Bummer, or was it?

Yesterday's auction ended up being a big bummer, so my blogging about it today isn't what I was expecting to deliver. Here's the thing though- I took it as a learning opportunity, and I'm hoping that my readers will too. Not every event turns out the best, whether it be an auction or a well thought out and magnificently decorated party. For instance, this year I planned the Christmas get together to invite my side as well as Mark's side of the family. I cleaned and shopped and cooked and wrapped presents and came up with games like a madwoman in the days preceding, but the day of the event I ended up somewhat disappointed in how it turned out.

Mark's brother was mopey and commented on how my food wasn't ready at the scheduled time. He wouldn't participate in the games and claimed he didn't realize that we were exchanging gifts, so my side of the family, including the little kids, had to wait until after Mark's family left to open our gifts.

Reflecting on the day, I put my own disappointments aside, and concentrated on the fact that the little ones, whom Christmas is about anyway, had a blast playing musical chairs and opening the silly gift prizes they won. They hadn't even noticed the tension with the adults.

So...about the auction...it was a bummer for me because I brought Mark along hoping he'd catch the bug. Instead, it was long and boring, mainly because there were dozens of hoity toity dealers present from out of the area who jacked up the prices outside of my realm of understanding.

Here's how I am choosing to look at yesterday's "bummer" auction: it was only a bummer for me, the gal with the shallow pockets. It was a success for Robbie's Auctions in Amery, Wisconsin. What's great about that is I really like them, and if they do well, it means they stay in business and continue to provide their fantastic services. It's a win-win for everybody.

I teach my children to try to look at the bright side of what they consider a bad situation to see that it is really more about perspective.  Now I am choosing to use my own advice.

I would love to hear how you have taken a bad situation and framed it in new light. Please weigh in!

Have a blessed and prosperous 2014!

Christine

Stay Tuned...

Tomorrow I am going to a live auction and promise to show you how it went in my next blog post:)

Auctions

A warning is in order here. I feel the need to begin this blog post by saying that auctioning may be hazardous to your health. Expect a rapid hearbeat, sweaty palms, and general neuroses. Understand that you may find yourself spending money on things you will never have a use for but can't pass up because A) It's red B) You've never seen one C) Everyone else seems to be bidding on it, it must be valuable.

After only having done about ten auctions I am certainly no expert,  but I have learned enough to at  least give a beginner's tutorial.  Today I am going to concentrate on local online auctions which I believe are a terrific way to get acclimated to the auction world with little risk and minimal funds.

Ok, so, Step 1: Find a local online auction. If you pick one that's too far away you will spend a lot of time and money in travel costs which pretty much defeats the purpose of getting items on the cheap. You can pay the auction service to ship your items but it's ridiculous expensive.  They make it that way because they want to be in the auction biz, not the shipping biz. They want to be on to their next sale. I have been working with Hines Auctions with main offices in Ellsworth, WI. Their offices are about an hour away from me, but so is everything else, and Hines' employees are so nice and easy to deal with. They call me by my name when I come to pick up my loot and, let's face it, we love the sound of our name! Seriously though, even the owner and chief auctioneer talks to me and asks me about my main interests so he can keep an eye open for me -unreal, huh?

Step 2: Register. You will need to have payment methods on file for obvious reasons, but when you pick up the items you have "won", they actually prefer you pay with cash or check (yes, check - that vintage method of payment your grandma uses) and they give me a discount for using cash or checks, so of course that is how I pay.
Registering is simply entering your name, mailing address, email address, credit card info, and phone number. You will also come up with a password to use when logging into the site. This allows you to bid on your gotta-have-ems.

Step 3: Find out what auctions are going on. Hines has a sports memorabilia auction going on right now and I am in a bidding war over this Cal Ripkin jersey with a certificate of authenticity (important if you are buying as an investment). Cal Ripkin is Mark's all time favorite baseball player. He actually has a framed jersey already, but this one looks really cool.

Step 4: Start Bidding. Once you find an auction with the stuff you're interested in, start going through the catalog of items. When you see an item you are interested in, try to make yourself decide on the MAXIMUM amount you would ever spend on it. This will prevent you (in theory anyway) from getting whipped into a frenzy when somebody outbids you on that item and you find yourself with a $200 jar of marbles. If you don't have countless hours to spend perusing the auction everyday, Hines lets you enter your maximum bid for that item. For example, I would like to get the Cal Ripkin jersey for $100, but I don't want to pay more than $200 for it. I could enter $200 for my maximum bid. If nobody bids over, let's say, $147, my end price will be $147.

Step 5: Stay posted and keep track of time remaining in the bidding period. I signed up to be emailed and texted whenever I am outbid on an item, but some might find it ridiculous because toward the end of the bidding time my phone nearly blows up. I'm weird, I dig this stuff, so I don't mind. A DIFFERENT STRATEGY, but one I don't use, is not to bid on anything until the remaining moments. I think part of the fun is the bidding process though, so waiting to bid until the end seems too logical. In my world, logical equates with boring. For me, auctions are filled with passion. It is my form of deer hunting. I wait in my blind for the perfect item to pass by and when it does - I take a shot at it. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  In my hunting nothing gets hurt, that is if you don't count the slivers and bruises I have from hauling furniture.

Once the bidding closes you get to see your winnings and scroll through while you dream of the perfect place to put your vintage Lite Brite. I think you should spell out Merry Christmas with it and out it in the entryway.

http://homedesign.marthastewart.com/2010/12/my-favorite-things-about-christmas.html

I hope you will try out an online auction or two and tell me about it! In an upcoming blog I will devote space to the discussion of what happens when picking up auction items.

Until next time, stay classy.

XO Christine

Christmas Goodies

My idea of Christmas goodies aren't of the confectionary kind. Sure, I love decorated gingerbread men and spiked apple cider as much as the next gal, but my favorite kind of goodies for Christmas are typically made out of wood or fabric and most of the time have the aged patina that brings about feelings of Christmases long long ago.

Six o'clock last evening brought the end of the bidding wars on some gotta-have-ems at the online auction and today I got to go pick up my winnings, which to me feels like Christmas mornings running down the stairs to scope out my loot. Mark scoffs at the way I refer to my auction hauls as "winnings" considering I do pay for them. I've got to face the fact that he just hasn't been bitten by the auction cootie bug. Not yet. It'll happen though, mark my words.

Today I scored a black cast iron horse, two beaded purses, two vintage coloring books, a framed wall mirror that is super heavy, and some old sheet music, but my three biggest goodies were a pine corner cupboard, a red and green table, and the piez de resistance - a red and white antique rolling tool chest!

Ta da! Isn't it just too much? And the inside is darling with its penciled notes from a friend dated 1953. If tool chests could talk, what would this one say?

I haven't forgotten about my promise of a post or two dedicated strictly to auctions.I am headed to one tomorrow and I will try to remember to take some pics. In my clamor for more goodies I often forget to document my journey.

Signing off for now - may visions of vintage teakettles dance in your head.

Bella fortuna!

Christine

Stay Focused

Good Morning! I am enjoying an English muffin and a warm cup of coffee while I paint the drawers of the Basset piece. This could be a dresser, a credenza, a bar, whatever! Loving it. I seriously want to keep everything I work on, which isn't possible.

I have discovered I may have ADD when it comes to restoring furniture. I don't say that lightly considering my daughter, boyfriend, and his daughter have been diagnosed, but the signs are there for me. I move from piece to piece and have trouble staying focused on one thing long enough to finish it. It is something I am going to need to be on top of to keep myself in check.

Aside from some possible ADD symptoms, I think one of the causes of being so random is that I avoid finishing things because it opens up my work to criticism. If I don't declare it "finished" then nobody can pick it apart. Kinda wondering if it stems from my childhood. Yeah, that's right,  I went there. Seriously though, my parents had trouble with praise. They thought we would get a big ego or something. Granted, my French horn solos in the dining room probably crushed some eardrums, but I wish my parents would have lied and told me I was really great. I have always tended to flit from one thing to another looking for praise in my current endeavor.

When I don't get that praise, I assume I don't have the talent for it. But with this new business, I am accepting of the fact that I will make some mistakes,  I may restore some pieces that people don't care for, but that doesn't mean I should quit. I love what I'm doing, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I have an eye for color and great design. I can prove that I have an eye for quality because I tend to gravitate toward it immediately, on instinct, be it wine, or furniture, or clothing, or men!

My goal this week is to complete (fully complete) two pieces, and list them for sale. Keeping this goal will allow me to prove to myself that I am determined and capable and can be an amazing business woman. What are the things you struggle with both personally and professionally? Maybe we can help each other out.

Tante belle cose, 

Christine ♥

Building Blocks

My dining room has turned into my new studio where I am spending blissful days and nights transforming tragedies into treasures. My poor family is having to put up with countertops and tables full of supplies as well as eating their meals downstairs in front of the television instead of at the table. For me, having my own business to run is well worth putting up with the mess, but for them? The verdict is still out. For now they are being especially tolerant. When the weather turns around again in a few months I can transfer everything to the garage.

An interesting point I'd like to bring up is that I have been extremely hard on myself for most of my adult life. You know that voice inside your head, that recording that plays over and over when you get to thinking about how you're managing yourself? Well my recording has gone something like this: "You are lazy. You will never amount to anything. You quit everything and finish nothing. You will always be broke both financially and spiritually. You hold no value and you can't pull your weight. You are a burden to everyone."

Now, don't get me wrong. This is not the image I put forth in public. This (until now) plays only in my head and is on a loop. Here's the thing though - Since early November I have been talking back to the voice. No, not in public, but when I'm by myself I yell, "Back the fuck off!" 

I'm doing what I love to do right now. I'm doing what I have always wanted to do but never dared to do. I'm doing what my heart and soul ache to do - to own my own business and be in charge of my days and nights. I'm NOT LAZY! That has been the BIGGEST EPIPHANY! I have more energy than I've ever had. It's because I'm doing work that fulfills me - I am living my dream. The money I'm existing on may run dry very soon, but you know what? I can always substitute teach for a few days to catch up again, or find something to do where I can make a $100 here and there. Last weekend I worked at the grocery store talking to customers about wine! I love wine, and I love talking about wine so it didn't even feel like work. But what I really want to do is hunt for junk, turn it into something beautiful, and sell it back to someone who will tenderly love it.

This past week I attended several auctions and promise to dedicate an entire post or more to auctions. What a rush! I'm hoping I can help you, if you're interested, avoid the pitfalls that I've already fell into where buying junk is concerned.

A note about my photos before signing off: I'm refinishing an old Victorian style headboard and footboard. The footboard is the most ornate of the two. I'm making both of them into welcome signs perfect for a front porch. As you can see from the photos, I've had to do some patching. Holy wood filler! The worst of it is on the back though (that's what you're seeing in the photos) and I don't have to be very fussy with it because it's just going to be a sign on a front porch for gosh sakes. For those of you who give a crap, I've been experimenting with making my own chalk paints. I adore Annie Sloan paints but can't afford them and can't get them except for online because I live in the boonies. 

Much love to y'all and Happy Holidays. Kiss your kids! Kiss your partner! Don't kiss your boss (I did that once - I don't recommend it). 

Solo tu mi capisci!

Christine

my dining room

Joyfully Jobless

After a MAJOR depressive episode and having experienced some of the darkest days of my life, I am currently unemployed, on some helpful medication, and on the road to recovery. I am over being embarrassed about this illness. I have suffered through countless traumatic experiences many of which a person would be hard pressed to recover from even one of.Through all of it I never took care of ME. It has always been my responsibility (or so I thought) to make sure I stayed strong and didn't fall apart so that everyone else's needs were attended to. The pile finally just got too big for me to handle and it was time to fight my demons head on. Now that the depressive fog is beginning to lift I have been turning my attention on career pursuits. I need to find what makes my heart happy and my soul sing while still being able to successfully contribute to our family income. So far Mark has been a champion for me, but I am a realist. I know that as the bank accounts are dwindling, Mark's patience will begin to dwindle as well. The trip to Mexico this spring we had been planning while I was gainfully employed is going to take a miracle in order to happen. But I believe in miracles, and I believe God has great things in store for me in the months and years to come. I am going to work at "jobs" that thrill me and don't kill me. My newest dream is having a spot at an antique mall. I keep hearing from naysayers that I won't make any money at it. But I cant' listen when my dream is at stake. I'll be cautious, but I can't help it if this is the first "job" that causes me to jump out of bed and makes me anxious for the next day to start. You can tell me "I TOLD YOU SO" if things don't work out, but for now I am going to be as excited as I want to be about it, and I am going to trust my gut. May the force be with me (and I'm not even a Star Trek fan).