Birthday Number Two

by Brigid McAlpin

Well another week has flown by! Kuochun had an appointment with a new cardiologist and has another appointment next Monday with his primary doctor so we stayed in Scottsdale for the week. It looks like the super hot weather has broken and there have been a few thunderstorms as well. They typically do not last long though. The rain is great for the plants but if it rains too heavily in a short time, the front of the garage floods, and the street corners collect water. The expensive French drain I had installed does not seem to do anything so I am going to have another plumber take a look at it to see if there is anything that can be done to improve the situation. The thermostat malfunctioned so Kuochun called in PlumbSmart, who we learned about from the previous owners and have done a great job so far. They do HVAC as well and I was very relieved to hear that the problem was fixable and I do not need to replace the system. Kuochun signed up for the maintenance programs for plumbing and HVAC and he is going to call for the plumbing maintenance and that will be a good time to look at the French drain. We temporarily put a plastic bin down in the garage for the mail to drop into so it would not get wet and for the most part that has been working well. The next step will be to wire the basket we purchased to the inside of the garage door and that will catch all of the mail and keep it off the garage floor. Once the weather gets cool enough I am going to start selling the remaining extra items in the garage which include shipping boxes and boxes of padded envelopes which are too large for me to use, construction materials that are worth anything and a few pieces of furniture. I have learned that taking items of value to Prescott is not worthwhile since the Phoenix area is much larger and has a greater buyer pool to reach.

In the meantime, I have continued to work on preparing and pricing jewelry pieces for the Whatnot seller and to send back to the office for the jewelry caravan. There are two bags of jewelry for the caravan that I left in Prescott last time so I will combine them with the jewelry I have here, including the Judith Ripka collection and ship them all together. The girls have a grooming appointment next Friday morning and we will be able to head back to Prescott after that and stay for at least a few days. I had my old HP computer fixed but now it's very slow so I had to buy a new computer. Costco had a great special on a Dell computer and I had $595 in credits from trading in two iPhones through Costco's program so between the two that basically cut the price in half. I have been working hard to get the new computer set up and ChatGPT has been very helpful working through the technical issues with me. I no longer have to ask Kuochun for help! ChatGPT had recommended a 4-port USB hub for my desk lamp, two label printers and thumb drive and I was able to set it up with the Dell. It has been amazing so far, no more switching out the three different devices every time I wanted to use a new one. ChatGPT has really been a game-changer for making life easier by helping me take care of some of these everyday annoyances. Next step will be to get all of my email accounts set up in Outlook on the Dell and on the new iPhone. The old Comcast account that I established back in the early 2000s for my eBay business keeps giving me error messages and my C'est La Brie's account is not giving me any new messages on the iPhone, nor is it set up on the Dell yet. I am confident that ChatGPT can help me!

 

 

I did not get very far with posting new items this week - there was lots of estate sale work to do. I received a bundle offer on Poshmark for two cuff bracelets but I was not able to locate one of them. I let the customer know that I had another one which was very similar and I would offer it for the same price but I did not hear back from them. I later found out that the bracelet had sold on Mercari last year but Vendoo did not automatically take it down from the other shopping venues. I was able to fix that and now it is reflecting correctly in all of the systems. I did post the other cuff bracelet (shown above) so the customer could place it in their bundle if they wanted to. It is available for sale, this style is called carinated and they are great for stacking.

 

 

 

 

The Whatnot seller brought back lots of items that she decided would not be worth her time to post on her website so I have organizing to do! I did come across a couple of items that I had online, including this adorable Rosella Paxton butterfly pendant with Hubei turquoise and a set of salt and pepper shakers with a corn motif which I placed back online. There may be a few more pieces to add, I will have a better idea once I work all of these items back into my inventory.

 

 

 

 

As far as sales are concerned, the only online sale was through Poshmark, where I accepted an offer on this pair of Federico inlay earrings. I was very pleased with the Whatnot sales, where a variety of pieces sold from high-end to more budget-friendly. Some of the new pieces were not offered up for sale yet so I will look forward to seeing if they make an appearance next Saturday. There have been lots of new arrivals as well and they will be ready and waiting for the next time the seller pays me a visit!

I let go of my Rose Martin necklace with big beads to the Whatnot seller and selected a Virginia Tso necklace from her with beads that are a bit smaller but still make a statement. I did get good use from this necklace but I now have others and this is part of my ongoing effort to pare down my collection. I really will not have a lot left when all is said and done but definitely plenty to choose from. I also purchased this adorable owl pendant which was inspired by the owl from Harry Potter. I do not know a thing about Harry Potter other than the author of the books is my age but I thought it would be really cute to wear for fall. I have a necklace that will go perfectly with it as it has round mother of pearl beads interspersed with the Navajo saucer beads. At 22" though, I think it is too long so I will have it shortened to 20". This pendant clips on so I will have the center bead removed as well so the pattern will have a pair of saucers on each side of the pendant. I did not take good photos but Rachel chose a bat pin/pendant and matching ring. I took it to the jewelry store for her to have the pin backing taken off. The seller kindly sold us the pieces at her cost because the artist was a couple of weeks late in getting this year's Halloween collection completed. The owl does not scream Halloween but that is OK! Rachel thought it had a '60s look but wondered where the "ears" were. It turns out that Hedwig, the owl from Harry Potter is not the type of owl that has the feathered horns. She is a snowy owl.

I was waiting for a 40% off flash sale day from Ulla Popken and Sunday was the day! I have no nightshirts with long sleeves and wanted a few for Prescott, plus I wanted to see if they had any printed pants so I can wear a black top which is a much better backdrop for jewelry. Most of what I chose was leopard print but that is OK, I will be able to leave some in Prescott and some in Scottsdale. It looks like I will have a jewelry uniform, either a black top and leopard print pants or vice versa. It will definitely help with the dilemma of what I can wear with certain jewelry pieces!

Sunday was Kuochun's turn for a birthday and he received the best gift, an exciting Bears win against the Falcons! At first he asked me to choose a restaurant for dinner but he did not really care for my suggestions so he decided on ZuZu at the iconic mid-century modern Valley Ho Hotel which is only five minutes away. Kuochun has had it in his mind to order beef tartare but has not come across it yet. ZuZu has flexible choices - there are appetizers, salads, shared plates and entrees. We never order drinks of any sort at restaurants, always ordering water but Kuochun was in the mood to order a drink. I compromised with him and suggested non-alcoholic drinks. He went with a Bloody Mary and I selected the Thai Coconut Fling which was a combination of coconut and pineapple. It was delicious but the same price as a dessert! We opted to share a Caesar salad which the server kindly had split for us in the kitchen. I should have said no capers, I ended up fishing them all out and giving them to Kuochun. We ordered a rock shrimp and calamari appetizer which was wonderful. While I chose the short rib empanadas with chimichurri sauce which I have had at happy hour a couple of times before and I know I enjoy, Kuochun decided to try the carpaccio which he unfortunately did not like at all. They put a mound of finely shredded Parmesan cheese on top which does not appeal to him at all. He ended up eating about 20% of it and took the rest home, without the cheese, where the next day he added it to ramen and it cooked perfectly. I was glad that he was able to salvage it. We were going to order dessert but the one we wanted (brookie with ice cream) takes 15 minutes to bake and service was way too slow at the end. Kuochun did not have the patience so we passed.
The good news is that the monthly Showstopper Shake is back! This month is the Green Monster. Sue G, we will see what flavor they have in January! Also I found what people say are the best cinnamon rolls in town. They look fantastic, I saved the video!

Next weekend is huge for our estate sales with three very high-end homes! I only have one estate sale package to complete so that should hopefully free up a little extra time to keep plugging away at the jewelry. Because of the ongoing delays in Prescott, I have started to reprice the remaining Geneva jewelry with a consignment number, so I can send it back to add to the caravan. Rings are first up, then I will reprice the gemstone tennis bracelets as they are the most popular.

Until next time!
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