Quite A Journey
It has been quite a journey since my last post! As part of the offer on the Mount Prospect home, the buyers allowed me to choose the closing date. From estate sale experience I know Friday is the best day when a sale is part of the plan so I chose the earliest possible Friday, September 12. In hindsight, I could have used an extra couple of weeks but I wanted to get out from under all of the expenses as soon as possible. I did decide to host a moving sale the weekend before and I am glad I did. However trying to ramp up our Whatnot sales, buying a home, selling a home and preparing to move cross-country on top of everything else turned out to be a massive challenge. We held three Whatnot live sales at our amazing sale in Mount Prospect and five sales at our epic Naperville location. With the addition of a Des Plaines sale, I moderated all nine of these sales in person. Naperville was a solid hour each way without traffic. The biggest hit of the sales was definitely the vintage kitchen collection in Naperville, with their holiday decor running a pretty close second. We were on as long as six and a half hours and we could have stayed on longer, things were really cooking. Many of those nights I did not get home until 2:00 AM. The problem was that I did not have a shipping team in place so shipping hundreds of items was left to me. I am a very experienced online shipper but it was really back-breaking work and I basically lived at the office until I had to cry uncle and get some help. It did put a damper on my preparations for the moving sale but with help things ended up being presentable.
Overall the moving sale results were good, considering the limited preparation time. Major items that sold included Mother and Dad's volcanic ash table and chairs from Italy, my mid-century modern sofa and settee, most of the artwork, my entire Higgins glass collection and all of the large brown tabletop jewelry cases. I did not extend the sale past the four standard days because of the short time prior to the house closing. On Tuesday, I cleared out the shed and we put so many good items on the curb before garbage day on Wednesday. At least all of the metal items were taken. I sent two U-Boxes to Prescott the week before and had ordered three U-Boxes to send to Scottsdale but not all of the furniture sold so on moving day Thursday I ordered a fourth U-Box. Luckily the movers had time to load it up. We had to wait until the day before the closing so we would have a place to sleep. After the movers left, Kuochun and I had a very tall order - the garage was still loaded with most of the estate sale tables, including many non-folding tables and a huge bulk load of shipping boxes and four huge rolls of brown packing paper. This was in addition to all of the unsold items throughout the home. First, we took six car loads and a van load of valuable items to Goodwill in Des Plaines and left everything next to their front door. There was one large bin filled with items that I wanted to send to Prescott, like my portable speaker and like new Cricut machine but it did not make it into the U-Box. It all had to be donated. Then, we took several van loads of supplies to the office while we had a Whatnot live sale going on with my personal items from the showroom. There were leftover items which did not fit in the U-Boxes including four little patio chairs, a bungee chair, four mid-century modern chairs, Mother's sun room chair frames and a bar table. Two furniture sets were broken up so we had no choice but to put them into the office and figure out a plan later. We took our last bit of strength and filled the van with the rest of the estate sale and packing supplies to store them there, as there was not enough room in the office. By that time, it was nearly 4:30 AM the day of the closing. Sadly I had to leave quite a few items of value for the new owners because we were out of time and space including my beautiful bar which I used for a cash wrap and the mid-century modern dump table, the gorgeous floral art in the dining room, the kitchen chairs, the paint chip art in the basement that I paid big money to have custom made and the wonderful Room & Board freestanding storage cabinet. Outdoors, Mother's footed concrete planters with a band of flowers all the way around each one which I cannot replace. I could have sold those planters ten times over but I had wanted to keep them so I did not offer them for sale. In the end, I wish I would have over ordered on the U-Boxes because they do allow you to send them back empty if you end up not needing them. The value of what I had to give away was many times more than what an extra U-Box would have cost. We will need to replace some of the items for sure, like coats which will be needed for Prescott. I have been trying to tell myself that it is just stuff but some of it was sentimental to me.
The most poignant moment throughout the moving process was when we threw in the towel and had to get on the road and head for Milwaukee. While Vivi could not wait to get into the car and get going, Margot did not want to leave! I ran inside and saw her like this, then loaded more items into the car and went back inside. She was still like this so I just had to grab my phone and take her photo, even at 4:30 AM. She would not go so I had to pick her up. She was not happy and really growled at me! Schnauzers are extremely smart and obviously she knew we were leaving this home for good. However she just loves Scottsdale, she asks to go in and out of the back patio all the time and enjoys sunning herself out there. I know she will love Prescott just as much!
We arrived at our Airbnb in West Allis, WI at about 6:00 AM. The house was adorable - the electric fireplace was going and it was such a nice atmosphere. West Allis is just east of Wauwatosa where Mother grew up. It is also a stone's throw away from the Milwaukee Brewers' stadium which is currently named American Family Field. When I was a kid, it was County Stadium. The Airbnb has a baseball theme and they even had peanuts and Cracker Jack as snacks. Unfortunately the Cracker Jack was super stale, although the peanuts were great. When he worked corporate, Dad used to work for Borden and Cracker Jack was under their umbrella. He brought many full-size boxes of Cracker Jack home every year to pass out to the trick-or-treaters. We definitely had the most unique treats in the neighborhood! Now Cracker Jack is sold in mini-size chip bags and the prize was a little sticker. I do not know how I made the drive to Milwaukee in one piece, but I did it and immediately took a rest. I am sure glad I did not plan a longer drive! The girls absolutely loved this backyard, they were rolling around in the grass with delight. Unfortunately the next door neighbor let her dog out a couple of times while they were out there and they went crazy barking at the dog.
The main reason we went to Milwaukee was to take care of Mother and Dad's ashes. Dad's wish was for his ashes to go in Stumpy Bay, which is the area of Okauchee Lake near their Oconomowoc lake home which they owned for 25 years. For Mother, he said "the kids can pick it" so we chose to do the same with Mother's ashes. Rachel and John made the drive from New York but did not stay in Wisconsin. They chose to stay with Rachel's friend Shelley in Park Ridge. Rachel rented a pontoon boat for the sunset cruise at 5:15 PM Saturday night and I was surprised to see that the boat rental was at the Golden Mast Inn, where I was married in 1992. It is such a beautiful German restaurant on Okauchee Lake. I was able to get a glimpse of the gazebo where we shot quite a few wedding photos. This was my first time on a pontoon boat, Dad always said they were for old people. I really liked it though, the boat glided smoothly through the other boaters' wakes. I am sure the technology has greatly improved since Dad's day. Thank goodness for GPS, it took a while to figure it out but we finally found the location. The home has not changed except it is now a blue color instead of taupe. There was another boater in the vicinity so we could not get quite as close as we wanted. I was going to buy handmade biodegradable urns on Etsy but Rachel thought the seller was price gouging and said she would make them. She ended up going to Whole Foods and getting two biodegradable containers and two biodegradable bags, as well as some natural twine. She forgot to get flowers so they were plain. We loaded the ashes into each container while on the boat and first launched Mother's container. It make a beeline for the lake house, before a boater drove through the area and then we lost track of it. Dad's sunk like a stone. I told Rachel I would not have had the guts to rent and drive the boat on my own and that I really appreciated her coming through so we could fulfill Dad's wish. Mother always joked that she wanted her ashes scattered at The Container Store and sadly it was the last place I ever took her but I hope that she approves of our decision. We all marveled at how her urn tried to reach the house. We stayed out on the boat until it started to get dark and then had dinner at the restaurant. It was expensive (not the $12.99 Chicken Kiev from my wedding!) but amazing. I had a daytime wedding so I had never seen the restaurant at night. It was spectacular!
I had planned the Milwaukee trip to go through Monday morning but neither of us really could do much as the moving process was very strenuous. We were able to go to Kopp's one last time on Saturday for lunch, where I had their delicious (and dinner plate-sized) chicken sandwich. The flavors of the day were birthday cake and chocolate chocolate peanut butter. Even though I have a major sweet tooth I am normally not attracted to birthday cake flavor because it is usually overly sweet but this one was awesome! It had real chunks of cake in it. I also got the chocolate chocolate peanut butter but saved it for the next day. This is normally my favorite flavor but this version was just OK. I will really miss Kopp's, it has been a part of my life for over 40 years but I do have all the great memories. No one does frozen custard like they do and it is totally worth the trip from Chicago. They do have a location in Greenfield which is close to the I-894 bypass on the southwest side of town.
We also had a quick lunch on Friday close to the Airbnb at the West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe. Unfortunately they were closing in a half hour so we did not have time to shop in the store portion (which looked amazing) but our lunch was very good. Homemade potato chips are always a plus!
The number one thing Kuochun wanted to do in Milwaukee was go to St. Paul's Fish House in Mequon and we made a plan for Sunday dinner. We went there last August when we visited and although it was just OK to me, he absolutely loved it. My seafood palate only extends to shrimp and calamari though and Kuochun will eat any kind of seafood. This time I was pleasantly surprised, the fried calamari was way better this time. I was going to order a shrimp po'boy and was not thrilled about all the fried food but Kuochun noticed that they had grilled shrimp tacos. They were delicious so I am glad he noticed that! Usually I am the one pointing things out on menus that I think he would like.
Our next stop was Saint Charles, Missouri, a suburb just west of Saint Louis. It actually was an efficient drive from Milwaukee, as we took the route through Wisconsin towards Rockford. We did not stop anywhere but passed through my grandma's hometown of Janesville, WI and Mukwonago, WI where we used to go the flea market and they are most famous for The Elegant Farmer and their apple pie baked in a paper bag. Luckily (or unluckily?) for me there is no lack of amazing baked goods in the Phoenix area! Saint Charles was a simple one-night stop but we did venture out to Hollywood Casino and Charlie Gitto's restaurant. It was really old school with amazing service and good food. I ordered rigatoni and sausage and Kuochun went with a pizza which is not normally like him. We tried to walk around the casino a bit but they allow smoking so it was pretty miserable.
We had taken Melinda's advice to stay in Saint Charles so we would not have to fight Saint Louis traffic the next morning but unfortunately there was an accident in the area and lane closures so it set us back a good hour and a half. We did make a couple of stops though - I wanted to go to Shepherd Hills Factory Outlets which I had noticed going back and forth on previous trips. They have kitchen cutlery and gadgets, knife sets, walnut bowls and lots more items. Our knife set in Mount Prospect was literally falling apart and I sold it at the moving sale so I thought it was the perfect time to get a new one. Kuochun does enjoy cooking and uses cutlery a lot and I like a good bread knife and steak knives. The store was really impressive but the top of the line German sets by Henckels were a big investment and the knife blocks were only half full. I ended up getting two Zwilling knife sets. I had to buy the steak knives separately and there is room to grow in the block but they will work very well for us. I did not realize that we already had a Henckels set in Scottsdale which is full but I imagine that the knives I purchased are much better quality. Plus Kuochun learned from the horse's mouth that you are not supposed to put these knives in the dishwasher! I am sure this is why our Chicago Cutlery set was falling apart. I also purchased a 20" walnut bowl which will look beautiful on the kitchen island.
We also stopped at Redmon's Candy Factory for the last time and stocked up on peanut butter goodies. I swear this is the best tasting peanut butter I have ever had and combined with their chocolate is absolutely delicious. I am not even a big fan of turtles but their turtles with the dollop of peanut butter in the center are next level. The peanut butter chocolate malted milk balls did not travel well but I did not let them go to waste. Kuochun still has some of his goodies on hand.
That night we stayed in Oklahoma City in a really darling duplex. The decor was so cute with its charming cowgirl theme. It was dark when we arrived due to the traffic delay and our stops in Missouri so we did not venture out and just ate our leftovers from the night before. One interesting fact that I noticed was that all three of these stops - West Allis, Saint Charles and Oklahoma City were all located really close to their state's fairgrounds!
After that we made the drive to Albuquerque, arriving Wednesday night and staying until Monday. Some of my sources including jewelry and jewelry display are headquartered there so I thought it would be fun to spend some time there. The reaction we received overall when mentioning making Albuquerque a destination to people was pretty negative, with comments from depressed to scary. However we made the best of it and did not go out at night. The Airbnb was great, it even had a separate office a few steps down at ground level which helped me try and keep up with work. The Airbnb host put together a great list of things to do around town. I really wanted to visit the lavender farm called Los Poblanos but their brunch was completely booked. We were able to see their beautiful retail store in Santa Fe though. We did have a couple of great healthy lunches at restaurants that happened to be organic. One is called The Farmacy, I had a delicious waffle and Kuochun ordered the pork belly grit bowl which he loved. The other is Vinaigrette, which was recommended by the Airbnb host. They are known for their salads. I selected the Cherry Tart salad and a side order of mac and cheese and Kuochun went with a cup of gumbo and the Greek salad. It was pricey but very good and filling.
We ventured out to the Old Town Albuquerque area but unfortunately were not too impressed. It was interesting to see the Native American artists selling their wares in the center square. I have heard about it so many times but knew it would not be my taste in jewelry so I was not disappointed.
On Saturday we took a day trip to Santa Fe which is an easy drive about an hour away and it was like traveling to a different world. The town is spotlessly clean and has beautiful stores and interesting restaurants. Our first stop was Santa Fe Antiques which was the highlight of the trip as I knew it would be. I have been following them on Facebook for a long time and could tell they have the most interesting finds. I ended up getting two different tin mirrors with woven rug inserts (look '80s to me) as well as a mid-century naja pendant. The folks were so kind there, one man was patient with me while I tried on Susan Backus jewelry. While I think her jewelry is phenomenal, it did not look good on me so I had to pass. They took this photo for their Sunday Funday feature on Facebook!
We went with an overall suggestion to go to Cafe Pasqual's for lunch. The chorizo burrito I ordered had way too many chiles in it. I understand this is what the area is famous for but the menu said the chiles were going to be in strips that I thought I could easily remove but in fact they were in tiny pieces. To get the chile taste out of my mouth I ordered the 10-layer honey cake and that was fantastic. I went to the ladies room before we left and that was the most claustrophobic experience I have ever had. The hallway to get from the restaurant to the restroom was so tiny and I did not know until I got in there because a door was covering it up. The restaurant decor was very festive though and gave us a good feel for the area.
Walking to the restaurant we stumbled across Rocki Gorman's and I said to Kuochun I must go here! I absolutely love her Southwestern jewelry and have several pieces. It did not register at the time that her flagship store was located in Santa Fe. Right away I saw the pendant for me, a big flower shape with stars on it. The salesperson was a real pro and paired it with a 3-strand pearl necklace and matching earrings. There were some vintage pieces there too and a Zuni naja necklace from 1962 caught my eye. We had to get to lunch because we were on the waiting list so I stopped by afterwards and got a stretchy pearl bracelet to complete the first set and earrings to go with the necklace. It was pricey but have a plan - I will sell pieces I no longer wear to pay for them. I wish we would have had more time in Santa Fe but I made notes on other stores I would like to visit next time.
On Sunday we took another Airbnb host suggestion and went to the Rail Yards Market. The setting was cool but we were not impressed with the vendors. It is really hard to beat the Uptown Farmers Market in Phoenix and Old Town Scottsdale's farmers market is great too. Mount Prospect has a great farmer's market which is way better than this. But at least Kuochun snagged this photo with a Storm Trooper because it was Intergalactic Day!
Our favorite stores in Albuquerque were the two locations of Vintage Vault. We visited the Mid-Town location on Friday and we both loved the curated selection of items. If our car wasn't already overflowing I would have wanted to buy things. This booth was filled with the cutest painted furniture. The prices were very reasonable as well. On Sunday, we stopped by the Nob Hill location. Equally as cool but different. I was really happy to see a great selection of jewelry by New Mexico artist JR Barela. It turns out Vintage Vault is only one of three locations where he sells his jewelry. Although I wanted to, I could not take it all home with me so I settled on the two best pieces - a sacred heart pendant and a scalloped heart pendant, both sterling silver and copper. One necklace came with a handmade paper clip chain and the other with a handmade oval bead chain. Prices were reasonable for what they were!
The final stop was Cowboys and Indians, also in the Nob Hill neighborhood which we were staying really close to. This is a jaw-dropping store, everything in the store is museum quality except people get to purchase! The prices were really up there but I was able to find three different pairs of earrings. Since I have small earlobes I have trouble finding earrings that look good. I shot a photo of a squash blossom necklace to send to Rachel and she loved it, and the man minding the store quoted a price of $1,200. She asked what it was strung on and when the man looked at the necklace again, he said the price is $2,200. That took things for her from probably to an automatic no. Every customer who came in after us could not figure out how to open the door after being buzzed in so Kuochun let each one of them in. It gave him something to do while I was looking around.
We made our way back to Scottsdale on Monday. Before arriving in Albuquerque, we experienced scary rainfall in the Santa Rosa NM area. Kuochun was driving and literally stopped in the middle of the highway because he could not see and then I saw a semi truck barreling down on us. I did not think we were going to make it but somehow the hand of God guided us onto the exit ramp. We waited for a while for the rain to calm down and then I took over the driving. We also experienced rainstorms the rest of the way through New Mexico after leaving Albuquerque. We were definitely happy to see Arizona at that point! Taking the scenic drive through the mountain towns in AZ is really nice. Each area has a different terrain which keeps things interesting.
Last week was a time for recovery and catch up with estate sale paperwork. I do not know how I did it, but I did not leave the house for three days and did nothing but paperwork. I am all caught up for the moment, until it is time for the next round of estate sale packages to be done next week. The plan is to have the second floor carpeting cleaned next Tuesday and the Scottsdale U-Boxes will be delivered next Friday. Once everything is situated and the rest of the items are on their way to Prescott, I will be able to arrange the remaining pieces. I decided to have the carpets cleaned because it will be a while before I can have them removed. I would like the Prescott project to be finished first so we will have a place to stay while Scottsdale is completed. Once the U-Boxes arrive, I am going to make sure my dining room light fixture arrived in one piece and if so, I will schedule an electrician to work on the electrical issues we have. I have never used the first floor shower because the original exhaust fan makes such a horrible racket, and neither ceiling fan on the first floor works. The electrical box also needs repositioning. Kuochun keeps hitting his head on the chandelier in the office (formely dining) area so I am looking forward to having the other fixture installed.
We will have clean carpets and a presentable home for our special guest Sue G. who is coming in January! We are excited to show her around town and although I know we have not experienced nearly enough of what the area has to offer, we do know enough to keep her busy while she is here. Kuochun said his best friend Roy wants to come visit and go to the Tucson Gem Show which would be shortly after that. When I have guests, I can sleep upstairs in the spare bedroom and my guest can sleep in my room since they will have an attached bathroom. When Roy comes, he can stay in the spare bedroom and I can stay in my room. Things have been in upheaval in Scottsdale since Mother moved to Overture Arcadia a year and a half ago so I am looking forward to things settling down. Kuochun keeps saying "this is such a game-changer" having a permanent place to be now.
I lugged so much jewelry home in June thinking I would be able to work on it all summer but the truth is I did not have time to even touch it. August, especially the second half of the month is usually a slow time for estate sales but we ended up being very busy and this trend is continuing up to this week. The entire spring and summer consisted of buying a home, selling a home and doing estate sale work. So all of the jewelry is coming back and the plan is to incorporate posting jewelry online again once I feel fully recovered from the experience. I feel bad because I signed up for the fitness center in Mount Prospect and was only able to go once. I also did not have time for a haircut, and Kuochun wanted to wait until we came back to take the girls to Furbabies who are phenomenal with them. My bangs were so long that I had to push them aside, which is not my preferred look! We are coming out the other side now and to start all four of us were able to get haircuts within a couple of days of returning to Scottsdale. The week after next, I think I will be ready to get back to the fitness routine. Although we like the senior center, there were a couple of great alternative suggestions made in the Scottsdale Living Facebook group so we are going to check them out.
Since we have been back, there have been a couple of hot days with highs hovering around 106 degrees but overall temperatures have been sticking to the 90s and it has been doable. We did experience our first monsoon, where rain came down in buckets for two days and was literally rolling off the pergola in the back patio. Luckily this coincided with my schedule of staying home to work on paperwork. We did get some water in the front of the garage and I need to figure out how to prevent this from happening in the future. Maybe a garage door company can replace the seal on the bottom of the door without having to replace the door.
This should about catch things up for the past month, until next time!