The Big Day Has Arrived

 

I also posted the half of my bedroom set which does not fit in the room in Prescott. I hate to sell these pieces but I have no place to put them. I wish at least the second nightstand fit but the crawl space access is in the corner of the room where the nightstand would go so the area is not level. These are mid-century furniture pieces which were refinished to their natural state, painted and given some slight distressing. They are such nice quality but so far I am only having luck with utilitarian items on the Prescott area Facebook Marketplace. There are two more items in the bedroom that do not fit - Mother's cedar chest which she purchased from the same place the bedroom set came from and her antique settee that we had refinished and reupholstered. I am going to try and fit the settee in the pop-up shop but I cannot move it out there yet. I am still waiting for the tile backsplash to be installed. With hope, I did totally clear out that side on the room so from my end it is ready to go.

We did receive quite a bit of rain in Prescott and the Arizona room is still leaking. The rug which hasn't sold yet got a bit wet in spots but I was able to prop it up on boxes and dry it out. The next step will be to roll it up and put it in the dining area like I did with the rug that sold but I need to wait a bit. The new roller shades came in and Victor was able to install many of them, including the pop-up shop as seen in this photo. Originally Tina and Victor thought the window wasn't plumb and the shade was going to hang crooked but thankfully this did not happen. I do not know how Victor got to it but I am so glad he did! It sure beats the cardboard that we put up there for privacy. From the photos, it looks like the shades are in place in both bedrooms, the living area and at least part if not all of the Arizona room. However some shades arrived damaged and have to be reordered so we are back to the waiting game. The folks who built the Arizona room were supposed to come last Friday and do a water test (they have already been over several times for caulking which is not solving the problem) so I need to follow up and see where things stand. None of us wants the tile to be installed until this leakage problem is solved. At this point I have kind of reserved myself to the fact that I will probably need to wait until spring to have a sale. We are also on a waiting list for improved internet service which is supposed to be coming within a couple of months. We had the hotspot that we were using for Whatnot shows sent to us and once I am ready we are going to try using it for a Whatnot show. But I will continue my organization plan whenever I am there and once I can get to the utilitarian items such as appliances, will post them on Facebook Marketplace and hope they will sell locally. I think after 2-3 days I will be finished unpacking everything that is currently in the pop-up shop and I can turn my attention to the pop-up shop items which are in the garage. I was able to clear everything out of the pop-up shop which does not belong in there, including the glass pieces for my two nightstands in Scottsdale and my chrome display shelves which are in the garage in Scottsdale. I still have some small pieces of glass that I need to figure out but I believe at least some of them are for Mother's small Southwest Style display cabinet. I know that everything will turn up eventually!

Even though the temperature levels have been totally delightful in Prescott (it has been so nice to at least experience a bit of a real fall season) and still hot in Scottsdale, Kuochun thought there would be better choices in the Scottsdale area to celebrate my milestone birthday on the 7th. I would have stayed in Prescott, because I had been able to at least spend a couple of hours most days continuing to set up the pop-up shop. I did take a little detour and started pricing my backlog of vintage Mexican jewelry. I thought I would post it online but I have so many other pieces to post and high-shine jewelry is challenging to photograph. Instead, I am going to devote an entire display cabinet to it. I did make a lot of headway but still have three shoeboxes plus a larger box with the most expensive pieces to do. The larger box is in Scottsdale so my plan is to price it next Saturday. Having the smaller height P-Touch labels has really been a gamechanger. Instead of dumbbell style tags that stick out like a sore thumb, I can attach a label of the correct size to the back of just about every piece of jewelry. Once in a great while I need to trim the ends off the label so it will fit but it just looks so much more professional. I like to have my inventory codes handy so I do not want to write just the price on the piece with a Sharpie as is commonly done. I am looking forward to loading up the display cabinet so it will look like I am getting somewhere!

As part of the project to clear out one side of the pop-up shop for tile installation, I started to display some items on top of the display cabinets. It looks a little random right now but things are not set in stone. I found though that the cabinet on the right is not level (maybe it is a floor issue as this used to be half the garage) so I will need to shim it up before placing anything on top of it. I had some shims in Mount Prospect and it is possible that they are in the garage somewhere.

The day before the big day, I wanted to take a ride and see about this mid-century modern lamp I discovered on Facebook Marketplace. This is the seller's photo. I contacted her and asked the measurements and she said it was 15" tall and 16" in shade diameter at the bottom. I replied by saying I was sorry for the confusion but I was looking for the height measurement including the shade and she said it was! This did not make any sense to me and this lamp is the ideal style and color combination for my Prescott bedroom so I asked if I could come see it in person. The ad said she was in Chandler which is two towns away. However it turned out she was in Sun Lakes which is quite a bit further but we went anyway. I could immediately tell by seeing it in person that it was 24" tall and the shade is more like 21" in diameter so with a big sigh of relief I purchased it. I think it will be absolutely perfect! Kuochun of course wanted to stop for a late lunch on the way back so we went to RigaTony's. We both loved the experience once again but it kind of spoiled my original birthday plan to try a hot new Italian restaurant in Tempe called Roman God Of Fire. It is 8,000 square feet and has over the top decor including massive Roman style statues. We will get there another time, we never need a special event to go to a restaurant!

For my big day, I decided that I wanted to have a junk food session and go to the new Buc-ee's travel center in Goodyear, which is in the West Valley about 30 minutes away from home in Scottsdale. We absolutely loved the Amarillo TX location when driving back and forth between Scottsdale and Mount Prospect but were never able to stay that long because the girls were in the car. It is really a sight to see! They have great food, tons of souvenirs and home decor items and are known for having the cleanest bathrooms. Each stall has a red or green light above it depending upon if it is occupied and each sink has its own paper towel dispenser. We did learn though that it is way better to to go there on a cooler day. I wanted to get Kuochun's photo with the giant bronze Bucky The Beaver statue out front but it was just so hot. This is not my photo but a good representation. I thought the novelty would wear off by now but it was still super crowded and every time they cut up more brisket they yell something about it being on the board, which seemed to take place every two minutes. Kuochun found that quite annoying. We loaded up on fun food (I tried several items that were recommended on Facebook videos) and for a day I did not worry about their long laundry list of ingredients. I got the Club Melt once again and Kuochun went with the Cuban. I also grabbed a small mac and cheese with pulled pork to eat for dinner another day. I picked up a container of Beaver Chips (homemade potato chips) for us to share and Potato Sticks in two flavors. I got the Beaver Nuggets (which I have not tried yet) and Kuochun wanted a Paddle Tail (which is a large piece of puff pastry with icing and cinnamon shaped like a beaver's tail.) I asked for one and Kuochun whirled past and said "get two!" so I did. Good thing he liked them! I chose a couple of small Whoopie Pies (chocolate and birthday cake) and a package of spiced nuts which come in four sections - two pecan, almond and cashew. They are all good but the cashew are by far my favorite. We really enjoyed the protein pack when traveling (cubed white meat chicken, cubed cheddar cheese, red grapes, a small hardboiled egg and small container of almonds) and Kuochun wanted to get one. Lastly, after quite a bit of searching I found the Overbites, which are for the most part large chocolate candies with peanut butter filling. They had dark or milk chocolate to choose from as well as cookies and cream and caramel. I decided not to take the caramel. The one item I ultimately passed on was the fudge. It is not something I crave and the list of ingredients was so long it extended past the length of the box and wrapped around the side! Intentionally on Buc-ee's part, there is no place to eat there (and it was too hot to eat outside anyway) so we took everything home. The verdict was I still love the Club Melt, the Beaver Chips were perfectly done so they were great, my favorite Overbite was the milk chocolate/peanut butter, I enjoyed both Whoopie Pies, the Paddle Tail was too sweet for my taste and next time I will see if I can just buy the spiced cashews. The Potato Sticks were very nostalgic for me because my grandparents used to buy Pik-Nik shoestring potatoes. Both the Cheddar and Sour Cream and the Original were very good. The Beaver Nuggets look like giant Corn Pops cereal which I thought was just OK as a kid so we will see what I think of them. My understanding is that work has started on a Buc-ee's location in Oak Creek WI so Chicago-area folks will eventually have access to one. Buc-ee's pays its employees very well so it will provide good jobs to the area. For customers, it is well worth the trip!

Before Buc-ee's, we went to the Brass Armadillo antique mall, also in Goodyear and just down the street. I had been there once before several years ago when Mother and I met Melinda there and it was Kuochun's first time. Mother found some jewelry and I purchased a vintage Mexican tin mirror which is hanging in the living room in Scottsdale. At first, Kuochun was really impressed with it but after a while he thought it was kind of junky. I have to say that although it is super organized, the overall quality of the merchandise has gone down since I was there. A lot of it looked like it was picked up at a thrift store, which I am sure it was as thrifting is so trendy right now. I thought it would give us a second reason to visit the area and not just go out there for Buc-ee's. I did find a few items for display including a set of four mini carnival glass trinket trays that look like pineapples and a set of two porcelain trinket trays which look like tiger skin rugs in cream and gold from the same booth. I also purchased a solid copper round tray with fish circling the edge which will be a nice way to ground the copper jewelry collection in the pop-up shop. But there are so many great antique malls in the Phoenix area I probably will not go back there. They have another location in Phoenix which I would be willing to give a chance.

After all that Kuochun still thought we should go out for dinner so we ended up going to J. Alexander's which is about 20 minutes away in Chandler. It is part of the same restaurant group as the location in Northbrook, we went there a number of times as a family when Mother and Dad lived there. After that I did select it a couple of times for my birthday once The Noodle Cafe in Wilmette closed. I really liked their Chicken Milanese with arugula and I would substitute the mashed potatoes for their fabulous cold wild rice and orzo salad with very finely chopped vegetables mixed in. While much of the menu in Chandler was the same as Northbrook there were some changes. The foccacia with whipped ricotta and honey was recommended to us and it was fabulous! No Chicken Milanese but there was a Chicken Palermo which was very good. It came with a side of couscous. Kuochun ordered pecan-crusted trout and his order came with the wild rice orzo salad. I gave him my broccoli so it worked out. I finished the chicken and couscous because the portions were not huge but I was definitely on food overload by the end of the day! Kuochun did not eat the wild rice orzo salad but I was able to with lunch another day.

Kuochun was feeling bad that we did not get a birthday cake so on Friday we went to AJ's Fine Foods as they have a nice bakery. However the only cake they had was too large, it was more for 10-12 people than two. Instead, I opted for a single-serving chocolate and peanut butter round cake called an explosion, a blondie brownie and a couple of petit fours. The woman helping me insisted on me reciting the entire order before putting anything in a container and sure enough, she made a mistake. I asked for one champagne and one white chocolate petit four and she gave me regular chocolate instead of the champagne. Also, the white chocolate one was crammed sideways against the side of the container and the frosting flower was totally smashed. If I would have paid $5 to serve that to a guest I would have been mad. Also, I was about to order a crumb cake online because I miss the ones from Hahn's Bakery in Geneva but AJ's actually had some! It was an excellent substitute, the cake was very fresh and it had a huge layer of crumb topping which I love. I do not know what Hahn's charges now but AJ's was twice the price at $19.99 for four large squares. I believe the one online would have been $30 plus shipping but a plus is that it is made with all whole food ingredients.

All the food that I normally do not eat plus lack of sleep was not a good combination and I did not feel well for the rest of the week. It has been difficult to plan my Metabolic Meals delivery because it has to be ordered a week and a half in advance and I do not know where we are going to be from week to week. Kuochun has a couple of appointments, plus the girls will have their grooming appointment in two weeks so we probably will not be back to Prescott until after that. Hoping the van can hold on until I can get some sort of trickle device to keep the battery charged. The landscaping company is going to start the swale project as well so it is better if we are not there for that as it will be a lot of digging on the side of the house. Even with committing to the swale project, hiring a surveyor and raising the mini splits way up in the air the city denied the permit again so the HVAC company is attempting to work with them. Last I heard, the city wants an appraisal on the home even though I just purchased the home last year and I am doing everything in my power to make things right. The rule is that I cannot spend more than 50% of the value of the home on improvements when the home is in a flood zone. Cosmetic improvements such as paint and wallpaper do not count so I am just fine there. I have been instructed to hang tight and see what happens.

I posted 11 items over the two-week period which is better than it has been but still not quite where I want to be. I would say my favorite piece of the week was this Fred Harvey Era cuff bracelet with a petrified wood cabochon. I have been focusing on keeping up with the new arrival Native American pieces so they are ready for anyone who wants to stop by and take a look. I did spend Sunday afternoon with a woman who represents a large-scale wholesale buyer, she had also stopped by earlier in the week to scope out what I have. She has visited me before and her boss has as well. We were able to come to an agreement on nine beautiful pieces - it is not as profitable as listing them online but it is nine less items that I need to post. The Whatnot seller will be coming back next week after two consecutive weeks of visiting New Mexico and I will have lots of pieces to show her. The goal is to totally catch up with pricing the Native American jewelry by then. Basically what I have remaining to prepare are pieces I purchased where I remember who I purchased them from but do not remember what I paid. I will do some digging through past receipts and if I cannot find the information I will just have to give them a ballpark cost and move on. This does not happen anymore as I take the time to document everything as opposed to thinking I am going to remember it all later.

I have been pricing items to send to Mount Prospect for the jewelry caravan as well - I purchased this lot of beautiful Judith Ripka rings and bracelets and I am nearly finished pricing them. They will arrive in Mount Prospect early next week. The gold over silver link bracelet and two of the three anniversary bands have sold but the remaining pieces are available. We have some high-end sales coming up so they should be a good fit.

I sold 11 items over the same time period, including a Poshmark bundle of three items. That sale made Poshmark the most successful venue with six items total. I also sold two items on Facebook Marketplace and one each on eBay, Etsy and Mercari. About half were accepted offers and the other half direct purchases. The recent postings which turned into sales were this adorable vintage Federico butterfly ring, a turquoise toddler-sized cuff bracelet and the Fred Harvey Era cuff bracelet I mentioned earlier. Someone asked me to cancel the toddler bracelet on eBay after they purchased it but luckily it did sell pretty quickly to a different buyer on Facebook Marketplace with shipping. Vendoo glitched and oversold a Federico bracelet two days after the second one of two total sold so I had to provide that buyer a refund.

Just a little reflection on reaching a big milestone - I am very happy for my great health - I do not take any medications, my allergies have been under control and although my knee is not perfect it is night and day better than it was. I do a lot of things right but there is always room for improvement. I know I will need to focus on health even more to keep up my results. We are going to sign up for a month at the Scottsdale Community College Fitness Center and I am going to make a plan with Fabulous 50s workouts on alternate days with Schellea (pronounced Shelley) who is a wonderful instructor from Australia. We happen to be the same age so I can really relate to her! She has great workouts for lots of benefits for healthy aging such as balance, resistance training and cardio. I am going to change up some of my supplements as well - I have been trying magnesium for sleep and will give it a chance for three months but if I continue to not see results I will switch to NMN. I ran my power breakfast past ChatGPT and it said it is fabulous for health! I blend two scoops of Ka'Chava with a scoop of Paleovalley Bone Broth Protein and a scoop of Peak BioBoost for digestion. I no longer need to use milk because the bone broth protein gives the drink a creamy taste. That saves on calories! I also eat a Perfect Bar which helps me make it to lunch without feeling too hungry. It feels quite strange to enter a new decade but I am going to take it on in a positive manner!

Well that is plenty of news for now, see you next time!