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, cook dinner, buy 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 because 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.

The Shooting Gallery, is the newest video in our training series. My mom and I had a blast filming this with Indiana, and now Indy has edited this 90 minute video with her great eye and fun sound effects.

It is interesting to see what three generations bring to The Shooting Gallery and how we all learned from one another. Well, we learned the most from the member of the youngest generation! Isn’t that always the way? Kids these days !

The Shooting Gallery will walk you through how to photograph your weekly purchases in the best possible photo studio and get them quickly edited for listing.

In this video, you will learn:

• Lynn’s Top Tips for Taking eBay Photos
• How to take your Photos as Quickly as Possible
• Assembly Line Photography
• How to Set up Your Photo Studio…(3 Different Examples)
• How to control Your Light so it doesn’t Control You
• How to Crop & Name Your Photos Quickly
• Assembly Line Editing

All of these tips and tricks will help YOU save time with your photography & editing. As we all know, time = money.

This video will be very similar to the live Boot Bamp section called “Photography” with Lynn & Lee But this time, we have me, Mor Mor and Indy .

Since we are not having any more Live Boot Camps, it is my hope that these training videos will keep you all updated and knowledgeable.

The Shooting Gallery is available for online viewing or download NOW.

Order your copy of our new video The Shooting Gallery at our low introductory price.

In this new online and downloadable video, we show a table full of items at Headquarters and how we quickly photograph them all.

Then we show you the remaining two areas (in addition to Headquarters) that I use for my photography. It is our hope that by seeing these three different scenarios, you will be able to help make your current photo studio better and more time efficient.

Finally, we move production to my home office where we download the images, choose the best, crop and save faster than a speeding bullet!
The Shooting Gallery is here! Don’t miss that shot !

To order now, click here.

At one of those garage sales where I was walking in with my crutches, I bought a set of grey Fiesta for $15. There were also some really neat Hockey Jerseys for $10 each. In retrospect, I wish I would have bought all of them. DARN IT!

However, I did buy six of them. When I got back to my office the son of my next door office suite neighbor was there playing out front. He followed me into my office to hang out. He is 7 years old and so sweet and inquisitive. He started drawing pictures of the things in my office. He was getting a little bored, so I said “why don’t you draw a hockey game”. So he did while I started researching the Jerseys, and apparently, they are really awesome!

Here is a photo of his artwork.

Here is a pile of the jerseys.

One of the Jerseys I found online had sold for $600. WOW! The one thing I learned was that the more expensive Jerseys have what is called a fight strap. It is a weird Velcro piece located on the inside back that holds the jersey in place in case a fight breaks out and is required for NHL players.

Here is one of the Jerseys that I have listed that does have a fight strap.

Click here to see this auction. Check out the photo of the fight strap! Who knew?

Let’s hope for the best! Fingers Crossed .

After my last ezine, I got a great email from one of my favorite eBay sellers and former live boot camp attendee, Serena.

What an awesome mom to buy that for her son and to spend so much time hunting for it! What an angel!

If you haven’t watched the Thrifting with the Boys new show on Spike, you have got to watch it! It airs on Saturday nights at 9:30 pm Pacific. It is hysterical!

ThriftHunters.com is the boy’s page.

This will take you to the official Spike site http://www.spike.com/shows/thrift-hunters

On a fun ending note. In my last ezine, I shared about my first foray out back into civilization (aka thrift stores/garage sales) and all of these mannequins that were for sale at $50 each at one of my favorite stores. I received about five emails from readers asking ever so kindly to share the name of the store so that they could purchase one.

I was more than happy to share the name, location and phone number and if I am not mistaken more than one ezine reader picked themself up a great bargain! Last time I went by my thrift store there were only five left.

Here is the original photo.

Finally, one last fun score (well I hope it turns into a score because I just got it listed) before I say ado. Mo and I actually got out of the office to go thrifting on Sunday. It was so much fun! We found some vintage clothing and Mo tried on the Audrey Hepburn style hat that I bought for $39.99. I know it was a bit steep but seriously cute!

I also found a St. John Knit suite for ½ price, $64.99. Still a big price but I have the jacket listed separately from the skirt.

Here is the jacket.

Click here to see this auction.

And here is the hat that turned out to be (what I think) a vintage 1940's mourning hat!

Click here to see this auction.

Please note: eBay now redirects completed auctions to a different auction to sell you a similar item. You now have to click the link near the top to see the original completed listing, then click the See original listing link.

Thanks for reading my ezines! I appreciate it!

Happy eBaying!
Lynn

Lynn Dralle, 'The Queen of Auctions,'
Creator of the best-selling eBay Boot Camp in a Box.