Hi!

I can't believe that July is almost over! OMG. Time flies and we had three July Birthdays, Our countries, mine and the Goose's. The 4th, the 6th, and the 10th. Such a fun month! But before we get to those fun events and a recap of our spur of the moment trip to Washington at the end of June, I had better share a score.

It is a soup tureen (or soup latrine as Houston would call it) that sold for full price. I paid $20. Love scores like this!

Click here to see this auction.

After we arrived in Bellingham on June 20th and surprised my dad, I got to spend a quiet first day at my mom's beach house chilling and listing stuff on eBay. The day before we flew up to Bellingham, I had spent about 6 hours at the office writing up flatware sets and other items to be able to list on eBay from Washington. Here is one of those items I listed while sitting at my mom's beach house.

Click here to see this auction.

Here is a photo that Indiana took of a beautiful sunset from my mom's beach house with Houston standing on the beach. It was a photo from last summer's trip and she posted this on Instagram. Pretty awesome place and awesome post.

There is something about my mom's beach house that once you get there you just never want to leave. It is so peaceful and beautiful. Nice life!

That first day was chill for me and my mom, but not for Indy. At about 9:30 am the phones started ringing. It was my dad and he wanted to spend the day with Indy making strawberry jam (the things you do in a small town ). "How fast can you be ready?" he asked her.

She said "about 20 minutes." Seriously, about 10 minutes later he was knocking on the door. Indiana and I busted up laughing because it takes 30 minutes to get from my dad's house in Edgemoor out to my mom's. We figured he must have already been on his way!

Here they are before setting off on their jam making adventure.

The second day it was off to the races. We had places to be, things to do and people to see. We spent the day driving around town looking at potential commercial spaces for me to re-open Cheryl Leaf Antiques & Gifts as a home furnishings consignment store if I move back when Indy graduates in May of 2017. I can't believe she is going to be a senior in high school already!

We also brainstormed names for the new place. A tag line that we all like is "Turning over a new Leaf" or "a new Leaf". If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. We checked out commercial spaces on James Street, on State Street, in downtown B'ham and in Old Fairhaven.

Here is a selfie of the three of us in downtown Bellingham across from the old BNB Bellingham National Bank. Now that is one cool building!

Check out this bad boy that I sold for a best offer of $80.00 on June 22nd, while looking at commercial space. Mo was NOT going to be happy to have to ship this item. It was the printer that went with the first computer I ever bought in 1990 when starting the MBA program at University of Southern California. I still have that Mac SE30 Computer as well but I am trying to find the original keyboard before I list it. The Mac still powers up and it is a CLASSIC!

Click here to see this auction.

Keep in mind that half way around the world on this very same day, Houston was starting his walk of the Camino in the South of France. Here he is with some of his Pepperdine classmates and their leader. Notice that the sign says 780 km which is about 500 miles! This photo was taken in St. Jean Pied de Port, France.

That night, as Houston was probably nursing his first of many blisters, my mom, Indy and I headed to the Slow Pitch to play trivia where we met up with lots of our old friends. It was really fun.

The next day, Thursday the 23rd, was going to be a busy one. We had arranged to drive from Bellingham to Olympia to meet up with Kiki's little boys, Zach and Kai (my nephews) and Indiana's cousins. We hadn't seen them in two years because most summers they spend in Gresham, Oregon with their dad's sister Pam.

It was truly kind of Pam to agree to meet us halfway. We left at 8:30 am and arranged to meet at a coffee shop in Olympia at 11:30 am. We were right on time and there were those boys! Love them so MUCH!

Unfortunately, it was raining that day and we had to come up with a plan to keep those boys occupied. Eight and ten year old boys have a LOT of energy! We decided on The Hands on Museum. The age range was birth to ten and I was worried that it may be too young for our little guys. Zachary has already read all the Harry Potter books TWICE.

We sat in my mom's car for a while deciding whether or not we should go in. It was lunch time and the place was packed. My guess was that because it was raining every child within 100 miles of that museum was inside. Sitting in the car turned out to be hysterically fun as Indiana introduced the boys to Snap Chat. Here they are cracking up in the back seat.

Indy was messing around and putting my face on Zach and Mor Mor's face on Kai. Here is Mor Mor's face on Kai. Please note that he still has his own teeth….or lack thereof.

We finally decided to go in to the museum and have lunch. Kai grabbed a basket and picked out his own lunch. He is a very healthy eater and it all comes naturally to him--Lucky kid! It was crazy! He grabbed a hardboiled egg, applesauce, a bowl of fresh fruit and chocolate milk.

While at the museum I sold this pair of Champagne Flutes for full price. I sold quite a bit of this pattern that week because of eBay's new promoted listings program. If you haven't tried it yet, you should check it out here.

Click here to see this auction.

Promoted listings will probably make it's way into my next presentation and the next time I will be teaching a class will be at Ecom in Chicago this October. I can't wait to attend this amazing event for the first time! And my mom and Mo will be joining me. I am super excited to see you all there. For more details, check it out here.

But I digress. Back to Olympia and the rain. The museum turned out to be an incredible experience for all of us and when 3:30 pm rolled around we did NOT want to leave.

Here is a photo of us in the huge museum chair on our way out. Photo courtesy of Mor Mor.

It was especially hard to get the boys to leave but we needed to head back north or we would have been stuck in Seattle traffic for days. Seattle traffic is notoriously some of the worst in the world. No kidding. Hands down bar none. Now of course I am going to have to look that one up.

My grandmother used to use both together. But apparently they are two different idioms that are sometimes used together.

Hands down has been used since the 1860s to refer to an easy win. It originates from horse racing. Jockeys usually keep a tight rein to push the horse to run faster. When a jockey was well in the lead and about to cross the finish line, he would sometimes drop the reins and ride easily to victory -- winning with his hands down. Very cool!

Now, let's add bar none to that. Bar none is apparently very straightforward and literal. It means without exception. So taking into consideration everyone else's traffic problems (LA, San Francisco, Chicago), Seattle's is the worst….without exception.

Interesting. I like them when used together. Easily the worst traffic without exception. Now, I am sure some of you may argue this point and I would be happy to hear which cities may have worse traffic hands down, bar none! But I would also argue that many of these other cities (with bad traffic) have plans in the works for improvements. Seattle has NONE. Hands down, bar none the worst.

Speaking of arguing reminds me of the Goose. I miss that kid! Even though he can argue his way out of a paper bag (guess I need to look that one up ) and always wins any debate with me. Apparently the saying is supposed to be "can't argue his/her way out of a paper bag" which would then relate to me. Getting out of a paper bag is supposed to be a very easy feat because all you have to do is punch a hole in it.

My losing all debates with Houston drives me crazy! He is very gifted in this arena and he should definitely become an attorney, politician or some type of advocate someday. He is doing a dual major in Public Policy and Religion at Pepperdine so who knows where he will wind up.

Right now, this picture shows where he has wound up. I LOVE this photo of him walking the Camino in Leon, Spain. He posted this on Instagram and I also love the caption.

Here is his caption …."Two more weeks until we reach Santiago…my feet hurt, I'm sick of people snoring in Albuergues, my limited knowledge of Spanish has been exhausted, my entire body is sunburnt, but I am utterly grateful for everyone in my life, this pilgrimage, God and the Church, and of course, Spanish wine."

While Houston treks the Camino, it is back to our navigating Seattle traffic on a Thursday night in the rain. My mom and I made a deal. She would drive down in the morning when she is more alert and I would make the drive home. Drive down 3 hours. Drive home 4 ½ hours. I drew the short stick on that one. Just kidding.

While driving home I got an offer on my phone for a Christopher Radko Dinnerware Centerpiece. I had paid $5.99 and the only one I could find like it had sold on Terapeak in the last six months for $24.99. The best offer was for $45.00. Would you have taken it?

Click here to see this auction.

I turned it down (actually I asked Indiana to turn it down since I was driving). Then ten minutes later the same person came back with an offer of $69.00. I did take that one. It made the drive back to Bellingham just a little bit better. So did my WAZE app. Some people love this driving app and others hate it. I personally LOVE it. My brother Lee told me about it and it has saved us some serious driving time. It routes you to the roads that are moving the fastest going in your direction.

The Waze app did take us on the Toll Roads which you can be charged for using. My mom was freaking out because those can be expensive. I just called my mom to ask her if the bill for those charges ever showed up in the mail and she said "Weird! It came today!"

She said when she first opened the bill she thought it said $120.00, but once she put on her readers it was only $12.00. Seriously, that $12.00 (which I just PayPal’ed to her) saved me another 1 ½ hours of aggravation in driving time. I also reminded my mom that it allowed us to get home early enough to make it to a free concert in Elizabeth park where we met the boys' dad John, and our other friends Jeff and Jen. We also got to meet Jen and Jeff's son, Sam, who is beyond adorable. Seriously!

Here is a photo of Indiana and Sam. I really should have had a blue eyed red haired baby but hopefully one day I will be blessed with a grandchild with these unique traits .

Our Thursday was an amazingly long day spent with the boys but the next morning was a Friday and we had to get up early to hit a very important mid century modern sale in the county. Bellingham is surrounded by farm land and there are many rural areas. This particular sale was off of the Everson Goshen road.

Luckily, for me, sales in Bellingham and the outlying counties don't start until 9 am…unlike Palm Desert where sales start at 6 am. I am NOT a morning person, so maybe the possible move back to Bellingham is a good idea. Not sure yet! We arrived at the sale to line up at 8:30 am. Check out this line. Eventually, there were about 60 people waiting to rush up the hill to the house.

While waiting in that line, I sold 9 Royal Albert Ice Tea Glasses at auction that were featured in our Source it...Sell it! most recent video. Solid! Paid $15.00 for 10 and sold 9 for approximately $117.22.

Click here to see this auction.

Here is a selfie of Indy, me and Mor Mor in that line after our very long travel day. I think that out of all of us, the almost 80 year old looks the best. What do you think?

The sale was a huge let down. Nothing but mediocre items and high prices. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I did buy two very creepy puppets for $1 each that Mo listed for me yesterday. Here is one of them. If I get up early (7 am or earlier) to hit a sale, I am going to buy SOMETHING whether it turns out to be good or not. Just my personal mantra.

Click here to see this auction.

That afternoon when we got back home to the beach, my mom's neighbor Barb came over to ask if Indy would watch their chickens and stray cats while they were on a trip to Honduras. Apparently, I did not hear any of this and Indy said "sure." Seriously? Chickens?

So that evening, Indy and I had a lesson on Chicken feeding, egg gathering and stray Cat feeding. I kept saying to Indy, "she does know that we leave on Monday and Mor Mor will have to do this for a week right?" I kept thinking there is no way my mom can do this…I can hardly do it.

Indy, however, took to it like a goose to the water. Seriously, she loved feeding those chickens and gathering the eggs. Here she is on the day we left. And, my mom did a great job taking care of the cats and the chickens for a full week! Way to go Mor Mor .

The day after the chicken feeding instructions, we went to an estate sale on Jersey Street. Finally, a great estate sale! And Bev from the Queen's Court (who I love) met us there with her husband Bob. Here we are in line. A much smaller line than the day before. Thank goodness . There are also two of our former Cheryl Leaf Antiques customers in the background of the picture, Beverly and Lucio. Small towns are amazing!

Speaking of the Queen's Court reminds me that I need to send a huge SHOUT OUT to our members. We turned 9 years old this month and are just beginning our 10th year. Super amazing! Thank you to all of our members for making it such an amazing, supportive and wonderful group. Here is to year 10! Happy Birthday.

Here is a Flash Back Photo to some of the QC gathered at the eBay Radio Celebration in 2013 in Las Vegas. What a fun time!

But let's get back to that sale with Bev from the QC on Jersey Street in Bellingham. Once they opened the doors, I rushed to the kitchen and I found some great stuff and even some flatware in the kitchen sink. I have sold over $450 worth of that flatware that I found in the sink. Check it out! This sold for a best offer of $120.

Click here to see this auction.

I ended up discussing the flatware from that sink on my most recent eBay interview. Check out this flashback photo of me with Griff, Houston and Indy from about 6 years ago. You can listen to that radio interview from a few weeks ago here.

Before leaving Bellingham to head back to the desert, I insisted that we take a photo of Indiana at an important crossroad. Seriously, is this too wild? About two blocks from my grandmother's original antique store, two streets cross and they are Indiana St. and Elizabeth St. Little did we know….when we chose Indiana as her first name (for the state of my birth) and Elizabeth as her middle name (for her father's grandmother), that this place even existed. I LOVE the picture of her jumping in the air. She embodies Joy and Love of life to me. Love this kid!

Well, we got out of dodge (Bellingham) and back to the hot desert on June 27th. Next up on our agenda, was the 4th of July. Indy and I floated in our pool and then went to two parties. One at Coco and Jerry's house and another at Mo's house. They were both super fun and we ended up watching the fireworks from outside our house with both of us sitting in the hammock. It was a perfect day.

Here is the food spread at Coco and Jerry's. They know how to throw a mean barbecue and it was super fun!

Next up was my birthday. Very low key and relaxing. I headed to the spa (thanks to my mom) and had a very wonderful day. Check out this item that sold on my Birthday. Happy Birthday to me!

Click here to see this auction.

Full price for Barbie boots. Seriously? Gotta love eBay.

I am still being very vigilant in my gym workouts. Yay! At least 3 if not 4 per week. The gym is right around the corner from my office so I look at it as a lunch break. One of the ladies in my gym class, Sharon, has a daughter who is very talented both musically and dramatically.

Her daughter will be attending a very prestigious musical/drama school in Oklahoma for her freshman year of college this fall. Sharon was telling me about MTU (Musical Theater University) that her daughter attended throughout high school (instead of doing her school's drama program).

I had heard of this program because it has a very good reputation here in the Valley and is quite hard to get into. Indiana had emailed the head of the program to ask for a tryout this summer but never heard back. Luckily, Sharon mentioned to me that they do a summer camp and when the invites were emailed out she forwarded me a copy.

Turned out that the invites for the free camp were for DSUSD (Desert Sands Unified School District) kids only. Indy is in a private school although she had been in DSUSD from k through 6th and I am a huge proponent of the public school system here.

The lady in charge asked if we wanted to be placed on a waiting list so if there were any spots available after all the DSUSD kids had a chance Indy would be able to attend. I asked Indiana if she wanted to be on the wait list and she was not that excited and I was like OK whatever.

Well, I emailed back and put her on the wait list. Long story short (well, actually it has already been a long story) there was room for her! Indiana couldn't believe it and danced around the house for days. She told me that the reason she wasn't excited was because she knew that the camp filled up super quickly (it is free after all) and that there was no way she would get in!

I think the camp totally made her summer. Seriously! She worked with her drama teacher at Xavier for five hours one day (thank you Ms. Feist) on a song to audition for the summer musical and a resume/head shot.

The kids worked like dogs for 9 days and put together a performance of Godspell that was out of this world. It was amazing.

Indy didn't have any solos but she did have two lines. When she told me that she had two lines I was like "I am so sorry honey" and she said "Mom, that is really good! There are 50 kids in this production." OK cool!

Here she is on a scaffold doing her two lines.

Here she is during the play dancing in the front and having a ball. I am so proud of her. She would come home every night and practice in front of the mirrors in our living room. She has never taken more than a few dance lessons in her life and she worked her butt off to make the cut. Way to go Indy! Her determination is inspiring .

After the final performance the kids all got together for a cast photo. Apparently, I am the only mom who still thinks I need to be at every performance and bring flowers. Even if those flowers are only a $4.99 bouquet from Albertsons. Maybe someday I will stop bringing flowers and stop attending every performance….but I never missed a baseball game (well maybe 3 in the past 12 years) and I am not going to miss a performance either. Call me crazy!

Indy bonded with so many of these amazing kids and during a final run through of the play, the director said to Indy in front of everyone…"Are you interested in doing MTU next year?" and Indy was like "Yes, of course" and David said "You don't have to audition and I will send you some paperwork to fill out." OMG. Indy was OVER THE MOON. I am so proud of her. Apparently, that doesn't happen very often. So, she will be doing MTU (Musical Theatre University) next year instead of her high school drama department and I can't wipe that smile off of her face. Isn't that what life is all about?

OK, I can't wipe the smile off of my face for this eBay sale.

Click here to see this auction.

I went to an estate sale and thought this was the coolest clock ever and paid $75 for it. Way too much and when I got back home and did my research it wasn't worth much more than $25. Just a note to self….Never spend more than $50 when you don't know what you are buying .

But I went to the gym after my purchase and said to one of our trainers I just bought a clock for $75 that is only worth $24.99. He said "You go and get $100 for that clock." I took that advice to heart and priced it at $199.99 in my eBay store. It sold a few days ago for a best offer of over $100. I thanked my trainer for reminding me of some of my own advice. Be strong in your beliefs and price high. If I thought it was super cool so would someone else.

I haven't heard from Houston much in the past few weeks. He did call me on my birthday (the 6th of July) but nothing after that. I did call him on his 20th birthday, the 10th of July but he didn't answer. He did answer my birthday text with "I love you too ."

I think he was busy drinking Sangria. He is in Spain and I don't think that there is a drinking age there and I did get to see this darling photo of him so I didn't miss him too much. He has never NOT been home with us on a birthday. Ughhhh. I don’t think I like my kids growing up….but it is much better than the alternative.

Now I want to talk about shoes. Good shoes, bad shoes, favorite shoes, Camino shoes and shoes in general.

I have always had a favorite pair of shoes. They are Yellow Box size 7-8 with cork wedge heels and black and white polka dots. I bought two pairs from a local store about 8 years ago.

Then when those wore out I bought more pairs on eBay (at least five more pairs…seriously ). I haven't been able to find a pair in years and then when we were in Bellingham I decided to search eBay again. OMG, there were two pairs of size 7.5's available for sale. I bought one pair and my mom bought me the other for my birthday.

Here is a photo I posted on Instagram of my shoes with the oldest pair in the background. I LOVE eBay for so many reasons. One of which is that I can replace my favorite pair of old shoes….just like that…and for less than $20.

Then today I told Indy how much I missed Houston and I asked her "Have you heard from him?" Because sometimes he texts her and sometimes he texts me. He will face time her but not me. It is just so hard to have your kid away for six weeks and with limited access. I guess 6 weeks doesn't sound like that long but when he is in Spain and walking 500 miles it seems really distant.

She was like "Yeah, he sent me this really cool photo today of his Camino shoes and his backpack." I was like "Wow! I LOVE it and I can almost feel his journey through this photo". Let me use this in the ezine.

Then there are the terrible golf shoes I bought for our most recent video Source it...Sell it! If you have seen the video you will understand my pain. .

Click here to see this auction.

This summer is a HUGE and important birthday for mom. She turns 80 on August 18th. Way to go MOR MOR! Houston gets home from Spain on the 1st of August and Indy starts school on the 15th so there was no way to have her birthday on the actual day. Ughhhh.

We all compromised and her very wonderful 80th birthday party will take place at her beach house on Sunday, August 7th. Here is a copy of her invite that Indy made. I just got a YES RSVP from Queen's Court member Bev Helton in Mt Vernon and am super excited to see her and Bob again twice in the same summer! YAYA!

It is low season out here in the desert so Mo and I have been hitting thrift stores with our friends. You can find some great stuff because everything is on sale. Check out this Pottery Barn flatware that I found at a thrift store that was holding a 30% off sale. II paid $26.97 for this with tax (they don't honor resale id tax numbers Ughhh) but once I had it listed I got an offer from a bidder for $250 for the lot. I won't take it because it will sell for much more individually. Yaya for off season!

Here is one of the current listings.

Click here to see this auction.

OK gotta end with a great score. My brother sent a bunch of great stuff to me using Roadie and one of those items was a Micro Mosaic picture frame that belonged to our grandmother. I priced it super high. Over $1,000. But that is how you get an offer of $375 that you eventually accept. Remember people, it is all about perceived value. High perceived value yields high sales prices. Talk to you soon!

Click here to see this auction.

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.