December 12th, 2012
Volume VIII, Issue 11
Hi!
Happy 12/12/12! What an awesome date! I love that the last 12 years had such amazing dates. Like 1-1-1 and 4-4-4. This year’s is almost like the 12 days of Christmas!
12/12/12 (One day late)December 12, 2012Volume VIII, Issue 11I wish it were Issue 12!
I hope your Thanksgiving was great! Ours was awesome! The kids did all the cooking and I TOTALLY lucked out with one of the best meals EVER! We had ham (Houston decided to pass on trying a Turkey this year), green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, Jello & marshmallow salad, and a Caesar salad made just like the famous tableside Caesar from Hy’s Steakhouse in Vancouver, BC. Then pumpkin and apple pie. Yum! And what great kids to cook for their mom! I did have to do all the dishes though. 
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Then the day after Thanksgiving, Houston came down with the flu. Just when I needed the kids to ship for me. Yikes! I ended up taking Houston to the doctor because he was in pretty bad shape and needed antibiotics. However, there was some good news. They measured his height and he is 6’ 1/8”!!! He made it to 6 feet and just a wee bit over. How exciting!
As Houston was starting to feel better, he decided to go to garage sales with me. It was a hoot! At one sale, I found a soup tureen that was signed Portmeirion in the Botanic Garden pattern. How much? $10. Total score! I asked Houston to carry the soup tureen to the car and when we got to the car I told him that I thought it was worth about $400 at high retail. He was very excited to hear that great news! Then he asked me, “Mom what is a Soup Latrine?”
Soup Latrine? You have got to be kidding! I laughed so hard. It is a soup tureen—NOT LATRINE. Here is a photo of that Soup Latrine and please note that it didn’t sell at auction but I really raised the price!
Click here to view this auction on eBay!
It was immediately after that weekend that I was asked to be on the Griff & Lee eBay Radio show. There was no way I wasn’t going to tell that story to Griff! We all cracked up about it. Click here to listen to the radio show if you missed hearing it.
We also talked about a set of Lenox that I had purchased for $100 and I was super excited that $432 worth had sold that day and it was only for 13 pieces of the huge set! Total score and I only had to ship this tiny pile. Amazing!
Here is one of the listings that sold for quite a bit.
Click here to view this auction on eBay!
This one dish sold for more than 3 of the same dishes in a different auction. To learn more about our new listing strategy and how all of this worked in our favor, please join the Queen’s Court or purchase the audio from last year’s live boot camp at a great price for this very special ezine 12/12/12!
Also, if you don’t have my dinnerware eBook, you will want to order it to ramp up your eBay sales. Click here to purchase now—and again this is at a very special 12/12/12 price! Many of my students have made $100’s if not $1,000’s of dollars selling dinnerware with my help. One dinnerware score will pay for this eBook many times over.
On the Griff eBay Radio Show, we mainly spoke about my top shipping tips. I have been doing my own shipping this holiday season and it has been an eye opener! To say the least! I shipped 104 orders in the 5 days from Sunday to Thursday last week. That is 20 plus packages a day! I am exhausted.
During that time, I sold a humidifier that belonged to my kids for quite a bit of money.
Click here
to view this auction on eBay!
My UPS driver came to the door and was like what is that? He kicked it with his foot and said “Is that someone’s paper mache craft project for school?” No, it is my creative packing skills in action! He rolled his eyes, but took the package. I love UPS.
If you didn’t pre-purchase my awesome shipping video that Indy filmed and produced, you may still order it here. Even though the price has increased, it is still worth every penny. Even one hour saved off of your shipping time a day would pay for this video within a few days.
Here are Mo, Indy and I after the video series wrapped. It was a lot of fun!
Oh my gosh, I almost forgot, on the 4th day of the flu when Houston was starting to feel better and the doctor told me he wasn’t contagious, I sent him to school. At 12:15 I get a phone call, “Mom, you have to come and check me out from school. I feel terrible”.
Oh my goodness! If you miss one day in high school, it is not good. To miss four days, can really set you back. But health comes first, so I stopped my shipping and jumped in my car. Luckily, two years ago Mo had suggested that our new HQ be close to the high school if I needed to hire extra help. BRILLIANT!
I was at the school in 3 minutes. On my way to drop Houston off, my cell phone rings on my car screen with an unknown number. I answer it. Guess who? It was Indiana and she was not feeling well. Really, the day Houston is finally feeling a little bit better? “Calgon, take me away”.
My little sister always used to say that and it reminds me of her so much. I really miss her and her headstone was finally finished and had been set in the ground in Bellingham the day before all of this happened. Here is a photo of her beautiful memory and legacy.
Last week was a tough one for my family. Especially my parents. Thank goodness my dad is flying in on 12/10 and will be here when you receive this ezine. He always puts a smile on my face and my kids. Boy, do they love their “Papa” as they call him. I already have a huge “to do” list waiting for him 
. He won’t be happy as the list is growing every day.
My mom will be arriving right before Christmas (after my dad leaves), so we will have tons of family around and can’t wait to see them all! Christmas will be very special this year as we spend it in our new house for the first time. I am really hoping to have a very special gift for Indiana. Fingers crossed!
Speaking of Christmas, let’s get an update on all of these Christmas ornaments that I got for $65.00.
Mo has been such a trooper and good friend. While I have been shipping, she has been listing! We have already sold about $300 worth and have over 95 of them left.
Here is the ornament that sold for the most so far and the wonderful feedback I just received. It is the ornament in the box to the right, almost at the back right hand corner and is quite large with a blue base. $1.00 each!
Feedback: “This is exquisite! And arrived so quickly in perfect condition. Thank you!!”
Click here to view this auction on eBay!
Oh my goodness, I really don’t know how I got this ezine written but am so glad I got one done before Christmas! This past weekend, we were in Temecula for baseball on Saturday and then we drove to Long Beach State’s Blair Field for a baseball showcase with Patrick and The Hitting Zone on Sunday. It was awesome! Here is a photo of Houston at bat.
Here is a photo of Houston playing 3rd. He also pitched, but it got dark and the sea fog rolled in and none of my photos turned out. Darn it! It was a blast but we got home super late on Sunday night. We are all exhausted, as I am sure you are also, during this busy holiday season. But let’s be grateful for being busy!
I hope your Holidays are Happy and that your sales are AMAZING! Work hard now, we can all rest for a few days around the 25th and then January will be super busy again (if the past 14 years are any indication—January is an awesome month!). Keep listing and DO NOT stop!
Thanks for reading my ezines! I appreciate it!
Happy eBaying!
Lynn
