Coffee Hack

I grew up in a home with the  wonderful smell of  Folgers coffee. I love the smell but I don't really like the taste of coffee. I add Trader Joe's chocolate oat milk to make my version of a mocha. :) 

I use the pour over method because it takes less space on my counter. I know I should be using a burr grinder but again I don't have a lot of space for a machine that size. It's always hit or miss if my coffee will turn out, so I did a little research on why. Because I use a regular coffee bean grinder, my coffee grounds are uneven, which can cause all sorts of problems. To correct that ( f your'e too cheap to buy a burr grinder) is to sift you grounds to get a uniform blend. The YT I watched was a guy who uses this method when he's at home that doesn't take making coffee as seriously as he does. Basic kitchen tools are used so I thought why not give it a try. Have to say this morning's coffee turned out pretty good! It's any extra step that I may not do every time but at least I know now how to fix the problem. 

Crazy Pyrex People

I have two sets of these Pyrex bowls. One for sale at the store and the other online. 

The same customer keeps coming in and asking if I would break the set up and sell the yellow bowl. I've always said no because it took me two years to get a compete set. She's been told that the yellow bowl is the easiest one to find in good condition. The blue and red ones are harder because people started putting them in the dishwasher. You can see the blue one is very faded. I finally I said yes I would sell the the bowl for $45 just to keep her from asking about it every time she comes in. The whole set it $150.00. She can always go to all the Goodwill stores everyday for months and she will find one sooner or later. 

I'm always surprised how much Pyrex goes for at the auction houses, resellers (especially new ones) pay top dollar without really understanding what their profit margin will be. Ok rant over.

I am on the hunt (best part of reselling) for a very rare hostess pyrex set. It was one that was never sold, but given as gift by the company. It's not flashy or even very pretty but there are very few of them around. My hope is because it's not pretty, it will get over looked at an estate sale. 

Uranium Glass

Clear glass is hard to resell and most dealers won't touch it. Sometimes you can tell if it's uranium glass if it has a hint of purple. The only way you can be sure is to use a UV light. I would have picked this one up if I could have found the mate since selling one candlestick is even harder.

I had good luck selling clear uranium glass on Whatnot because I could show the glow. Now with the new shipping restrictions, which really hurts those of us that sell breakables,  I have to rethinking if I can sell glass anymore. Still it's fun to flash things at the thrift store and see what glows. :)

On the hunt for books for the grandkids.

I went to all the Goodwill stores in my area looking for children books. Before my grandsons moved to Holland they had a very nice library but the cost of shipping books there had to be a big purge. So my goal is to have a nice selection of books for  then when they visit in a few months.  Mess has always liked reading and his favorite subject now is trucks. Henk hasn't had the advantage of getting a lot of one on one time with his parents, so he doesn't enjoy reading as much as Mees. I'm not sure what Henky will like so I'm getting a wide range of books for him. 

I picked up a box of books on Next Door so I'm going through cleaning everything and deciding what to keep. The ones that don't make the cut will go into those little neighborhood library.

The sad thing is I know GW gets tons of books everyday.  There are only a few shelves of books in any of the stores if they have a book section at all. Most of the books are sold off by the pallet loads or just sent to the bins to be disposed of.

Hardbacks $2.69 Paperbacks $1.99

As everyone knows the prices at GW have gotten crazy. This little cat cup from Daiso (Japanese dollar store) was 2 for $1 new and now at GW it's  $2.19 for just one. 

Sushi Rice and Waffles - why?

Yes, I watch a lot of YT videos on cooking and I've seen some pretty wild stuff. 

If you grew up with a rice cooker you know all about the crisp (burnt) part of the rice either at the bottom of your pan or when you made fried rice with the leftovers. 

Seeing a mini waffle maker being used with sushi rice looked interesting and I was able to borrow a waffle maker.  Thinking maybe it was something I could make for the boys when they come to visit this winter I wanted to try it. 

Here's my take on this new tread. Your'e basically making a plate (because it tastes that bland) to hold all those $$$ sushi ingredients you have to pile on top. It takes about 10 minutes to make one waffle so it's not a very family friendly either. 

Why would you even want a waffle maker this small? Would you only really eat one waffle at a time this size?

I just went back to the old fashion way and made a sushi bowl  with all the leftovers I had. 

Amazing photo Carmel 2023

photo by Xu Dong

Isn't this an amazing photo!?! It was taken by Xu Dong from Los Altos. It's the lone Cypress  tree in Carmel with the Milky Way in the sky. I'm not sure if he used filters (guessing maybe he did) but it's an impressive photo. 

I don't do any editing when I take photos even if I knew how. :) I like to use natural light and setting when I can. I do add more lighting when doing indoor still shots, but that's only to get more of the details to show. 

Yeah, I'm one of the those people who look at the backgrounds of photos with just as much interest as the main subject. When I take a photo, I'm looking at the background with just as much interest as the main subject. 

During the Jonny Depp trial, I was very interested in hearing what the video expert had to say about how he can tell when a video or photo has been edited and how many times it has been. How far away from the original it is.  We all know there's always a digital stamp on everything taken with you phone (location, time etc...) but how you go about getting finding it was interesting.  

When I saw this Carmel photo, the very first thing I asked myself was if he edited in the Milky Way. The only reason I even thought of that was I've never seen a photo taken from this angle with the Milky Way this clear. 

Blank Garden Canvas

After spending a weeks pulling out decades of overgrown bamboo, I now have a blank canvas to do something with. I know I can't really plant anything yet as the bamboo will still need to be pulled out as the sprouts come back. It will take a long time to get it under control if ever. On the other side of the fence is the original bamboo field.  

I would like to have a water feature but it would have to be solar since there is no power outlet close by but there isn't enough sunlight to run a panel. I'm thinking of maybe making a totem pole thingy. So every morning while I drink my coffee, I look at this bare patch of dirt hoping that today will be the day I find something to make it pretty. 

It's sewing time!

I went to FabMo yesterday in search of fabric to make a table tent for the boys. It took a little searching in the back room racks but I found some great light weight cotton canvas cloth for only $2.50 a yard! They also had the velcro I need to hang the scenic panels. I'm going to have to book some time down at the Carmel House because I don't have enough space here to sew up the tent. So excited to get this project started. 

I'm also helping another crafter in selling off her dead stock and crafting supplies. She had a stack of those fancy crafting magazines for alter doll making. I found this one artist (Ruth Rae) who made clothes for her dolls. I found this machine stitching of words interesting. I'm going to give it a try and see how hard this is to do. No idea what I will do with what I spell out but it will be fun to give it a try!

Table Tent

Yet another project to keep me distracted from not working on getting rid of my dead stock. My little studio is a hot mess with things everywhere in various stages of sorting. 

I've been gathering up toys and things for when the boys come to visit. While I was scrolling through YouTube (another distraction) I saw this table tent for kids. Looks simple enough to sew if I can find the heavy weight canvas cotton cheap enough. I got lucky and FabMo has the fabric for $3.00 a yard!  

I finally decided to keep the outside plain and get these light weight wall tapestries for the inside. The boys can decided what theme they want and I'll make it easy enough to switch out depending on their mood.  I'm guessing it's going to be too bulky for my daughter to take back to Holland so keeping it simple it can be given to another family to enjoy. Now off the figure out the yardage I'll need. 

Finally cooking all those pinto beans

I've been getting so many bags of pinto beans from my brother, I decided it was time to at least try and cook with them.  I didn't grow up eating dry beans at all. growing up on a farm we ate everything fresh from the vine, so I really didn't know what to do with dried beans.

Found a recipe online and I had most of the spices, so I just went for it.  I knew enough that you have to soak them overnight so it does take a little planning.  I went a little over board with the very hot but small red chilies which I keep forgetting are super hot! I used the bacon I had but I could see how big chucks of ham would have been nice. I have to say it does make the house smell great and a good things to make when you have to stay home. 

Vintage toys and more.

When I FaceTime with my grandsons, it's usually at dinner time for them. If forks are being used, it always turns into a sword fight.  As I prepare for their visit in November, I've been looking for toy trucks (their favorite) while I'm sourcing. I found this vintage boxing game and picked it up, hoping that at least Mees would be old enough to play with it. Maybe boxing instead of jabbing each other with a fork will save an eye!

As I decided if I should keep selling on WhatNot, now that they changed how shipping rules, I've been purging my dead stock. Several boxes have gone off to the thrift stores and I only have a few more to go through. Shipping breakables has just gotten too expensive to be profitable.  My sales at CCB are good but it takes a lot of time for something to sell.

In my search for toys for the boys, I found the resell value of used toys to be pretty good. Buying new is $$$ and parents don't seem to mind if the toy is in used condition. I found this metal Tonka truck for only $8.59 at the Goodwill store. New this one sells for around $40.00. It's in excellent condition and I can only guess this child didn't play with it very much. I'm going test its value on Facebook Market Place. Good toys is something I rarely see at the thrift store and I can only guess either they don't last, kids around here don't play outside in the dirt or picked up very quickly by other resellers. 

Buzz

This is Buzz, the sweet old lab I babysit all the time. One of the activities I do with Buzz is sharing popcorn out by the pool. Buzz loves popcorn. While we sit outside I also get to check out all the birds that fly into the yard and count all the wild bunnies. Yes, there are a lot of bunnies!

I was so exhausted when I came home last night and I could figure out why.  I realized that being at such a big house, I do a lot of walking. I should have carried my phone around more to see how many miles I actually walk while in the house!  When I'm there I don't really do all that much but I'm alway on alert to keep track of Buzz because of his healthy issues. Sleeping of course is also an issue for us so we're both up very early, like 4:30 am early. Still I really enjoy hanging out with the old guy!

Another round of dried fish

When I babysit Buzz (elderly white lab) I like to make special treats for him. One is his favorites (and it was Annie's too) is the dried fish which now called "Stinky Fish". It takes about 48 hours in the dehydrator and yes it really smells until the fish is completely dry. 

This is something I can only do when there's enough indoor space to run the dehydrator (it's a big one) and time to air everything out. 

Buzz has the prefect house, large garage where is safe to leave the garage door open for most of the day and even more importantly large sink to wash the trays. The other bonus is that Buzz who normally spends all day sleeping will stay awake waiting for his fish treats. Normally he will get up in the middle of night but being up all day, he's sound asleep until 5:30 am.  I'm going to make the round today and drop of fish for all those special dogs and whose owners don't mind the smell. :)