A Little Constructive Criticism...

Well everyone....Texas is still FIGHTEN´ FIRES and as much as íts on my mind - I think it´s time to think about something else for a little while. I will say that my friend Stephanie Cochran with Cochran Landscapes , Mrs. Lynn Johnson, and I got some first-hand experience with this tragedy on Friday. Let me just say that WE WERE LOADED DOWN with supplies! Thank you Coastal Bend and everyone that has helped organize and gather these items. Keep it up! A BIG THANKS also goes to all the volunteers that helped us unload. It really is GREAT to see everyone COME TOGETHER and HELP each other. They do have a little more containment on the fire, but please be sure to keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers and PRAY FOR RAIN!! If we don´t get any...fires will just keep poppin´ up.

Lynn, myself, and Stephenie in one of their 4 warehouses!

I also want to say that yesterday being 10 YEARS since the 9/11 ATTACK...got me to thinkin´. Mainly...that we REALLY need to APPRECIATE the IMPORTANT things in life like....OUR FAMILIES, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, ETC. BE GOOD TO PEOPLE!  You never know what day will be your last. I´m sure many will agree that it´s been a LONG 10 YEARS....but WE´LL MAKE IT!! UNITED WE STAND!!  GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS, SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN, AND EVERYONE ELSE DOING THEIR PART TO KEEP US SAFE!

So...not this past weekend, but the one before, I had the chance to catch up with my friends at THE FAYETTE COUNTY FAIR in LAGRANGE, TEXAS on Friday and Saturday night. I also got the chance to listen to one of my FAVORITE TEXAS MUSIC SINGERS - MR. PAT GREEN on Saturday! He put on an AWESOME show! I REALLY enjoyed it! (If anyone ever wants to get me a present - tickets to one of his concerts will work :)!)

On Sunday I had the opportunity to help auctioneer at the CHURCH FEAST for ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CATHOLIC CHURCH in FAYETTEVILLE! This auction was a little different for me (each one is - isn´t it?). First of all...Uncle Mele wasn´t auctioneering with me - which was a FIRST for me. He was there though :). Secondly...I helped work the tea booth inside until they needed me, which didn´t really give me the chance to scope out where the more CONSISTENT bidders were sitting. (This is kind of important for me - b/c sometimes it is REALLY hard for me to see whether or not someone is bidding - depending on how they bid.) Not really a big deal though. It just made me realize how much it´s helped me at past auctions. Lastly...we switched off every hour or so - which was probably good for my voice. It was a little bit harder for me to get in the groove of things, but I think that was dealing more with my nerves and working with different people and what not.

THANK YOU Mrs. Kaysie Noska for the action shot :)!

All in all...it turned out GREAT! I got some really good EXPERIENCE and some even better CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. I wound up selling an old empty antique soda bottle for $210, was able to sell a quilt that was in my husband´s family, and was able to learn a thing or two from MR. RICK SODEK  and MR. KORENEK.

Now let me say.....that I had the same kind of response at this one that I have at all of them.... OVERWHELMING COMPLIMENTS and well-wishes. However, I went around asking some people different things like: Could you understand me good? Was I too fast? Was I fast enough? What could I do better? The only way I´m going to get BETTER is to ASK questions and figure out what to CHANGE...right? Let me tell you...the responses VARIED. Some people thought I was TOO FAST, some thought I NEEDED TO BE A LITTLE LOUDER, some said I COULD WORK THE CROWD MORE ON SOME ITEMS and then some people would tell me JUST THE OPPOSITE or tell me I was BETTER at something someone else told me I could IMPROVE. NOT one person told me I did a bad job - They just gave me some advice.

So what does that feedback and my videos tell me?

1) I will NEVER be 100% PERFECT for everybody.

2) SPEED isn´t always important. It depends on the auction. (Uncle Mele´s been telling me this from Day 1)

3) I still have to LEARN  to get  MORE COMFORTABLE behind the mike.

4) I need to LEARN how my VOICE works and how to PRESERVE it and to BREATHE.

5) I just NEED to keep PRACTICING. The more practice I get, the more comfortable I get, and the more I learn!

I´d be a fool to think I´ll have it all down in a day, or two, or three.

One thing I know I need to learn is to just TRUST what your SPOT CALLERS look like they are trying to tell you. You´ll see what I mean in the video below. From the front....you can tell that the spotter (Mr. Brad Fritsch - with Fritsch Cattle Company) is telling me that there´s a bid. I mean...he had it after I said the price the 2nd time. Geez...that was PAINFUL for me to watch. I thought to myself: "Come on already! BUCK UP and TAKE THAT BID!" :)  Anyways...to me (from where I was) I thought he was trying to get them to bid...kinda like he wasn´t sure, which made me a little unsure. Anyways....a prime example of something I need to improve on.  I´LL GET THERE! For my 4th auction....I think I did all right. Like I tell everyone....I still have LOTS of LEARNIN´ to do - but I´m getting there.

Until next time my friends....BUCK UP BABY and go donate some $$ to the Red Cross of Central Texas OR say a PRAYER for everyone! A special THANK YOU goes out to all the BIDDERS, BUYERS, HELPERS, and DONORS!!