All Packed

I'm all packed up and now just waiting for my Uber. During what I would call my recover time from all the stress of leaving Alameda and my daughter moving to Holland. I've been researching what to do next. One major thing is finding my tax guy who just fell off the grid. In order for me to get a new person to do my taxes (very complicated taxes) I need my last two returns. Because of all the moving parts to my taxes, I have to have the last two years worth but I can only find one of them. So the pressure is on  to dig though my storage unit in Gilroy. 

The other thing is I've been studying up on how to sell online for a living. Easy to sell if its hobby but to do it to support yourself is another thing. Was going to go with eBay but they keep raising the fees and what sellers have to do to post. They're now gearing toward buyers who buy the high end brands, which is something I don't do. 

I signed up to sell on WhatNot and got quickly approved, less that 8 hours.  I read there was a long waiting list so I was surprised I got in so fast.  WhatNot is for people who can sell in high volume which means I'll have to scale up my business. I'm hoping to sell my dead stock, things that haven't sold in years for the first couple of auctions. Part of what I learned is how to better understand the analytics of selling online. I understood the basics but got to study it  more in-depth during my three month break.  I'm not a numbers person so it was very slow going. 

Last Day in Hawaii 2022

Today is my last full day here in Hawaii and the weather is perfect. I know your'e probably tired of hearing this! :) It would have been great if it was like this when the boys were here. 

I've cleaned the house and now trying not to mess anything up. All the perishable food has be eaten and the laundry all done except the sheets I'm using tonight.  I did all the puzzles I picked up so now I have to think of what to do for the rest of the day after I run to the recycle center and  get the car washed. 

Then it's back to having to be an adult and handling all those details I just hate. 

It's interesting that here, being outside so much, I know when the dog across the street will be picked up because he'll start barking at 8:00 am as he gets into the car. The group of guys who go out for the morning walk and pass the front of the house.  When for those that still work, leave in the morning. Very slow pace of life here, something I will miss. 

Mees and Oma 2022

I love this picture for Mees and his Oma! When they arrived in Holland last week everyone tested positive for COVID so had to quarantine. Since they were planning on staying at house, Oma and Opa had to leave. Mees is still testing positive and even with a negative test, everyone is very tired and nap a lot. 

Puzzle Theory

I went into town to fill up the car at Costco so I made a quick stop at the GoodWill, which is the only thrift store open everyday. I decided to test my puzzle theory. I went through all the puzzles on the shelf and only got the ones with everything in a bag. I pick puzzles with 500 or less pieces because I can get them done in one night. I was correct, if they're in a zip lock bag all the pieces will be there. 

I was going to get the car washed too but it's be raining on and off so had to scrap that idea. The car is parked in the garage so it's not super dirty. I may vac it out after I get back from taking the recycling in. Here there is no curbside pick up for recycling, you have to take it in yourself.
 

Closing up the house in Maui 2022

I don't know if getting good at closing up a house and making sure not to waste any food is a good thing. I have 3 more days here in Maui before having to fly back to CA. I would have stayed longer but I'm helping a friend in Portland down size and move on Friday.  The weather here has finally cooled down so it's very comfortable to be outside. No more getting blasted with high heat when you open the doors.  

Where the house is in Kihei, you have to drive at least 30 minutes to get anywhere other than the beach so I'm also very grateful that Jim has a car here I could use. 

To pass the time, I picked up some puzzles and I knew that they would be missing pieces. When you find them at the thrift stores loose in the box, you know something probably fell out. I would normally not buy them but it's slim pickings at the one store that is close to the house. I didn't want to drive across the island to the bigger stores. So now I have to decide if I should leave the puzzle or just throw it out. What would you do?

Big Tubs Dual Purpose

This is one of the homes that has a massive bathtub and a shower area with multiple shower heads you need a diagram on how to use. While the kids were here it was great because the whole family could get in the tub at the same time. I'm not a soak in a tub type of person and with the water shortage, it doesn't make sense for just me to use it. 

I wanted to wash the blankets on the beds (as I don't know the last time they were washed) but the washer and dryer here are super small. I got the bright idea to wash them in the tub. As I thought, the first blanket I washed was super dirty. What I didn't think about was how heavy the blanket would be once wet. It's a double blanket with a fleece lining so once wet was super heavy. It so heavy I couldn't lift it out of the tub. With the tub being so deep I had to pull it out inch by inch  over the edge into the laundry basket. I had to then slide the basket across the marble floors through the bedroom to the backyard. Water getting everywhere! 

I set out the lounge chairs in the back yard to dry the blanket which took most of the day to just get the excess water out. At some point it was dry enough to get it in the dryer. 

Then the task of cleaning the tub, which I don't know how anyone does it without having to get in it!

And yes the king size blanket is going the laundromat!

Poke

As I wind down my stay here in Maui, the weather has turned super nice. The temperature this morning is a nice 75 with a very light breeze. 

One thing I will miss about Hawaii is all the seafood. I seriously don't think I've eaten this much raw fish in one month ever!  I went to a different FoodLand in town and they had a bigger selection of Poke. I went with salmon which was really good. I also got Ahu, which was way to fishy tasting. Not sure if it's just that type of fish or it was old. Either way, it cost too much for me to throw out so I'm going to make extra strong wasabi and have it for lunch. 

Since I only have a few more days here, I'm trying to finish up whatever food that is perishable. Making a lot of smoothies since I can get fresh Maui Gold pineapple.  I didn't know what to do with the bread since I can't eat it and the freezer is already fill of bread. So I decide to carry it around in the car and feed it to all the chickens. Just have to decide if I should dry it out and make crumbs.  I'm sure locals won't like seeing slices of bread all over the ground. :)

WhatNot - Signed Up to Sell!

This morning I have an on boarding call with WhatNot. I made the leap to join and start selling off my old inventory that I have at CCB. I'm not a big enough seller to make it profitable but it is a good way to sell off what hasn't sold in years and at least get some money back. I've watched a lot of auctions so see what format I would like to use. I've seen some good ones but more importantly I've seen some really bad one. It's kinda of funny to see some auctions where people have no clue that what they're doing on a live show. Here are some of my favorites:

1) A small child in the background was very upset that she couldn't play on the iPad her mom was using. There was a few times she tried to grab the iPad. Yes there was a grandparent in the room who was suppose to be watching said small child. When she couldn't get the iPad she ran to the table where all the auction items were on and pushed it. The mom grabbed it just in time to stop everything from hitting the floor. Yes there was a lot of screaming and crying going on the whole time. I didn't stay  very long at that auction. 

2) Another auction a couple started fighting over what do next and argued about it for several minutes, again forgetting they were on a live channel. 

3) People who I can only guess living in the house (can't see them) walk into the auction room asking random things like, I'm going to go get ice cream do you want anything. The auction person will have a whole conversation about the when and where. Or why is the dog barking and start yelling at the kids to feed the dog and they yell back they don't want to.  Guess some people find that entertaining!

I have also seen some that are very organized and prepared to do a live auction. Everything is clean, it's surprising how many sellers don't even take the goodwill stickers off. They have descriptions along with photos of all the items and there's not extra loud music in the background so you can hear them. Their auctions go fast, which I like. 

I won't start until next month when I'm back in California. Hopefully all of you will follow me there. You don't have to buy anything but just hang out. Guess a high body count gets you high up on the page. 

Wish me luck!

Small score at the GoodWill store.

It's been a challenge finding the thrift stores here on the island. What makes it hard is almost all of them have not updated their websites and that's if they even have one. I got a tip from a store owner for one of the church thrift store (Second Heaven) to look at their Facebook page. They did make a list of all the thrift stores on the island because they weren't going to reopen until September 3, 2022.  That is when I found out all of them aren't open all the time. Some are only open for four days a month. 

I went today to one called ReVive Boutique, women helping women, a non profit that trains women who have left an abusive relationship with job skills and clothing. It's only open on Thursday and Saturday. What the women in the program can't use is then pass on to the thrift store to help raise money to keep the program running. I did find several things I would have purchased (prices were very good) if I was going to check a bag. 

Since I was close to the GoodWill store I decided to pop in. I've been here several times and haven't found anything to resell so I wasn't excepting to find anything.  There was a very old box that someone had gone through and taken out whatever was in it. What was left were broken crystal animals. I still checked them out just in case. Then I found this Rinconada "Old Bat" figure at the bottom all wrapped up but it didn't have a price tag. I think the box went out on to the floor and the back room didn't check all the packing material for whatever was in the box. I'm not a fan of taking anything up to the counter without a price tag but the store was slow so I asked. She said .25, I thought I miss heard her and I said .25? Good thing I had my wallet as I don't normally carry any cash with me. total was .28 and I can flip this for $10-$20. 

Scrapbooking after all these years.

I don't even remember the last time I scrapbook a page, it's been years!

I've have a lot of great photo opts with the boys so I thought I would do page and frame it. I went to CVS and printed out some photos. It was so funny, I kept tapping the screen in the photo department and wondering why it wasn't working. Then I looked down and saw a very old mouse and realized that was what I was suppose to be using. :) 

At first I was going to use photos of the boys but if you enlarge a photo on your phone, it prints out very grainy. Mees's picuture didn't turn out well. Then I realized the wording was too high so I have to go back in and edit that too.  My photos also have t0 be printed out in a 6X6 format so I'll be in search of frame.  

Snap shots of time. 2022

I'm planning on doing a scrapbook page of the boys trip to Hawaii. It will be 3D as I want to add some heart shape coral to the photo. Plan to have it framed.  As I was thinking about how I would design it, I did what I call "postcards".  Photo editing software has become so much faster and easier to use now days. 

It amazing how many places Henky went with me in such a short period of time. It's sad to know he will remember none of it as he gets older. :(

This morning I watched a WhatNot auction happening here in Maui. They did it on the beach (Baby Beach), which I thought was so interesting!  On WhatNot a lot of the buyers are resellers. I was wondering where the Maui seller was getting their stuff because I haven't been able to find anything while I've been here. The more popular the channel, the higher prices they are able to get. It's interesting to see something they purchased for $5 sell for $25. 

Bugs grow big here in Hawaii!

Since it's now just me here, I can get an early morning walk in as soon as I wake up. The beach isn't crowded and with the sun not all the way up yet, it's not hot. 

I've been trying to keep the doors and windows open at night so the AC doesn't have to run. Jim put big stickers on the screen doors and I found out why. I accidentally left one of the sliding doors screens open. I know I looked at it several times (remember this is a big house) and thought the screen door was closed. I kept wondering why there were so many moths in the house, then I realized the screen was left opened! Then that night, I walked into the bathroom and a giant moth (Black Witch Moth) came swooping down. At first I thought it was a bat, it's that big.  After I regrouped my thoughts - it was a little shocking to see something that big flying around, I figured out it was the Hawaiian Black Witch moth. Some say it means death but the Hawaiians think it means a loved one that has pasted and is here to say goodbye. I think I'll go with the Hawaiian version. :) I'm sure there are a tons of geckos and lizards in the house as I see tons of them in the yard and on the screens. 

I was able to catch and release it after it came down from the 20 foot skylight. Hopefully it will survive after it's stressful night in my bathroom. 

Mini pick at the church in Paia

The house I'm at in Maui is very nice and has a great kitchen but you can tell it's not a cook's kitchen. Jim has owned the house for about 2 years but because of his wife's health issues they haven't spent much time here.

Today I went to the Buddhist Church in Paia to return port-a crib we borrowed for the boys. I also went to talk to them about what is takes to open a thrift store. They're currently running an auction for the next two weeks of the higher end stuff. The one down side to doing this type of auction is most of the items can't be shipped or they're afraid to ship them.  I think they would make a lot more money if they could ship.

They did allow me to do a little picking for things I wanted for the house. I made a point not to cherry pick out the good stuff but I did get to see it all. There was stuff there I would be willing to pay to have shipped back to California. 

 A few things I really wanted was plastic food storage containers (the house has none) large glass mixing bowls (set of 4 pyrex bowls for $20, a little over priced) and a really big coffee mug. These average size mugs are just a little to dainty for me and I really hate to refill my cup after I get the mixture for milk and coffee just right. The Hershey mug is twice the size of the mugs here at the house. Even Goodwill didn't have any coffee mugs, which surprised me.

A egg/mushroom slicer, it was new in the box but the box was super old and dirty and I know they won't get more than a $1 for it.  

Early morning walk on the beach

This morning was the first time I was able to get out of the house at sunrise and walk the whole beach. This wasn't something possible when the babies were here. Found two heart shaped coral pieces and thought of the boys. I think at some point I'll make something with them and mail it to them. 

Now that I can keep all the doors open at night, the morning birds will definitely wake you up. There is one bird who sounds like an alarm clock. He doesn't sing all day, just in the early morning. Going to drive to the church today to talk over opening a thrift store. On that part of the island has all the big stores and the only thrift store. I've been getting things on WhatNot as I continue to do my research. So far only one seller has been late getting the things shipped out so I'll see how WhatNot handles that issue. 

Early morning sounds - Hawaii 2022

Now with the kids gone to Holland, I can keep all the doors and windows open at night so the AC doesn't have to run. When Mees was here keeping the doors unlocked wasn't wise. Almost everything has solar here on the island so the cost isn't too bad but still I try to conserve where I can.

You can hear birds all day and night and sometime if it's really quiet you can hear the ocean. It's a calm beach overall so there aren't the crashing waves sounds unless there's a storm but then you wouldn't have your windows open. :)

Nice to be able to sit outside once again with my coffee and smoothie. I purchased a blender for the house knowing the boys liked their smoothies but they only used it once. Guess it made a hot mess outside so it wasn't a go after that. Now I'm trying to use up all the frozen fruit I got at Costco. I don't know when the next person will be at the house so I don't want to waste it. 

Still working on getting the house cleaned up. This morning all the floors are getting mopped. I'll do it again before I leave but want to make sure I get all the Popsicle drips wiped up. 

Life in Hawaii

Seaweed salad, shoyu poki, spicy shrimp

Since arriving in Hawaii I haven't eaten so much raw fish in years, maybe ever. Poki is basically a staple here and found in every store. Yesterday I drove into town to ship some things my daughter wanted to send off to her friend in Seattle so I stopped by FoodLand on my way back.  Food prices here are super high and even shocked me the first time. I use a frequent buyer card that comes with the house and every time it saves me about $20 and I don't even buy that much! Since I'm here I may as well enjoy all the seafood and what I got yesterday will last me several meals. I had hopes of going to some nice restaurants but it's not fun to dine alone. 

Since the kids are gone, I've been opening up the house at night as Jim (he owns the house) ask me to do so the AC isn't running all night. There is solar (as most of Hawaii is now) so that helps. When the kids were here, we really couldn't because Mees is a great escape artist and never know what he will get into if no one is watching.  It's nice the front yard is also a courtyard and after securing the from gate, even if he could get out of the house he wouldn't end up out on the street. It was little hard for me to leave all the doors and windows open after living in Alameda, but this is a gated community and very strict on what you can and can't do. Eyes watching everything. It is nice to hear all the birds and the ocean from the beach across the street. 

Quiet time here in Hawaii 2022

My first morning here in Hawaii without the kids and it's very very quiet! Enjoying the back patio area (house is a U shape with a courtyard in the middle) before it gets to hot. Will be spending the next few days getting the house cleaned up and washing all the bedding. I'll then close up most of the house as it's a really big place. Then trying to use up all the food before I leave in two weeks. I see lots of fruit smoothies in my future!

It was a little sad not hearing the little footsteps coming down the hall and opening my door and that little hand tapping on my shoulder to wake me up or books getting thrown on my head to read. I made the boys breakfast every morning so it was our time together and the only time Mees would eat everything on his plate. He snacks way too much during the day with his Dad to ever want to eat a full meal. Henk just likes to eat so he's happy whenever food is put in front of him but most of it ends up on the floor.  It was sad to know my daughter is moving to Holland and I won't get to see the boys grow up but it is a nice place to raise a family and they can afford to live there. This whole thing of being able to telecommute or I guess it's called working remote has real changed things!

Once again I'm on my own and no real idea where I'll set down roots. Hawaii is nice but I know I could never live here full time, island life isn't for me. I really do miss living Cupertino, having a garden, the asian stores on every corner and being close to Carmel.  I'm thinking if I go the Whatnot (online auction) route, I'll have to be closer to my consignment booth in Campbell. So lots to think about while I'm here in Hawaii and what I'll be doing when I get back to California. 

WhatNot 2022

Beautiful day at the beach!

While I've been here in Hawaii. I've been researching the new online app called WhatNot. At first it was a little weird to watch it but as the sellers have gotten better and more organized in presenting, I can see the value in giving it a try. I first signed up to buy to see how that all works and did purchase a few things. Didn't get any steals on anything but I see how that end of the auction works. 

Today I followed a big YouTuber called Hairy Tornado on WhatNot. He and his wife did a charity auction on WhatNot. It's for a non profit based in Honduras that teaches women life skills so they can break the chain of poverty. It was interesting to watch because WhatNot is an interactive and live site. During the auction an old package of jelly for a Hardy's restaurant was found in one of the jacket pockets. It was a vintage black leather fringe jacket, easy rider type.  Someone who was watching said they should auction it off and as a joke Josh (Hairy Tornado) did. It sold for $81! All the money goes to the charity so people were bidding way over retail for everything. WhatNot is also not charging their 8%  fee and donating $50 for everyone who signs up and uses their $15  bonus coupon. If I had to guess, I think they will make close to $500K! It was fun to watch an encouraging to see how generous everyone in supporting the cause. 

Update 8/11/22 Josh and his wife sold so many things it actual shut down the WhatNot site. They never had that many items sold by one person before and it over loaded their system. It makes it bad for Josh as he can't ship out as fast as you're suppose to. Hopefully everyone who ordered from him will understand. The good thing is that WhatNot released all the money so he could make the donation to the charity. Normally you get paid once the item is delivered.  

Strange Antique Store

While in Maui I've been looking for some vintage items at the few thrift store here. I haven't been able to find anything until I went to this store "Rich Dead People Things to Sell".  It's basically a warehouse of what I would call the good stuff. It's not a thrift store, more an overpriced antique store with prices way too high for me to even think of buying anything. It's a strange store because you have to pay $2 to shop there but it does have cool stuff so I felt it was worth it to look around.  I got to talking to the owner and he buys whole estates so I can understand people wanting to sell their stuff instead of donating it. We got to talking about doing WhatNot, eBay and auctions and there was a brief moment I thought maybe I would join his team and run the online sales. I read all the reviews on the store and this guy is a little creepy in some of his business dealings, so I decided not to continue the conversation. I also did the comps on the things I liked (I took pictures) when I got home and even if I got things at 60% off it still would be too high to resell. He marks things up super high just so he can "discount" it and make you feel your'e getting a deal. It's not a clean place at all, everything is covered in dust. It's a warehouse and the bay doors are always open so no surprise things are dirty. 

Big Score at the thrift store

I went to Rainbow Attic in Maui today. It does't get good reviews but it's close to the house so I stopped by. It's a consignment store so I think they should drop the thrift store listing. All the housewares stuff is almost full retail and they don't have a lot of trashy stuff on shelves. Everything is well curated, clean and the store is organized. Not a lot of plus sizes but that's true for most stores like this.

I was really surprised to see this stack of SU sets in the small craft section. I was even more surprised that each bundle of 5 ($10) were 50% off, so each one costed $1. I had to figure if shipping it back to CCB would be worth it and if I did the math right I should make a nice profit. Looks like none of these set were ever used so that's a plus too. Now in search of box and finding a post office to get these shipped out. If you see anything you want, I make you deal before it goes postal. :)

Update: Most of these set easily sell for over $20 on eBay, which I find very surprising. Hopefully some other eBay pickers will stop by CCB and buy them up. 

Beach Babies 2022

Henk enjoying a snack after his ocean swim

The grandkids are really liking the beach, especially floating around with mom and dad. I finally broke down and got a swimsuit at GoodWill (it was new and only $4) so I could take Henky out. Mees is too heavy for me to hold  when out in the water. 

Today is a sad day as my very much loved 2008 Lexus RX400 is going to it's new home. I sold it to my mechanic down in San Jose as I brought my daughter's car which is only a year old. If I move to the mountains, I need a newer car that can handle the icy roads and steep hills. There was a moment I thought I would keep my old car if I moved to Hawaii. The salty air here is really hard on cars so I wouldn't want to ship over a new one. 

The back seat of my car is in excellent contain as I always had it covered with double layers of dog shields. Annie had big feet with sharp claws and took up the whole back. Made me very sad when I took all the dog proofing things out of the car. Another era of when Annie was in my life now over. 

Quiet Beach Time

I finally got some quiet time at the beach this morning. I've been to the beach everyday since arriving but always had the boys in tow. Not sure why the beach last week was so crowded but this week it looks like mainly locals. You can tell by how tan everyone is. :)  I guess school is starting up again?  What was fun to see was a group of seniors just waded out with a noodle to just float around. It was like meeting at a coffee shop and just chatting away. 

The exciting thing was a dolphin went leaping into the air a few time very close to the group. I guess it's not the common so it was nice I got to see it!

Island fabric stores.

I went to check out the GoodWill store here in Maui, just to get a feel of what the donations would be like for the church. It was very slim pickings, as almost everything there was from the Target Clearance section. I'm concerned that the church won't be able to get a steady flow of items to do a successful eBay store or even a physical one. 

Everything is cluster in the business section of town, so I stopped off at Fabric Mart, which was just around the corner. I don't know why I was so shocked to see all the bright colors and interesting fabric choices. I did find some brown spotted cow fabric (that was my mom's lucky charm) so I just had to get it. Then I decided to design yet again another baby quilt. The boys all have their quilts so this one I think will go to a cousin in Texas. Thinking of doing a modify Texas Star pattern.