I'm Just So Creative, LOL

The plan has been to keep posting a lot of Native American jewelry every Sunday evening until my stash of new to me items runs out but to also try and post a second lot during the week of non-Native items but those that would qualify for some of the other Facebook groups like Mexican or Southwest Style. Because there are less groups, it takes less time to post the information.

Mainly because of the time change it became too late too quickly to post the Native items last Sunday but these past two Thursday evenings I have posted jewelry by the wonderful Federico. Above is the March 10 lot, turquoise was the highlight. It was not a huge lot and I do not yet have something to ground the space for this collection like the mini rug I have for the Native pieces so I grabbed this tray from the breezeway. I purchased it at one of the awesome vintage stores on the northwest side of Phoenix a couple of years ago. We have not made it back there the past couple of years but next time for sure! It was on my short list of things to do this winter but our time was cut short.

The fish earrings, the two rings on the left and the two cuff bracelets have all sold, the remaining items are available. I understand the necklaces still being here as they are done in natural turquoise and are investment pieces, however I am surprised that there was no interest in the cross pendants. They are all in the online store, eBay and Etsy and the fish earrings sold on eBay today.

This past Thursday (St. Patrick's Day!) I posted the above lot of multi-stone Federico jewelry. Because this lot has more items I was not able to use the tray from before. It was 2:00 AM and I was going to call it a day but then I decided to take a look at the objects on the display shelves in my living room to see if there was anything I could use. I purchased these books in green and orange from a store called Mandarine in Glenview. They were pricey but gave me just the look I wanted for my shelves. I decided to try fanning the books and accented it with a couple of faux succulents. The little ceramic lizard is so charming, I got it from an outdoor artisan market in Paris fifteen years ago. I also have a snake and a dog. Now I wish I would have gotten more but at the time I did not know what to do with them. Dad loved them too, he was tempted to buy the entire nativity set which I believe was about 450 euros at the time.

I actually received a very positive response on my display from the Facebook folks, that is why I say I am just so creative, LOL! In our family, Mother and Rachel are amazingly creative, Dad was the business mind and I am a hybrid of the two. I always say I am not bad creatively for a business person.

Although not much from this lot sold - the butterfly and the turquoise cuff bracelets and two of the band rings they are higher-priced items so the amount made me happy. The folks at Federico told me the 20-stone cuff bracelets and the band rings are great sellers and they were right. I purchased four cuffs and the three rings to try them out, I only have one ring left. Last year they said the same thing about the naja necklaces, I tried two and I think I could have sold twenty. I purchased two more this year but they are a little larger and I think twice as expensive as last year. I will be posting them separately soon as I no longer have enough Federico for another lot.

Other than the naja necklaces, the only Federico items I have not posted yet are two large butterfly necklaces. I now see that several sellers have the green variscite necklace posted on eBay but no one has the orange spiny oyster shell. I can definitely beat them on price but Federico said not to sell them for less than $4,000 because they are worth it! I could not imagine spending that much on a necklace and I spend a ton on jewelry but I know there is a market for it.

We were supposed to spend the day with Mother on Monday - once a month we make ourselves scarce on cleaning day. It is just easier for us to not be there so we are not moving from room to room while the house is being cleaned. Monday is food pickup day for Seattle Sutton and Mother's garbage day so I needed to go there anyway. However our cleaning person had to reschedule to Saturday at the last minute due to a migraine so we spent the day there then. It is especially helpful for Kuochun to have a quiet place to stay at this time, there is no TV in the basement but at least there is the new comfortable king size bed and a full bath.

I took the opportunity on Saturday to use the dining room table and price a bunch of more budget-friendly Mexican silver jewelry all with a retail price of less than $200. This jewelry will be added to the caravan very soon! There are so many cute pieces, they will be great for spring and summer. I was going to be very ambitious and print fancy cards for everything but decided to stick with the plain rectangular cards Mother cuts up for me for the estate jewelry. I set up the computer and new Cricut machine in the basement and it takes about 10 minutes from start to finish to create a dozen jewelry cards. At that rate I think it would take a year to print enough cards! I will use those cards for Tucson Gem Show items and color coordinate them by vendor. When we were in Arizona I found a beautiful cardstock color palette at Michaels, it is called Coffee & Cream. There are four colors in the packet - a creamy white, a silvery grey, a kraft paper color and black. They are so classy and the cards turned out great. Whenever we went to a Michaels I bought more, I have enough to last a good long while but I sure hope they don't discontinue it! 

I am now going through the budget friendly Mexican silver collection to be sure everything is tagged with the easy to read labels from the P-Touch. I did not get through it all but made a lot of progress. I left Mother with a bunch of pieces which need matching cards. If there is time I will tag some more next Monday.

On Saturday I was supposed to get my first haircut post-Kerri, the stylist we had been seeing for nearly 20 years. She had been transitioning to a new career in horticulture and was working at Lurvey's part time. She decided to take the plunge and not do hair anymore. I asked Kerri on my last visit who she thought she should pass the torch to and she gave me a recommendation. However my appointment was cancelled, it appeared that the stylist had given two weeks notice but the owner decided to let her go right away. Seems like I dodged a bullet on that one!

Mother went to Pure Salon in downtown Arlington Heights for her first haircut after Kerri but did not love it, she felt the style was too conservative. She decided to try Bloom Salon, also downtown and she just loved her hair. As close as Joseph John Salon is to home, after the other stylist left they were just down to two stylists and the owner. I decided to give Bloom Salon a try and my appointment was set for Friday morning. Parking is a challenge in downtown Arlington, especially for my van so I had to park in the parking garage on the fourth floor. There is way too much permit parking in there! That caused me to be a little late but I checked in at the salon and was waiting about 20 minutes when someone asked me who I was there to see. It turned out the stylist was not even there that day and they neglected to call me. They were going to try and cobble something together with two other stylists but I decided to just reschedule. Kuochun and Mother both had doctor's appointments in the afternoon, ten minutes apart so it was a bit much for one afternoon anyway.

They were very apologetic, it is a beautiful salon from what I saw and Mother who is very hard to please had a good experience so I will give them another chance. The downside is I will have my purple hair and white roots another week. It would not be a huge deal but Adam is on vacation and I needed to go to a meeting in Northbrook this week and I will be going to my old stomping grounds in Park Ridge next week along with anything else that might come up. Luckily so far Seija and Heidi are picking up the rest of the meetings. I have been struggling with whether to go natural (like Mother and Rachel have done but with pink or purple highlights, or both) but when I look at my hair I think I am just not ready. Maybe I will wait until I hit 60.

I am super excited because I had a great week (for me) with eBay and Etsy sales. It is very rewarding to see all the hard work start to pay off. This incredible Judith Ripka bracelet will be heading to New Jersey tomorrow. Maureen, this is the "gaudy bracelet" I was talking about! I also sold a Southwest Style sterling beaded bracelet which is a duplicate to one I already have and in addition to the Federico fish earrings on eBay, I sold sacred heart earrings and a coordinating pendant on Etsy.

The schedule will really tighten up as we start to head into the busy season for estate sales. Also there is much to do helping two people and two dogs with whatever they need. But I hope I will be able to keep the momentum going with the online jewelry sales!

Kuochun and I visited the cardiology office Friday afternoon, the same building where Mother goes but she is assigned to a different doctor. Kuochun's heart looks pretty good, the stent is doing its job. He has a 30% blockage in another area but they do not do anything for that level of blockage. He is having another issue which will require him to see a urologist. It is really getting him down so I sure hope they will be able to help him. This has been such an emotional time, I feel so bad for what he has been going through. The assistant we saw Friday did not think the heart procedure caused the issue but there was nothing wrong with him before.

We started him on Seattle Sutton this week, the weekend program for three days but non-weight loss of 2,000 calories per day but so far I have only been able to get him to eat one breakfast. He said he just does not have a good appetite right now and has basically been eating soup and hot dogs. It seems that starting a more heart healthy diet was a little premature so I put the program on pause until he feels better. For now Mother is on the four day weekday program and is doing alright but she really should be more disciplined and go back to the program full time. When she applies herself she can do it! Both Kuochun and Mother are free spirits so they do not like anything regimented. It is working for me so no matter what they do, I will continue with the full-time program.

That is all for now, we will see what next week will bring!