Babysitting the old boys

Boys enjoying the great weather

I'm dog sitting these two old guys for the week. It's surprising how old habits from own a big dog come back. Going to the bathroom and having everyone follow you in, like you may get lost. Laying in the middle of the kitchen while you're cooking and having to step over them. Getting up before sunrise to open the door for them to go potty and get their breakfast going. Being senior dogs, I have to be careful not to over exercise them as much as Woody would like to play fetch. His old bones just can't take it anymore. 

When Annie passed away, I noticed that I didn't have any more birds in my gardens. A bird vet tech told me it was because their protector wasn't there anymore. This morning I realized when Woody is out in the backyard all the big birds (mainly crows) aren't hanging around the feeders keeping the smaller birds away. Even with him barking, the little birds don't care, they happily peck away.  Brings back memories for my Annie just chilling out in our zen garden with all these little birds jumping all around her. 

So I may have all my stuff in my new place but there's still a whole lot of unpacking to be done! Still looks like a storage unit. I stop by my place for a few hours trying to get things out of the cardboard boxes but I don't like leaving the boys for too long.

Nomad life coming to an end.

My life as a nomad is finally coming to an end. So grateful to the friends that made it possible for me to roam around until I found something. I'm also grateful I had the resources to live this type of life style for several months as stressful as it was.

I found a little hole in the wall place in Cupertino. Main house was built in the 1960's and the in laws unit (maybe it was a second garage back in the day?) was built around the same time. The lot was originally very large (well it still is large) so I have a little orchard in front of my place. It's not been kept up (owners of the property aren't good at gardening) so once I'm settled in, I'll tackle bringing the orchard back to life.

The place is not pretty but it has almost everything I was looking for. It will be a slow process getting it to someplace I can call home. 

I'm currently down in Carmel and the weather here is perfect! I'm getting ready to close up the house as I have to be back in Cupertino this weekend for the movers and then off to dog sit for a friend. 

Slim Pickings in Carmel

seriously $50?

It's been slim picking here in Carmel. I know at the high end thrift stores the price will be high because they curate everything that comes in. They also have a customer base to support their prices. Things are clean and in good condition plus in a very nice area.  

What I don't understand is the thrift stores in very sketchy areas (really have to be sure you want to get out of car) that are charging full antique store prices. Just because it's listed online for $50 doesn't mean it will sell for that much. The chances of you getting that one collector in who will pay that price is pretty slim. The traffic you get into your store is very slow. I did a quick search on the cookie jar and sure enough it was for sale online for $50. Going for all the money and having a slow sell through rate isn't always the best options. The only time I find something to flip, is something you can't easily find online. I did pay up for this frog ashtray ($10) because I thought it was funny but I should be able to flip it for $20. Can't find it anywhere online which is the only reason it wasn't double the price. 

Still in search of a place to call home

Working on getting my qi back in balance

I'm so bummed out and my qi (so I've been told) is so out of whack. I thought I had a place all lined up in Saratoga (an ADU) but the current tenant decided to sub-lease it to his son - or at least that is what he's telling the landlady. Personally I think  he's sub leasing it because if his son really got into Stanford, he's a little far from the campus. I would think he would want to be in the dorms or at least close.

I'm staying down here in Carmel while I search for the place to live in Cupertino but it's not been easy. Everyone wants to rent to an Apple or Google employee with hopes that they will be working remotely somewhere else most of the time but still be willing to pay the high rents. Had the same problem up in Incline, everyone wanted a high tech person who they hoped would only use the place a few days a week. 

So I'm back to square one again and looking :( 

Is it real carnival glass?

may be carinval glass?

I found out at one Goodwill store I stop at all the time, (while I'm here in San Jose) the good stuff comes out on the carts. It's very rare for me to find anything on the shelves. I'm not a full time shark but I will circle around the store a few times to see if a cart will come out. I've even gotten out of line at the check out counter is a cart comes out. 

I'm not 100% sure about this carnival glass looking bowl. It's super heavy, which isn't normal for most carnival glass. I'm also not sure if it's a flash coating on it. It's a mystery to me and the Google searches I've done, give it mixed reviews. 

Halloween in Holland

My daughter didn't want the boys to miss out on Halloween now that they live in Holland. She asked several of the neighbors if they would willing to participate in this American tradition and she would supply the candy. Mees and Henk's cousins also went trick or treating with them and I'm sure they think this American holiday is a keeper!