Sunday Night Jewelry Purge Is Back

I did not realize that it had been that long but what I thought would be taking a little break from Sunday night jewelry posting just before Memorial Day turned into two months. This summer has gone so fast! The goodies were starting to pile up and bills have been relentless so even though it has been such a busy time I decided to jump back in this past week. This lot was very successful - 10 of 16 items sold and I could have sold several of the pieces many times over. Turquoise continues to rule when it comes to the Native American jewelry groups! The cuff bracelet on the right and all of the rings except for the one at the upper left of the pendant in the center are what remains. I knew the dragonfly earrings were going to be super popular and they were the first to sell.

One of my resources has been helping her aunt sell her wonderful 40-year collection of Native American and Mexican jewelry and she tells me we have reached the end. It has definitely been a fun ride this past year and a half finding new homes for these fabulous pieces. I still have some more which combine turquoise with other stones that I will post over the next two weeks. Then I will turn to my bags and boxes of jewelry which have not been polished and priced yet, I know there are Native American pieces in there. The good thing about the NA pieces which saves time is that I do not need to polish them, the vast majority of collectors prefer the patina which accumulates over the decades. I personally prefer patina.

It is a good thing that my lot did so well this week because I made a somewhat impulsive splurge buy. I have not been looking at my Facebook feed as often as I got tired of the drama and have become more interested in watching Facebook videos during meal breaks. I started by watching Las Vegas travelogue videos by a couple who lived in Phoenix and then moved to Mexico but visit Las Vegas quite often. They traveled all over Mexico for four and a half years and made videos nearly every Saturday night. I started watching their Mexico videos and learned so much! As they say, Mexico is not all tumbleweeds and people riding donkeys. It really has a lot to offer including areas which are very upscale and have ideal weather year round but I am not so sure it is enough for me to visit. Unfortunately the original couple broke up but the guy found a new Mexican girlfriend who is very delightful. They both continue to make videos, although separately.

I have been watching Las Vegas videos by other folks as well. Kuochun and I last visited at Christmas time 2017 so it is coming up on five years since we have been there. If his health permits, Kuochun would like to go again and it is a five hour drive from Scottsdale which is totally doable. However the videos aare confirming (and we felt this on our last visit) things have gone downhill. Las Vegas used to be a place to go and live like a king for a low price but everything is way more expensive now. There are tons of taxes and fees on hotels and food prices have skyrocketed. Also, the word is that it smells like weed everywhere and annoying people are constantly trying to sell you stuff like fake wristbands to get into nightclubs or "showgirls" charging for photos. Last time it was skincare products. I learned quickly not to be nice and just ignore them or it is easy to get sucked in.

When we were there, we found the Strip to be very crowded and overwhelming and with free parking limits of only an hour, there was always pressure to get out and onto the next spot before having to pay high parking fees. We stayed at Red Rock Resort which is about 20 minutes from the Strip. It was nice, the food at the restaurants was great but it took us the entire stay to figure out how to easily find the best door to access our rooms. If we went again I would want to stay in an Airbnb or Vrbo house but the key is to choose a nice neighborhood. I have some familiarity with the better neighborhoods around Las Vegas but there are definitely many bad ones mixed in. We will see what happens. I would be happier taking that five hours and going to New Mexico instead. Kuochun still talks about the quirky BBQ place we stopped at in Tucumcari, NM. I think he would make the drive from Chicago just to go there again.

Well I got off topic but what I was getting at was I went back to the Facebook feed a few evenings ago and saw the most gorgeous pendant by a super cool Native American artist being offered for sale. The stones are pink jade and Golden Hills turquoise, I have never seen pink jade in a Native American piece. The price was not revealed and I kept scrolling because this artist is known for her exquisite fashion-forward work. I figured it would not only be out of my price range but someone else would snap it up right away which is what usually happens with the sellers who represent them. But to my surprise, the next morning the pendant was not only still available but the price was revealed! I felt the price was worth it and snagged it. It will arrive next week. I have other pieces I was thinking about selling which will more than pay for this and this seals the deal, I will put them up for sale.

On Thursday evening, I needed to take a ride out to our Barrington sale to deliver a few things including a bunch of homeowner's jewelry Mother had priced. She decided to go along with me and it was almost like old times. She had to rest every few minutes but we were able to incorporate all of the jewelry we brought in with what was already there. I unfortunately had a mishap though - when we arrived I noticed that one of our door signs had fallen down. The front steps had no railing and I must have been preoccupied with thinking about having to pick up the sign and I tripped and fell up the stairs. I had to use my two hands to keep from falling down completely and thought everything was OK but I ended up with bad pain on the side of my left foot and could hardly walk. It has been a few days and it still hurts, hopefully it will be better soon as it has been more challenging to work under these conditions.

The pain did not start right away and we were both hungry so I asked Mother if she wanted to go to the Barrington restaurant Kuochun and I tried the previous Thursday. She said YES! and it was only a mile and a half away so we headed over there. I did not have the same delightful experience I did the first time though. There was a different hostess and she asked if we had a reservation. When we said we did not she got snippy and said they ONLY take reservations but she could send us to the corner of the room to a tiny table near a sliding door. Half the dining area was empty, including the table where Kuochun and I were seated and no new parties came in the entire time we were there. I was going to order the burger but Mother ordered it and I did not want to get the same thing she did so I ordered the mac 'n cheese again. It was still good but not as good as the first time. The sauce was very thick and there were tons of pieces of corn and chopped up peppers on top, rather than nicely incorporated as before. Mother asked for her burger to be medium rare but she received well done except for a rare spot off to the side. She loved the thin fresh-cut fries but I felt they were not warm enough. I was glad I did not order the burger! Also, our server never refilled our waters or came to check on us. We were both chewing on ice cubes just to get some water in! There are so many restaurants to go to I will not be back. I will not change my positive recommendation of the restaurant, though I suggest making a reservation so they do not get their panties in a twist.

Adam is in the midst of a two-week vacation so I have been taking his potential estate sale meetings. I visited this gorgeous French chateau-style home in Highland Park on the Lake Forest border Tuesday and we will be conducting the moving sale the first weekend of August. I hopped over to a second Highland Park location right afterwards and we are waiting for an answer on that one. We booked two sales for the weekend of August 18-21 this past week - one in Mount Prospect and the other in Prospect Heights. I attended the Mount Prospect meeting on Thursday and it is only 6 minutes from home base. We are also working on moving an upcoming Palatine sale to the same weekend.

I was thinking that this has the makings of a northwest suburban shop hop. I normally do not hold pop-up sales in the summer because the breezeway is not air conditioned. We have so much consignment jewelry right now and so far it has sold very well when it was included in the caravan. This would be an opportunity to display all of it at once. I have not decided for sure because I still have the furniture to go to Scottsdale in my garage but I think there is enough room to display all of the consignment plus my jewelry in the garage. And if by chance the weather is not too hot, I will open up the breezeway as well. I have not decided what I will do for sure yet but most likely I will have the impromptu pop-up sale in the garage August 18-21. I will keep you posted!

Thankfully the air conditioning in Scottsdale is finally fixed and I was able to reschedule the kitchen appliance installation for next Wednesday. The area is supposed to get a respite from the extreme heat for three days next Monday through Wednesday, the high for the day will "only" be 94 degrees. The high normally hits mid to late afternoon and they are starting early in the morning so they should be fine. Once the appliances are installed I can schedule Dolly to come and move everything back to their proper places. Mother has all of her bedroom items up on the second floor so once everything comes downstairs Kuochun's new bed can be set up and I will have the carpets cleaned. Remodeling the second floor is not in the budget this year so we will make do with what we have. I invested in a Rainbow vacuum cleaner the first year and it can do so many things including carpet shampooing. It will not be hard to keep up the carpeting with the Rainbow until I am able to replace it. I wish I could be there to oversee everything but the time will be here before we know it.