Great News! Today is Houston’s 24th Birthday
& I am saving the Best News for Last!
Yes, this little cutie (dressed in head-to-toe Gymboree) is turning 24 Today!
And I couldn’t be more proud 🙂
Welcome to Lynn’s Latest #22…
June 25, 2020
Watch for it every Friday or every other Friday!
Volume I Issue 22
We will be taking him out to dinner in Ojai tonight to celebrate! One of his super fun gifts is this custom biking jersey that Indiana designed for him. I think we may just start selling these in the store…What do you think?
Watch for my kids biking around town in these and give them a wave! Hopefully, they will arrive soon as Houston will be heading back to OKC in about 2 weeks.
Here is Houston wearing his “Birthday King” sash and crown, which by the way, he refuses to wear in public. Darn it!
I did mention some really amazingly great news that I am saving for last (it involves Val & her husband Ron)…so please read on.
Just a reminder of our current store hours…..
Tuesday to Sunday 11 to 3.
We do stay late if there are customers so if you are in the area check us out to see if we are still open after 3 pm.
Last week was a crazy one! Tons of new stuff coming in and lots of furniture going out! Thank you to all of you who came in to support us….we really appreciate it!
I will be sharing some of our new arrivals throughout this ezine.
Time for an eBay score! So you may remember this Matisse rug that my favorite estate sale dealers (Jack and John) gave me to sell on eBay back in February. They said to get what I could for it and we would split it. I RARELY do this for other people, but they are special!
I got the best offer of $1,200 for it so text the boys and they said “Take it”! Hopefully, this sale will stick. We do get returns on eBay items so fingers crossed and once I have positive feedback, I will be sending them a check!
In my Time Hop from 10 years ago, there was a picture of me with my friend Mo’s sister (Anne) at a James Taylor and Carol King Concert in Chicago. I was there for eBay on Location and for some reason, Mo (my original eBay Assistant) couldn’t join me.
One of my Queen’s Court Members, Elizabeth Summers, and her husband Brian invited us to the concert their treat! Since Mo wasn’t in town, her sister Anne got to go with me. The significance of this photo is that when Anne and I got in the Taxi (yep no Lyft back them) the cab driver said “How are you Fellows doing today”? Wow! I was like, I wouldn’t have bothered with my hair and make-up to be called a dude…..
I am sure he meant “guys” but the translation was so hysterical that we laughed all night about it….even taking this photo of us standing in front of the “men’s” bathroom that we should have used if we were in fact “fellows”!
I am a huge fan of James Taylor so thank you AGAIN to Elizabeth and Brian for the concert! We were in the second row. I just text this photo to Mo and she was pissed that she had to miss out!
Speaking of James Taylor and Chicago….I was on a Zoom Call last night with the eCom eBay Meetup Group in Chicago. I LOVE Rich & Nila and it was super fun! Great to see so many of you on the screen last night!
While I was looking through my photos to find one of me with Rich and Nila for the promo email, I came across photos from when My mom and I were in Chicago for eCom 2016 and after it ended we drove to Galesburg to visit my great grandmother Maybelle’s crypt. Neither my mom nor I had ever seen it.
Maybelle was my grandma Cheryl Leaf’s mom, who died at age 34 when my grandma was a baby. It killed my grandma to grow up without a mom. Here is more about that trip from my ezine back in 2016.
“After the conference, my mom and I would be heading to Abingdon, Illinois where my grandmother was born, and also to Galesburg where her mother, Maybelle, was buried in the Hope Abbey Mausoleum. It had always been my dream to visit that to honor my grandmother.
Cheryl Leaf missed her mother every day of her life as her mother passed away due to complications from childbirth at age 34 when my grandma was just 15 months old.
Here is a photo of Maybelle with my grandma on her lap and my grandma’s brother Houston standing next to them. And that is how my “Houston” got his name. I do think that the two Houston’s look a little bit alike. Am I wrong?
My mom had been in touch with her second cousin, Clifford, who lives outside of Chicago and he had emailed us this information.
‘When you go down to Galesburg, I would suggest that you find out ahead of time how you can get a key to get into the mausoleum. Even though I have always wanted to, I have never seen May Belle’s crypt, either, mainly because I didn’t know how to get into the mausoleum.
A relative (Robert) told me how your grandfather, George Sussex, purchased a casket for May Belle which had a glass window over the face so that the face could be seen when the casket was closed. The idea was that your grandfather someday wanted to have the casket pulled out so that he could show your mother, Cheryl Leaf, and Houston what their mother looked like.
In some papers written by your grandfather which Lynn copied, your grandfather mentioned that he someday wanted to take Cheryl and Houston to see what their mother looked like, so that would verify what Robert had told me.’
Is that crazy? And oh so sad!
My mom and I picked up our rental car on Sunday and headed down to Galesburg. I had arranged with the local Mausoleum to leave me a key to the Hope Abbey Mausoleum so we could go directly there. It was supposed to be in the mailbox at the cemetery.
Here is that mailbox.
Original plans to view the Mausoleum on Sunday were not going to happen. It was locked up tighter than a drum. We decided to tour Abingdon that afternoon instead. Abingdon is the birthplace of Abingdon pottery and my grandmother. The factory closed about 15 to 20 years ago and the town is very run down and in sad disrepair. It makes me really sad to think that this is happening to so many small American towns.
Here is a listing I currently have on eBay for an Abingdon pottery set of candle holders. I was asking $95.00.
Here is a photo of the factory in its current state. Looks much more like a prison than a once-thriving small town pottery.
We were able to find the spot of land where my grandmother was born during a home birth thanks to my mom’s second cousin Clifford who was on speakerphone the entire time helping us find it. Small town farm directions crack me up. Clifford was saying ‘Take the road going east towards Yates City. Once you cross the railroad tracks watch for the first four corners. At those four corners, you will take a left and go past the old one-room schoolhouse that is now a residence (you remember that don’t you Sharon?)’ My mom was like no way! The original house had burned down and there is a replacement one standing on the same land so I took a photo of it.
Here is a page from a book I made from old letters that Maybelle had written. I found them all bundled up in the Snake Pit at my grandmother’s antique shop and my grandmother had carried this treasured tie to her mother with her for over 80 years.
For Christmas in 1990, I typed each and every letter into my first computer (a Mac SE30). Then I had them printed out and also photocopied photos to bind into a book. It was a surprise Christmas gift and when they were given out to my mom, my grandmother, Lee, and Kiki we all sat around and read the book from cover to cover. Tears were streaming down everyone’s faces. It was an amazing gift and such a tribute to another mother that was taken too soon from this earth.
When my sister was dying of cancer, she kept saying “There is no way this can happen twice in one family. I can’t leave those little boys behind (ages 3 and 5 when she passed) just like grandma got left behind.
When I look at the comparison between the two houses-one old and one new, I like to think that some of the same trees that my grandmother Cheryl, her brother Houston, her mother Maybelle and father George walked and played under still remain.
That was a long and sentimental day for me and my mom. After driving all the way from Chicago to Galesburg and then to Abingdon, it was time to check into our hotel in Galesburg and make plans for the next day.
I sold this Chicago, Illinois coffee mug that night for the full asking price on eBay (almost $40). Coincidence? I think not.
The next day, we called the Mausoleum and were able to swing by and finally pick up the key. Since it was Monday, I suggested that we take some fresh flowers to Maybelle’s Crypt since she probably hadn’t received any in over a century. My mom couldn’t agree more.
Before we entered the Hope Abbey Mausoleum (which we had been hearing about for many years) my mom and I took a selfie out in front of the grand front doors. The building has a monumental entrance with two matching pillars and the inside was done entirely in white marble. The ceilings are probably 25 feet high and it is a very impressive place.
We wandered around until we found her crypt. She is buried next to her father, Peter S. Nelson (a very famous Swede from Illinois 1835-1916) and below her mother Nellie Gibson Nelson (1842-1917). Peter S. used to call his wife ‘Nellie the Nag’ we learned from all of those letters my grandmother saved. Not nice! But still very sad that both parents outlived their daughter. It is not the natural right of passage.
Here is May Belle’s beautiful resting place with the flowers on the ledge in front.
I think she was happy that we visited. As we were leaving, I turned around to see the sunlight directly hitting her crypt with the flowers barely visible from this long shot. But if you look closely at where the sunlight is reflecting from the floor to above, you will see her final resting place and the purple flowers.
That was an amazing experience and not much else could top our entire journey to the south of Illinois.”
OK, back to the present day! While going through photos from that day back in 2016, I found another one that gave me goosebumps. It is of my mom as we walk to the front of the Mausoleum. There is a definite aura around us and the building…. almost as if Maybelle and my grandmother (maybe all of our relatives) are showing us the way! Wild! But sooooo cool! I LOVE history and stuff like this if you can’t tell. LOL!
OK, time to show you what has been going on at the store! LOTS! We sold so much stuff that this one section is decimated. We are working hard to get it back to a pretty and lovely area! Come in and check it out.
OK, time to showcase some more fun pieces that just arrived. Remember to check our website www.lynnsconsignments.com to see lots of our new things!
I kind of took last week off. Yes, I really did get almost a week off thanks to Sandy, Peggy, and Cindy! You girls rock!
I spent a few days at a beach house in Faria with my posse from Palm Desert….Candy, Mo, and Kel..”Manny, Mo, and Jack” LOL! My mom was also there. Here we are in our “vintage” jackets. Super fun and relaxing time!
Indy and Houston stopped by at mealtime. Isn’t that what kids are for? LOL….Indiana bought a new (well vintage) Schwinn 10 speed that soooooo reminds me of the one that I worked for when I was in 6th grade. I earned 75 cents an hour working in the basement tank (a concrete fireproof room) sorting collector’s plates for my grandma. She would match whatever I earned. I spend 100 hours down there and ended up with $150 to buy my bike! Can’t wait to find a photo of that 🙂 Here is Indy with her bike.
Time for an eBay score!
Well, I am hoping that this is an eBay score in the making. This elf has a bid already at $19.99. Not really sure why? Hoping he is something rare. I do call him “Creepy Cute” in the title. Check out that listing here.
Elves are kind of like Tiki’s right? Well, that does remind me that Tiki Jason and his wife Staci were here a few weeks ago and we went out to Ventiki! Super fun whenever they come to town from Vegas.
We carry some really amazing chimes and mobiles in the store! They sell really quickly because they make great gifts and are very reasonably priced. Here is a peek at some of them, but you really need to check them out in person. Here is a link to shop them online. And FREE SHIPPING!
Here are a few pictures of them in the store. Really hard to get a good shot though with so much going on around, behind, and above. 🙂
OK, time for another eBay score! Yes, this sold for the best offer of $250! I LOVE eBay!
Many of you have asked me if I would teach a “How to Sell on eBay” course here in Ventura. I am considering it. I would probably do a 3-4 hour course and expect you to list your first item while in the class. Let me know if any of you are interested? It may be something that we could also do on Zoom for those who are out of town. Thoughts?
So, both Houston and I are July babies. My birthday is a few days before his and I must tell you, the year he was born was the most painful birthday of my life! That kid was almost 9 pounds and he had the biggest shoulders. I was so uncomfortable lying on the couch at my mom’s house celebrating my birthday that year!
When Houston was born they called a Code Purple and almost had to do an emergency C section. Luckily (or unlucky for me) a kind older doctor was able to rip him out with forceps and only managed to break his clavicle. Poor little baby.
This year my mom, Indy, and I celebrated my birthday at the Water’s Edge Covid Style! Gotta love the masks. Thank you to everyone for making my birthday such a great day!
Now that we are open again, we are getting in new stuff every day! You must come in or check on our website because you know how fast stuff comes in and goes out! There is a section under shop/online at the very bottom that shows New Arrivals.
Here is one of those featured items. This is a gorgeous sleeper sofa!
Whenever I want inspiration for a painting project, I check out my friend Carrie at The Passionate Home in Langley, BC, Canada. We have visited her shop several times (as it is just across the border from Bellingham). I LOVE what she is doing! Check out this post of what you CAN do with Annie Sloan…..and she is right….Isn’t it magical?
Don’t forget that you can always order your paint supplies on our website……….
Shop Annie Sloan Here
https://lynnsconsignment.ricoconsign.com/store/category/Annie%20Sloan?sort=HL
Lots of great paint colors in stock! And next time you are in, please ask for a free copy of her color chart as shown here….
So, I hope you have made it through this week’s ezine because as promised, I have saved the best news for last.
I thank you all for your support and contributions to help Val (my trusty friend and employee) and her husband Ron as he battles Esophageal cancer. Do you remember this Go Fund Me Page?
Well, here is an update….Please don’t cry! Well, I did and they were tears of happiness and gratefulness.
Val posted this on Facebook a few days ago…..Ron has got that TWINKLE back in his eye! God is great!
And then yesterday, I got this text from Val….
“He is doing great! I actually am waiting for him to let me know what time to pick him up. He is eating and drinking. No choking. Thank God! The Doctors are so happy with his progress. It’s just been one week since the surgery. Crazy.
The team of Doctors and staff at Cottage have been the best throughout this whole ordeal! Even with the crazy pandemic going on they haven’t missed a beat. He just called. I have to head up there. Said the Doctors were both in and the final pathology report showed NO cancer. He still will have to be monitored but essentially it is gone. I am so relieved. I am bawling! I will talk to you later. Thanks for everything!”
AND that my friends is THE BEST NEWS ever! Just reading it again made me cry….AGAIN! Hopefully, Val will be back in the store soon!
Not much to report on the Carlos front this week. Actually, I think that is a good thing! No sneaking out, no running away, and not too much attacking of our feet.
Why do cats do that? I swear, I have scratches and claw marks all over my feet. I am going to share one of my favorite photos of him that I don’t think I have shared. It is him walking down the hallway with a hair tie in his mouth. He LOVES these! They make the best “fetch” toys ever. I just ordered him a pack of 50. LOL!
Don’t you just love the way his tail curves? It is like that all the time, except for when he is MAD and then he thumps it really loud. Cracks me up! Hard to get a photo of that but this is kind of what it looks like…although his tail is moving!
Here is Carlos hanging with me when I returned from being away. He was not going to let me go anywhere else.
And one last photo of him chilling in his Kitty Kondo. Yes, he does use it a bit these days. Pretty fun I would imagine!
I am going to end this ezine with a collage of photos that Val sent me for my birthday….here’s hoping she will be back soon! Miss you friend!
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.
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