Thought I would start off with the younger generation saying Hi!…..They are so cute!
Pictured Brandon, Indy, Houston and Emma….just chillin!  Hope you are as well!

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #16…

April 30, 2020
Watch for it every Thursday or every OTHER Thursday!
Volume I  Issue 16

 

This time of year is always a bit tough for me.  My dad went into hospice this week three years ago.  On my time hop app there are so many pictures that remind me of that tough time.  He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer on March 16th and passed away just seven weeks later on Cinco de Mayo….always a a hard one.  But as my stepmom Sue says, he wanted to make sure that he went out with a bang.  That was my dad, the ultimate prankster.

I was leaving Bellingham on April 28th to head back to Palm Desert and work.  My kids had just arrived to spend a week with my dad.  Houston flew in from Germany and Indy had just returned from New York.  Once they arrived, I knew my dad was in great hands…no one in the world he loved more than his grandkids.  As I said goodbye to my dad that evening, I insisted that we get one last family photo.  He was already in bed, so me, Houston, Indy and my nephews Zach and Kai rallied around.  I had no idea that it would be the last time I saw him.  He seemed so alive.

I would spend a week in California and I had a plane ticket to return on May 5th (cinco de mayo), my flight was at noon and at 7 am my phone rang.  My heart sank when I saw it was my brother calling from Whatcom County Hospice House.  “Dad passed away”.  We both started crying.  Surreal.  We have always been an incredibly close family.  My dad would be missing so much….Indy’s high school graduation was just 2 weeks away and she was the chosen speaker.  My heart was breaking!

He didn’t get to see Indy graduate from high school, but he did get to see Houston graduate from high school.  Here we are at Houston’ High School (Xavier College Prep) graduation party at Morton’s Steak House in Palm Desert in 2015.  Indy, me, Houston, my brother Lee, my dad, my mom, my friends Lori and Maureen.

It is so strange because on my time hop app for this same time period from a year ago, it shows Houston’s college graduation.  Same time, different graduation.  Here is Houston right after he received his diploma and he and Emma sitting together.  Yes, Houston and Emma met on the Washington D.C. Pepperdine Summer Semester!

When Houston was deciding on a college, he was torn between LMU (Loyola Marymount) and Pepperdine.  I knew in my heart he belonged at Pepperdine, but he didn’t see it.  My mom and dad also wanted him to choose Pepperdine.

Houston spent a lot of time agonizing over his decision, many trips out in the Kayak on the lake where we lived, in addition to driving the 6 hours round trip from Palm Desert to both schools early one morning to figure out where he belonged.  He finally decided on LMU and even attended their weekend orientation.

Several days later, I realized that the finances weren’t there for LMU and he was able to still accept the Pepperdine offer of admission.  Thank God!

What is really strange is that I had a flash of an image one day when Houston was deciding, it was my dad standing on a hill at Pepperdine watching Houston graduate.  It was so strange because my dad was still alive then, why wasn’t my dad with the crowds below?  I didn’t think much of it other than the fact that Houston was was meant to attend Pepperdine.

I took this photo on the day that Houston graduated and looking back up at the hills behind Pepperdine, I just know that my dad was there that day.

This is what Houston posted on Instagram after my dad passed away.

“Last summer my grandpa decided to teach me stick. This photo depicts him begrudgingly driving Indy and I to get ice cream after my miserable failure getting out of the first gear. As you may surmise, this would also be the last time he tried to teach me stick.

My grandpa died a couple days ago & it still doesn’t really feel real. Here’s a little tidbit about what he meant to me if you, my beloved Instagram follower, care to read.

Papa was the one who taught me to love baseball…and to love the Mariners. When I was old enough to play, he’d be there at all of the games he could…often times heckling the umpires, or even heckling my own teammates.

Perhaps most importantly, he taught me how to love fiercely by the way that he loved others, and the way that he loved me. Papa would just go up to strangers and start talking to them, striking up a conversation. I always wanted to be able to do that. He was like a father to me since I was a little kid. And now it’s just weird that he’s gone. I don’t really know how to feel. I just miss him a heck of a lot.

P.S.
For all of you religious folks out there who’ve read this far, prayers are always appreciated…just direct them up North towards Dr. Wayne Dralle, librarian from South Dakota, sports fan, and an altogether wonderful man.”

OK….enough about my dad. Thank you for letting me share about him and honor him here.

I also want to say that my prayers are going out to everybody that will not be having a real graduation this year because of Covid. It breaks my heart as I know how hard they all worked. I do believe that this will end soon and we will be able to celebrate these wonderful and deserving graduates in person.
Let’s talk about something fun now! How about an eBay score? Check out these strange Egyptian pendants. I can usually remember where I buy EVERYTHING, but for some reason I can not remember where I got these. Put them up as a LOT on eBay…too much work to part them out and listed them at $499 back in June of 2017. Strange that I chose to share this one as that was right after my father passed.

Here is a link to the listing.

Took a best offer of $250 yesterday! Yipppppeeeee!

I haven’t been working on the store as much this past week.   Instead, I have been using the time to get my taxes done.  So great that we got an extension until July!  But, I don’t want to put it off so am working on them like crazy.

We did work a bit on the back garages.  We added more outdoor furniture and I am getting more smalls put out there.  Lamps etc.  It really has been fun!  Like we have a whole new showroom!

Last Friday night, my neighborhood had a happy hour party.  We all sat in our own driveways, had drinks and were able to chat.  It was super fun.  Especially because Duane, the owner of Ventiki, lives in my neighborhood!  How cool is that?

My kids did some chalk art during the evening.  I think it turned out super cool!

Three years ago, at the same time I was saying goodbye to my dad, my mom and I had to clean out my sister’s garage.  My sister, Kiki, passed away in 2012 from cancer and we had never sorted through all of her things.  These were important mementos that she had left for her boys and we wanted to bring them to my mom’s house for safe keeping as my sister’s house (which my dad owned) was most likely going to be sold since he was dying.  Ughhhh…..When it rains it pours….just bring it all on!

At least my mom and I were able to sort through the boxes on her beautiful deck across from Lummi Island.  It was a tear filled day.  Lots of emotions.

I got a kick out of one of the items my sister had earmarked for the boys.  It was the very first antique that my grandmother, Cheryl Leaf, had ever found.  We had all heard the story over the years, but I was really glad to see it written on the base in my grandma’s hand writing.

“Salvaged from Geo. Faucett’s garbage can in Peshastin (Washington) in 1920—‘Hysterical’ not for sale!  Cheryl Leaf

She was 8 years old when she “rescued” this treasure. She was seriously meant to be an antiques dealer! I guess I get my overuse of punctuation from my grandmother. At least, I come by it honestly!

One of our customers, Jennifer, has been doing a lot of painting during the “shelter in place”. She picked up two cans of Aubusson Blue last week and she text me these before and after photos. Seriously? Amazing transformation! Way to go Jen!

Don’t forget that you can always order your paint supplies on our website, by text 760-880-3535 or by phone 805-628-3289. We are offering curbside pickup and free delivery in Ventura. You have no excuse to not start that project! LOL! Thank you to all of you who have placed orders! We really appreciate it!

Shop Annie Sloan Here
https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/store/category/Annie%20Sloan?sort=HL

We are fully stocked. An Annie Sloan order arrived Monday. The new issue of the Colourist is in. Another amazing bookezine by Annie! Order it here for curbside pickup. Only $15.99.

We also just received the Charleston Paint your Own Keepsake Box set.  It is an awesome deal at $79.95.  Order it here for curbside pickup or free shipping.

The Keepsake box features 120ml tins of Chalk Paint® in Rodmell, Tilton, Firle, along with two neutral colours: Original and Graphite. You’ll also receive one 120ml project pot of Clear Chalk Paint® Wax, a wax cloth, plus the Large Round and Large Flat Detail Brushes, and an inspiration guide. This is plenty of material to paint the box (comes with a paintable box) in a design of your own, and more!

Firle: a fresh, zesty and crisp green.

Rodmell: a dusty, damson purple.

Tilton: a deep, bright mustard.

Let’s get back to eBay. Sold 5 of these butter spreaders last week for $300. Can you believe a butter spreader in silverplate (not even sterling) is worth $60? And they went to Italy. Someone has been self isolating for too long. Here is a link if you want to learn more.

Don’t forget that we are still working on getting most of the store’s furniture up on the website.  This way you can shop from home!   Here is a search for pillows…..

Robin tweaked the logo so that you can see the cat better on the first C.  Thanks Robin!

So my daughter shows me this photo of Carlos and I immediately text it to all of my friends.  I couldn’t figure out how she got such a great shot and even had time to make the sign.

Turns out it was neither my cat nor my fridge.  Indy had found it on the internet.  LOL!  Peggy had a great comment….”We should have known it wasn’t your fridge because there is NO wine in it”!  And Cindy’s son said “that’s a meme mom”.

OK, so here is a “real” photo of my Carlos.  How cute is he during a random photo shoot Indy did with him?

Here is Carlos chilling with Brandon and Indy.  Sooooo cute!

Now that we are doing Queen’s Court calls again, I am getting some great scores from my members to share with you. I love this one from Jan Lane. Here is what she writes….

“I have a score, Back story – With the COVID quarantine, thrift stores closed and estate sales and auctions not being held, I began running out of good fresh merchandise to list. So (horror or horrors) I had to resort to 3 shelves of ‘junk’, low-end items mostly leftover from auction lots.

I still have a few items left to list, but I generated 122 listings from the junk, 15 of which have sold for a total of $523. Another has a bid at this moment of $67. Moral of the story: get your junk listed!”

Here is one of those junk listings. She started the auction at $24.99 and it got 23 bids and sold for $182.50! Yowza! Check it out here. Not sure if it was real gold or not. I will have to read the description.

Here is a photo of the store all cleaned up and ready for you to shop!  Can’t wait to see you all here someday SOON!

I have been going through a lot of the boxes that I inherited from my grandmother’s store that were living in the BarN.  If you don’t know what the BarN is, you need to read last week’s ezine.  Check it out here.

Cindy has been writing stuff up for me to list on eBay and many of the items are from YEARS ago.  For example, this piece was priced at $12.50 in my handwriting from either Middle or High School.  When I moved home to run her store after I got my MBA at USC, we used a ticket gun.  So this tag really dates this piece.  It’s like an archeological dig.  LOL!

Finally got this piece listed after carrying it around for 20 plus years.  LOL!  Not so funny.  I did some research by Googling “Japanese Majolica Vase” and one maker kept popping up with a super similar glaze, Awaji.

I then Googled “maker’s mark Awaji” and bingo my vase had the same scroll type mark!  I had it!  It is amazing to me how easy it is to do research today.  Back when my grandmother and I were pricing things in her store, we had to sift through a stack of price guides (Kovels, Warmens, Schroeders etc) 5 feet high.  And more often than not, you would never find what you were looking for.

Here is a link to the listing.  I started the bidding at $49.99.  We will see!  Fingers crossed for a runner….an auction item that goes super high.  Those are few and far between these days.

Again…..A Happy New Decade from the Lynn’s Consignments team to you and your family!   Just so you know, this will get better.  This too shall pass.  God has got this.  We hope to see you soon!

Pictured…Emma, Steve, Indy, me, Cindy, Joanne & Val! I Miss You People!

OK, one last photo. I guess Houston had his graduation from last year on his mind today….just like me. He just posted this on his Instagram story. So glad I could capture it and post them side by side. Apparently, I have raised a hippie. LOL!

And last year at this time we had a Graduation party for Houston here at the house.  Many of my new Ventura friends, customers and consignors joined us.  It was awesome!   Can’t wait to see you all again!  See if you can’t spot Adolio, Sunny, Cindy, Jane, Denise, Gina, Sean, Steve, Joanne, Sue, Rebecca, George etc. AND Emma’s family from New Jersey?  Can’t believe that was just one year ago!

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

eBay with Heart & Design with Heart……Lynn

 

P.S.  All of the professional photos I use on Instagram, Facebook and in these newsletters were taken by my friend Denise’s daughter, Jaclyn Sabo.  She is amazing!   To learn more about Jaclyn….https://www.jaclynszabo.com/

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

 

Pictured Indy, me, and Mor Mor (my mom)

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #15…

April 23, 2020
Watch for it every Thursday or every OTHER Thursday!
Volume I  Issue 15

 

Today is my nephew Zach’s 14th Birthday!  He is such an awesome kid and we miss him and his brother so much!  They are social distancing in Oregon with their Dad.  Hopefully, this will be over soon and they can visit us this summer. Fingers Crossed!  My sister would be so proud of you Zach!

So, it’s a new week!  How are y’all doing out there in sequesterville?  We are hanging in there, but we have had quite a few FUN distractions!

Speaking of birthdays, it was Indy’s boyfriend’s (Brandon’s) birthday back on April 6th when he turned….drum roll please….21!  We weren’t able to celebrate with him then, but knew that he would be in Ventura on Saturday, April 18th for our celebration!

Indy and I brainstormed on how we could make it super special.  We had recently celebrated both Emma’s and her 21st birthdays and let me tell you…they were epic!  But we weren’t being quarantined then.  Indy and Brandon met on the Pepperdine Buenos Aires Summer program last summer and one of their favorite places to go was a bar named Chupitos.

Indy and I decided to recreate Chupitos in our barn.  The “mini” barn is in our backyard and houses a bunch of my eBay overstock.  It was a mess!  I will now share some photos of the barn through the years.  Here is it before we moved in and I was showing it to Indy, Carmen, Noel, Houston, and my mom.

Here is the barn after I had moved in a TON of boxes and my friend Tiki Jason came to visit.  He and I have been friends for over 20 years.  How is that even possible?

Jason sells on eBay as TikiPugMusic.  Check him out!

Jason sells Hawaiiana, Tiki Mugs, and CDs/LPs.  Here is one of his recent scores!  Sold for $81.99.  I LOVE the background he uses to photograph his Tikis.

OK!  Back to the barn.  When the Woolsey fires shut down Pepperdine two Thanksgivings ago, I ended up hosting a ton of the Theatre kids at my house.  Here they are hanging in the barn.  From left to right, Joe’s brother (name unknown LOL), Indiana, Houston, Emma, Julian, Joe, Bailey, and Julia.

To turn the barn into Chupitos, Indiana and I ordered a ton of red mini lights and some LED lights that would change color for around the top edges.  We also cleaned it up A LOT with Houston and Emma’s help.  We also printed out faux currency from around the world and ordered clothespins.  It was a family project!  Here is a screenshot of what the actual Chupitos looks like.

Here is what it looked like before Brandon arrived.  Pretty fun huh?  Houston had had his train set up in the barn for the past two Christmases so we left it.  I think it adds to the festive vibe.

Before we get to the actual birthday celebration (which btw Brandon said was the best Birthday of his life!) let’s check out eBay for some more good news.  That “make offer” tool is still working like CRAZY for us.  I am so grateful for our eBay sales during this time of closure for the store.  I sent an offer for $250 on this patch box that belonged to my grandmother.

The buyer countered with $188.05 and I accepted.  By reading my grandmother’s code on the base of the box (I will never tell the secret formula), she had paid $44.50 for it in 1974 and purchased it from her good friend Martha.  For some reason, it is really comforting for me to see my grandmother’s handwriting.  Does that make sense?

But not a very good ROI on this purchase.  She usually did much better than that. I did some quick calculations and that $44.50 in today’s dollars would be worth $247.52.  So not too far off, but about $60 short of what it should have been worth with inflation…… In any event, the patch box is going back to Washington state where it had lived with my grandmother for many years.

Do you know what a patch box is?  I was hoping that one of my stories from my “100 Best” books would tell you, but no….I am going to share a story that talks about patch boxes, but I never explain what they are.  Darn it!

So here goes, a patch box is usually a small decorative box used to hold black patches.  These black patches were used much like a beauty mark on the faces of Victorian women to draw attention to their best features.  For example, you may put one close to your eyes if they are exceptionally pretty or next to your mouth.  Crazy!  Huh?

And now here is story #35 from “Money Making Madness” that talks about patch boxes (without a definition ugh!).

Time to talk about what is going on at the store!  Lots of cleaning, sorting, rearranging, pricing, and reordering all in anticipation of opening soon!  Fingers crossed.  We have also been working super hard out in our new “She Shed” putting together outdoor vignettes.  Again, for any of you out and about, if you time it right you may be able to drive by and take a peek from your car.  We will definitely be working on it this Friday.  Here is a sneak peek.  I LOVE the way it is turning out.

Here is another shot of some of our hipster outdoor furniture.  LOL!  Can’t wait to fill up those shelves with fun stuff!

Now for an update on that furniture that Peggy has been painting. I LOVE how this little cabinet turned out in Chateau Grey. It will be finished soon (waxed and hardware put back on) and priced in the store at $195.

Don’t forget that you can always order your paint supplies on our website, by text at 760-880-3535 or by phone at 805-628-3289. We are offering curbside pickup and free delivery in Ventura. You have no excuse to not start that project! LOL! Thank you to all of you who have placed orders! I really appreciate it!

Shop Annie Sloan Here
https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/store/category/Annie%20Sloan?sort=HL

We will be fully stocked. An Annie Sloan order is arriving Friday. For those of you who haven’t tried her gilding waxes, I highly encourage you to give them a shot. They are incredible and the small tube goes a long way!

We also received an Iron Orchid Design order this past Friday.  We are now fully stocked on all things IOD, including all of their wonderful floral transfers.  Check some of them out here.  You can shop them online in our webstore here.

My mom and her friends haven’t seen each other in weeks so they decided to have a “sad” hour.  The opposite of a “happy” hour since they had to stay 6 feet apart.  Here they are (my mom, Anita, and Isabella) in Anita’s driveway having some snacks and wine.  Gotta love their ingenuity!

Let’s get back to eBay.  Seriously, that “send offer” tool has changed my eBay business for the better.  It is doing what “markdown manager” used to do for us in the old days.   Because of the increase in our shipments, and Cindy and me going in on Mondays to work, we are now slated to get our “Top Rated Seller” status back during our next review.  Whooooopppppeeeee!

With my new outlook on eBay (Thanks to Jordan Sweetnam new SVP of eBay) we had our first Queen’s Court call yesterday since we stopped doing them back in August of 2018.  More on that later in the ezine.  Crazy!  Here I am at eBay’s 20th birthday party back in 2015 with Jordan.

Thank you to all of you who watched Indy perform Live with Pepperdine! Here is more info about the show……

In a special performance hosted in collaboration with the Pepperdine University Office of the President, students, faculty, and staff of the Seaver College Fine Arts Division will unite Waves around the world for an evening of art, music, and fellowship. For one night only, the Pepperdine community is invited to come together to enjoy dynamic presentations of art history, theatre, guitar, and the vocal arts led by a lineup of Pepperdine’s best and brightest performers.

Here is Indy getting ready for her live performance. Check out how Emma is walking away with Carlos after the little guy gave her a good luck smooch. LOL!

Here is the title screen right before she comes on!

For those of you who missed it, you can watch it here.  She is introduced at minute 37:00 by Professor Hollace Starr.

Here she is doing her thing!  She cracks me up!

If it is too hard to wade through the entire Pepperdine Performance, they had her do a pre-recorded monologue just in case there were problems with the live feed. You can view that here.

Let’s share another eBay score, because, why not? I used the “send offer” feature again and it sure did work again. These sold for over $80! Check out these tumblers here. I paid $1 each. Now, that is a great ROI (Return on Investment), and thank you Grandma & USC for teaching me about that concept!

Don’t forget that we are still working on getting most of the store’s furniture up on the website.  This way you can shop from home!

AND in super exciting news!  We sold our first piece of furniture from the Website today!  Thank you, Amanda!

The website is looking awesome and when you click on an item it will tell you how many are available, and sometimes even the dimensions….check out the Furniture here.

https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/store/category/Furniture?sort=HL

In my last newsletter, some of the links were not working.  I will share a corrected link here so that you can check out this Butch Cassidy and Sundance Sheet Music.  Did you not love that movie?

Raindrops

I love this new graphic!  Thank you, Robin!  How many of you noticed that there is a cat with ears in the C?

Here is Carlos just being his darling little self during his daily “cat nap”  LOL!

Here is Carlos chilling on Brandon’s Birthday presents….waiting for the Birthday boy to arrive!

Here is Carlos chilling in Brandon’s arms, once that Birthday Boy arrived!  Apparently, Carlos really likes Brandon :)!

OK!  Enough about cute Carlos….time to tell you how Brandon’s 21st Birthday played out.

Once he arrived, we had him open his gifts.  He got a lot of really cool stuff…including a crown and a birthday sash.  Before we took him into the “faux” Chuptias Bar N, we headed down to the beach to order take-out dinner.  This also gave us a chance to parade him around a bit in his crown & sash.

Once we grabbed our pickup/takeout dinner, it was time to take Brandon to the next Birthday “event”.  This would involve a blindfold and Houston driving all over to confuse him.  Houston and Indy did such a great job even stopping at red lights that didn’t exist and getting on the freeway.  We didn’t want Brandon to know we were taking him back to the house.  Here is Indy putting the blindfold on Brandon and Houston looking like a bank robber in his mask.  And we were in my dad’s car……awwwwww!  I miss my dad.  When he passed away he left his Mercedes Sedan to Houston.  I LOVE riding in this car!

Next stop, Houston dressed as a Bouncer and carded Brandon before his entry into Chupitos…now known as the Bar N.  Lol!  Unfortunately, even with the blindfold on, Brandon recognized Houston’s voice.

Here are the kids behind the bar making shots.  Sandy even stopped by to bring Brandon a present.  Soooo sweet!  We had Kamikazes, Lemon Drops and Irish Car Bombs.

The next event for Brandon was a pinata.  Indy and I bought it at the $1 store and filled it with a bunch of crazy candy.  Check out that swing!

Such a fun celebration!  And it continued the next day with Bagels from Bagelicious.  Then it was Slip-n-Slide time.  Our backyard has become a summer paradise (since we can’t go anywhere….like to the beach).

Carlos was soooooo freaked out by the slip-n-slide….can you blame him?  That he curled up next to me on the swing and took a little nap.  How cute is he?  He has to be part of all the festivities.  Love the harness that we got for him at the Wharf. I need to get in there and buy a bigger one since this one is getting too small.  However, the only color they had in Medium was Hot Pink and I just don’t see him as a Hot Pink kind of guy.  Do you?

The last event for Brandon’s epic 24-hour birthday shindig was for the kids to hop in the Jacuzzi.  I had bought this blow-up Jacuzzi a year ago for my nephews and we never got around to putting it together.  Houston worked on it for several days and I must say it is AWESOME!  We love it!

And that was a wrap!  Brandon headed back to San Gabriel and told Indiana it was the best birthday he had ever had!  Aaaaawwwwwww.

Sorry, but in the last ezine, the link to the Patagonia jacket didn’t work. So here it is again for you to check out.

Here is a photo of the store all cleaned up and ready for you to shop!  Can’t wait to see you all here someday SOON!

With so much time on my hands and eBay performing so well, we decided to bring the Queen’s Court together for a Zoom call.  I started the Queen’s Court back in 2007.  At one point we had hundreds of members who would post on the forums and meet monthly for a Queen’s Court voice-only call with Questions and Scores.  It is currently running as Queen’s Court Lite with the forums open and I am so happy about that!  Check us out on the Zoom Call that we had yesterday.  It was sooooo much fun to see these smiling faces. And so much better than a voice-only call!  I could even share my computer screen!

A lot of great scores were shared on that call!  Here is one from Marsha…you won’t believe what this wooden puzzle sold for and it got 16 bids.  Check it out!  Marsha bought a box of these old wooden puzzles (circa the 1930s) for not much money and hauled them from Pennsylvania to Texas.  With shelter in place, puzzles are a hot seller!

OK!  One last photo of Houston, Emma, and Carlos playing Corn Hole in our backyard oasis.  Seriously, this looks like a Ralph Lauren Home Photo to me….or am I delusional from sheltering in place?

One last potential eBay score.  When we cleaned out the barn, I found a HUGE box of Brenthaven computer bags.  Brenthaven is a Bellingham Company and their products are amazing.  About 10 years ago I bought $8,000 worth of their overstocks and have been selling them online ever since.  For some reason, I still had some left and I am excited to get them listed.  Here is one of them. Check it out.

Again…..A Happy New Decade from Lynn’s Consignments team to you and your family!   Just so you know, this will get better.  This too shall pass.  God has got this.  We hope to see you soon!

Pictured…Emma, Steve, Indy, me, Cindy, Joanne & Val! I Miss You, People!

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

eBay with Heart & Design with Heart……Lynn

 

P.S.  All of the professional photos I use on Instagram, Facebook, and in these newsletters were taken by my friend Denise’s daughter, Jaclyn Sabo.  She is amazing!   To learn more about Jaclyn….https://www.jaclynszabo.com/

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

 

Pictured Emma, Val, Mor Mor (my mom), me, Indiana, Cindy, and Peggy

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #14…

April 16, 2020
Watch for it every Thursday or every OTHER Thursday!
Volume I  Issue 14

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.  Since these times have been so strange, I decided to whip up some Easter Baskets for my kids and do the full-on egg hunt (like we haven’t done in YEARS!).

Since the store is mostly closed (except for by appointment) I was able to work on the baskets at the shop.  I ordered a bunch of fun stuff off of eBay.  With the Corona Virus, Amazon has gotten out of control with its pricing.  I highly encourage you to shop on eBay first since eBay sellers are a mostly small mom and pops and are the epitome of small businesses in America.  Let’s support them!

Also, they will not be required to shut down or only ship essential items like Amazon has been forced to do.

PAAS egg kits on Amazon were running at $10 each before Easter.  I found 2 sets of color cups and 3 egg kits for $4 on eBay!  Plus $5 shipping.  What a deal!

Check it out here.  https://tinyurl.com/ebaypaaseaster

I hard-boiled 24 eggs (once I waited in line for 30 minutes at Trader Joes to get them) and we all had such a blast coloring them.  We haven’t done this in about 10 years, since Houston was 13 and Indy was 11.  Of course, Carlos joined the fun!

OK, yes that is a Christmas Tree in the background.  I keep it up year-round with white sparkly lights and it is beach themed…sea shells etc.  I LOVE IT and it makes me happy so why not?

We all colored 6 eggs each and they turned out sooooo cute!  Well, I think that they did.  Check them out 🙂

And that was all before Easter….we still had Easter to look forward to!  Crazy, but in my time hop this morning, was this photo from just five years ago.  Wow!  That was all I could say!

It was admitted student’s day at Pepperdine and Houston was still a senior in high school and had not made his final decision.  Wild!  Here is a photo of my kids with their friend Gil on campus that day.

That was such an incredibly fun day!  This year’s new student admit day wasn’t held on campus because of the Corona Virus.  That makes me sad for all of the incoming freshmen this year.  I am praying so hard that school will begin this Fall just like normal for all of us.

When I saw that photo, I decided to go back to the original ezine that I had written on April 15th, 2015.  I love glancing through my old ezines just to reminisce..  Here is a link if you want to check it out.
http://www.thequeenofauctions.com/articlepages/ezinev11is06.html

As I was scanning the ezine, a section really stood out to me.  It was a speech that Indiana had given to her high school as a Freshman.  It is really amazing to me that a 14-year-old wrote this and really helped me to see the beauty and grace in what we are all going through right now.

Here is what I wrote in that ezine….

Indiana did something super brave this past week at school.  On Monday, she got up in front of the entire student body (about 600 kids) and gave a personal five-minute reflection.  Indy wants to be a youth minister someday and I would have to say, she is on her way.

Here is a photo of her practicing her speech.  A reflection at Xavier is a person’s personal thoughts regarding a subject that is chosen by their pastor/priest.  Indy’s subject matter was thanksgiving.

Yikes!  When I just copied this photo from that old newsletter, I got goosebumps.  Her shirt says “Corona Frosh Slowdown….”.  What the heck?  Corona Slowdown…Isn’t that what we are all going through right now?  I see signs from God in my life all the time and I truly believe that this is one of them!!!!  I was meant to share this with you all.  Here is the rest of that section from my 2015 newsletter.

I asked Indy if she wouldn’t mind sharing her reflection with you all and here it is if you would like to read it.  I will tell you this much….I will never look at a crow the same way again.  Thanks, Indy Girl!

 

P.S.  All of the professional photos I use on Instagram, Facebook, and in these newsletters were taken by my friend Denise’s daughter, Jaclyn Sabo.  She is amazing!   To learn more about Jaclyn….https://www.jaclynszabo.com/

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