Thursday April 11, 2013

Thursday April 11, 2013 update #419

I awoke at 5:30 and tried to sleep some more but gave up and got to work at 6:30.   I did what I hoped would be the final paperwork before the auction.   The laugh was on me.

Bella was up half the night in the bathroom so she stayed home and tried to play online bridge but apparently the Internet was down most of the afternoon.

I headed downtown before lunch to get magnetic bracelet.   She did the same loose work on it so I doubt it will stay together much longer than last time.  She only asked for $1 again but I gave her $2 as it must be a fair amount of work.

As I headed to Hearts Of Gold for yet another meeting I caught a couple of interesting shots along the way.   I also stopped at a video store to pick up some great movies to throw in our Door Prize basket.  

I also took a chance and stopped at Tiesto’s, the expensive meal place in Cuenca to straighten out a glitch on their 2 Gift Certificates.   I was surprised to catch them open but I was so very thankful that I wouldn’t have to return later in the evening.   The owner/chef is a very nice person but he placed some very stringent time restrictions on his Certificates that are upsetting.   We will have to make sure that the winning bidder is well aware that they have to be used during specific days in May.

Before the others came we received more donations, including a small Kindle for a Door Prize!!   Door Prize winners will be able to choose their prize from what is remaining in the basket.

We received some paintings made by the kids at El Arenal to raise some funds.   We had supplied the canvasses and the paints for them.   The work they have done is mighty impressive.  I was asked to take photos of them so they could post them prior to the Auction to raise more interest.  The paintings will probably sell between $35 and $45.

Our final Auction tally is 105 items, totaling somewhere around $6,000 retail value.   I had done a suggested blurb about our little wrinkle of Buy-It-Now prices at 80% of retail on all our Auction items and they have posted that on GringoPost and GringoTree.   If we got 80% on everything we would be ecstatic.   We are getting great advertising so we expect a packed house.

On top of that we have a lot of direct sale items to add to our pot.   If someone can’t find anything they like at this Auction they won’t be in this country long.

Our MC’s, Michel Blanchard (Canadian) and Ashley Rogers do a weekly radio show and are experienced with stages and microphones so we are thrilled they agreed to help us.  They came by at 2pm to get a feel of what we were proposing and to get an idea of their duties.   I had a sample list ready for them and helped put them at ease with the knowledge that we will have a “Time Coordinator” to keep track of  when things are to happen, announcements, etc.  They were given a quick outline of our partner organizations and some of the stories that tug at the heartstrings.  Emilie and Melinda will be supplying them with lots of material to occupy their stage time.   They will get to talk in amongst the proposed musicians and a magic show.   Where we are going to fit everybody I don’t know.

Our meeting was for ironing out a few more details, delineate more of the responsibilities, etc.   Naturally there were some changes to a few of the Auction items which entailed a lot of document reprinting tonight.   Maybe I will get most of tomorrow to rest and relax before the huge day on Saturday.   That is going to be one long day so don’t expect any Blog Saturday.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/