Back On The Wagon

This past week started off with our return from Tucson. It took longer than expected for the handyman to hang the doors for the guest room and second floor bathroom on Saturday so he was not able to start on the pocket door. I understand that doors are tricky to hang, especially when retrofitting them. The bathroom door had a large frosted glass panel with etched squares in it, a throwback to the previous owner who is European and loved the Euro/IKEA look. I also inherited the "no door" situation for the guest room. While Sue G was visiting, I slept there and put a folding screen up to keep the girls out of the bedroom early in the morning. They did respect it but I could feel them there! Kuochun did not ask to replace the bathroom door but I thought it would be nice if all of the second floor doors looked the same - flat panels with chrome levers. As a result, I scheduled another handyman day on Monday. I figured it was a good time since we were still going to be gone most of the day. Our checkout time was 11:00 and we were able to leave on time. I decided to stop at a few HomeGoods stores along the way in order to time our arrival back home to 3:00 or after so we could stay out of the handyman's way. I am always looking for display and/or storage items for the jewelry business. The first stop was close to the Airbnb in Tucson. It was a really nice store with many cute things. Many were Western-themed. There was a little rattan side table with a '70s bohemian look. The rattan pieces formed a flower on the top. It would have been cute to place on a tabletop to give a display some height. However there was not enough room for it in the car. I ended up getting three adorable rectangular trays with a bamboo look around the frame and small flowers inside. Two of them are larger and the same size and I will put them on my pair of dressers in the boutique. It will help tie their mid-century Asian style in with the bohemian touches I am bringing in. The third one is smaller and I am sure I will find a good place for it. The second HomeGoods stop was in Marana AZ, which is just north of Tucson. It was also a nice store but I did not find anything there. The third stop was in Casa Grande AZ which is about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. Wow, what a store! I knew it was different when I first stepped in the door and there was an entire shelf of Italian pasta. The quality of the merchandise was next level. They had a bunch of SMEG toasters and blenders. I would have purchased but I have to watch my pennies now with the Prescott project going on and returning from the buying trip. They had a huge furniture department as well. It is about an hour away but when I am ready I will plan to make a trip back there. I was really impressed! Kuochun was in the mood for Culver's and they happened to have one across the street so we grabbed a bite to eat over there. I am so proud of Kuochun, he would normally choose a burger at Culver's but now he is choosing grilled chicken sandwiches.

This put our arrival time back home at about 3:30 which would have worked out except the handyman locked his keys in his truck with the motor running! We felt so bad for him, but he has AAA and was able to get someone to eventually come out and get him back in. He said this has actually happened to him 30 times and that is why he has AAA! I was so happy to see the window drywall project in person. It looks so much better closed up, it was the right way to go. At least my exorbitant design fee went to one good idea so far! It is slightly echoey in there, I noticed it most when Margot barked but it does not echo with the TV on. A small price to pay to have it look so much better and not to be awakened at dawn every day. Next step will be to get a blackout Roman shade for the window and then I will be in business! The handyman will come back next Monday to work on converting the double door to a pocket door.

Tuesday was my annual checkup and second visit with the doctor. She is very cute and nice but I did not feel the checkup was very thorough, when compared to Dr Miroi in Des Plaines. I definitely miss her! The only thing that was done here that was not done back home was a urine test. My blood work came back the same as last year, everything is good except for a slightly elevated calcium level. I enter all of my calories in the My Fitness Pal app which is wonderful. It does not show that I am taking in excess calcium so I am not sure of the problem. I was given the same advice, cut out calcium supplements (which I do not take) and drink more water (I only drink water and lots of it all day and night.) I am going to see what Dr Google says.

Wednesday was my first visit with the physical therapist, Cody. He was terrific - he actually read the questionnaire I filled out ahead of time, he listened to and remembered what I said and I can tell he is excellent at what he does. I mentioned last time that my alma mater Marquette has one of the best physical therapy programs in the country. Cody did not attend Marquette but is from Wisconsin! I was given some simple exercise homework to do and the next step is to wait for insurance approval before setting up any future appointments. Ten weeks at twice per week is the physical therapy order.

Thursday night we hosted a Whatnot show from the office - I moderated and Kelly and Paige hosted the show. We never had more than 12 people in the room but I was extremely pleased with our sales. I had advertised jewelry and home decor and we never even got to the home decor. This will be the first of a regular Thursday night show from the office. Starting next week, we will also do our very best to host an on-site estate pre-sale every Wednesday evening. Luckily we have a good candidate next week. With time and consistency I know we can meet our goals! If you have not already, I highly encourage you to join us on Whatnot. We always have a lot of fun and it is the perfect opportunity to shop some of our estate sale items ahead of time from the comfort of your home. If you have not already, sign up for Whatnot by clicking on the image above and you will receive $15 off your first purchase! We will host estate sales and jewelry caravan shows from the BriesEstateSales account and higher-end jewelry from CestLaBries. Once the Prescott boutique is complete, I will be hosting Whatnot shows and offering anything that can be shipped for sale. There will be jewelry, clothing, accessories, vintage home decor and as always, other surprises!

My weight is up from all the eating out we did in January so back on the wagon it is! I ate one of my Metabolic Meals every evening and went back to minimal sweets. I have a "better choice" piece of candy like Unreal or BTR Nation after lunch and a small cookie after dinner. I am going to shoot for 1,800 calories per day and see if I can lose a pound per week at that level. If not, I'll have to cut calories some more. One good thing about Metabolic Meals is that they focus on protein and reduce the portion size on the carbs. The meals range from about 400-550 calories and just happen to be gluten free but taste delicious. I love that I can choose the meals (which is not an option on Seattle Sutton) and I would never eat with this much variety if I had to take the time and energy to make dinners myself.

We did unexpectedly go out for lunch on Friday afternoon. On Thursday evening, a new season of "Check Please, Arizona!" premiered. I watched the original Chicago version for many years but the drawback was most of the restaurants they featured were not easily accessible for those of us in the 'burbs. With the Arizona version, we can get to every restaurant they talk about. When I watched the episode, the second restaurant really stood out to me. I knew for Kuochun it would be a must go-to with its combination of two of his favorite cuisines - Cajun and soul food. In particular, they featured a "Tasty 3" combination with jambalaya, etouffee and red beans and rice. However the experience was not at all what we expected. The restaurant is in downtown Phoenix but close to the Heard Museum so I knew we could park in the nearby parking garage for free. It happened to be the same one we parked in for the Native American market last year. We did end up finding a spot on the street. The parking meters were not working so we took a chance. When we arrived at the restaurant, we found that the restaurant name had changed from CC's on Central to to Blue Plate Co which we thought was strange because the episode had just aired the night before and the owner took the time to explain why the name was CC's. The owner briefly greeted us and our server helped us out the rest of the way. The menu was completely different than what was presented on Check, Please - no Tasty 3, no biscuits, no cornbread and no dessert including the church lemon cake and red or blue velvet cake. Instead, hamburgers, hot dogs and turkey sandwiches to name a few and the only Cajun item was the option for a cup or bowl of jambalaya. We were confused and asked the server about it but she said it was her first week and she seemed to be afraid to ask the owner about it. They had a 2-piece fried chicken meal with two sides on the menu and although I did not want fried food there was really no other choice. I went with mac and cheese as my side. I ordered the greens for Kuochun as my other side because he loves them. When I requested white meat I was told then I would have to get chicken strips and I said that was fine. Kuochun ordered a cup of jambalaya and the fried chicken meal.

The food took a long time to come out, Kuochun was getting antsy. The mac and cheese was fine, kind of on the sweet side but edible. However I was presented with the mixed plate instead of the chicken strips - one breast and one leg. I have never seen a chicken breast like this in my life. The breading was so thick and there was hardly any meat, just a very thin layer. Kuochun ate his chicken leg which seemed to have way more meat. The further odd part about the experience was that a man came in and was definitely served something Cajun and off-menu and a couple came in at about the same time and although I could not see what he ordered she definitely had something Cajun and off-menu as well. At first I thought it was a biscuit on top but I think it was the red beans and rice. The owner catered to both tables and never approached ours so maybe she knew them. The food was served in plastic and Styrofoam containers as well. It did not leave us with a good feeling. This experience would have been deserving of a negative review but who to blame? Check, Please should have put up a disclaimer to let us know the restaurant had changed but the restaurant is responsible for the experience. I felt really bad encouraging Kuochun to go there. I also did not like wasting my weekly "cheat meal" there!

In addition to the knee pain, I have been feeling pretty miserable this week. I think it is allergies but I suppose it could be a cold and cough. I pretty much lost my voice for a couple of days too. It is still scratchy but once I get it going it sounds fairly normal. Hopefully whatever it is will be out of my system in a couple of days.

With all this going on, I was only able to post five items this week and I had listed photos of all of them on last week's blog post. Due to the inconsistent posting, I did not sell any new items this week. I will get back to posting at least one item per day starting next week.

Next week, I have been offered the opportunity to work with Melinda at a high-end Scottsdale estate sale put on by her friend Robin from Fab Finds Moving & Estate Sales. I will have two tables worth of sterling silver jewelry cases including designer estate jewelry, Mexican and Southwest Style pieces as well as Native American goodies from vintage to new. My inventory is so vast and incredible right now that it will be difficult to narrow it all down to four cases! I can always bring backstock in case anyone has a request. I will have my work cut out for me getting ready for this one!

Well that is all the news for this week, all "talking" and no images to speak of. See you next time!