Pictured Emma, Houston’s Face, Indy, me, and my Mom (Mor Mor)

(Guess who is home?)

Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #13…

April 9, 2020
Watch for it every Thursday or every OTHER Thursday!
Volume I  Issue 13

 

The most important thing for all of you to know for this week is that Houston (my son) returned home from Oklahoma City last night!  He is getting his Masters in education at Notre Dame and attends classes in South Bend in the summer.  For the program to be tuition-free, he teaches at Mt. St. Mary’s in OKC during the school year.  Oklahoma was way behind with social distancing and I was a very worried Mama.  But he is in the HOUSE!

In my time hop this morning, a picture from a year ago showed up with my nephews Zach and Kai.  They were visiting Ventura for their Spring Break.  I miss these little guys!  My mom and I took them to see the Reagan Museum.  They loved it!  I can’t wait for them to visit again.  This year (definitely) did NOT work out for their annual trip.

Let’s start this newsletter off with some more positiveness!  Gotta keep the good Ventura beach vibes going!  I was on a recent influencer call with eBay corporate.  They called it a “Check-in Call with eBay Leaders” and it was awesome!

With so much uncertainty for brick and mortars, the fact that eBay is stepping up makes me really happy! eBay finally realizes that they are not Amazon or Walmart, and doesn’t want to be.  They are committed to focusing on eBay and its original strengths….Unique one of kind sellers.  Yay!

We also discussed a new selling tool that Jordan says is one of the most robust and well-working that he has seen during his tenure at eBay.  It is the feature that lets you send offers to watchers of your items.  I tried it over the weekend, and boy did it help my sales!

We have been shipping out 20 or more packages a day!  Just like the good old days.  Cindy, my shipping assistant, couldn’t believe it!

Here is one of the items I sold on eBay today using the “send offer” tool.  It is a Swedish Dala-type candleholder in dollhouse size.  BTW, dollhouse collectors are a crazy bunch and they will pay big bucks for items.  This sold for $20.53 and is going to Denver.

https://tinyurl.com/daladollhouse

Couldn’t resist….had to sneak this photo of Carlos in because it is too long until we get to his special section…Carlos’ Corner.

We have been working super hard at the store to clean up the back garages.  The walls have been painted a very bright white and it is looking great.  Still trying to decide whether to paint the ceiling white….Thoughts?

We are going to paint the floor one of Annie Sloan’s greens.  I am leaning towards Firle….Thoughts?  Please let us know what you think!  This will be our outdoor furniture showroom soon!!!

The new normal for my workers at the store has been quite strange if I do say so.  We have all been working, but not at the same time.  Does that make sense?

Emma has been going in and taking photos to put up on the website.
Sandy has been going in to clean and jeuge (to spruce up, add style, flair, pizzazz).
Peggy went in today to paint some furniture.
Cindy goes in almost daily to ship eBay stuff.
Val hasn’t been in as she is taking super good care of her husband Ron.

Here is the before of a piece of furniture that I asked Peggy to paint.  Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

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!

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

We are fully stocked….just got in an Annie Sloan order last Monday!

Also, some new great news from Annie Sloan.  It is her 30th Anniversary this year!  Yowza!  She is the original Chalk Paint inventor and in honor of this, she came out with a new product that is for sale now!

Place your order online and we will put it out curbside for you. I can’t wait for someone to try this Pearlescent Glaze! $19.95 per tin. Click here to order.

https://tinyurl.com/lynnspearlescent

My Timehop app from this morning also showed a photo of Houston and Indiana four years ago when she was playing Mama Mae Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie. OMG, she was soooooo good in that roll! Houston had driven to Palm Desert from Malibu (Pepperdine) to surprise her! It was awesome 🙂 She still has some of her stage makeup on in this photo!

Indiana was nominated for a Desert Theatre League Award for her performance.

Outstanding Supporting Actress-Musical-Youth Theatre
Leyla Dilig – Copacabana – Cathedral City High School
Kaley Doherty – You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown – Palm Springs High School
Lauren Malestic – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – Palm Desert High
Mackenzie Naylor – The Lion King Jr. – Hi-Desert Cultural Center
Emily Sanchez – Urinetown – Desert Hot Springs High School
Indiana Wilson – Bye, Bye, Birdie – Xavier College Prep

Sorry, the photo is so bad.  I wasn’t supposed to be taking any…..LOL!

She didn’t win, but I was soooo proud of her for the nomination.  Strangely enough, Leyla (another of the gals nominated) ended up going to Pepperdine as well.  They didn’t know each other in Palm Desert, but are now really great friends!

With this whole new Zoom classroom and virtual learning, how does one actually audition for a role?  Well, let me tell you, it isn’t easy.  Indy had an audition for “Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids” (now that is one long title) that was due on Monday night.  She had Emma play the husband Peter role and Indy was the wife Maggie  She had to videotape herself.  It was crazy to listen to as I was working in the other room.  They cracked me up.  After about 12 takes, she finally had it in the can!

Time for what I hope will be an eventual eBay score!  Thank God for eBay…at least that store is still fully open and operational!  This listing is for a portrait miniature on Ivory that my grandmother brought back from Europe in the 1960s.  She collected these.  Actually, there wasn’t much that she DIDN’T collect.  It is illegal to sell Ivory on eBay unless the item is less than 5% ivory (think keys on a piano) or was made prior to 1900.  This definitely was pre-1900 as we had Christie’s look at it for us and they dated it to 1820.

https://tinyurl.com/grandmaspmoi

What is even crazier about this piece, is that I found a photo from the 1990s that shows it hanging on the wall in my grandmother’s living room.  I never realized how pretty the walls were in her house.  Wow!  See if you can spot the portrait in the photo.

Enough about Indiana and my grandma, time for some news about Houston!  Unless you have been living under a rock (which quite frankly this sequestering has felt like), you must have heard about the Netflix series, Tiger King.

OMG, it is AMAZING!  I LOVE Joe Exotic….I mean who wouldn’t?  He is a serious train wreck.  His zoo is in Oklahoma City, so before Houston and his fellow Notre Dame classmates left, they had to check it out.

In more good news of the week, check out this graph of my eBay sales by day.  I have drawn an arrow to show you when I started using the “send offer” feature…keep in mind I didn’t use it every day.  The days with the spikes were the days I used it.  It is crazy how big of an impact that this has had on sales.

OK, but back to a “feel good” story, because that is the ONLY way we are all going to get through this…by being extremely positive. Indy text all of us in our group chat this picture a few days ago with the caption…..”He’s finally sleeping in my new chair!  Yay!!  I’ve been waiting for this moment haha”

Many of you have been asking so here is how our new normal will work at the store…..

1.  I will be at the store several days a week from 11 am to 3 pm working on eBay.  This means that the store is available for private showings and curbside pick-up.  Text me at 760-880-3535 or call the store during those hours at 805-628-3289.

2.  We have stopped ALL 30-day automatic Markdowns until we are able to reopen to protect our consignors.  This means all Merchandise has reverted to its original pricing.

3.   Once we reopen, the clock will start and 30 days after reopening the first markdowns will be taken.

4.  It is our goal to get all of our furniture up on the website.  This way you can shop from home!  Emma has been working on it like crazy and it is really coming along.  It is looking awesome and when you click on an item it will tell you how many are available, and sometimes even the dimensions….check it out here.

https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/

Here is what came up when I searched by “painting”.

5.  Website is also set up with lots of great gift items…Annie Sloan Paint, Iron Orchid Stamps and Transfers, Baggus and Gurgle Pots.  It all ships free!

6.  We will not be taking in any new consignments until we reopen.  We are super full right now and are working hard to get it cleaned up and shoppable for when we can open those doors!  Can’t wait 🙂

7.  We are using this downtime to clean out the back garages.  If you are a consignor and some of your items have been in the store a long time, we may be calling you.  Please get back to us ASAP whether you want to pick up the items or donate.  Thank you!

Here is a photo of Wayne hard at work painting those garages.

OK, time to share another eBay score!  This one is fun..I got this out of a bag of clothes that my son was through with.  I had bought it for him originally at a thrift store and he wasn’t a fan.  His loss, my gain.  I love selling men’s clothes because they RARELY get returned.

Just a heads up on this one…I took the picture on my female 1/2 body mannequin.  The way to get the shot without the boobs is to just turn it around.  Problem solved.   Who needs two mannequins?  Not me!  LOL.

Check out the listing here.   It sold for the best offer of $35.00.
https://tinyurl.com/lynnstommybahama

Yes, I have a graphic for his corner!  One of my long-time ezine readers (since 2008), Robin Sweeney from North Carolina made it for us.  Thank you, Robin!

Carlos has LOVED having us all home all day long!  Not sure what is going to happen when we all go back to our “real” lives.

Here he is just chilling through the day.

Here he is on one of his many outdoor adventures.  He loves being outside when the kids are exercising.  If he can’t be outside with them, he literally paws at the sliding door like a dog.  I am not kidding.  I have a video.  Not sure if I should share it or not…Thinking about it.

Enough about King Carlos!  I am so excited that Emma is working on the website and getting so many of our unique products listed.  Check out this search for Mirror….

We will be uploading more photos of mirrors, desks, outdoor furniture, paintings, artwork, throw pillows, and many more things. Please keep checking the website. https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/

One last POTENTIAL eBay score! All of this “at home” time is getting me to go through boxes and boxes of stuff that should have been listed on eBay ages ago. Oh well, it is getting listed now. I was going through one box and found a total score! A flat-rate padded envelope full of African Trade Beads that my mom had shipped me from my inheritance from my dad.

Long story short, even though my grandma Cheryl Leaf was my mom’s mom, Cheryl Leaf loved my dad. She gave him a huge box of African Trade Beads years ago, and before my dad passed away three years ago on Cinco de Mayo, he wanted me to have them to sell on eBay. I couldn’t take them home with me on the plane, so my mom shipped them to me bit by bit. I had no idea I still had any left to list. Here they are all written up with my “I Sell” sheets (I invented these back in 1998 and if you sell on eBay you need these) waiting for photos.

Here is one of the listings that I just put up on eBay.  I always start these auctions at $49.99 per strand.  This one is starting at $249.99 because it has 5 strands all tied together.

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

Here is another glimpse at some of the furniture already up on the website.  Check out this search for “table”.  Never know what you are going to get!

Just so you know, this will get better. This too shall pass. God has got this. Both my kids are home safe and sound. God is Good! Happy Easter!

OK! One last fun photo. Indiana and Emma with their homemade masks getting ready to hit up Trader Joe’s.

Again…..A Happy New Decade (We will get through this!) from Lynn’s Consignments team to you and your family!   We hope to see you soon!

Pictured…Emma, Mor Mor (my mom!), me, Val, Peggy, Kathy, and Jo Dallas! I Miss These Gals!

One last fun photo of Carlos in our backyard…in his new harness…checking out mother nature. Which I encourage all of you to do during this time. It is so wonderful to just hang out in my backyard with my kitty (His 6 month birthday will be April 13th)…crazy! And in the “old days” I would never have just sat outside and listened to nature holding a cat. Times are strange, but yet kinda good! Gotta look for the silver lining folks.

 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/

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