Last week was hands down, the MOST STRESSFUL week of my life.  I am NOT kidding.  It started out with Houston almost dying on that mountain, then proceeded with me giving notice to the Becker Group and announcing the store closing and ended up with my mom in the hospital.

This past weekend in Palm Desert was just what I needed and I literally slept about 14 hours each night.  I was EXHAUSTED!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #000048

Thursday, June 5th, 2025
Volume VI  Issue 000048

In case you missed my last few emails, we will be closing the store.  We have given 90 days notice to the management company and our final day will be August 25th.  More details later in the ezine.

Store is 10% off.  No extra discount off of the 20% Annie Sloan sale and no extra discount off of the 50% off clearance room.

As I started writing this newsletter, I looked up in my office and saw an envelope that said “LYNN ADELLE” on it in my grandmother’s handwriting.

Ever since I announced the store’s closing, I have been having dreams of my sister, my dad and my grandmother in my store wanting to help.  It has been really weird, but also I feel like it is a sign that I am doing the right thing.

As I started reading the letter inside, I realized that I had to share it.

“Friday-9-17-82  (my grandma was 70 years old at that time doing an antique show in Seattle and I was a sophomore at USC)

Dearest Lynn:

No doubt you are settled down to routine school and in the swing again!  Will you and Annie live in Troy all year?

I couldn’t find help for set up so did it by myself!  I had them set boxes on one table & chairs & tried to work without lifting – it took me 7 hrs!  I was really tired, having been up since 5:15 & then a date with the doctor at Group Health at 12:00.

Edna helped yesterday (sold a Shirley Temple doll for 135.!!)  We went to town on Monorail before the show and I got some tools for Phil at Mayer Bros.  Today I go early for a Jewelry Wholesale show at the Seattle Trade Center (by Spaghetti Factory) and tomorrow I go early for the Gem Show at Seattle Center.  So I have had a heavy schedule for this trip.  I feel so great and I’m just glad I can get around so good!  The Dr. is keeping me on Tamoxifen & it seems to be perfect for me!

I  ordered paperweights from St. Clair & some teapot ring holders & regular weights-they are really nice.

Sunday

I did the show yesterday alone as Edna was scheduled to go to the Puyallup Fair.  Had a pretty good day 460 added to 450 for 1st day so if I do anything today I’m in pretty good shape-not like the old days, but I get my share.  There are 50 dealers there with tons of merchandise & the Seattle area has a show or mall show nearly every week!

I was disappointed in the Jewelry show – only had 2 1/2 hrs there before the Antique show opened.  All I bo’t was a Jewelry cleaning machine (sonic vibrator/and some loose diamonds).  Bo’t no gold jewelry at all.  Today I’m going to the Gem Show for 2 hrs hoping to find some rubies & some green Tsavorite garnets.

Monday-

Well, I’ll finish this progressive letter.  I was happy to hear from you & glad you are pleased with ADPi.  I’m sending a double Lincoln this time as I know you’ll have lots of extra expenses!

My show orders are coming in & I haven’t had time to check them all.

I love you – stay happy!

Grandma

Heart and Rainbow”

Here is a pic of me with my grandma around the same time of the letter…. in her shop.

Again, she was 70 and I was 19 or 20.  We were so close!

There are so many things for me to unpack from that letter.  I will share them throughout this ezine.

My first takeaway was that she used A LOT of exclamation points when writing…just like I do!

She also never slowed down.  Up at 5:15 am (not me lol) and working all day and never stopping.  We both have that in common.  Maybe I need to start getting up earlier?….nah!

Also, she had just beat Breast Cancer that progressed to Lung and Hip Cancer and her doctor was keeping her on a drug that really saved her life…Tamoxifen.

Speaking of Cancer, one of my favorite team members was just diagnosed with cancer and had surgery this week.  Please pray for her….

I KNOW she will beat this because she is one of the most lovely and positive people that I know.

Time for an eBay score before we get to my fun time in the desert.

Got this set of dishes for about $100.  Just sold these 3 dinner plates for $263.99. Check out the listing here.

Houston is coming back to Ojai this week to climb back up and retrieve his bike.  I am freaking out about this as it will take him about 9 hours to climb up and then another 6 hours to fix his bike and ride down.

Here is our text exchange.  Please pray for him as well.

OK, thank you for letting me share that.  I am very worried about this “bike rescue” that I don’t think really needs to happen.  But try telling that to your 28 year old son.

Let’s get back to last week.  Last Thursday, Jo Dallas offered to recreate the “Dos Padres” famous taco salad from Bellingham.  My brother had found the recipe and Jo had been making it for her husband.

As we were getting ready to leave the store, Val showed up!  What a treat!  Here are the girls helping to price some jewelry….I am really going to miss this wonderful team of women that I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 7 years.  Good news…is that we are all still great friends!

Since Val showed up to the store, we invited her back to my house for the “Dos Padres” Taco Salad.  She said “yes”!  It was a huge success.

Friday morning, Jo and I (along with Cha Cha) headed out for Palm Desert.  We were going to drive to the Brentwood Country Mart to drop of the Cha to Indy and Larissa to watch her for the weekend.  Thanks girls!

Half way to Palm Desert, I get a text from Indiana….

We have dumped so much money into that Jeep recently….here we go again.  What a way to start the day!  Ughhh.

When we arrived in Palm Desert we went straight to a Tattoo Mark estate sale.  Not much there, but I did buy a stainless flatware set for $10.  Pretty good score as the dinner forks sell for $29.99 on Replacements.com.  Here is a tiktok I did showing how to identify patterns.

Click here to watch it.

After the sale, we headed to my mom’s cousin Gwen’s house to pick her up for lunch.  This is where things also went south.  And I am not kidding.

We drove up and her apartment looked dark and boarded up.  We knocked and knocked and knocked….no answer.  We called…no answer.  We yelled her name…no answer.

I said to Jo, “she must have forgotten…let’s go grab lunch and come back after”.

We went to Billy Reed’s and had a great lunch.  Then we headed back to Gwen’s to try and find her.  Again, we knocked and yelled….no answer.  Started driving away and realized I had better make sure she was OK.

Text her half brother Renato and he said “She is in there.  I just talked to her.  You have to knock really loud and say who you are because she has some neighbors that she doesn’t like.”

Here is a pic of us from a previous visit, because as soon as we got inside to see her (and she was OK) my phone rang and my mom was on the way to the hospital.  Ughhhh.

My mom had some friends over and she started acting confused, so they called 911.  The EMT’s took her blood pressure and it was super high, so they thought she should go to the hospital and I agreed.

Wish her house would sell so we could get her down here!  Ughhh.  After that was all taken care of and I knew my mom was safe, Jo Dallas says “I need a drink” and she NEVER drinks.  So off we went to Tony’s (which used to be Pete’s).  I think this Instagram story pretty much sums up the day.

Time for an eBay score.  And I love this story.  I always pick up yearbooks when I see them.  I will pay $5 to $10 for each one.

I got an offer on this one of $90 and she also sent a question.  “Before you accept my offer can you please make sure my dad Victor Clark (Jr or Sr year) is in the yearbook?  I want to give this to him for Father’s Day.”

How sweet!  What a great idea for a Father’s Day gift.  He was in the book and I accepted her offer.  She hasn’t paid yet, so we will see if she follows through with the sale.  Fingers crossed.  That is a great ROI!

Check out the listing here.  If it says SOLD she bought it.

Here is the picture showing her dad.  Proof!

Back to the desert.  Friday night we went out to dinner with Mo and Saturday morning we went to estate and garage sales.

I found a bunch of Tom Clark Gnomes at a sale.  They wanted $10 each and I asked for a special price if I take them all.  Learned that from my Grandma!

They counted 30 and offered them to me for $150.  I asked Mo and Jo (LOL MOJO) if I should buy them.  Jo said “yes” and Mo wasn’t sure.  Well, I bought them anyway.  Here they are wrapping them up.

Interestingly enough, the Tom Clark gnomes are not worth a whole lot, but I should be able to get about $1,000 for all of them in individual auctions.

If you look closely you can see a green fancy vase on the table that I bought for $5.  It is Fenton and it is going to do great on eBay.  Back to my grandma’s letter, she carried Fenton in her store and we would often take pieces to the antique shows.

One of my favorite things to do when I worked in her store (in middle and high school), was to unpack the Fenton pieces when the arrived from the factory.  They were all individually boxed and it was such a treat and surprise to see what was in each box.

Fenton was founded in 1905 (not many people realize that it is not a newer company) so yes, many of their pieces can be considered antique.  Thank you grandma for teaching me so much (and for me knowing that you would have LOVED this vase) that I knew to buy it for $5!

It already has two bids and someone asked me to end the auction early for them and they would pay $100.  NEVER EVER end an auction early!  If someone asks, it usually means you have something really good.

Here is a link to the listing.  Let’s hope it goes way up!  Started the auction at $49.99 and it already has 3 bids.  OK, it just got more bids and is now over $100….you need to follow along on this auction!

Back to the store…..For my consignors, here is more info about the closing.

This has been an incredibly difficult decision for me.  Here are the details of the closing process for my consignors.

5.)  I will be writing the next consignor checks on Monday, June 30th.  Until then, please feel free to use your consignor credit to shop in the store.

After, June 30th, we will go back to the traditional Wednesday check writing day.

In Fun News, don’t forget we got in a bunch of brand new purses that are marked at $39.95 and are in the back 50% off garage.  So, they are only $20 each!  Check them out!

After Garage sales on Saturday in the desert, we had some fun plans.  We were meeting Griff for lunch at Cactus Jacks.  I have known Griff for 20 years and he was eBay’s 4th employee, spokesperson, eBay Podcast Host and I adore him!

He had the rapt attention of the four of us (me, Mo, Jo and Kel) and kept us entertained with stories of eBay’s beginning, when it was known as Auction Web.

I loved the story about how Pierre wanted to name it “Echo Bay” (a place he loved) and he went into the CA state licensing department where the clerk went through pages of pages and finally announced that it was taken.

He suggested that Pierre shorten it and Viola, “e-Bay” for “Echo Bay”.

Here we are at lunch!

And Griff went thrifting with us after.  Sooooo much fun!

We even filmed a few tiktoks…unfortunately, the sound didn’t work in most of them.  Here is one that did work.  Click here to watch it.

Then Griff and I had to recreate our infamous first photo when I was a guest on eBay radio in 2015 with he and Lee.

That night the girls went to Las Casuelas for dinner and I opted to go to bed early.  I told you I slept A LOT this past weekend!

Then on Sunday, we had lunch plans with Sandra, my former neighbor at 1 pm.  We met her at The Old Spaghetti Factory….remember my grandmother mentioned that restaurant in her letter.  She used to take me there!

Fun lunch, as always, with Sandra!  What a weird photo…we all look like flat cardboard cutouts…am I wrong?

Sunday night, we met Linda McCoy Murray for dinner at the Cliff House.  Linda is the widow of Jim Murray, the very famous LA Times Sportswriter.

Here we are after dinner.

Mo has a friend who is a HUGE fan of Jim Murray…..so Linda (Bless her Heart) pulled out 3 of his books for Mo to give her friend.  Pretty cool if you ask me!

I met Linda about 20 years ago in Palm Desert because we both used the same personal trainer, Alida McDaniel.  We had a mastermind group for years.

Check out this fun note from a Book Expo that we all attended in LA back in the day.  We were at Engine Co No 28 for dinner and got our picture in one of the Book Expo publications.  Can’t find the picture though!

Yes, they did call us the “Desert Divas”  LOL!

Jo and I left Palm Desert first thing Monday morning and picked up Cha Cha on the way home.  We decided to take PCH back to Ventura because it is finally open.  Super sad to see the devastation from the fires.

An update on my nephew, Zach.  He is in the Oakhurst area on his PCT hike.  He has gone more than 900 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Congrats!

Here is a picture from Zach’s trek.  It is so beautiful it looks fake….right?

I drove Jo up to the Santa Barbara Airport on Tuesday morning and she is back home!  Super fun time with her.  But I need a vacation.  hahaha.

Awesome surprise on Wednesday when Larry and Becky Raney from Bellingham stopped in the store on their way up the coast.  Love these two!

The Raney’s printed my greeting cards, our beanie baby binder book and all of my 100 Best Books.

Becky was mentioning that when our Beanie Baby Binder was selling like crazy, they had 40 employees just to assemble the books because it was a loose leaf binder system.  It was also Amazon.com’s best selling book in the pop culture category for 1998.  Crazy!

Here is a TikTok that I did about our Beanie Baby writing experience and getting sued by Ty Warner himself.  Long story!

Click here to watch.

One more random connection to my Grandma’s letter.  She mentions my friend Annie.  We were sorority sisters and roommates sophomore year. Annie called me this week to say she would be in LA from NY and wondered if we could see each other.  I haven’t seen her in like 10 years   So next Wednesday night, I will meet her and some other sorority sisters in Pasadena  Fun!

She is one of my best friends and was even in my wedding.  Here we are at Pledge Presents back in 1982.  Annie is actually a lot shorter than me and is standing on a stair for this photo.  LOL.  Crazy!

OK, time to explain my subject line for this ezine.  As I was leaving Palm Desert, I saw this statue that didn’t just say “Dream Big”, it said “Dream Bigger” and that  really hit home.

I think too much of my creative entrepreneur energy has been poured into the store and its time for me to get back to designing greeting cards, writing books, painting and other new ventures.  So, I am excited for this next chapter!

Also, I loved how my grandma ended her letter to me with “stay happy”.  How precious is that?  So, “Dream Bigger & Stay Happy” is my new motto!

Things we need for the store…..

AND PLEASE NO CONSIGNMENTS ON WEDNESDAYS….this is our big furniture take in and catch up day.  THANK YOU!

Night Stands
End Tables
Rugs
Lamps…both table and floor
Nice Throw Pillows
Wicker/Baskets
Metalware
Woodenware
Garden
Outdoor
Dressers
Desks
Oil Paintings

And now what you have been waiting for….The new arrivals!

Console Hooker Furniture Home Modern Mood Entertainment Light Grey/natural $795.00 

Cabinet Blanco Accra Large Off White $595.00 

Recliner Name Brand Manual Fabric Brown $295.00

Pillow Geige Luxury Pom-Pom Faux Fur Body Beige $29.95

Abstract Guitar Canvas Wall Decor $49.50

Repos Ste. Elisabeth $149.50 

Fly To South Sea Isles $149.50 

Black/White Horse Picture $32.50

Mohawk Whiskey on Old Window $69.50

Asian Batik $125.00

Tiffrany Lamp $550.00

Tiffany Lamp $595.00

Blue and White Porcelain Lamp $84.50 – 2 in stock 

Bronze Asian Style Vase $100.00 

Antique Austrian Double Handled  Painted Vase $69.50

Vintage Majolica Style Vase With Woman Figure $145.00 

Ceramic Woman Art Scuplture $49.50 – 2 in stock

Figurine Urban Trends Collection Terracotta Bird Washed Finish Grey $19.95

Green/rusty Planter $49.50 – 2 in stock 

Thanks for reading my ezines!  I appreciate it….as always!  Lynn & Family…

From left to right…Whale, Indiana, me, Val, Sandy, Susan, Cindy and Tina.

eBay with Heart & Design with Heart……Lynn

Past Newsletters can be found on my blog. 

P.S.  If you have a friend who wants to sign up for this newsletter.

In case you missed my email this past Tuesday, we will be closing the store.  We have given 90 days notice to the management company and our final day will be August 25th.  More details later in the ezine.

Store is 10% off.  No extra discount off of the 20% Annie Sloan sale and no extra discount off of the 50% off clearance room.

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #000047

Thursday, May 29th, 2025
Volume VI  Issue 000047

Houston had a scare on Friday.  Actually, my entire family had a scare.  Houston was on a 4 day mountain bike trip on the Tour del Los Padres.  A trail that NO ONE travels.  He was alone for the majority of the 4 days.

On day 2 1/2, his brakes went out and he was at elevation 5,000.  He had heat stroke and had to decide to either carry his bike and camping gear down the mountain or abandon his bike.

He did abandon his bike, so you know how serious it was.  Here he is when he reached Ojai after a 9 hour decent starting at 3 am.  My poor kid.

You can watch his tiktok here.

He didn’t have cell service until Saturday morning at 8 am when he called Indiana hysterically crying.  She immediately called me and I got in touch with Houston and arranged to pick him up in Ojai.

He said that it was so bad that if he had a “Garmin In Reach” with him he would have contacted Search and Rescue by Satellite to get him down off the mountain.

You can bet that I bought him a “Garmin In Reach” this week and he is NEVER allowed to leave home without it.

Here is another video of him when he runs into a guy a few hours outside of Ojai that gives him a beer and yes he was crying.

And when he text me and told me about the beer, I said “Is that a really good idea?”  He said “yes”.  Oh my!  So hard being a parent.  Am I right?  Or am I right?

Here is his recap.

All he wanted was In n Out burger….so $37 later he was happy.

Watch the tiktok I made when we got to our house.  Thank you to Susan for holding down the store on Saturday so I could rescue my kid!

Thank you for letting me share that.   It was a super scary weekend.  Saturday night after his rescue, we ordered pizza and watched the Bob Dillon movie and Houston had a great night’s sleep.

Saturday afternoon in the store, one of Houston’s best friends, Logan and his Wife Madison stopped in to say hi.  They were in town from Nashville for a wedding in Ventura.  Crazy huh?  It was nice to see Logan as he was one of Houston’s best friends from Pepperdine undergrad and great to also meet his wife.

Well all of that has worn me out!  Time for an eBay score!

This one is very strange and I will tell you why.  Indiana and Larissa went to the Simple Minds concert this past Thursday night with their dad and Dean Factor.

Dean was the founder of Smashbox cosmetics and when he still owned it he used to ship me a palette of discontinued makeup every month for me to sell on eBay and split the money with him.

It was a sweet deal!  And we used to sell about $15k a month.  He sold Smashbox to Estee Lauder for 250 million and he started another cosmetics company called “Stroke of Beauty”.

He shipped me some overstocks to sell on eBay several years ago.  The morning after Indy had been with Dean, I sold one of the lots for $219.99.  Weird right?

Check out the listing here.

I worked on Sunday and Houston was picked up by a Pepperdine friend and driven back to Marina del Rey.  He has plans to return to Ojai and recover his bike in the next few weeks, when he is feeling better.

I don’t like this idea very much and asked him to please take someone with him.  He figures it is a 12 hour hike back to his bike.

He is supposed to start his summer internship on June 2nd at the LA District Attorney’s office.  Fingers crossed that he feels well enough to do this.

Carlos instinctively knew that Houston needed some love.  How cute is our kitty? Houston thinks he looks terrible in this photo.  Keep in mind we had  just rescued him from Ojai.

One of my favorite customers is Scotty the dog.  This puppy stands up for me to get a treat.  I am going to miss the dogs so much when the store closes.

Do y’all remember Candy who used to work here?  She came to us when Pier One closed and she was such an asset to the store.

She was in town for her granddaughter’s dance recital and popped in to say hi.  She paid me the nicest compliment and told me that I was the best manager she ever had.  How sweet is that?

Time for another eBay score and this one is something that I listed for my mom when I was up in Bellingham.

I talked a bit about these trade beads in last week’s ezine, but what was so crazy about this one is that we started it at auction for $49.99 and it was bid up to  $76.00 which is the exact price we had on it in my grandmother’s antique store.  Weird!

Check out the listing here. 

Here is the necklace ready to be shipped with my I Sell sheet and you can see the original price tag for $76.00.  Oh crap!  I just noticed that this strand sold for $71.00 not $76.00.   There goes my story!

Oh crap, it was the white hearts that sold for the $76.00.  Here is a link to that completed auction. 

On Monday, Memorial Day, I did Fit Buddha with Sandy and we went out for Martini Monday.  Let me tell you, I sure needed that after the weekend with Houston.

I would also like to thank our service men and women who have given their lives for this country.   It is greatly appreciated!

OK, on Tuesday I did a lot of eBay shipping and even made a little Tik Tok that you can watch here. 

Sorry, it is sideways.  I just don’t know how to do a TikTok horizontally and there may not be a way.

For my consignors, here is more info about the closing.

This has been an incredibly difficult decision for me.  Here are the details of the closing process for my consignors.

Thank you Ventura for your support!  It is greatly appreciated!  We LOVE you all!

We are going to see how this week goes and the store is still 10% off.

So, the store is still up in the air as far as it’s future is concerned, but I am relieved to be back writing my regular newsletter.  It gives me a sense of normalcy.

Just so you know, no matter what happens with the store, I will continue writing, because I LOVE doing these and I have been writing them for almost 22 years.  Crazy!

Here is what my ezine used to look like.  This is issue #11 from Volume 6 and it came out on June 17th, 2010.  Crazy!  Right?

In this issue from 15 years ago, I talk about taking Houston to a VIP Dodgers experience (where he got to meet Manny) if you want to read about it….. Here is a link.

There are also a lot of great eBay tips in this newsletter.  In case you don’t read it, I just have to share these priceless photos from that day.

Manny signs a ball for Houston and then drops it!  Check out Houston’s face when Manny picks it up!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #000046

Thursday, May 22nd, 2025
Volume VI  Issue 000046

Since my last real ezine was two weeks ago, let’s catch you up.  Here is the tiktok and reel that I posted last Thursday morning.  Thanks to the podcast Ventura Forward mentioning it we had over 5,000 views on Instagram.

Click here to watch the reel on Insta or here on TikTok.

The Saturday before Mother’s Day, my friend Rebecca Rudenko and I went to see the Shawn Jones Trio at The Grape.

Shawn is soooo talented and it is always a treat to see him perform.  We got there late and it was packed…so we had to sit off to the side.

Soon after we arrived, Shawn gave Lynn’s Consignments a “shout out” recognizing how important small business is to Ventura. Thank you Shawn!

During the break, we got a photo.

I hadn’t seen Rebecca since we went to see Pete Yorn in LA and I am so mad at myself for not getting a photo of us at the Grape, so here is an oldie but a goodie.

This was at her Halloween themed birthday in 2018.  The dressed up clown is a really weird silver boy that she bought at my store…LOL!  Gotta love Rebecca!

The day after Shawn’s concert was Mother’s Day and bless her heart, Indiana came home late Saturday night to take me to breakfast on Sunday.

We both had to work on Sunday, so we arrived at the Harbor Cove Cafe at 9:15 and if you can believe it the line was almost to the parking lot.  “What in the World?” as my dad would have said.

You can barely see Indy in this photo, but she is last in line.

Here is the sweet post that Indy put on Instagram.

Indy also got me the best card because she knows how tough it has been for me with the store this past year.

AND while working at the Brentwood Country Mart she had found a kiosk where they were helping little kids make gifts for their moms and she made one of the cards for me.  Hysterical.  Best gift EVER!

After a lovely breakfast, I made it to the store on time to work and I was out in the back clearance area explaining the pricing to a young couple.  He was standing up and she was on the floor looking at frames.  She looks up and me and says….”Are you Indy’s mom?”

“Yes”!  And she was like, “I am Becca and I was in PIT (Pepperdine Improv Troupe) with Indy”.  Seriously?  How cool that on Mother’s Day someone recognizes me as Indiana’s mom?

So, we had to do a TikTok.  LOL!  Check it out here.

Before I forget, we hit 1,000 followers on TikTok and we only started posting daily on April 1st.  Pretty awesome!  Thanks for the support!

We actually have 1,121 followers as of Wednesday.  Pretty cool!

Then Susan, her husband Brad, son Bronson and their dog Pootie stopped in to say hi and brought me champagne and flowers! So sweet!

Oh my gosh!  We are only caught up a little bit and I am exhausted…time for an eBay score!

I am happy to report that eBay is picking up!  That is great news…now if the store would just do the same 🙂

I bought this figurine four years ago at an estate sale and paid $10.  I did put a high price on it, but I was ready to let it go and accepted a best offer of $150 last week.

Here is a link to the listing if you want to check it out!

I had been trying to get up to Bellingham to help my mom for a while and when I made the announcement last Thursday about the store, I knew it was time to get out of dodge and help her.

I found super cheap airfare on Allegiant…only $114 round trip out of LAX.  I text the girls to see if they could watch Cha Cha and it was a go!

So last Thursday, I drove down to Indy & Larissa’s apartment to leave the Cha and uber to the airport.

It was fun, because I got there early enough to hang out for a bit.  Here they are in their super cute new living room.  Just a heads up…much of the wall art comes from Lynn’s Consignments!

Oh and also the couch and the throw pillows…..are from my store!

The Allegiant flight out of LAX was basically empty…well half full and I got an entire row.  Seriously!  All the way across.  Sweet!

And in even better news, when I landed, one of my best friends from high school (Kathyrn Tice Ann Rutan) was there to pick me up so that my mama didn’t have to go out at 9:30 at night.  Love you KTR!  And she brought her darling puppy. LULU!

OK, time for another eBay score before we get into my WILD time in Bellingham.   Just kidding…it wasn’t really wild, it was mostly about helping my mom and trying to get her house sold.

I bought this Anri figurine for $5 at a thrift store.  I know all about Anri and Ferrandiz from growing up and working for my grandmother.  Very collectible and they have a pretty big following so I always pick them up if affordable.

Sold it for a best offer of $75 since it had been listed since 2020.

Check out the listing here.

OK Back to Bellingham.  Not back to the future, but more like, back to the past.  Bellingham is my past and Ventura or maybe Europe is my future.

This transitional time with the store is really making me think about where I want to end up and what I want my future to look like.

I have a daily calendar from Unf*ck Yourself (Gary John Bishop) and this showed up the other day…really got me thinking.

My first day in Bellingham was Friday.  My mom and I made a list of everything we wanted to accomplish and got to work.

First up, I ordered a banner that my brother had suggested about 6 months ago.  If any of you have noticed when driving in LA, almost every apartment building has a banner on it so when you are in traffic you can look up and see “If you lived here, you would be home now”.

We thought that would be a great selling point for my mom’s home because she is right on the road where people wait to get onto the ferry to Lummi Island.  Her home still has the same great views (maybe better) and low bank waterfront, but you don’t have to take a ferry to get there.

Here is the finished product.  What do you think?  And you can see the Ferry Landing in the background.

Next, we met with the realtors who came out to the house and we dropped the price of her house from $800k to $780K.

Then I took my mom to a doctor’s appointment, ran some errands and got my mom a hip xray (because she needs a hip replacement).  Then we met my high school friends, (Leslie and Kathy) along with Kathy’s mom for a late Mother’s day celebration at Anthony’s.  Sooooo fun!

The next day I worked on paperwork for my mom and found some really great antique trade beads and sterling silver flatware to list on eBay for her.

We also went into town and picked up prescriptions, shopped at Costco (where I was checked out by a high school classmate Rob Walston…totally random LOL) and then got Taco Time for dinner.  I LOVE Taco Time…wish we had them in California just like everyone in Washington wished they had In-n-Out.  Hahaha!

Here are some of the awesome items I listed for my mom on eBay that day (Ok some of the items I listed when I returned home on Monday, but I got them written up and photographed up there)!  OK…I am so tired just thinking about everything we got done.  No rest for the wicked.  But am I really wicked?  I think not.

Here is one of her auctions that has two bids already.  Yay!

Out of the 36 items I listed for her, I never thought that this one would get the first bids.

These are called white hearts or Cor da lindo allepo. My mom inherited these from her mother, my grandma, Cheryl Leaf.

Check out the listing here. 

Since these white hearts have a bid, I thought I would share a story from one of my 100 Best Books about the same type of beads and just to note, I was wrong in my title and description.  UGHHHHH and I can’t change the listing now because it has 2 bids!

This is story #1 from “Money Making Madness”.

OK back to present day, I am still in Bellingham and later that night (Saturday), Kathy and Leslie were going to hear a band in Ferndale.  I wasn’t sure that I was going to meet them, but then I thought, Life is short and I LOVE these girls.

So, I rallied and met them at 8:15 in Ferndale.  Yikes!  That is a late start time for me…I love early evenings and happy hours.  LOL.  In any event, we had a great time.

While in Bellingham, I text Zach and said “Honey, can you please call me while I am with Mor Mor?”.  We would love to catch up.

On Sunday, right before my flight, Zach called.  It was great to hear his voice and he has already done 624 miles of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).  Wow!  Almost 25%.  I am so proud of him.  I asked about his favorite food so far…tortillas with peanut butter, pepperoni and jack cheese and/or tuna fish.  ughhh!  And his favorite protein bars and candy…snickers (I let him know that the snickers bar is named after a race horse) and Zach said “Well the candy bar is more famous than the race horse” and we laughed.

I said to him “How are you doing”? and he said “I have never been better”….Wow!  What a great attitude.  He also let us know that he had been drinking some Proseco on the trail.  Oh well! Whatever it takes to get you through the night!  Zach is only 19.  But that is the drinking age in Canada….and he is on his way to the border!

Zach shared this picture of him in Idyllwild with the Mayor of the town, Max the dog.  Hahaha!  Zach looks good!

My mom drove me to the airport on Sunday and I love the Bellingham airport because I can arrive at 2:15 for a 3:15 flight.  I had checked in for my flight on my phone and it automatically gave me a center seat.  Not happy about that, so I went up to the counter to buy a better seat.  The gal was so sweet, she moved me free of charge and put me in an aisle with no other people.  Score!

The flight took off on time and we had a tail wind and arrived at LAX in only 2 hours!  Crazy!  Indiana picked me up with Cha Cha and I was back home in Ventura by 7:30.  Amazing!

We sold a little white dresser on Wednesday to a super cute couple and they said “Are you Houston’s mom?”  What?  Two sightings in a week of my kids friends.  LOVE this!

It was Zach and Lauren and they went to Pepperdine with my kids.  They recently moved to Ventura.  I told them that Houston may be living with me next year and Zach was happy to hear that as he wants to cycle with the Goose.  I did warn him that Houston (aka Goose) takes his cycling very seriously.  LOL!

Got the funniest email from Chris Stalcup about my options for the store….

“You’re the best,  Boss Lady.   Your team is great.   Product is great.  I go with your flow.  Been a great run – and for Option 4 – I say you and your team get your own Show and go transform similar stores across the USA.   For real.  Millions would watch!!!  Big budget Big salaries Big Happy!