Nana Comes to Terms With Never Owning a Barbie

When I was a kid I remember really wanting a Barbie. My budget minded mother bought me a cheaper knock off.  It was a "Jan" doll.  Yeah, my name is Jann, but I still lusted after a real Barbie like my friends had.  With my Jan doll I had a little pink metal trunk, complete with tiny plastic hangers, to keep her clothes in. It even had a drawer to hold those miniature plastic shoes and accessories.

I don't think I ever owned a real Barbie. I've made up for it by over-indulging my granddaughters.  Much to their father’s dismay, they have naked Barbies all over their house. For some reason Barbie just can't seem to keep her clothes on. Occasionally we find her unclothed in a compromising position with one of the princesses: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Tiana, to name just a few of her conquests.  That Barbie gets around. 

In my last Bag of Crap from Woot! I got a Brother in Arms figure.
For Thanksgiving we're going to visit the granddaughters and I’m taking the Brother in Arms. I think it's time that Barbie had a manly influence in the house!

Nana Shares Her Secrets for Scoring a Bag of Crap

Readers of this blog have heard before of my obsession for Woot and for scoring a Bag of Crap.   I recently scored my third Bag of Crap.  After six months of unsuccessful efforts at every Woot- Off,  I have scored three in a row, most recently on 8/20/10.    I am now obsessively checking FedEx for shipping updates and watching the Woot Forum to see what the other Wooters received in their BOCs.   Most of the fun in a BOC is the anticipation.  It's sort of like waiting for Santa Claus...you hope he'll finally bring you that pony, but Christmas morning you find the usual toys.  I haven't had a big score yet, but I remain eternally hopeful that the Woot gods will smile on me and deliver a box of spectacular technology.

The anticipated delivery date of my latest BOC is this Saturday, September 2.  I won't be home to open it, I'm going on a week long cruise to Alaska.  I have left strict orders for my son not to open it.  While on the cruise I will imagine that my pony is waiting for me under the tree.

I notice that my first Bag of Crap post written several months ago continues to get hits.  I decided to write about how I was finally successful.  So, how did I do it?  How did I finally get a Bag of Crap?  Here's my secret...well, not so much a secret as the procedure that finally worked for me.

After my first experience with a Woot Off I started using a couple of different trackers.  Several of them have a feature that lets you set an automatic buy feature when the BOC comes up.  The first several times I used the trackers I wasn't successful.  I had almost decided to give up.  After staying up all night waiting for the mythical BOC, I was tired and frustrated.  Then I read a comment on one of the Woot forums.  The Wooter said that he was successful because after hitting the buy button, entering the required information and hitting the ridiculously large buy it button...HE DID NOTHING ELSE. 

Several times I had gotten through to the buy page and got anxious waiting for the order to process and I re-hit the button, or I opened another screen and tried again...none of these strategies worked.  But when I hit the final button and did nothing else, I was successful.

It's worked for me three times now.  Make sure that you are logged in to your account and check that your credit card or pay pal info is correct...you don't want to waste time updating during a BOC buy.  I keep my credit card handy so I'm ready to enter the secret code.

 Wooters.us is the tracker that I use.  Test the alarm and the buy function and make sure your pop-up blocker is off.  And when you're successful in getting that BOC...send them a donation.  I did.

Good luck...and let me know if it works for you.  Happy Wooting!

Nana Wonders What She’s Up To These Days…Retirement isn’t just one long vacation, is it?

When I run into people who I haven’t seen for awhile, I’m always asked “What are you up to these days?”   It’s a hard question to answer.  The rules of social discourse require that I have a brief one or two sentence reply.  It’s one of those questions like “How are you?” and people expect a simple answer. When I was working the answer was easy. I could respond with the title of my job of the moment. “I’m retired” doesn't really answer the question.  What, exactly, am I up to?

Lately my answer to the question has been “Well, I’ve been traveling quite a bit.” I am filling my calendar with vacations, one after the other. I just decided to go to Texas this weekend to attend my granddaughter's 5th birthday party.  Next week I am going to San Diego for a few days to visit family and attend a wedding (of a cousin who I have never met.) Then I am home for a few days before we leave for a cruise to Alaska. There are a few things on my calendar in September and I need to get back to Texas to see the granddaughters, but then there is nothing…so I’m searching the internet for good deals on travel in October. Because how would I answer the question if I didn’t have a trip planned?

I had what Oprah calls an "aha" moment this morning as I was perusing the rates for condos in Hawaii. I like to travel, but I have to wonder if I’m using travel so I don’t have to think about planning for a life in retirement. Retirement can’t be just about one vacation after another can it?

Real life doesn’t lend itself to easy, two sentence responses. Here’s what I’ve really been up to:

“I got two bags of crap from Woot and now I’m waiting for the next Woot Off.”  It is impossible to explain Woot, Bags of Crap, and Woot Offs in two sentences!  I've had extended conversations with people about Woot and they still don't understand what I'm talking about.  Frankly, it's sometimes difficult for me to understand why I spent so much time trying to get a BOC that included two High School Musical Alarm Clocks and a Marvel action figure.

“Well, I’ve watched every episode of The Real Housewives of New York and New Jersey."   It doesn’t take two sentences to explain this one, but really, even I have a hard time caring about this topic and I watched the shows.

“Lately, I’m all about the blog. I have a worldwide readership of 38 followers!”   This I say with sincerity, pride and enthusiam,  but when I mention the blog to non-bloggers, I am rewarded with a blank stare. Again, more than two sentences are needed.


I’m thinking about writing a novel. Not so much because I believe that I’m the next James Patterson, but because it gives me an easy answer to what I’m up to.

“I’m working on my first novel. It’s a mystery set in a small, rural eastern Oregon town and my main character is a smart, personable retired teacher who blogs.”  How long does it take to write a novel? This response should be good for at least the next year or two. Then I’ll have to start traveling again.

Nana Scores a Bag of Crap!

My husband has a hard time buying me gifts. He says it’s because I “don’t do anything.” To him “doing something” means fishing, hunting, or trap shooting. By his way of thinking, it doesn’t qualify unless it happens outside, preferably in extreme weather conditions.

When I was working and raising children there really wasn’t time to develop hobbies. For years I was going to graduate school nights and weekends. In my spare time I did the laundry and occasionally ran a vacuum cleaner over the big chunks on the carpet.

The children grew up and went off to college, and then I retired. I have no interest in outdoor activities, guns or ammo, bowling or fishing. I like cozy indoor activities. I read. I write.  So in retirement I expanded my interests. I started to blog, and I discovered Woot!

Woot is an online deal-a-day site. They sell one item a day. When it’s sold out, they don’t post another item until the next day. The exception to this is a Woot-Off where items are put up for sale one after another. Some items sell out in seconds, others (known as woot-killers) linger for hours. During a Woot-Off the Woot forum is a lively gathering place for Wooters. Woot is a quirky culture with its own specialized vocabulary and strange customs.

During a Woot-Off thousands of people sit on-line waiting for the opportunity to buy a “Bag of Crap.” Known as a BOC, it is what its name implies, a mystery purchase with no guarantee of quality. Waiting for the BOC to show up is half the fun. Wooters post strange pictures of cats, Star Trek characters and monkeys and keep up a constant banter about how it is the “worse Woot-Off ever.” Last month, after a year of trying, I finally scored my first “boggy old creature.” I was one of 3,000 people who made a successful purchase. The item sold out in seconds. A Bag of Crap costs $3.00 plus $5.00 shipping.

There are tales of BOCs shared in the Woot forums, videos on YouTube, and websites dedicated to reporting on Woot Bags of Crap. The fun doesn’t end with securing a BOC. The forum discussion continues through the delivery of the BOCs. Wooters anxiously check FedEx shipping to find out the weight and dimensions of their boxes. Many times the first deliveries are video taped and posted for all to enjoy. Woot legend includes BOCs with high-end electronics. Sometimes wooters receive hard drives and computers…some work and some don’t.

I received:

•  1 wine bag
• 6 copies of Disney princess software for a camera I don’t have
• 1 Marvel comics tin toy
• 1 Star Trek action figure-Nero
• 1 Snowman speaker with lights that flash to music that hooks up to an i-pod

Pretty much crap!

On the forum I anxiously read about the three people who received letters in their boxes which apologized because part of the order was too large to fit in the box and was being shipped separately. These Wooters were the lucky recipients of Pallets of Crap. The POCs are legendary. Some people get big screen tv’s (2 people did this time). Once a Wooter got an entire pallet of car wax. Another time a Wooter received cases of “Band of Brothers” action figures…cases and cases of the same figurine.

In the last Woot-Off the forum crowd waited on-line with the POC recipients for the FedEx trucks to arrive. Video and pictures of the prizes were posted.

It’s fun. It’s like being a kid and waiting for Santa to come. You never know what you’re going to get. You just hope it’s not underwear.

There was another Woot-Off this week and I scored my second Bag of Crap!!!! Now I’ve got a week of anxious anticipation of the delivery, checking FedEx for updates, reading the forums to see what other Wooters received in their packages of similar weight and dimension…and maybe, just maybe, I’ll hit the jackpot and get a letter. There could be a Pallet of Crap in my future!

All this fun for only $8.00. And my husband says I don’t have hobbies.