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.