I cannot believe I've let 3 weeks go by without updating our newsletter. Truth is, it's been a busy three weeks with so many things happening at once and now I'm not sure any of it is even newsworthy. I'll give it a try though.

The shipping special we had going on this month has been a huge success and now I'm sitting  back thinking, duh! Why didn't I do that sooner? I have to say I was too focused on wanting to do something special for our 7th year anniversary that my thought process didn't expand out beyond the month of July. My goal was to say Thank You to our customers for their support over the last 7 years by offering the reduced shipping rate of $2.95. I think we accomplished that goal because we've shipped orders like crazy this month. Now we're ready to move on to the next special:  Starting August 1, 2009 our every day shipping rate is $4.95 for all orders.

As mentioned, our 7 year anniversary was in July and to celebrate we ran a couple of contests on the site. The first one was to count and submit to us how many items on the site had a price change to $7.17; the date of our anniversary. With a count of 45, Lindsey Stephens of Georgia won hands down. The prize for being such an eagle eye was to choose any item priced at $7.17 as her own.  Lindsey chose the hand blown glass pitcher from Mexico. We haven't heard from Lindsey to know if she was pleased with her selection, but we hope so.

The second contest was supposed to be a little easier, but as it turned out was evidently harder than the first. The rules were as follows: There is one item on the site that was originally priced for less than $7.17, is worth more than what we originally had it priced at and is now priced at $7.17. The first person to correctly identify this particular item will also win their choice of any one of the items priced at $7.17. Kay Berry of Michigan with tenacity to spare found the item in our $1.00 Dollar Category. Kay chose the Wedgewood 100% full Crystal Candlesticks as her gift and she did let us know how much she liked the candlesticks.

If you've looked through any of the items on the site lately you may have noticed we left the changed prices at $7.17 even though in some case the item is worth way more than that. Actually, most of the items on our site are worth more than we sell them for. Or did you already know that? In any case, you could pick up on a real bargain right now. Some customer's have totally taken advantage and not knowing about the contest probably are wondering why the item is priced at $7.17.

While all of the fun and games of the contests were going on we were also running eBay auctions of items never before and now never will be on the site since everything sold.

Is there a JEWELER IN THE HOUSE? I have an item I'd like to put on eBay, but it needs to be repaired and I'm not sure it can be without removing the stone. I would like to sell it as is and then let bidders know if it can easily be repaired or not. So, if there's anyone who knows anything about jewelry can you let me know, if you can tell from the photos, if the item is repairable without having to remove the stone?

I have a small group of new and antique linens to be added in the next day or two. The pastel colors in the doily to the left must bring back memories of yesteryear.  If you're interested in seeing more of these crocheted and Battenburg works of art called doilies, check back in a few days. Or in the meantime, you can see what's already on the site in our Antique Category.