I just got home from ANOTHER whirlwind trip to Bellingham. Flew up on Thursday night (late) with Indiana & Larissa to attend Zach’s (my nephew) graduation on Friday.

My daughter does not have the best time management skills and we almost missed the flight. Here we are in a “buggy” getting rushed to the gate. We were going so fast that Larissa took a video because her hair was blowing in the wind (you can imagine how that looked). LOL. Let the fun begin…..!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #00005

Thursday, June 20th, 2024
Volume V Issue 00005

I was worried about getting on the plane with the huge rolled up artwork of Zach’s face for his graduation signs because Allegiant airlines loves to charge for EVERYTHING!

Since we were literally the last people to board the plane, they didn’t care at all what we had with us! They were just happy to be able to close the plane door!

We landed in Bellingham at 10:30 pm and then we ubered to my mom’s house. Late night!

We had hired Theresa Meurs to do an estate sale/cleanout of my mom’s 6,000 eBay items so that she can retire and move to Ventura. The first step was to end all of the clothing items and move them into the living room to have sales.

When we walked into my mom’s house, I couldn’t believe how many racks of clothing were still in her living room. It was overwhelming and Theresa had already done two weekends worth of sales. I started thinking that there must be a better solution.

I started thinking that if all of my mom’s eBay items were in town (she lives 30 minutes outside of Bellingham) that they would have a better chance of selling. The next morning I suggested to my mom that we ask Theresa about a storage unit in Bellingham where they could hold the sales instead of way out at Gooseberry point.

We called Theresa first thing Friday and she agreed…next up, finding available units in the storage complex that Theresa uses. While we waited for Theresa to get back to us, we started working on cutting and pasting the huge Zach signs for the Graduation Ceremony.

Here is everyone hard at work with rubber cement etc.

Time for an eBay score! I picked up this early Americana Folk Art Hand Painted Bird at a local garage sale for $5. Just sold for $222.29!

If you want to check out the original listing, you can do so here.

On Friday, we finished Zach’s big signs just in time to leave for Everett and his graduation party that started at 11 am at the Sons of Norway Hall.

Here is what I posted on Instagram….We are coming for you Zach….Hahahaha!

It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to Everett and we arrived at noon to the graduation party. Graduation wasn’t taking place until 4 pm at the Angel of the Wind Arena.

So it was nice to hang out with Zach and his friends for an hour before they had to leave for graduation rehearsal. Zach’s dad, John, and his sister, Pam, had put together a great party for him. A very nice lunch and a ton of games to play.

And while there we got an urgent phone call from Theresa, she had secured two 12′ x 12′ storage units close to one another and wanted our approval to lease them for the next two months at $175 per month each to be able to have the sales in town.

We gave her the two thumbs up and I started looking for a 20 foot uhaul to use the next day. Let the games begin!!!!

But back to the party, we hung out until 3 pm and then headed over to the arena. A highlight was playing Farkle. I had never played before and just ordered it on Amazon. So much fun!

508 kids plus my Zach graduated from Kamiak High School Mukilteo in this huge hockey arena. Here are a few pics!

After graduation, it was a nightmare to get out of the venue. A different high school would be graduating at 7 pm in the same arena so there were 5,000 of us trying to get out and 5,000 of them trying to get in. LOL. Those huge Zach sign’s came in very handy to be able to find everyone!

After the ceremony, we all headed to one of John’s favorite restaurants for dinner, The New Mexicans…because the owners are from New Mexico.

Food was great, company even better and I somehow talked Kai into riding back to Bellingham with us to help move the clothes the next day!

We didn’t finish with dinner until 8:30 pm. Loooooooong day! In addition to the late flight the night before, getting up early to make the signs and wrap presents, driving to Everett and then all of the festivities! I was NOT looking forward to driving home and then it started pouring down rain.

My mom desperately needs new windshield wipers, so let’s just say my 1 1/2 drive home was quite the challenge. Never gonna do that again!

And Saturday was going to be epic. Either an epic fail or success? I needed to pick up the 20 foot u-haul at 10 am.

When I got up on Saturday morning, however, my mom had changed her mind. She did NOT want to move everything to storage. She thought it was going to be too much work, never happen in just one day and cost too much money.

I looked at her and said “You need your house empty to be able to sell it. You have already committed to two months in the storage units and you have 4 of us here today for free labor. The uhaul is only going to be $100. We are doing this.” She finally agreed :).

The kids and I headed out to get the truck. Turns out we picked it up from a former Califonia surfer named KEVIN. LOL. Kids had to do a fun pic with him.

We got the truck set up in front of my mom’s house, I constructed a ramp down her front stairs from wood I found along side of the house and it was “Operation Move Mor Mor to California” Go time!

With the four of us, it actually went pretty quickly and within an hour, the truck was fully loaded and ready to go!

We had arrived to my mom’s house at 10:45 with the truck and at 11:45 it was time to hit the road to the storage unit. Impressive if you ask me?

The kids put the ramp away and off we went. I thought that they had also closed everything up in the back…..But as you leave my mom’s house there is a pretty steep hill and Larissa was riding with me when we got a phone call from Indy. She says, “the back of the truck is open”. What the Heck….? OMG!

I immediately stopped the truck and believe it or not, nothing had moved, shifted or even fallen out. Someone was watching over us that day!
When we arrived at the storage unit, it was another story as things had shifted. Nothing too bad though and we got it righted right away.

We arrived at the storage unit at 12:15 and were unloaded by 12:45 pm. Then we headed back to Kevin at Uhaul and turned the truck in at 1 pm. He was in shock! Said he thought it should have taken us all day! Here we are with Theresa during the load in and my mom with the final project. What a day! So we decided it was time for lunch!

We decided to eat lunch down at the water, so headed to the Loft. My mom and I both got kids meals in pirate ships. How fun is that?

After lunch we headed back out to my mom’s house and the kids were going to have dinner at Larissa’s uncle’s house in Bellingham. Crazy that her uncle lives in Bellingham Right?

I asked them if they could drop me off out at Birch Bay to see a band with my high school friends before they went to dinner. Yes!

Once we arrived at the Bar at Birch Bay, I asked them to walk in with me to say hi to everyone. As we were walking, I heard a “Lynn, Lynn” and I looked up to see a gal that I kind of recognized. It turned out it was one of my sister’s really good friends, Sarah Drues, who had actually been one of the speakers at her memorial service.

That made us both tear up….and she couldn’t believe how big Kai was…Kai was only 3 when my sister passed away. I asked her how she knew who I was and she said “You look exactly like your sister.” Awwww…Here is a pic of us with Sarah. Look at how creepy long Larissa’s arm looks. Yikes!

Finally, here is a photo of me and my high school friends with the kids before they left for dinner. From left to right Larissa, Indiana, Kai, Leslie Arntzen, me, Kathy Rutan and Carole Martinson. I had a great time dancing with my high school friends and then called it a night about 8 pm. Indy, Larissa and I would be flying out the next evening and we still had quite a bit to do at my mom’s house that Sunday.

Indy and Larissa were going to take Kai to the bus station after dinner at her Uncles at 6:45 to grab a greyhound home to Mukilteo. Unfortunately, all of the buses were cancelled that night and thank God, Indy and Larissa decided to drive him back home. OMG….what a shit show. They didn’t get back to my mom’s until 2 am. LONG couple of days.

And in addition to all of that, we had decided to do lunch at Anthony’s at 12:30 on Sunday with Kathy Rutan (one of my best high school friends) and her mom Pat.

On Sunday morning, I text Kathy and said “Do you think we need reservations?” and she text back, “It is father’s day”…Oh crap! I got online and there were absolutely NO tables available.

I called the restaurant and got the nicest kid Trent, I told him it was my daughter’s favorite restaurant and that we were only in town from California for a short time. He got back on the line and said “I can squeeze you in at 1 pm.” Yaya! As we were walking to our table, I noticed some familiar faces in a booth next to our table.

OMG, it was my dad’s wife Sue’s sister Sharon (that is a mouthful), her husband Mark and their kids Jessie and Brett along with more of their family. My dad always spoke so highly of those boys so it was great to see them!

Then we get to our table and it was the best table in the restaurant. Oh my! The big round one under the crazy fish mobile that was always the table we would sit at with my dad. And on Father’s Day. Aaaawwww.

We had a great lunch and I had to laugh. I had called an hour before for a reservation and got the best table in the restaurant and Sharon’s family had probably made a reservation pretty far in advance and they had 7 people squished in a tiny booth. Crazy? or My dumb luck?

After lunch, we made it to the airport in plenty of time and got picked up at LAX by Emma, Houston and Grandpa (their dog) in my dad’s car. Made the perfect ending to a great trip and a nod to my dad who I miss especially on father’s day.

I ubered back to Ventura on Sunday night and my best friend, Mo, from the desert was here visiting. She is here until Friday to do eBay for me. Always something going on!

Here is another really cool eBay score. I bought this Mackenzie Childs Enamel Vase for $5 at a garage sale. Total Score! Just sold it for $250 and it is going to a gal in Virginia! Here is a link to the actual listing.

Let’s chat about the store a bit. The vignettes have never looked so good…if you ask me! The store is open, breezy and ready for customers. Please, please, please let all of your friends, relatives, neighbors and acquaintances know that we are still OPEN and would love to see some customers. Store hours are….

Weds-Sat 11-5
Sun 11-3

Also, something that I have never talked about in my newsletters is that we have a 24 hour take home approval program! What this means is that you can pay for an item, just let us know that it is ON APPROVAL, we will write that on your receipt and you have 24 hours to decide if it works. If not when you bring it back, you will receive a full refund.

Don’t forget about the design service that Susan Wheelan and I are offering. Check out this testimonial from one of our recent clients, Debbie S. Soooooo nice!

For more information, or to sign up for the consult click here.

Susan Wheelan and myself at our 6th year anniversary party.

Items needed for the store….

Table Lamps
Floor Lamps
Small Desks
Coffee Tables
Tall Dressers (high boys)
Baskets
Wooden Items
Anything Beachy
etc.

Items needed in clothing…
Tops
Dresses
Purses
Great Brand Names like Johnny Was, Eileen Fisher etc.

Call to make an appointment 805-628-3289

My friend Marc has the lead role in Spamalot that is opening up in Ojai this weekend. Please come out and support him. I will be there this Sunday for the 2 pm Matinee. Hope to see some of you there!

In super fun news, Val showed up at my house this past Tuesday and we all went to dinner at Victoria Pub. Me, Mo and Val. So great to see her smiling face. I hope she is back in the store soon….fingers crossed! At least one day a week!

In more fun news, Sandy is doing a show down at the harbor this Saturday. It is called the “Market by the Sea” and she will have a booth. As you all know, Sandy is super talented and is now designing flannels shirts with a special flair. If you are in the area, please stop by and see her! A little bit more info for y’all….