could actually make juice with it!





There is even more vintage aluminumware--I can’t believe this lot of vintage kitchenware hasn’t been snatched up yet. I have even added a couple more items to the lot, so it will be a surprise when the buyer opens up the box! Vintage aluminumware isn’t that hard to find, but it is sometimes difficult to find pieces that are in very good condition.

I had to get this White Corning Ware Stove-Top Percolator listed on OLA! There was a person who inquired about it while it was listed on another site, but s/he didn’t have the money at that time. I simply wrote them back, told them to keep an eye out for it on OLA....!!! Hope this person is able to grab it before someone else does! They will certainly be surprised that the asking price is cheaper than that other place!!

That's it for today! I hope you shop...I certainly hope you buy! Also, be sure to check out the may other items currently available at www.ola.com. There are over 13,000,000 (yep, that's million) items, all at great prices with no inflated shipping costs. Who needs to make money on shipping fees from the buyer, when OLA doesn't charge any Final Value Fees or listing fees. Don't forget--it's only $8.00 a month for as many listings as you want!

MAKE IT a wonderful day for you and your family!

An Exciting Weekend!

What a wonderful weekend we had with the grandkiddies. But we also had a major catastrophe with a storm that did considerable damage to our son’s property. I’ll give ya the scoop!!!

The family arrived late Friday night. And so did the storm. About 6:00 p.m., I just happened to hear that a tornado had been spotted in a rural area near our son’s home. I called his wife and she immediately took the baby and all 3 dogs and hit the basement. A short time later, after the rain stopped, she went outside and no particular damage. Then, she looked out across the sky, saw a dark cloud of dust or rain--she wasn’t sure which---and hit the basement fast again! Next time she came out, a huge tree was down in their yard and their pole building was heavily damaged. Now, they also have a very old bank barn and fortunately it was spared as well as a smaller, but very old barn.

Their boat and Suburban were parked in the pole building. The storm ripped off the huge overhead door, ripped into both front and back corners of the building and tore down a couple heavy support beams. Of course, the wind left 4 windows in the building totally intact. (Aren’t these storms strange how they actually hit!). Somehow, the vehicle and boat were both totally undamaged.

Our 20’ boat was parked outside in front of the building. The wind actually shoved this very heavy boat into the pole building, causing very minor damage to the boat. And again, in a storm’s strange way, it never even touched the small, aluminum fishing boat parked right in front of the building!!

Fortunately, all are safe and that is certainly most important.

GRANDKIDDIES VISIT

We had a wonderful time with the grandkiddies. They were able to play outside, even after the storm, jumping and running in mudpuddles! And of course, the 18 month old boy had a wonderful time riding on Papaw’s lawn tractor.

The soon-to-be 3-year old immediately saw presents on the dining room table. She told Mamaw, “I see presents, but I can wait”. How remarkable for a little one.

And wait she did! We hid the presents (not to tempt her any more!) and had a birthday party at her great-grandparent’s home on Sunday. She was so excited to open presents and eat her cake. She even did a great job at blowing out her candles!!!

I haven’t downloaded any of the pictures yet---so I may include those later! (Depends upon how good my photography skills were trying to capture active kiddies!).

Are you looking for things to do with YOUR grandkiddies when they visit? I found this site..thanks to ABargain4You at onlineauction.com. I found a bunch of things I can do with the kiddies on our next visit, so make sure you check it out. And, while you are at it, don't forget to check out ABargain4You at OLA!!!

ONLINE SALES

Actually, online sales at www.onlineauction.com
have increased, not only for me, but for many of the sellers I chat with on the community boards. More and more buyers are learning that the items listed are actually less expensive, because the sellers are not increasing the costs to cover fees.

Buyers---remember: There are no buyer fees. Simply register and buy!!! It’s that easy! Click here to view all of my listings!

Sellers -- remember: The basic cost at OLA is only $8.00 per month for as many listings as your little ole heart desires. AND ABSOLUTELY NO Final Value Fees!

LISTINGS
I’m actually gonna get my rear-end in gear and get some more items listed this week. So, please check back often at ONLINEAUCTION.COM for great bargains and unique items.

Grandchildren---They Are The Best!

Not much to write about today because I am getting ready for the grandkiddies to arrive from Illinois. Sweet Emmrey will turn 3 in June and we are celebrating part of her birthday this weekend!
As you will note in one of my earlier muses, she is going to start tap dance in the fall. So, her leotard, tights and tap shoes are already to go, waiting for the “Unwrapping Party”!

And, of course, she got some toys, too! A special little Barbie with all of the princess costumes will make her a very happy little girl.

Now, she has a little brother who is 18 months old. Did I mention he is also a HOLY TERROR!! Never stops...just keeps on a steady, constant run all day long! And yes, he got a little present to open as well!!

AUCTION ITEMS

I will be listing some more auction items soon, so stay tuned. There is a vintage Meck Trail Blazer radio/phonograph in a wooden case (tube type radio), a cobalt blue ceramic spittoon that has been in the family forever; a vintage brass 3-cigar holder by R&G Co. (cigar makers)...and several more items! I will post some pictures here as soon as I can!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. In Indiana, the sun is supposed to shine and the weather is supposed to be warm. Of course, the operative words are...SUPPOSED TO BE!!! Ya’ll know what they say about Indiana weather....if you don’t like it, wait 5 minutes and it will change!

OLA Wants Me---They Truly Want Me!

If you are an online seller, you undoubtedly are aware of the many changes that eBay has made to their site. It just ain’t what it used to be!! For years, we all enjoyed the thrill of the victory when we won an item. When we first started selling, many would keep hitting “refresh” toward the end of the auction and were thrilled when someone ‘sniped’ the listed items at the last minute. We sold something---we made some money. It was so exciting

We met new friends on the boards. We learned new skills--how to upload pictures and told about our lives to the entire world on the “Me Page”. Enter the era of the digital camera and now---we actually got to see what we were buying!

Some changes took place and we persevered. Then more changes were introduced. We sighed, took the hit in the pocketbook and continued our pursuits.

Then we were SLAPPED---we were knocked down. Many livelihoods were virtually destroyed with the first wave of major changes. Now, buyers are the boom and sellers are doomed. Sellers have no recourse for bad buyers and that just isn’t fair! We are taking it in the backend on sellers’ fees to the tune of a 66% increase.

Many stay-at-home moms are suffering. Many senior citizens spent many hours learning to sell in order to supplement their monthly income. I even chatted with some sellers who were able to manage their prescription care based on eBay sales and when it took a nosedive, they were seriously jeopardized.

Okay, I’m usually one who sees the glass half empty. But, we have to move on and begin to fill the glass again! Many sellers and buyers have transitioned to other sites. During the first boycott, I literally kept refreshing my browser and watched one powerseller with over 10,000 feedback take down his store and delete his inventory. Each time I would refresh, his inventory went from over 5,000 items---then 4,700 items---and on and on until he had totally deleted each and every item in his store. I don’t know the gentleman, I don’t know what his financial situation was and I don’t know where he moved his inventory. I do know it was sad.

I continued to read news articles and online news stories about how eBay didn’t want small-time sellers. I read that they didn’t want us “flea-marketers”. I read that there was more protection for the buyers and sellers were totally vunerable.
Yes, I believed the stories, I believed the online news postings. But it was hard to fathom that eBay, as we have known it for years, was totally changing their format and wasn’t even taking a moment to listen to those who helped build the site many years ago. Most definitely, my bank account believed it

eBay spokespersons actually made it very clear in several quoted interviews and press releases. And, as recently as May 26, 2008, those eBay representatives continue to say--they really don’t want us...anywhere in the world!

My first international sale was to a buyer in Australia. As we know, this is a large island far away from the US mainland. The lady I sold the dolls to was absolutely thrilled to win my auction and have 3 porcelain and bisque dolls, actually in deplorable condition, to learn to restore them and make them new again. She fired off pictures of her exciting win to her friends and wanted to know if I had more dolls to restore. This ecstatic buyer helped me learn the international shipping procedures and was as helpful as she could be. Now, our Aussie friends are being hit and hit very hard. The rest of us will follow in the months to come.

What has eBay done? I will let you read the article yourself. It is sad, to say the least. I don’t know why I was shocked, I already knew the facts. I had already moved on to onlineauction.com.

But dang--eBay truly doesn’t want us unless we play totally by their millions of rules and regulations and give them what we have worked hard to earn. And they don’t want to help us, the sellers, when unwarranted negs are given.

Join with me and thousands of others who have found a new home. Instead of Paypal, I encourage buyers and sellers to look into alternatives, such as www.googlecheckout.com, www.revolutionmoneyexchange.com, and www.xcoin.com.

Will ola.com. completely destroy eBay? No---probably won’t ever happen. I truly believe that only a very, very small percentage of the millions of eBay buyers and sellers actually know what has been going on since the first of the year. They probably haven’t ‘done the math’ to realize the significant bottom-line loss.

But I can assure you that onlineauction.com. will be THE PLACE to sell and buy, to make new friends, to carry on chats and learn about our friends from around the world. There are no listing fees, no final value fees. You simply pay your $8.00 per month and presto---start listing as many items as you want!

I ask that you read this article from AuctionBytes.com. eBay made it perfectly clear that if we don’t like their rules, we are more than welcome to move on to other internet venues.

Then, I ask you to listen to Chris Fain from onlineauction.com.

Judge for yourself.

Thank you for 'listening' to my rant today!! Make it a great day in your life, whereever you are!

Happy Thursday! HAPPY DAY!

It's Thursday! I'm going to spend the day on the computer and doing laundry! The laundry, I know. The computer and blogging---I'm still in "learning" mode!

Oh, for a quick update on the friend's basement yesterday. It was a tragedy, to say the least. There are 4 floors to this old, old building. The roof had leaked, there were buckets all over. The smell was obviously putrid, to say the least. He took me to the basement and showed me the old bottles that he thought were worth a fortune. Guess what---they aren't. Now, I'm not expert, but first, I would have had to crawl back into this little gravel cavern, infested with live and not-so-live spiders, to get to them. And from the light of my flashlight---they were all broken! I told him he needs to get a dumpster and just shovel it all out!!

Then, on his previous "showroom" floor, I found a couple items. One was a plaster "California Raisin Man". I told him I would take it and try to sell it for him. Well, he gets to the car with it, then tells me, "Oh, I've been offered $7500 for it". I told him to take it back, because there was no way I would get $7500 for it. Just who's leg does he think he's pulling.

I normally sell items that I find around the house, buy at auctions, garage sales, etc. But I would also love to find a "line of items" that I could inventory and sell. So far, nothing has popped up that makes my heart skip a beat, but I continue to look. What is great about selling the items I do---I learn a little about a lot of things! I have found so many wonderful websites to teach me about these items. I will share one with you today.

He also had hundreds of old Beanie Babies, but those will be sold at a flea market in a couple weeks.

So, needless to say, my drive served me no purpose other than to burn up a little fuel.

Speaking of fuel. No, let's not! Isn't it a travesty. Not a thing any of us can do about it, but suck it up, pay the price and get to where we are going. I would walk or ride a bike (if I owned one), but living out in the country, it's a little hard to pack up the bike and go to the Post Office!

ONLINEAUCTION.COM

Now, since the other auction site isn't interested in working with small sellers any longer, I have joined OLA. I'm pleased as punch about the site, but the sales have been a little slow. So...go check it out!

The great thing about selling online is learning about so many items. Take these darling little "Bendel Shakers" (Vantelligen). After obtaining one pair and making over $35 on them, I found another pair and will put them up for auction soon. And, to learn the history of these cute little guys, just visit www.salt-and-pepper-shakers.com.

Ya'll have a wonderful weekend...it's a holiday, so drive safely, arrive home safely and party safely! Spend time with family and friends and may the SUN shine on you...wherever you are!

Happy Wednesday to all!!! I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out exactly how to blog and I think I have made some progress!

Today will take me to a town about 20 miles from here, digging through the basement of an old abandoned building in their downtown area. A friend owns this building and is signing papers to sell it and have it cleaned out in 90 days! WhoooHooo---hoping to find some treasures that he and I can share! We know that it was, many years ago, a pharmacy of some sort. Wouldn't that be wonderful to find old, old apothecary bottles and similar memorabilia. I will definitely post back to you and hopefully can include some pictures of some of the items to share. I think the owner of the building wants me to bring EVERYTHING back----! He must think I live in either a mansion or an abandoned warehouse. My spare bedroom certainly isn't that huge!!!

On another topic...can't wait for the weekend. Am looking forward to seeing my grandbabies from Illinois and hoping that the weather is warm enough to do a little boating.

Speaking of my grandbabies, our oldest granddaughter is only 3, but she will soon start dance classes. Her mother was only 3 when she started...and she danced for 19 years! Of course, we can't afford to invest tons of money into shoes that will only last a few months, but I did find a couple very nice affordable websites.

Dance4Less has a wide array of items and the shipping costs are within reason.

And BabyUltimate also has some of the things I will be looking for! Please check them both out...hopefully you will find something you need for your kids or grandkiddies!