Birthday Time

I missed last week but I am back with a two-week recap. This time period just happened to cover both my birthday and Kuochun's birthday. On my birthday, we had a live sale scheduled in the evening which meant I needed to be back home to moderate the sale before 4:00 PM. I made the request for a birthday cake, this is my first year in a very long time not to get the hazelnut torte from Central Continental Bakery. Our area has the best donuts, the best cookies, the best cupcakes but not so many cake options. There is a gluten-free bakery about 5 minutes away but I felt it was not the time to try them out. The original plan was to go to Fellow Osteria which I just love. Their food is exactly what I like - simple but done well. However, due to the limited time we ended up going to AJ's Fine Foods for a cake and squeezing in a lunch nearby. AJ's is a gourmet grocery store mini-chain in the Phoenix area and there is nothing to really compare it to in Chicago. I would say the size of the store is about the same as a Trader Joe's. About a quarter of the store is like a gift shop with seasonal items, the Thymes Collection of bath and body products that we used to sell in our store and of course cooking-related items. The produce department is absolutely beautiful and each aisle is filled with carefully curated products. Even the pharmacy is fancy! They have a huge deli area with hot and cold choices. The bakery is not huge but I figured they would have something. It turned out there was only one small pecan praline cake and a small French Silk pie. We ended up getting both. The pie was amazing, it was just loaded with chocolate curls and had little round crunchy chocolate balls that were an unique addition. The cake was a great idea in theory but I did not think it was as good as the pie. There was basically no filling between the two layers and the layers were closer to angel food than regular cake.

Fellow Osteria is in the opposite direction from our local AJ's so we ended up going to Paul Martin's American Grill which was a stone's throw away. I passed by it so many times and wanted to take Mother there but we never had the chance. There were only two other parties seated when we entered the dining room. It turned out that the thing that Kuochun hates the most at a restaurant - slow initial service happened and that put him in a bad mood. Eventually the server did arrive. The menu was limited so we shared a calamari appetizer and I ordered shrimp with Cajun fries and a salad. Unfortunately all of the food was so heavily salted! Even the salad was salty. I brought leftovers home but ended up not being able to eat them which never happens!

That Sunday evening I did host my vintage Christmas show. This was the first time I have hosted a full-length Whatnot show on my own. I did try a show with the jewelry caravan once but did not sell anything so I signed off after an hour. At the last minute, I taught Kuochun how to change the pricing. Luckily he caught onto it pretty quickly. I tried to mount my phone inside my ring light but then I could not really see the screen in order to read the chat, see if the items were positioned correctly for the customers etc. I also could not locate my taller tabletop stand so I used the lower one. I did my best to improvise though and I think it turned out OK. Overall I was very happy with the sales results - the most popular items were my adorable Lefton and Napco figurines from the 1960s. I should have taken photos but I had one with Santa on the phone and it had a coiled rubber phone cord. My four mini ceramic Christmas trees were a hit too. I had a little metal Christmas card list box (the size of a recipe box) and it still had all of the inserts in it and even a form to send away for refills at $1.00 for two packs! I sold almost all of my Magic ornaments and all of the felt Santas and Santa heads that I offered up for sale. All of the beautiful beaded ornaments sold too, as well as the two different felt Christmas stockings - one with a reindeer and the other with Santa. I sold three of four 3-D gold glitter Christmas bows as well. I was surprised that there was no interest in the other felt ornaments, I only sold the two small snowmen. Just a couple of my beautiful glass ornaments sold and I had no luck with my rose pillow, accent pillows and my prized Christmas possession - the moose dressed up like a Catholic school girl that I bought at a charity fundraiser event we used to participate in every year back in the '80s. A nun made the moose, both girl and boy versions using real clothing and she sold out every year. I decided I could not part with the most beautiful of the felt and sequined birds and ornaments. I did not offer my nativity set either - it is so unique and amazing combined with the handmade creche made out of Christmas trees I bought years ago at an in-home craft event that we used to participate in. I surround the creche with wonderful trees with fluffy branches I bought at Bloomingdale's in the early '90s. I think I am going to purchase the smaller of the '60s style Christmas trees from Vermont Country Store (I have the larger one) and I think between the nativity set and a smaller, more manageable tree I could decorate in two hours or less. In Prescott, I could put the tree where the buffet will go in the dining area and it will show in the window. I do have enough Christmas items remaining to run a second show. I have a huge bin with two or three large ceramic Christmas trees, as well as the plaid taffeta tree skirt and table runners I made back in the day. I feel like some of my items are missing so I am going to make sure I have all the Christmas decor rounded up and have Part 2 the first Sunday of November.

I took my time packing the items because many of them were breakable. Whenever possible, I double-boxed the breakables. Kuochun offered to help, he already knows how to put the orders together by customer and I walked him through the process of packing the items properly. It did save time, I held the wrappings in place and Kuochun applied the tape. Knock on wood, so far everything has arrived safely. Public speaking is out of my comfort zone but since these were items that I have enjoyed for many years and I can easily remember the history behind them, talking about them came easy. I actually made a 30-second and a 7 1/2 minute video to describe what was to be sold. I learned that the Whatnot video has to be 30 seconds or less in order to attach it to the show, after making the long video. It was good practice and I made it through both videos without saying "um" which is a pet peeve of mine!

I have to ask Kuochun not to interrupt me when I am in the middle of talking about something though because it breaks up the flow. Everyone was very nice except towards the end, someone said they never received their order and had to ask for a cancellation. This was really inappropriate and I was not happy that they took this information public. They had never spoken to us directly about it, one day I just saw that a cancellation was processed. It must have been on a past estate sale. I just said we are the largest estate sale company in Chicagoland and to look at our record on Whatnot. I did not block them but if they do it again I definitely will.

This past Wednesday was my dental appointment. I thought everything was going to be completed that day but it turned out it was prep day, with a second appointment to come about three weeks later. I have had a lot of dental work done in my life starting at a young age but this one was pretty rough. After two gigantic shots of Novocaine were administered, I had to go back home to get my veneer. It turned out it was needed to make the temporary teeth. It was a weird feeling driving while my entire nose and upper lip became frozen. Luckily we are only three minutes down the street.

After lots of photos with a scanner, three impressions, removal of my remaining veneer and previous crowns and installation of temporaries I was done for the day. I am still feeling uncomfortable, it feels like I am wearing braces but before I know it, it will be time for my new smile on November 5. This is something I thought about doing in a year or two but it will be great to have it taken care of now.

I had put off our house cleaning appointment because of all the extra furniture, boxes, glass tabletops etc. around but our house cleaner wanted to come back the following Saturday so we decided to let her come. Since I was not feeling well I could just do an hour or two of unpacking and sorting at a time before I needed to take a break from it. It was not perfect but she was very understanding and did her best to work around things. Next time everything should be in good shape. I still have to finish the inside and then tackle the garage. The good news is I found what seems like yet another great lead from the Scottsdale Living Facebook group. On Sunday, someone posted looking for a reasonably priced stager for real estate. Something told me to click on it and I am sure glad I did! One of the recommendations was for a company who not only does moving, but loading/unloading and staging! Plus they have excellent reviews. It sounds like exactly what we need. Right now we have five mattresses upstairs - two of them are going to Prescott so we will be left with only one extra. I would like to send Kuochun's current bedroom set to Prescott and set up the one from Mount Prospect here. We also need help changing out three of the area rugs. I am struggling a bit with which mattress to send to Prescott for me. We have a full size and a queen size. I would like to send the queen size there and keep the full size here, selling my mattress from Mount Prospect. If I send the queen size, there is not enough room to display both nightstands. However I think it is OK because the window is not centered on the wall. A utility closet which was not large enough for clothing storage was taken down in order to provide a wall for the bed. When I purchased the home, the room was staged as a family room. It is a long and narrow rectangle. I have been working with a designer and she worked up a built-in closet system on the opposite end of the room. It is going to be a real bedroom and not a combination bedroom/workspace.

Saturday was also Kuochun's milestone birthday. In the morning, we headed over to the grounds of Scottsdale Community College while the second floor was being cleaned. It turned out to be a nice place for us to go - on a Saturday early in the morning things were peaceful. I am not sure that dogs are allowed but there were places to walk them as well as outdoor seating. Kuochun is not a big dessert person but I asked him if he would like to go back to AJ's and get the French Silk pie again. He liked the idea so we headed over there again. It took a bit to get through the area just north of Old Town Scottsdale because there was a big "No Kings" protest going on both sides of Scottsdale Rd. I have to say they were the happiest bunch of protesters I had ever seen. They were having a great time, especially the women dressed in inflatable unicorn, peacock and ostrich costumes respectively dancing down the street. They did not have the mini French Silk pie but they had a regular size one. I also decided to try the white chocolate and pink champagne petit fours. I totally love petit fours and they are hard to find. They were very sweet but absolutely the moistest cake I have ever tasted, just melt in your mouth. I did not get the chocolate because of the pie but I will try it in the future because I bet it will not be quite as sweet.

It was an abbreviated cleaning session since part of the house could not be tackled so by the time we headed back the job was done. I had basically pulled an all-nighter trying to get things as organized as possible so I had to get some sleep. It was Kuochun's choice for dinner and he decided on Babbo Italian Eatery, another local mini-chain that Melinda introduced me to back in the day. It was the very first restaurant that I ever went to in Arizona and arriving in January I was totally amazed that people could sit outside on nice furniture with the fireplace going. I know I have mentioned it before but they serve really good foccacia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar before the meal. We both always order the same thing - I get the creamy pesto pasta with shrimp and sundried tomatoes (no mushrooms) and Kuochun gets the jambalaya with spaghettini instead of fettuccine. It is always excellent every time and easier for me to eat which I appreciated. It has been such a crazy over the top time so we did a water toast to make this next year a better one.

I had a Whatnot jewelry show scheduled for Sunday evening but had to put it off because I had to complete a whopping four estate sale packages in one day. Usually two in a day is my limit and I have never attempted to do four. I just took a deep breath and calmly worked on it all day and night, just taking a break for the Bears game. We signed up for NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube so we will not miss any games! It took me until 2:00 AM but I got the packages done. There will be another round of four next week!

With all that is going on I was still not able to get any jewelry going but I did sell a few items. I sold a beautiful turquoise cluster belt buckle by Federico, an interesting necklace with rainbow calsilica beads, a "marriage" necklace where I had a chain from Mexico added to a Navajo-made pin and a watch with Southwest Style tips. Selling anything right now while I have been inactive is a real bonus!

I have my work cut out for me but I am looking forward to doing a final organize in Scottsdale and setting up the permanent boutique studio in Prescott. I hope to be able to utilize Whatnot as well as pop-up sales to streamline inventory.

I should not have because I have so much to sell but I did order some Tibetan pendants - Saguaro cacti with turquoise only and turquoise and coral and amethyst druzy hearts. I still have beading supplies so over the winter I am going to bead necklaces for the pendants. They are going to be really cute! It will be up to me to do the jewelry designing now but I have faith. I will put my own spin on things.

Well that is about all the news for now, see you next time!