Dolly Parton, Eat Your Heart Out!

The eBay Life "Score of the Day" is a pair of super soft Italian cowboy boots purchased for $4 and sold for......


Name brand cowboy boots are always hot sellers, and as far as I can tell, real cowboys don't wear cheap boots.  Most of the boots I find at yard sales and thrift shops are made by companies that charge an arm and a leg for their footwear.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a pair of women's cowboy boots for only $4.  They weren't the type you'd wear out to the barn to feed the cows.  They were stylish.  They reminded me of  Dolly Parton.

I love Dolly.  She has style, she has class, and, apparently, she has found the fountain of youth.  As I eyed these beauties, I imagined Dolly wearing them while performing her song Jolene.  

These shoes did not have a brand name written on them anywhere.  Under normal circumstances, I only purchase name brand cowboy boots.  These boots, however, had a number of things going for them:

1. They sparkled.
2. They were a size 6. (Tiny sizes are always hot.)
3. They were made of super soft leather. 
4. They were manufactured in Italy. 
5. And they only cost $4.

So I listed them at a fixed price.  Nobody was interested. 

"What?" I thought to myself.  "This is unbelievable.  These are awesome." 

Eventually, I decided to list them at auction.  I lowered the price to $19.99.  I'm so glad I did. A bidding war broke out, and they sold for.......  (drum roll please)







                                      $47 


I was so excited!  I jumped for joy when I discovered that these amazing boots had sold for almost $50!!!  Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there........

The woman who purchased the boots loved them -- just loved them.  But they were too small.  Italian shoes tend to run small, and I should have known better than to list a "brandless" shoe from Italy without having one of my students try them on.  (Sometimes I hand out extra credit to students willing to take off their shoes and try on my latest finds.)  Just kidding!  (Actually, I'm not.) 

The buyer returned the boots, and I relisted them today at auction at a starting price of $19.99.  Hope I get as lucky this time as I did last time!   

Just for fun, here's the link to an old video of Dolly singing Jolene. In the video, she is wearing an incredible purple jumpsuit.  No, she's not rockin' kicks, but I know she would wear my black and white sparklers in a heartbeat.

Oh!  And I can't decide if I like her version of Jolene better than the version recorded by the White Stripes.  Thoughts?

Have a great week!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plvBR02wDs

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