Life in Maui

When I first talked about coming to work in Hawaii, the first thing my contact here asked was if I was planning on buying a home. I know that there is a lot of resentment over non locals buying up the homes to the point it makes it out of reach for the locals. The house I'm at is in a gated community of very high end homes. The landscaping very green and lush, the way Hawaii was back in the day.  When you drive away from this area, you see all the signs of water restrictions and very dry yards.  I was wondering how this neighborhood is able to keep everything so green and watered. I have my first meeting and site visit to the church today to see what is possible in opening a thrift store. I know there is a cultural part of living and working here that I have to learn and adjust to. Then there's the cost of living here, food is outrageously expensive, even by California standards. 

You know your in Hawaii when

pink guava cheesecake

It's been a whirlwind for packing up and cleaning up for everyone. My daughter is moving to Holland to live so had to get rid of almost everything (especially if it plugged into a wall) as well as packing everything in a cargo container to ship over. Then get the house cleaned up so she could get her cleaning deposit back. I was up in Incline Village and had to close up the house and pack up all my stuff to move into storage before heading to Hawaii. The flight wasn't crowded and the kids had their own seats, so we could stretch out. It was waiting for the van (my daughter rented a van) that felt like a long time to get because is was so hot outside. Anyways the house here in Maui is beautiful and very spacious. Very  close to the beach and close to Foodland, which is local type of grocery store. It was so nice to shop once again in a store that has all the Asian foods I'm use to. When I lived in Cupertino, I thought having an Asian store on every corner was normal. It's been almost two years of living in a food waste land for Japanese foods. I think I've eaten more poke in the last two days than I have in the last 5 years! 

Best part I may have a lead on opening a new thrift store here in Maui, which would be a dream job for sure. Fingers crossed it will they will go ahead with the project!!!!

Bye to Incline Village for now

My view during a traffic jam

My time here in Incline Village is coming to an end.  The house is cleaned up, everything is packed up in my soon to be old car, (just sold it to my mechanic down in San Jose) and I'll head down to Alameda for a few days. Then I'm off to Hawaii for about a month. I know it sounds like a vacation but I'm really going to check out the area and job market to see if I can afford to live there for a few years. 

I'm very grateful for my time here and my generous cousins for opening up their beautiful house for me to use. Feeling once again safe to walk outside and into town.  

I'm still on the fence about moving here because if I decide to start selling full time online, I need a town with a good postal service. Plus finding a decent place to rent that doesn't break the bank is an issue. Competing with all the vacation rentals, it's been a tough go. Another thing I found out most rentals come furnished which I don't need or want. Again because of the vacation rental market. So wish me luck in finding a place to finally call home. 

Where are all the quilting books?

Just can't pass up a gourd purse

While I've been cleaning up the house (pine pollen is everywhere) and packing up my stuff, I've been listening to a lot of local resellers who have a YouTube channel. I'm finding it's more current to what's happening in the Bay Area because our prices on everything is so much higher. When it comes to clothes, sourcing the fancy brands are easier to find but in smaller sizes. 

Heard the story about a Willow Glen (town in San Jose) GoodWill manager who had be skimming not only money from the store but also selling whole truck loads of items out the back door for cash. She and her family members had been doing it for over 10 years. The only reason it came to light was because of a divorce, her husband let the cat out of the bag. 

I listened for two whole hours how to sell books on Amazon from Golden State Thrifter. It's  not something I plan to do and after listening to what it takes, I don't see it in my future. What I do know is that cookbooks sell well at a thrift store but not on Amazon. I'm also betting that quilting books will sell better in person too. I'm finding it's impossible to find any quilting books at the thrift stores. Either quilters don't get rid of their books or they just didn't sell well in the past so they don't take them in. During the pandemic many people started sewing and quilting so I believe there is a demand for books again. I've been looking for a very specific quilting book for a friend and in all my visits to all the thrift stores have only found two books.  So I'm going to test my theory at Cottage Crafts. 

Winds of change

I don't see a lot of dandelion type plants on my hikes around here in Incline. I've been practicing how to take better or more interesting shots with my iPhone by watching YouTube videos. I naturally have a good eye for picture taking from all those years of scrapbooking and using a fancy camera but learning to do it with just a iPhone has been very interesting. I don't edit my photos other than cropping (guess that counts as editing) because I like to keep it real. :) 

I saw this dandelion the same day I saw the stick on Annie's bench. I think it's a great visual on how my life has been and will be for the next few months. At some point wherever I am,  the winds of change will send me off in some unknown direction. 

Is this a sign?

I'm starting to close up the Tahoe house and it's been a few days since I've been to Annie's bench at the dog park. Even with all things that have to get cleaned and packed up, I decided to go. The morning weather was perfect and I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to sit quietly by the creek. 

When I got there I found a stick on the bench. For anyone that knew Annie, fetching a stick was her all time favorite thing to do. 

It was obvious that it was played with by a dog. 

As I make another major leap of faith in my journey of finding a permeant place to call home,  I was wondering if this was a sign from Annie, I should make Incline Village my home. 

Driving all over Tahoe this week.

So many moving parts now that I'm getting ready to leave Incline Village and head out to Hawaii.  My daughter is getting ready to move to Holland and they wanted to sell their new (2021) car. If I decide to live here in Tahoe I should replace my 2008 Lexus 400H with something a little newer.  I really like my car and if I didn't have to worry about driving in the snow and living in the mountains, I would keep it. It does help my daughter out buying their car instead of them shipping it over to Holland. I've spent two days trying to find a DMV open in California to get a copy of my title. Went to Truckee yesterday to only find out that the office there is being remodeled. I drove over to South Shore today and as I was waiting, I Googled thrift stores in the area and read the reviews.  I went to all five but only two were open. The Goodwill looks like a new store location. Very clean and organized and the employees were hustling getting things out on the floor. I was surprised to see they even put towels in the glassware carts so things don't get chipped. Prices were high (no surprise there) and the houseware department was pretty sad, had nothing interesting.  

Someone's bell collection was donated and it was fun to see they must have visited all 50 states. I would have purchased all them but at $2.49 each there wasn't enough room to make a profit.  I just settled for the Christmas bell which I know I flip for at least $10.00. The other store was The Attic Thrift Store, which was way over priced and really didn't have anything good either. 

Ok back to my car. 

It's a sellers market when it comes to cars and my very old Lexus is in high demand in the Bay Area. I decided to sell it to my mechanic down in San Jose. I know I can get more money selling to one of the online sites but Marco has always taken good care of my car and helping me out. Will be interesting to see what he can flip it for. 

Mega Pint?

Holds 3 cups of liquid

I have to admit I watched the whole Johnny Depp trail because I just couldn't believe how bad Amber's lawyers were. 

As a picker knowing what to buy that you can flip for a profit take some depth of knowledge if you want to make a living doing it. For me it's always been a hobby but I think this fall I may go pro.

So what does this picture of a glass have to do with Johnny Depp's trail and me turning pro? 

At the trial Amber's lawyer asked about drinking a mega pint of wine. Not being a drinker, I had no idea what "mega pint" meant.  16 oz = pint

I first saw these type of glasses are at the local thrift store for $1.50 each which is pretty high since clear wine glasses are kind of the cockroach of donations, something donated all the time that no one buys.   These glasses came in a set of four with a pitcher, so only having two makes it incomplete. I then found one at the Classy Seconds thrift store in Carson for .49. I only picked it up to show a point of how wide a price range something can be depending on where you're shopping. 

Then out if curiosity I used the glass to see how comfortable it would be to drink out of. I have big hands and I found it to be too big to hold and very heavy when only half full at 16 oz. I then filled it to the top and it holds 3 cups, which I would guess is a mega pint. ;)

I know thrift stores have to try and make the maximum amount they can for the charity they support, so if they can sell it for double what other stores get more power to them. 

Day in a life

The boys are getting big fast! Mees had he's first visit to the ER. Smashed his finger with a cement paving stone. Not sure why he was playing with a paver but Mees is always into everything. 

Smoothies are a favorite in the house as Mees isn't really into eating green vegetables but if it's in a smoothie he's all for it. 

Everyday I get notices on what's available to rent or buy in both Incline and Carmel. Still haven't found anything yet that won't break the bank but it's hard when I won't be ready to move anywhere until September. How crazy is it that homes in Carmel are starting to drop their prices by $500k. I mean a half a million dollar reduction in price to me it just crazy. A lot of the home look like spec homes, someone was looking to flip the houses. It still fun to see what a $5 million dollar house looks like, even with it being away out of my price range. Sometimes it's not the house but the land that it's on. I think with all the wildfires happening people are less excited about buying property close to wide open spaces. Plus the cost of building materials is at an all time high if you can even get them.  

Still I'm hopeful I'll find something I can settle into when I get back from Hawaii and Portland. 

Down side to being a picker

One of the personal down side to being a reseller in the thrifting world (at least for me) is it's very hard to pay full retail for anything that's not essential. Yesterday was first for me, I purchased something from every thrift store in town that wasn't to resell. 

1) Pet Network Thrift - red vest on the 50% off-rack in the men's section for $6.17, you pay .17 if you use a credit card. I've been looking for a vest with deep enough pocket to carry my cell phone. In an hiking community, vests are very hard to find so I was lucky I found this one. 

 2) Family Solutions Thrift Store - used but new sandals - $8.00

I also wanted a pair of back up sandals for my upcoming stay in Hawaii, just in case my favorite ones break. I know it sounds gross to buy shoes at a thrift store but these are what we call used but new. You could tell that they were never worn.

3) Valley Christian Thrift Store - Canvas cross body bag $8.00

 I wasn't really looking for another bag since I had found a very nice Vera Bradley bag. The plan was to use the bag when I go out to do my journaling on the trials. I really couldn't bring myself to take such a nice clean bag out on the trials, especially since I know I can flip it and double my money.  So when I saw this used canvas bag I knew I wouldn't have a problem getting it dirty. I threw it in the wash and all the stains came right out. Plus worn canvas is much more my style. :)

4) Hospice Thrift - Sleeveless cotton Shirt - $7.04

I'm pretty much a denim shirt and shorts type of person but I thought I should at least get one sleeveless shirt just in case. XL sizes are hard to find at most thrift stores. I know when I was managing the Kitty, we had to put out a special request to get the bigger sizes. Finding one that is 100% cotton is also very hard. Sorry no picture, it's in the wash. 

Not a bad haul for  $29.21 and supporting the local charities. 

Something I didn't know about Goodwill

Lastest pickings

On Thursday in the morning I listened to Golden State Picker talk about why people are angry that the Goodwill prices have gone up so much. Many blame the fact that Goodwill has it's own online store but what I didn't know was that GW started online selling back in 1999, way before it was common for anyone to be selling online. The CEO at the time saw that the then new eBay site, sellers were basically selling what he had in his stores. So he decided to start another branch of GW and go online, which to me was a very wise business move. 

I was at the Carson GW, which is quite large. There isn't a whole lot of good stuff but mainly because of the area it's in. 

I was talking to a lady who was going through the silverware with a fine tooth comb. I know she was looking for real silver which if you have the time may be worth it. We got to talking about living in Carson and how the pandemic has changed everything. From remote workers buying up homes, crazy city drivers and the water issues. A very nice Goodwill employee jumped in the conversation and she talked about there wasn't a good water store in town. I suggested to her that she start an eBay store to raise the capital she needs to open one. That's when she told me GW employee aren't allowed to have any online store. They also aren't allowed to buy anything until it's been out on the floor for week. That she couldn't even buy from the GW online store if it's in the same state she works in.

I do remember Chris at Daily Refinement talked about never doing back door deals with anyone working at GW because they don't last long on the job, (they do get caught at some point) and working with dishonest people isn't worth. He just reminds us to be nice and polite. If you're a regular the staff will point out (not save) if something is there you would normally buy.   

Yes GW prices have gone up but it's still a business that has over head and a massive amount of trash to dispose of. As a picker if any store gets too high, I just don't shop there as often. 

Learning about the local mail delivery 2022

I've been going to the post office almost everyday this week, since home delivery is spotty at best around here. Being a small town, all the thrift stores are in the same shopping center as the post office. The post office here is really under staffed to the point that there was only one person handling everything because the other people were out sick or on disability. I really don't understand why people think shouting at her would get anything accomplished. 

If she went home, there would be no service at all for anyone. With the USPS being what it is, many people here rent a box at one of two mail service stores because UPS and FedEx aren't much better. Very costly to rent a box but  at least they know their packages will get delivered. I see the big UPS and FedEx trucks pull up to the store (it's in the same shopping center) all the time.  One day the UPS driver was unloading 4 huge suitcases (the kind you can stuff a body in) and I asked if someone was moving. He said more than likely it was too heavy and costly to get on the plane, so they shipped it. He looked at the airline tags and all the suitcases where coming from Florida and were way over 80 pounds. He said it's very common to have this type of deliver here. Life in a vacation town!

I did a quick run through of the thrift stores and found these two things. Both were 75% off for a grand total of $2.75. Not super money spinners but will add a little sparkle to my booth. 

 

Who pays $130 for kids swim trunks?

I normally don't look at children's clothes when picking. Most are very worn and the thrift stores here charge way to much.  At the thrift kitty when we first opened we would take baby clothes but they came in so stained and as you would expect washed a lot. 

With my up coming trip to Hawaii, I thought I would check out the children's sporting goods section. Being a vacation town with a lot of water activities by the lake there is a bigger selection of beach clothes. Mees and Henk are big boys, so it's hard to find things that will fit. I think Henk, who's 9 months is in 2 toddler clothes already. I was looking for a long sleeve body surfing suit for the boys to wear when at the beach. I only found the type used for water skiing. 

I did find these swim trunks that I think will fit one of the boys. It's in excellent condition (guessing only worn once) and it costed $3.  I knew the brand was from Europe because I couldn't read the size label. When I got home I did a Google search and found out that these shorts sell for over $130.00 new!

Starting the slow process of cleaning up

It's that time now to start eating up all the perishable food in the house before I leave. I'm leaving about a week earlier than I planned so I thought I would get a head start.  There aren't any more visitors scheduled and I hate wasting food!

Morning breakfast was a 3 egg omelette  with the last of salsa sauce. Trying to use up the 2 bags of potatoes by making country fries with sour cream. Not sure how I ended up with 2 tubs of sour cream. This is pretty much my only meal for the day, other than a big bowl of ice cream in the evening.  Yes the refrigerator is looking very empty but I'm ok with eating my gluten free pasta for every meal once I've gone though wha's in the refrigerator. 

I'm currently working on selling my car. I talked to my car insurance guy and he gave me some online site to visit. Sure is different than how you had to do it back in the day! It does take a lot of pressure off knowing I don't have to deal with strangers. 

So far I've checked out Car Max $6,600  Caravan $4,306 & Driveway $5,895. 

My Lexus 400h is in higher demand in the Bay Area, so most likely I'll take it down there to sell. After watching several Youtube videos on selling to one of these companies, the only negative is you don't get top dollar for your car but the convenience and safety is worth it. 

Life lessons

Got a notice earlier this week the power was going to be shut off so the main power lines could be checked. With the fire danger and high winds, it's a no brainer. It was funny, I had forgotten all about it this morning and when I closed my laptop to leave for my hike, everything just went quiet. There is a huge air filter that is alway on because the pollen from the pine trees are in full bloom. 

One of the podcasts from Daily Refinement he said he asks this question to anyone he's thinking of hiring. He said it was surprising how many people couldn't answer it. 

What important lesson have to learned from someone else? So here are my answers

1) My mom taught me how to cook with just basic ingredients and that cooking from scratch doesn't take long. Learn to make several dishes well so you're never at a loss on what to make. 

2) Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy. Make a list of what you have to do everyday and do the hardest or least pleasant item first. I don't alway follow this but it does work when you do. 

3) Make your bed everyday. Of course when I lived in Cupertino I had too because that was the biggest flat surface I had in the studio but that simple act shows discipline.

4) Don't post anything on the internet that could later come back to haunt you. I was told this at the start of blogging and before Facebook.  

July Coffee Card Swap 2022

I'm still in a coffee theme card swap.  It hasn't been easy as I don't have all my crafting stuff (that's my excuse) but the motto for this year is "make do with what you have".  So I bit the bullet and went though the stamps I did bring and pulled something together. It's three different stamp sets

Honey Bee, Penny Black and Paper Smooches 

I haven't decided if I should go with dots or paint spatters. 

I should put a shadow under the mouse and painting but everything I did just looked weird so it's not happening. :)

Not sure I'll be able to do the swap next month, as I'll be in Hawaii and I don't plan to take any crafting supplies. 

Gourd Art

I'm a big fan of gourd art that started with Santas. When I started traveling I would pick up local pieces. Amazing how many artists use gourds. 

Since I've had to down size once again, I put my collection up for sale at Cottage Crafts. When I do find something special I still pick it up. Found this one at the local community thrift store for only $5. I'm sure it was priced that low because you can't really can't get accurate comps. 

While at the store I met a nice lady who got a set of pyrex Americana mixing bowls. We had a very nice chat about the bowls (I did try to buy them from her) and then about living here in Incline Village. She use to live in San Jose (her husband worked for Apple) so we both know Silicon Valley very well. I'm not sure why they ended up here as her husband wants to live 

Vera Bradley Cross Body Bag - keep or flip?

                                                             

Since I started going everyday to Annie's bench to do my journaling and sketches using just a bag wasn't cutting it. I've been thinking I should get a cross body type bag, something that could at least hold my water bottle and iPhone. I've been checking on Etsy but nothing seems right and the prices were way too high. Well today I realized I lost my sketch book (thinking I left it on the bench) so I had to be a little more serious in finding something. I went thrifting today to try and find a book on quilting only to find out the thrift stores here don't stock any crafting books at all. I decided to check out the purse section, which normally doesn't have anything that could be flipped. I spotted this Vera Bradley bag, that is in excellent condition and very clean for only $12.00. This is one of the stores that everything is price way too high so I was a little surprised at the price.  It's big enough to hold my phone, water bottle and journals. When I got home I looked for the label inside the bag just to confirm it was a VB bag. Just the print alone would tell you it was a VB bag but the name was only on the fabric and buckle.  Guessing the ladies in the back room didn't have their glasses on when they priced it. So now I have to decided, do I flip and double my money or keep it for my walks to Annie's bench. 

Always a surprise

Spotted on Real Nifty Vintage

I do watch several online pickers YouTube videos in the morning while having my coffee.  It's fun to see what they find and what they think it will sell for, I call it market research!  All of them are on the East Coast so what they can find and what they pay is unbelievable low. That's on major complaint  some viewers have with these YouTubers on how they can find such good things so cheap.  They also have a very big online following, so they can sell everything for top dollar. It did take them years to build  up their following so can't blame them for getting the most out of each sale. Real Nifty Vintage post this video of him driving through a town in Kentucky and stopping at a huge antique store. With all the major thrift stores prices getting to high to flip, most of the these YouTubes have started shopping at antique stores. When I saw this elf in his video, I had to hit pause. I've been picking for years and I've only seen one of these many years ago. 

The back story to this is that my grandmother had one in her house on a corner shelf, the original elf on the shelf. :) As a child it always scared me. When she passed away, I asked if I could have it but my uncle wasn't willing to give any of her things away to anyone. I'm not sure if he thought it was valuable because I asked for it. Trust me it's not a high ticket item. As a picker, whenever I show interest in anything, my family automatically assumes it must be worth money. For many years I searched for this elf and one day at the auction house in Sunnyvale on a junk shelf all the way in the back I saw the ears. I crossed my fingers hoping it wasn't damaged, because most things are in junk lots. 

I was thrilled finding it out in the wild and in good condition!    He always goes on the top shelf in my kitchen along with a special cookie jar. Right now he's in my long time storage but as soon as I get my own place again, he'll be one of the first things I bring out. 

Puzzle mania 2022

Puzzle Mania

During the week before the 4th of July weekend, I was told to stay close to home. Being a tourist town and the weather being so nice things were going to get crowded. Do my grocery shopping at the only grocery in town early. That proved to be very true, as I went by one day and there was no place to park. 

I decided to do a puzzle a day to pass the time. It's funny that during the whole pandemic I never did puzzles, mainly because I didn't have a big enough flat space in my studio in Cupertino. The house here in Incline has a very nice tall cafe style table that's perfect for puzzles and a very large supply of puzzles. I like the 500 piece puzzles as I can get them done in one day.

Having all those people in town, really makes you aware how dangerous it is if a fire broke out. Getting out of area on the narrow highways would be very slow going. I was told last year when the fires got a little too close, most people left the area just in case.

When to sell

Paid $8

I've been listening to  the YouTube videos by Chris Lin of Daily Refinement. He was a big eBay seller from Oakland CA until his store was shut down. Long story on that but it wasn't anything illegal. He does talk about when to know to sell, no matter how small a profit you make. This is a lesson, many who resell don't understand.

I've been flipping for a long time and I know many resellers who fall into the trap of not selling unless they get the maximum profit. Being able to Google sales on almost everything  how days doesn't help either.  They end up with storage units or houses full of their inventory. Instead of looking at just the profits, it's the return on investment, getting your money back that's important. 

I have been looking for a vest with large pockets to hold my phone. When I was in Alameda, it was important so you couldn't tell I had a phone. People were getting mugged just for their phones while on morning walks and carrying a purse was just out of the question. Now up in Tahoe I still wanted a vest so when I went out hiking, my phone could be in my pocket. Finding a vest here in hiking country that doesn't break the bank is very hard to find. When I was out thrifting in Carson I found two and only two in good condition in a size I could wear.   

I decided to test out the market here and see if I could flip them.  I paid $8 for the one in picture. At first I listed it for $30 because it still has tags on it and that is what it was selling for online.  Next Door and Facebook Market Place aren't very active here so I wasn't expecting any great results. A week later I lowered the price to $10, which was a mistake on my part. The site automatically drops everything to $10. Before I could go back to change it, someone expressed interest in it. Following the advice from DF a $2 profit is better than having inventory sit, especially when dealing with clothes. I'm getting my initial investment back with a 25% return, which isn't bad. So if you following DF advice, you take that $2 and invest in something else you can flip and just keep compounding your money.

Upadate: I sold the other vest to the same people so made a profit of $16!  

Paid $6 for this one

Drone Show 2022

Last night I went to my very first drone show.  It was very impressive and I know in years to come the show will be far more advanced. With the fire danger so high here this is the only way to go. 

I was told back in day before COVID and the firestorms, over 50,000 people would come into town to watch the fireworks show. It wasn't crowded at all last night and had a very nice small town feel. The best part was the show was done twice with a laser light show intermission. I think that really help with people being able to come and go and not cause a traffic jam. 

On another note, I figure out how to get my photos post on this blog that aren't uploading to my laptop. I'm so proud of myself for this work around. Writing on my blog from my phone isn't easy but posting the photos are. I'm sure there's a technical thing I could do to get everything to work on my laptop but that'a way over my head. :)

Postponed Drone Light Show

Happy 4th of July!!!!

I was looking forward to seeing the drone light show, which was going to replace the traditional blow them up fireworks show. I guess the forecast of high winds makes it impossible for the drones to fly. It would be interesting to see how they can make all those drones fly in a pattern, all this high tech stuff!

The fire danger alerts are very high here and all the locals take it very seriously. There is a ban on open wood burning fire pits and charcoal barbecues. It was interesting that the local grocery store (the only one in town) still sold charcoal and most of it was gone by Saturday. It's been posted if you're not allowed to use charcoal for cooking, where is the stuff the store is selling going? Big debate if the store should even sell it. It's not illegal to own it but you can't use it. Being a tourist town, the worry is about those visiting who don't know or maybe don't care about the ban. I would think if I had a rental, I would provide a gas grill and not have a charcoal one available. 

Still there are many wonderful things to do around here and not having a fireworks show isn't the end of the world. 

UPDATE: the drone show that were schedule at the beach on Sunday were canceled. The weather and winds are much worse there than here in town. 

Lat Chance to No Where

During my creative time at Annie's bench, I jot down random things that pop into my head. Being a bubble thinkers, that's a lot of popping. :) 

Being that I'm creative but not good at grammar, writing anything for public viewing is hard. I like the idea of writing because it's something I can do anywhere.  So one of my ideas what to do post a  creative question. 

What if you could write a book, what would the title be? My title would be "Last Chance to No Where". I have no idea what that means or what the book would be about but that's what popped into my head. So if saw that title, what do you think the book would be about? 

Another random pick at the thrift store

As fireworks are illegal here in Incline Village and most of the surrounding towns, there will be a drone light show instead of the traditional fireworks tomorrow. Still tons of people in town enjoying the perfect weather and beaches. 

I've been going out to Annie's bench every morning to do some creative doodling and writing in my journal  Anyone that knows me, I'm very creative but the written word isn't my thing. If you've been reading my blog, you know that to be true! I really like posting stories but I also feel the need to have a photo with each post. So it got me to thinking about my camera situation.  My iPhone does a good job but should I upgrade to a real camera? I'm doing the pros and cons now if I should invest in a good camera. Would it be better than what I can do now with my phone? Do people care if you have photo attached to you're posts?  I do like traveling light, so having to carry a camera along with a phone is a major downside. What do you think?

After my creative session on the bench, I popped into the only thrift store open on Sundays here in town. These hand craved figures were there for only $2.50 each, they were 50% off. I'm not sure why they were priced so low but I think I can flip them for $12-$15 each. I like hand craved things even if made for the tourist trade. I believe these were made in Sweden. 

Small town with a whole lot of muscle

I moved away from Alameda because of the high crime rate, especially toward older people.

Here in Incline Village a local billionaire has funded part of the sheriff's Department to make sure there is always someone available 24/7. Saw him today riding in a vintage car in the parade. He and his wife have funded over 500 million dollars into local charities and organizations here in town. 

I wasn't planning on watching the parade as I'm still trying to avoid crowds especially with young children who can't be vaccinated yet. I didn't know where the parade was going to happen, so after parking I realized I would have to stay until the parade was over. It was a very cute old school town parade, with kids riding their bikes, firetrucks and police cars with lights flashing.  I think the sheriff's department here is bigger than both Alameda and Oakland combined. Several ATV officers, officers on horse back, bomb squad RV and swat team tank. 

It was a perfect day for parade and hanging out on the field. Sunny with a light breeze. Now I just have to figure out where the light show is going to be and how to get there!

Puzzle Mania

During the whole pandemic I didn't have room to do any puzzles. When I was at the Carmel house, there were too many little hands around to safely have a puzzle sitting out. So here at the Tahoe house, they have a very nice collection of puzzles and I like the 500 piece ones as I can get them done in one day. I listen to my pod casts about selling on eBay.  I like selling at Cottage Crafts as I don't have to worry about handling the sale and taxes but it does have a limit on how much I can make.  I think it's a good challenge to see if I can expand and increase my sales. 

Having to stay close to the house this weekend (I'm well stocked on chips and ice cream) I may try some trails further away from the lake and beaches.