Breezeway Work Continues

Last week started off normally with a heavy amount of estate sale work on Monday and Tuesday. There was much paperwork to do in addition to the regular beginning of the week tasks. Tuesdays are often an all-nighter putting up new estate sale contracts and sending out the two newsletters but in this case Mother had a scheduled test. We were to arrive to at 6:15 AM for a 6:30 appointment. I managed to get a few hours sleep which I did not know at the time would be sorely needed.

The scheduled test was a right heart catheter, which was the second of two tests the pulmonologist in Scottsdale requested we set up through cardiology. Mother is claustrophobic and has trouble with any MRI type tests or any apparatus which is placed over her mouth, such as those which would be used for a sleep study. Not knowing what was going to be involved with this test caused her a great deal of anxiety. She wanted to cancel it numerous times but I insisted she take it. I am certainly glad I did because the results were so poor that Mother was immediately admitted to the critical care unit. I felt like I was in the middle of a TV show or movie and not in a good way. It was definitely very shocking to go from thinking we were just going for a scheduled test and then back home to a life-threatening situation. It took about 6 hours but the team was finally able to get Mother more stabilized. I stayed at the hospital for a total of 8 hours and then went to Mother's house to take care of dishes, laundry and the groceries she had just purchased the day before. There was no chance to eat anything so Kuochun took me for a late night dinner at Omega. It was nice to have the pesto chicken flatbread and the Caesar salad again even though we were there three months ago. It was the only place I could think of that was still open.

It has been determined that Mother will continue to wear the neck catheter so the doctor can keep an eye on her levels and she will also need to wear a CPAP machine any time she falls asleep in addition to oxygen. It has been quite a roller coaster because in order to get her to wear the CPAP, they needed to sedate her and she did not react well to the drugs. After telling her she has got to be able to wear it without drugs, I think we made some headway. On Saturday, she was moved to a regular hospital room and the next step will be to go to a rehab facility for physical and occupational therapy. We are waiting for an evaluation to see if this will be at the hospital or an external facility such as The Moorings or Lutheran Home. We have been told that it is not safe for her to live alone but I explained the situation to the nurse coordinator. I am not sure if Mother will be able to travel to Scottsdale again but I have not cancelled her appointment yet. Some very heavy decisions will have to be made soon.

The best way I know how to cope with adversity is to keep the other aspects of life as normal as possible, and for me that means throwing myself into work. I considered cancelling the pop-up sale but at this time I am going to keep it as scheduled. I have so much jewelry that I would love to share with everyone and for once I have been working on the preparation well in advance. Rachel flew in to be with Mother so I took some time over the weekend to keep up with estate sale work and continue to prepare the breezeway for the pop-up sale. The jewelry work helped me remain calm and strong for the most part but it also reminded me that I will need to continue the in-person aspect of the business on my own. It would be the end of an era after as we have been working together more than 40 years. To try and cheer Mother up, I said I need you to make me some jewelry cards!

I worked on the far right corner of the breezeway, focusing on more vintage unsigned silver tone pieces. I repriced all of the earrings which had the old silver tags attached to one earring. The pricing is so much easier to read and looks so much better. This took way longer than I expected so I held off on repricing the earrings with the round printed price tags. I set up the Venetian glass hanging display case as well.

I then kept working my way around the room, setting up some newer costume jewelry, mixing some vintage treasures in as well. I purchased the Hedi Schoop figurines on the top of the gold metal shelf at the Nashville flea market when Mother and I visited there for the estate sale conference just prior to the pandemic. I had to take the figurines to Tucson and Scottsdale and then back home again. This was prior to owning the home in Scottsdale. They have been on quite a journey and are now looking for a new home.

There is still quite a bit to do with the breezeway including filling the two large display cabinets and the lighted jewelry case. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I am going to fill the left cabinet with the designer signed vintage costume jewelry and the right cabinet with the Czech rhinestone jewelry as I have had in the past. Heidi Daus jewelry will go in the lighted jewelry case. This will leave the square table, I have not yet figured out what I will put on it. I still have hundreds of pieces of consignment costume jewelry but too much for this table. I will display it in the main room with the sterling pieces.

It was challenging to keep my nose to the grindstone but I still had one more grouping of new to me vintage Native American jewelry to post and I decided to just go ahead and get it done Sunday. There are such interesting pieces in this lot - the necklace in the center and the 3-stone turquoise cuff bracelet are such wonderful quality, the other cuff bracelet to the right is at least 100 years old and I believe it is from the turn of the 20th century and the ring looks super cool on. The combination of cute and mid-century modern is really my style. If it were my size I would have kept it. The necklace in the center and the very vintage cuff were both claimed but neither have been paid for yet. Etiquette in these groups is to pay right away. I used to give people a week but now I am down to 24 hours unless other arrangements have been made. I think there should be consequences for those who claim items, do not pay and ignore messages but I have not seen this happen. Other people asked about these pieces and I told them all they had been claimed. I discovered that the necklace person is also a seller. I would like to ask her how she would feel if someone did that to her.

This interesting piece came in last week, I forgot to add it to the group photo but decided to include it in the group as a bonus. At first I thought it was a child's headband or choker necklace but after trying them I quickly found they were both very uncomfortable. The only other thing I could think of is a hat band, although it is nothing like any other hat band I have seen. They usually operate like a belt with a buckle which allows the size to be adjusted. Surprisingly enough, this piece did sell. I can tell from the design and construction that it is very old and it could have been made before buckle mechanisms were common. However the buyer decides to use it, I hope she enjoys it!

The last piece of consignment jewelry to put into circulation was this absolutely incredible Navajo-made belt. I am calling it the Showstopper and yes, those huge pieces are solid sterling silver, except for their copper slide mechanisms on the back side. I do not think I will find a buyer in the Facebook groups for this due to its price so I will not wait long and get this beauty online. Hoping someone is in need of a very special Christmas gift! I have not been able to post any new items online these past two weeks but did sell several pieces on eBay, Etsy and Poshmark over the weekend, including the bolo through Etsy that two people kept giving me low-ball offers on Poshmark. I do not want to lose momentum and the holidays are coming so I am going to try to post a few new items every day.

Goals for next week are to see Mother transition to rehab wherever that may be, keep up with estate sale work and finish the breezeway staging and photography. I only have two packages to do next week and then the following week a break due to no sales Labor Day weekend and this could not have come at a better time. While looking through my inventory for more Native American jewelry to sell, I came across a bunch of liquid silver necklaces. They are technically considered Southwest Style but I will plan to post them in some of the appropriate groups next Sunday. I just got the largest liquid silver necklace I have ever seen last week, it is nearly as much of a showstopper as this belt! I will post photos next time. Signing off for now...