Lynn’s eBay eZine February 27th, 2014 Volume X, Issue 03

Hi!

Since I have been temporarily physically handicapped for the past four weeks with my broken foot, I have made some observances.

When I use my crutches, people are amazingly kind. They stop immediately to let me cross the street or move to the side of the sidewalk to let me pass. They offer to help carry items and constantly ask if there is anything they can do to help.

As an example, when I was out at garage sales on Saturday with my crutches at least ten people stopped to give me the thumbs up and say “Congrats, what a dedicated shopper”.

Here is an item that I already have listed that I bought at one of those sales. My friend John (who was holding the sale) gave me a great deal on it and even found someone to carry it for me. He just pointed at my friend Lori and it was immediately taken to the check out table .

Click here to see this auction.

At that same sale, my friend Lori bought this awesome cut-out stand-up poster for $5. I just had to share it because it is so fun. She has been hiding him all over her house and scaring her daughter Paige (Indy’s best friend)!

Click here to see this auction.

But back to crutches vs. a scooter. It is a DRASTICALLY different story when I am on my scooter. People aren’t as nice. I have had to wait to cross the road for ten minutes before anyone stops. People continually cut in front of me at the grocery store and at garage sales. It is sooooo strange. It is like I am invisible.

Or maybe they think that there is nothing wrong with me and I am just lazy. I will tell you one thing. If someone is using a scooter or a wheelchair, it is NOT because they are lazy. Scooters and wheelchairs are a ROYAL PAIN. Not only do they hurt to use, but you end up relying more on other muscles to compensate and they end up hurting as well.

Do you know how long it takes to get anything done from a wheelchair or a scooter? FOREVER. It takes monumental effort to do the dishes, cooks dinner, buys at garage sales, ship eBay items, etc….

I only have my experiences with the scooter, but my grandmother, Cheryl Leaf, was in a wheelchair for over fifteen years and I know how frustrating it was for her. You end up having to rely on other people WAY too much and you start to feel like a burden.

This photo is of my Grandma (in her wheelchair) still running her shop and watching her first great-grandchild (Houston) with delight as he checks out all the items on the store shelves. I love that he is wearing his footed jammies and yes, we were open for business.

My reason for sharing all of this is that I relearned a very valuable lesson. Don’t ever judge someone’s circumstances.

I try to live my life with a smile on my face and laughter in my heart and I think that can help lead to kindness.

I love this quote from Mark Twain….

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
– Mark Twain

Since it was Winter Olympics time, I also found this amazing quote from Scott Hamilton.

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
– Scott Hamilton

And as my dad, Wayne Dralle says, “You Keep Smiling”. Speaking of my dad, he is on a plane right now headed for our house to celebrate his 80th birthday with us on March 1st! Yay! Happy Birthday, Papa.

The photo of my dad and I is one of my favorites. It was taken at Disneyland on the Dumbo ride when I was about three. Not sure where my brother Lee was during this time, but I do know where my mom was. She was also at Disneyland with us.

I have been blessed with such amazing parents! When I broke my foot on January 26th, my mom immediately made plans to fly down and help me ship, etc. I didn’t even have to ask. She was already looking for plane tickets.
She flew in on February 3rd and stayed until February 13th to make sure I survived! Well, maybe she was making sure that my kids survived. In any event, we are extremely and forever grateful!

Here is a photo of my mom at Disneyland with me on that same trip. Look at how trendy and hip she is—and she wasn’t even trying. Gotta love Mor Mor! She puts that Kardashian mom to shame.

While my mom was here visiting we got to see some incredible baseball. And I am talking awesome, nail-biting games that go into extra innings and are won in the 10th inning with a walk-off.

Houston pitched the first game of the tournament and he breezed through it with no trouble. It came down to the semi-final game. We were tied 5-5 with a top team from Huntington Beach High School.

OK, their school has 3,000 students and ours has 500. No big deal, but we fought like champions. Well, the boys did. We ended up losing 6-5 in the top of the 7th but it was sooooo much fun. Love a great baseball game.
Here is Houston making an incredible pick-off at first base during that game.

For those of you who follow my listings, I have been listing A LOT of flatware during these past four weeks. There are many reasons for this.

1.   I LOVE flatware.
2.   Cheap to Buy.
3.   Easy to List.
4.   BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, it fits in the basket of my SCOOTER!

At one garage sale a few weeks ago, I bought these two huge bags of flatware for $20.00.

One bag was a set of Customcraft for $8 and the other was a bunch of random flatware for $12. I ended up getting 33 auctions out of those two bags. Flatware rocks! If you don’t have my flatware ebook it can be found here.

Here is a photo of those 33 listings all written up and waiting to be photographed.

Here is the piece from that bunch that I love the most and listed the highest at $49.99.

Click here to see this auction.

But let’s get back to that “waiting to be photographed comment”. It is the perfect introduction to our newest video, The Shooting Gallery.