Branching out in artwork

I've been looking for a big piece of artwork for my new place but haven't found anything yet. I really would put up a mirror that I have but it's too heavy to do myself and I'm too cheap to hire a handyman. :)

I've been paying more attention to the art lots at the auction houses so I decided to branch out and  start picking up smaller artworks for my booth and WhatNot. The smaller artwork isn't as damaged as the bigger pieces and the price point isn't as high. I know a lot of them are from vacation travels but I have very good luck selling Dutch items so I'm guess good art will sell. Will let you know if I have any luck! 

My next Whatnot show is on Wednesday and it's another glow show. 

Auction Weekend

This weekend there were two auctions. The big one at DGW auction in Sunnyvale and a mini one through MaxSold. The smaller one was in a very unsafe area in downtown San Jose, so I won't be going there again. They had OK stuff but not so great I'm willing to make the drive. 

At DGW I picked up two huge lots of Fostoria glass and everything glowed green. It was interesting when I went to pick up my lots on Sunday, I met two other resellers. One was an antique store owner and he is someone I must have been bidding against. He passed on all the lots I got because he didn't know they glowed and I passed on a few of the lots he got because I didn't see the Blenko glass bowl. There were other lots I wanted but the bidding went too high.  We had a nice chat about my UV flashlight. He knew of the line of glassware I got but didn't know it glowed. Of course is doesn't show well in the regular retail setting so I can understand he doesn't carry a UV flashlight. As we were talking another reseller heard us talking about WhatNot (reason clear glass sells well for me) and started asking questions. It was nice that even with us bidding against each other at the auction we could have a nice chat about what's going on in the reselling world. 

Making Wool Dryer Balls

One of the projects I wanted to get done was to make some more wool dryer balls. A few years ago I started out with 5 but now I was down to 1. The dryer at my new place doesn't heat up at all so until it gets fixed, I thought it would be a good time for me to make these. Finding 100% wool that doesn't break the bank isn't easy. I shopped around at several places but didn't find anything. 

I remembered that FabMo gets yarn donations and even if I thought it was a little pricey,( I don't knit) it was going to support a good cause.  These three skeins made 5 balls, so I think I'm all set. It was a nice activity to do while I was babysitting the big fur babies and watching trashy TV. :)

Green Tea Salad - Fail

I really like Burmese green tea salad when I go out to eat at a local restaurant. It looks simple enough so I gave it a try at home. I didn't have all the ingredients so I used what I had, which of course was a mistake. The cabbage was on the old side  too so that didn't help. Everything went out into the compost pile. :(

I looked up another recipe that requires the dressing to ferment over night, which sounds better. I'm also going to break down and buy the very $$$ dried shrimp. I was at Ranch 99 and they had several types of dried shrimp but for the little bit that I would need I couldn't bring myself to spend $14 for a little bag. I'm going to have to look up more recipes that use dried shrimp!

The restaurant that make the salad I like now sells it as a kit, which I think is a great idea. 

One thing I did learn from all this was how to make fried garlic oil and I can't use my smoothie blender to chop up my peanuts. It turned the peanut into powder in a nano second. I don't have a food processor anymore (haven't used it in years) so I'll have to chop them up the old school way. 

My first sold out show

Last night I had my very first show to sell out. It's a long story about how that all happened.

Towerofvintage is another reseller on WhatNot. She lives in Alaska in a 600 sqf cabin and she has a really big following. This point is important. 

Last month she was in Portland (not sure why) and her hotel room was robbed. I think she said the hotel double booked her room and whoever that another person was took everything she had in the room. 

So another big WN seller JDA heard about this (their WN friends) and did a show with all the sales going to Towerofvintage (about $2,000) so she could replace her laptop (can't do WN without a computer) and replace her stolen inventory. 

She's on WN restocking her WN store and I happen to be one of the shows she shopped at. Because she has a big following she can buy from me (my prices are super low) and flip them on her shows for almost full retail and make a nice profit.  She purchased so much I had to learn how to unbundle a shipment because I didn't have a box big enough for all the stuff she purchased. I did throw in some extra things to help her out too.

I did tell myself if I have to good show I would go down to the Carmel House next week. I think this counts as a good show. :)

I'm still one the fence because a big storm system with high winds in coming through and that would mean power outages down in Carmel. 

It's so nice to see people helping out other sellers on WN!

Beef Stew Time

With an another big storm coming through town this week, I decided to make my version of beef stew. I don't eat a lot of beef any more (bbq steak was  my go to protein back in the day) as the prices have gone through the roof and I don't have a bbq anymore. 

To me nothing smells better than browning beef in butter! I have a ton of veggies from my brother so I only had to pick up the stew beef. Turned out very tasty but of course I was also very hungry. :) So happy to have leftovers!

Never lost power with all the high winds last night but did lose my wifi for a little bit during my WhatNot show. 

Frog eating continues.

Current project box

I'm slowly eating all those little frogs that have been hiding in every corner of my studio for years. I finally went through all the DMC thread I have collected over the years. When I moved to Alameda I had the floor space and didn't have to worry about Annie getting into anything, I sort out everything by number and put them in little baggies where they sat. Last night for several hours I started putting them in order in those embroidery thread boxes. I have 8 full boxes, which is way more than anyone needs!  I hope to start using up what I have and give away the colors I would never use. 

I've been making cards with my thread because it uses up a lot of thread. It also keeps me from falling into the social media rabbit hole of mindless scrolling.  I at least feel a little productive when I'm making something. :)

I also did a deep clean of my kitchen area.  The landlord said the pace was cleaned (I think by his wife) it wasn't even close to what I would call clean.  Everything got scrubbed down and washed. Yes I can flash a UV light in my kitchen now and not find anything nasty. 

 I know when you first move into someplace new, you just put things wherever and most of the time people never reorganize the space.  I knew at some point I would come back to putting things where it made sense to how I use the kitchen. So I tackled that and now have a clean and fully functional kitchen space. 

Eating one frog at a time.

I've been debating whether I should go down to the beach house in a few weeks. In the past I wouldn't have hesitated in going. Loading up my car with crafty projects (which I never did) and having Annie sitting in the car for hours on her bed waiting for us to leave. But now with her gone and not having a regular job (steady income) I have to think twice about going. The thrifting down there isn't good with the prices being way too high to flip so I can't tell myself I'm going to source new inventory.  

I could keep doing my WhatNot shows down there but that means loading up my car with all my stuff which is a lot of stuff!

I decided to challenge myself to get all those little projects I've had on the back burner done. My reward for eating all those frogs (and I have a lot) would be going down to the beach house.  

For years I've had plans to make these cross stitch cards. Having downloaded the pattens into my Pinterest folder. I finally stitched up the brown spotted cow (my mom's lucky charm) and a few other patterns and made them into cards.  Everything is bagged up and ready to go to my card rack at Cottage Crafts. 

Carrot Soup

With all the veggies I've been getting from my brother, I've had to find ways to do something with them. 

I do give away what I can't use but even then I can't always find someone to take the overflow.

I usually get a tons of carrots and onions which as a single person can only eat so many. I started making soup with what I had because surprisingly it takes a lot of carrots to make on bowl. Back in the day I had every kitchen gadget you could think of because I had a huge kitchen to store everything. Now days with all my down sizing and moving, I only have the bare essentials. Carrots don't mush down like the acorn squash so I was wondering how I could blend this to make it smooth. Chucky carrot soup doesn't look all the pleasant. I've been making my fruit smoothies in a Nutri blender so I gave that try and of course it work like a charm! 

Weird and creepy

I had to go to the post office yesterday to mail off a birthday present. I didn't have any plans to go thrifting but I was close to  a favorite Goodwill store so I popped in. There wasn't much there as usual so as I was leaving I noticed this very weird and scary face. I had no plans to buy it but just wanted to see what the face was made of. As I turned it over thinking the base was made of wood I realized it was a giant vertebra and the face must be bone. That had to be one big animal! It will be interesting to see how much I can sell it for! Any guess what I'll get for it?

Acorn Squash Soup -2023

I was given several small acorn squashes and it's not something I cooked with. I was going to just compost them but after removing the seeds (going to plant those out in the yard and don't ask me why) I decided to roast them. That turned out just OK. I got the bright idea of making soup since I had nothing to lose if that didn't turn out. What I didn't know was roasting the vegetables before hand makes all the difference in soup making.. My acorn squash soup turned out great! I have a ton of carrots, so I'm going to make that tonight and roasting is key to making flavorful soup at least from what I've been reading. Will let you know if that turns out. 

The one that got away.

The Michaan auction was this week and I still look at the catalog even with the auction house being over an hour away. It would have to be something super special for me to make that drive. It's not so much the driving but having to go through a very rough part of town to get there. 

I talk a lot about how I love the smell of coffee but I really don't like the taste. Growing up with the smell of fresh coffee being made every morning just makes me happy. I did watch the bidding on this over sized Folger coffee can (the brand my parents liked) which I knew would sell for good money. You can see the final price of $140 but you also have to add in all the fees and taxes, so it probably top off at $200.00.  I would have seriously considered it but I also have to factor in the cost of gas to go pick it up. There wasn't anything else in the auction I would paid top dollar for so I had to pass on it.

Did a WhatNot jewelry auction last night which was a total bust with zero sales. Since I had the time, I decided to see if I could sell off some more cookbooks before I donate them away.  I sold a few but the best part was I had a nice chat with someone about all the weird things he's eaten as a food writer. Now I just have to get motivate to get things tagged and in my booths at CCB.

Big score of packing material - happy dance

One of the downsides to shipping breakables is sourcing enough packing materials. My profit margins are so small that any expense I can avoid is helpful.  Someone posted on Facebook marketplace free moving boxes and packing paper. The boxes go quickly if free as people do resell them. I just took a chance and ask only for the paper. The person who picked up the boxes didn't want the paper, so I was in luck to get the paper. It totally filled up my car (I drive a very big car) and then my studio. I think it will last me at least a month which is super! It was also a good day thrifting as I found things at all the place I stopped at and that's a very rarely happens!  Now the task of selling everything.

I'm in a dilemma if I should go down to the Carmel House for a week. I really don't want to have to pack up my car (I do that almost everyday) so I can keep on working but it's such a pain to haul all my stuff around. It's not good to take a break from my auction schedule as I now have some followers. The thrift stores down in Carmel aren't good for resellers so I can't be sourcing while there. So what would you do?

Super Bowl Sunday?

Steak, eggplant, mushrooms, spinach

This is how I spent my Super Bowl Sunday. Really, I wouldn't even know the super bowl was happening if people didn't post about it! Guess you can tell I don't follow sports. :) 

I was babysitting these old guys this weekend and we just pretty much crash on the sofa at the end of the day. I do try and keep them active during the day but being very old dogs there's only so much one can do. 

I made one of my favorite meals since I had access to a BBQ grill. Steak, marinated eggplant, mushrooms (Julia Child's way) and fresh spinach. I use to make this all the time when I lived up in the hills with Annie. My grill was always set up and gave Annie more time to be outside. I hoping to set something up here at my new place but it's very low on my list of things to get done. 

So who won the game?

How we chill at the end of the day

Working on restocking

It's been hard to restock my jewelry booth. The costume jewelry lots everywhere are going for insane prices! This was a small lot I picked up on MaxSold this past weekend for $10.00.  I didn't have any high hopes there would be anything super good in it but it had been curated, so nothing super junky either. I think I will be able to double my money but in the world of reselling that's a very low profit margin. I'll first try and sell it on WhatNot, so that I at least get my investment back. What is left (which I'm sure will be a lot) will go to my booth at Cottage Crafts. Really need to refresh the inventory there. 

The theme for my WN show is "under the sea" since another jewelry lot I picked up was all sea shells. This woman must have gone to Hawaii a lot from the tags still on some of the pieces.   It's very common here for people to go to Hawaii since it's only a 5 hour direct flight. 

CO alarm going off

This morning at 3:30 am my CO alarm went off. Always an interesting way to wake up!  I opened all the windows and double checked the batteries in the smoke detector. I know the batteries are new but I thought I would double check anyways. It wasn't the normal beep beep when the batteries get low.

Of course with all that happening I really couldn't go back to sleep. I did a quick pop up show on WhatNot with my cookbooks but no one showed up, no surprise there. I made my go to breakfast - gluten free bagel paned fried in olive oil (because I don't have a toaster) munster cheese and avocado. I do prefer my gluten free bagel to be toasted in the pan as it makes them soft but crisp around the edges.  I topped everything off with a big mug of coffee and a fruit smoothie. Now let's hope the rest of my day doesn't have any excitement involving alarms or near death experiences!

February 8 - a happy and sad day.

Today is a sad day for me. 

I look at my Facebook memories page everyday to see what I had posted in the past. I didn't realize that February 8, was a date so many things happened. I got Annie as a 8 week old puppy (2010) on this date and it was also the day I scattered her ashes at her favorite place 11 years later. This wasn't a a planned.  The sunset photo is a one in a million shot I got a few years before Annie passed away. That splash you see in the background is her ball hitting the water.  When I took this photo I knew my time with Annie was coming to an end and this photo reflects that feeling. 

There isn't a day that goes by I don't miss her and I so grateful that she was a part of my life for all those years.  

Crab season is here 2023

One my favorite times of the year is Dungeness crab season! When I go grocery shopping, I try and pick up one  new item to try but this time it was three crabs. Yes, more than one person can eat at one time but I'm OK with having crab for lunch and dinner. :)

I had my first cookbook show on Whatnot last night and I talked about living in California and how it effects how we cook. Living in an area with an Asian market on every corner and a vegetable growing season that is almost year round, I'm able to make all those "exotic" recipes from far away places. Sold 15 books, which I think is pretty good for my first time. Now just have to decide if I should keep selling cookbooks! I have to admit that I like to read cookbooks, even if I don't actual make any of the recipes. :) 

Another raining day

I had plans to work out in the garden today but I didn't check the weekly weather report. Didn't realize it was going to rain!  My front yard is a major work in progress and it will take a long long time to get it to produce anything. Getting the soil heathy again is the first step and that will take some time. Since I'm renting I'm not going to invest in bringing in good soil, instead I'm going old school and slowly composting my fruit and veggie scraps directly into the ground. Being a single person I can only generate so much. Some onions are popping up from my composting, which I see as a win! I'm slowly working on planting some hard landscaping plants. Bird of paradise and rosemary (from a friend's garden) around the edges of the garden. All hardy plants and hopefully will soften the look of the yard. I'm thinking of maybe getting a bird feeder but I'm on the road so much not sure I should start that. I also don't have a window that looks directly out into the garden, so I wouldn't really see and bird activity. When I was babysitting the labs, they feed the little birds, which you can see from the big kitchen window. The little birds chirping away was such a pleasant way to start my morning!

Not having Annie around who wanted to spend all her free time outside or at least sitting out by the front door, I don't spend anytime outside anymore. :(

I've noticed that some of my favorite YouTubers are starting to say "uhm" a lot when they do voice overs, so much so it's painful to watch their videos. I've gone back and watched some of my old WhatNot auctions to see if I do the same thing. Thankfully I'm not prone to that speech glitch, but I do say "so" a lot. :) Always a work in process!