Milwaukee Part 1

I am writing from our Airbnb in Milwaukee right now. We arrived at 3:45 PM Sunday afternoon, only 45 minutes after check-in time. We did encounter some rain along the way but made it in less than an hour and a half. We all (the girls included!) absolutely love this house! It is a spacious two bedroom, one bath. The layout is awesome. The living room / dining room combination is L-shaped and fits a large dining table which easily seats 6. It is hard to see in the photos but both rooms have the loveliest crown molding with roses on it. The home was built in 1950, the same year my Mount Prospect home was built and the year Kuochun was born.

There is a square "hallway" in the center of the home which connects all of the rooms. The kitchen is square-shaped as well and there is plenty of space for two people to navigate around at the same time. We agreed that we could definitely live here! What a perfect home for one or two people. All of the rooms have the original hardwood floors except for the hallway and kitchen. If it were me, I would put decorative cement tile in the hallway and lighten it up. One great feature is there is a door from the hallway to the dining room, meaning if one person wants to watch TV in the dining room and the other wants to work in the bedroom the door can be closed to cut down on the noise.

The top photo is Kuochun's bedroom and the bottom photo is mine. I really like the way they painted the ceiling a color and took it down partially onto the walls to give the feeling of molding. They should have done this in the primary bedroom too! There appears to be an attic which is off-limits to us and a basement where the laundry is as well. The backyard is the size of a postage stamp but adorable and there is an alley and a two-car garage with a parking pad next to it. This is where we park since overnight parking is not allowed without a permit. We could get one but it is only good for three nights and we are here for four. There is a park only a block away and we have been circling the park when we take the girls on their walks. They are sure loving all the new smells!

I figure I have not been to Wisconsin for about six years. So far, things have definitely changed. We are located about two and a half miles due north of where my grandparents lived. About two miles west of where we are, there is a new lifestyle center called The Mayfair Collection. It is a little north of Mayfair Mall, where I went many times as a child. They used to have an indoor ice skating rink in the center of the mall and that was definitely my favorite attraction. We decided to check out the lifestyle center and grab a bite at Corner Bakery. The Corner Bakery in Arlington Heights closed and the closest one is in Skokie. My go-to was always Pesto Cavatappi with chicken. However although the chicken was great as usual, the sauce was so thin and watery it made the dish a letdown. I am over it now! The center has a Whole Foods so we picked up enough groceries for simple breakfasts and sandwiches. We forgot to bring the pet steps but Petsmart did not have any.

I brought along my entire inventory of silver jewelry which needs to be polished and priced and it all fit in my medium size Hulken bag. I sure do love these bags! I tend to only bring this type of work along to Airbnbs because it forces me to do it. Not a fun job. I never know how the setup will be until we get there but here in Milwaukee polishing jewelry has been much less of a chore so far. The kitchen / dining room areas have been perfect. It will take a lot of hustle but there is a possibility that I can get all of the silver jewelry cleaned, organized and ready for pricing when I return home. I have been selling rings like crazy at the estate sales and want to get the rest of the inventory I have up for sale. I still have a lot of "to do" jewelry in Scottsdale but to catch up here would be amazing!

Once I am caught up, I will start to go through the sterling pieces I have had for a while and see which ones I feel would be worthwhile to post online. There is so much it is looking more and more like I will have a big clearance sale at home base the first weekend of October to simplify my inventory. I am ready to lighten the load!

As July is coming to an end, my plan will be to finish posting the rest of the vintage Native American jewelry online through August and then the weekend after Labor Day launch an online sale with the unsold pieces. I have had an EstateSales.net online sale ad pending for over a year and September will be a great time to finally post it.

Backing up a little, I received a portion of my Blue B clothing order and my entire Zenana order during the week. I had a lot of paperwork to do so I decided to hold off on posting the clothing until after we return from Milwaukee so I can complete the job all at once. I was disappointed to see that I received a credit back to my card for the first order I had placed from Moon Ryder, with no explanation. I guess that means they could not fulfill the order. I waited for this order for two months past the due date, reached out to them twice asking about it and they never responded. Their pullovers are so nice but I am really hesitant about trying to order from them again.

I did post five more watches this past week and have two more left to go. Here are the two I will post next week - the top one is Zuni-made and has a butterfly motif and the bottom one is Navajo-made with a charming design and genuine coral stones. They both would make fabulous Apple Watch bands!

See you next time!