5 Low Cost Ways To Cure Cabin Fever

Winter in the Northeast can be beautiful.  When the snow falls there is a calm quiet across the landscape.  Even a storm with blizzard conditions can be beautiful, as long as  you are prepared with whatever you need to make life comfortable for you should the power go out and the roads become impassable.

This winter has had its share of storms and blizzards.  The day after a storm is often sunny, a blessing in that sunshine is a known mood booster and it also helps to melt the snow.

Even so, there are times when even the most enthusiastic lover of winter gets cabin fever.  When I feel a bout of cabin fever I choose from one of my five favorite cures.  

Shop the Garden Catalogues

Make a cup of your favorite hot beverage.  My favorite is hot chocolate with mint. I add a healthy dollop of whipped cream on top.  During January the seed and gardening catalogues arrive.  Browse the catalogs, making note of what you would like to plant in the spring.  Take special not of new varieties, the growers are continuously developing new varieties that are often stronger and flower longer.  Place your order early to insure your selections are not sold out.

Search Back Issues of Favorite Magazines

I have a stock of back issues of magazines on gardening,  I pull out a dozen or so magazines and start browsing.  I am always pleasantly surprised when I come across an article I had forgotten about but had enjoyed when I first read it.

As I search through my back issues as sometimes I look for articles on specific topics.  This year I am determined to make a formal herb garden so I am searching and marking articles about how to plan an early American herb garden.

Tune into the Internet  

Search the world from the most comfortable and favorite place in your home.
Chat with friends on Skype, make new friends by exploring new sites and joining in the discussion of topics dear to you.  Update your Face Book page, send those messages to friends that you just never seem to have the time to send. Browse vacation spots and find new activities and places for the family to enjoy during spring and summer.

Move the Picnic Inside

 

Gather the family together and develop a menu for a family picnic.  Include favorite summertime foods and beverages.  Be sure to use a summer cloth on the floor and remember to bring the beach ball.  Add some summertime tunes for a lively sing-a-long and you will quickly find yourself transported to a warm and happy place.   Using summertime candles like coconut will add to the summertime fun.

Turn Your Family Room Into an Art Gallery 

 

Gather newsprint, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, and old magazines.  Have each family member make a collage of their favorite season.  Include in the collage, favorite activities, foods, places, clothes, and whatever else expresses why that season is their favorite.  Older children can help the younger ones.  Share the collage with the family. Leave the family art work on display for the next day or so.  You will be surprised at the continuing interest in the art work of other family members!

Till Next Time, Stay Well, Stay Happy

www.antiquesattheirongate.com

auctionmom80@gmail.com

Are You Prepared to Attend an Internet Auction?

I attended live auctions with my family as long as I can remember.  In those days the auctions were country auctions held on Saturday and Sundays in the outbuildings of farms and flea markets.  There was no seating, no bright lights, and no second chances if you won or lost a bid.


As a child I was not allowed to bid but I did watch the other bidders as they focused on the items and bidding strategies of their opponents as they developed their own bidding strategy to win the items of choice.  There were no friends during the auction.  Only after  the last pound of the gavel and the words "Sold Bidder # _" did the friendships revive and the storytelling begin. 

Watching the bidders was often more fun than seeing what was being auctioned.  Eyes glanced from side to side, then down and to the side again.  Pencil and paper in hand they tracked the prices realized for those items won and lost.  Eye contact was avoided among the bidders, their body movements  were more revealing of their intent to continue bidding or not.

Occasionally a bidding war ensured.  It usually started with three bidders.  This would continue for about a minute then  one bidder would lower their head and turn their body, indicating they were now out. The audience would follow the remaining two bidders turning to look at each as the bidders held constant their number or slightly nodded their head alerting the auctioneer to continue.  


In the parking lots the trading began as winners examined   their purchases imagining the prices they would gain and losers approached winners to inquire if they could strike a deal.

Attending a live auction requires people watching, learning the nonverbal behaviors and what they mean to those you are bidding against.  I have always found watching the bidding audience as well as the auctioneer to be helpful in my own bidding.  At times this knowledge has allowed me to win a sleeper; other times it has stopped me from bidding beyond reason for an item. 

The most noticeable difference between bidding at a live auction versus an internet auction is that there is no personal verbal and nonverbal communication among bidders or the auctioneer.  If you are a people watcher like myself, this may determine whether you are destined to enjoy bidding at such auctions.  

 To get a sense of what it is liketoattend an auction follow different on-line auctions to get a feel for the bidding process.  You will also learn whether you like bidding against unknown and unseen bidders.  

You must make quicker decisions when bidding on the internet, these auctions move quickly!

6 Quick Tips for Bidding at Internet Auctions 

1.  Search a site such asProxiBid  to explore the types of auctions offered.   

 2. Visit the sites of auctions you find interesting, jewelry, autos, art, etc.

3.  Register for an auction that interests you.  Be sure to read the policies of the auction house, policies differ from auctioneer to auctioneer. 

4.  Review the online catalogue of items to be auctioned. Complete this several times.  Select items of interest to you. 
Determine the highest bid you will make on each item

5.  Follow through with you financial plan developed in step 4. 

6.  Celebrate a winning bid.  

Till next time, stay well, stay happy

auctionmom80@gmail.com

www.antiquesattheirongate.com

Buying At an Online Real Time Auction

Well... today is the day I have prepared for.  The auction is in the Midwest so there is a bit of time difference.  I need to set an alarm to notify me when I need to  sit in my reserved seat in front of the computer.

Let's review the steps I have taken to prepare for this day.  I looked through the online catalogue quickly at first.  Then I selected the categories from their listings that I wanted to look at more closely.  I looked at the pics of items that sounded interesting or I was interested in looking at further. Next step I wrote the Lot number of the item.  I rechecked some pics wrote some more Lot  numbers down and crossed off some other Lots.

Some auction houses post the starting bid, it can go lower to start depending upon the bidders' response.  This auction house does not list starting bids, because they have an audience in real time and on the Internet the auctioneer starts where he thinks the item should start at.  I wrote a bid range
next to each item on my list.  I determined the range based upon my current knowledge of pricing and items.  But I did not stop there.

I hit the books!  The antiques and collectible price guides Collectible Books that is.  They are an essential source of information and great for fully illustrated pictures and even history about some items.  Prioritized my list and placed the list next to the computer where it waits for the auction to start.   There were some larger items that would not fit through a mail slot, no need to worry if I am the winning bid.  Auction houses have the names of companies that ship long distances, usually at a very fair price.

Talk with you after the auction.  Till then stay well, stay happy.
     

www.antiquesattheirongate.com

 

 

 

 

 

School Supplies and Internet Auctions

Enough of the buying of school supplies.  How much can a little child write in the first days of school.  Anyway there is always the internet to order from and have delivered to your door within a day.  We have already begun to select from the childrens' magazines of which ones to subscribe to. As for the weekend it was a glorious time for internet auctions that allow auctions to continue for days, months even if they auction items to a store!

Unlike live auctions you can take your time deciding whether to bid, how much to bid, and when to get in the bidding. Those types of internet auctions are not nearly as exciting or nearly as good as teaching quick decision making.  However, there are live internet auction sites that allow you to experience the excitement of a being at a real live auction and still enjoy the comfort of sitting in your home, having your favorite foods within arm reach, the telephone in another, and be able to keep up with what is going on at home as well as with the auction.  That's what I am looking forward to this week.  One of my favorite auction houses from the West is having a huge antique and collectible auction.  Sure there are some things I don't want or need right now, like a tractor but the listings  of household items hold a great deal of interest for me.

Before the auction I will look through the categories of items of interest. It's a good idea to write down the number of the item, called a lot number, and a title of the item, for example Mission Oak Chair. During the week I will look at the pics I am most interested in a few times, maybe even email the auction house with any questions I have.  Auctioneers would rather have you ask questions before time than to be unsatisfied with an item you won and then did not like I am comfortable with this auction house having done business with them before.  This time I am not looking for anything in particular, but that's the fun of auctions, one never knows the treasures that lurk in the next lot called.