Adventure In Cave Creek

The week started off with a bang and in an unexpected place - I took Mother to her planned hospital stay. She needed to go to North Scottsdale because this is the hospital where her heart doctor is located. It was our first time there but from plenty of past experience I knew to take Mother to the main entrance. The circle was jam-packed with cars and it did not seem like things were going to move along anytime soon so I decided to get a wheelchair and take Mother inside. I waited a few minutes during check-in but I got the feeling I should not leave the car unattended in the circle any longer, even though I had run out there once before to check on things. Sure enough, when I was walking out, a guy in a huge Chevy Suburban was screaming at the top of his lungs at the car behind him, yelling that some dumbass (me) was blocking the way. I actually was not blocking the way but I ignored him, got in the car and moved it up onto the sidewalk so both cars (second car was a big Lincoln Navigator SUV) were sure to get past. I wanted to leave but apparently these two wanted to valet park. They proceeded to go ahead of me and then cut me off so I could not get through. The guy who was yelling had all kinds of anti-Biden stickers on the back of his car, including the President in clown makeup, FJB etc. I had no choice but to wait an additional 10 minutes while they got where they wanted to go. Road rage is prevalent here and I have even been told not to honk the horn, even when the people are in the wrong. Every time I have been to Northwest Community Hospital security was present but that was not the case here. I sure could have used the help!

I had a setback with last week's jewelry purge as somehow most of my Facebook postings got deleted. It is very tedious to complete this task the first time let alone have to do it again as I add the details for each item to a dozen different Facebook groups but I did it! I ended up not selling anything new through Facebook after that. However because the items were online I received an inquiry from a man through this cuff bracelet listing on Facebook Marketplace. It turns out he owns a store in Cave Creek which is a Western town about 40 minutes directly north of us. He was interested in seeing what else I had to offer so we made an appointment to pay him a visit. He did offer to come to me but it would have to be at 7:30 AM so he could get back to his store for the opening at 9:00 AM. I have not had the opportunity to go to Cave Creek yet but Mother and I loved our short visit to Carefree which is right next door. Even though it was hot, I thought it would give him more time to take a look at the jewelry and make the trip to him on Wednesday.

Tuesday Kuochun and I took the opportunity to go to Mother's apartment to get her TV working. It took a while but we were able to get it to work. The most difficult part was to try and get the TV off the wall so we could connect it to the Samsung control box. I logged in to Hulu and Discovery+ and next time I will add Roku. Mother is going to attempt to watch TV without cable, she did that in Arlington Heights using Roku so we will see how that goes. She prefers to flip channels rather than look for programs to watch, as is necessary with streaming services.

Wednesday was our outing to Cave Creek. The store is called The Lazy Lizard and it was a lot of fun. It is jam-packed with furniture, decor and Native American jewelry. The folks were super nice and the owner was able to find about a dozen pieces he loved, including a cuff bracelet for himself. He said he would have purchased a lot more but they are heading into the slower summer season, which I totally understand. While we were there, the shop was quite busy with customers picking up items they have already purchased and a consignor picking up his check. I learned that they also own Rewind Consignment & Vintage which is in the Melrose District in Phoenix. Rachel brought this store to our attention during her last visit and I have been there once. I was able to ask about furniture and home decor items I was thinking of consigning there. They are willing to split the delivery charge which is awesome!

I did not find any jewelry to buy at The Lazy Lizard but Kuochun bought a statue which looks like it is straight out of the '80s. It is not my cup of tea but it made him so happy. I thought he was going to put it in his room but at the moment it is in the living room!

After our visit to The Lazy Lizard, we headed over to Tonto Bar & Grill for lunch. Before our trip, I did a search in the Scottsdale Living Facebook group for the best lunch in Cave Creek. Far and away, Tonto Grill was the number one recommendation. This Southwestern cuisine restaurant has the best selection of salads I have ever seen and a choice of seven different proteins that could be added to each one. Other than salads, there were a couple of soup choices and a few burgers and then the other side of the menu was all entrees.

I went with the Compressed Arugula Salad with manchego cheese, candied pecans, sun-dried cherries, green apple and pistachio vinaigrette. I added mesquite-grilled chicken breast. I love the combination of arugula and chicken and this salad did not disappoint, it was delicious and perfect for a hot day. Kuochun is not afraid to pay more for a good seafood entree and when he chose the Onion-Crusted Walleye our server exclaimed with glee about how good it was! Kuochun absolutely loved it and ate every bit, even though he normally does not go for a large lunch.

For dessert I had to go with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bombe. It was beautiful and delicious as well. It was such a lovely experience we felt like we were on vacation for a moment. Even though it was a very hot day we were seated out on the patio and I was able to handle the heat. The ceiling fans definitely helped though!

My photo does not do it justice but the view from the patio of the Rancho Manana Golf Club was gorgeous. The service was lovely and reminiscent of our experience at Lon's at The Hermosa Inn, where we took Mother for her birthday. Sure enough, they are both part of the same resort group! I enjoyed this restaurant even more and hope to be able to take Mother there someday.

Kuochun was totally amazed by the size of Cave Creek and everything it had to offer from shops to restaurants to biker bars. I also noticed more thrift and consignment stores than I have ever seen in one place. We will definitely plan to go back in the fall when the weather is cooler. It was really exciting to make such a great connection from a simple Facebook Marketplace post.

On the way out I wanted to quickly check out Carefree Consignment. I learned about it from Scottsdale Living and it sounded like a great place for me to consign clothing, purses and jewelry. I am so glad we stopped but not in a good way. The store was disappointing with a weird snaky layout. The quality of the furniture and home decor was way lower than I expected. The clothing was OK but the jewelry was all newer low-end costume except for one sterling silver necklace. Kuochun was even less impressed than me. I am happy that I can cross this one off my list and make other plans. I will stick to building up the online store with my items. Many of my clothing pieces are new with tags so I am hoping they will do well on Poshmark. I will not have time to tackle this now but it will be a good fall/winter project.

The rest of the weekdays I focused on clearing more of Mother's items from the first floor bedroom, segregating items which will go to the Arlington Heights moving sale and the items which will stay here. I am hoping to be able to price as many items as I can to help out the setup team but I am not sure if there will be time. I did combine the standing work with seated work. I priced tons of rings including this wonderful set of sterling silver rings by Pandora. I think they are going to go fast! I almost have a full box of "new" pieces ready to send home for the jewelry caravan.

I tried my hand at a reduced size jewelry purge on Sunday. It worked out great because I was able to shoot the group photos on Saturday night which is kind of time-consuming and then Sunday I completed the individual photos and descriptions and was able to post everything an hour early. The turquoise necklace on the left, two flower pins, the marquise-shaped earrings and the scroll pin sold, the remaining items are available. This combined with the store sale, online sales and jewelry caravan sales made for a wonderful jewelry week!

Next on tap will be to schedule the U-Box so it arrives in time for the moving sale setup, finish clearing Mother's items from the first floor bedroom and work on moving my belongings there. I am sure between that and estate sale work I will have my hands full! I will not do a jewelry purge next Sunday due to Memorial Day weekend but instead I will work on getting all the wonderful pieces from past purges posted online. I will be so glad when all of the extra stuff is out of my way and off to Arlington Heights!