Coddled Eggs

There was an estate sale that happened this weekend in my neighborhood but I wasn't planning on going because it was being done by a local high end estate company = $$$$. From the photos they published online, the estate had some very nice things but I know everything was priced over retail. 

On the last day of every estate sale, things are usually 50% off. I decided to stop by just to see what was left. It was very slim pickings but I did manage to fill a box. When I went to check out the first totally was $120.  I said nope, she went down to $100. I seriously looked down at the box and said "I'm a reseller and the profit margin is so narrow on this box (which was true), it isn't worth $100 so I'll pass on the box".  She was a little shocked that I would walk away. I knew they only had another two hours before the sale was over so I offered $50.  I still think was a little high but I did really want these egg coddlers. 

One of the things I've been looking for is a pair of egg coddlers. I want to make some for the boys when they come out to visit but it takes 8 minutes to cook an egg. Having two would make things go a little faster as we all know toddlers who are hungry can be little cranky. They original had these tagged for $18 each, which is over retail. Even at $9 I still wouldn't have picked them up. They're vintage and I'm pretty sure they were never used to make eggs. Can't tell you the exact price, as there were several other things in my box, but it couldn't be more than a few dollars. 

There was a lot of nice paintings and artwork that wasn't selling, and that was sad. Artwork doesn't sell well on the secondary market. 

Gnomes at Home - Continue

I'm still working on my "Gnomes at Home" project. 

One of the ideas is for the gnome to leave a note in his house with clues as to where one of their many treasures are buried out in the yard. Some will be marked with a little flag. It will help them learn colors and shapes. 

 I asked a quilter friend for some of her scraps and we all know quilters have a huge stash of scraps!  I cut them into triangles and I will also stamp images on some of them. 

I needed bamboo skewers for the stakes, so I went to ranch 99.  I'm also putting together a birthday basket for my son with all the strange Asian snacks that I find that will fit into 12" shipping box. Came across some interesting KitKats (he has a sweet tooth) so picked up everything but the green tea one. I know that one doesn't taste to good IMO. While I was visiting a friend we were sitting out in her gazebo and she said she brings out her sewing machine to sew there when the weather is nice. I gave it a try here at Buzz's house and it was lovely!

Now I'm off to paint the little "lion, witch and wardrobe" cabinet I have for another finding place for the gnome!  

While I'm babysitting Buzz, I'm also taking care of all the rat traps. You can't feed all these birds on property this big and not have rodents running around. The traps are very $$$ but they work super well. The best part is how easy it is to remove the rodent without having to touch it. 

I'm working on making friends with the local crows, so when I get a rat or mouse, I leave it out back for them to snack on. They do clean it up super fast so it's not as gross as it sounds. I think I'll add this to my Christmas list. :) 

Child's Cookbook Finally Found!

I think learning how to cook is a life skill everyone should learn. I can't believe how many people I run into who know nothing about taking basic ingredients and make a meal. 

I've been in search for a child's cookbook, written for a preschooler, meaning easy, edible and with pictures. I like cooking with a real cookbooks and hopefully I can instill that love to my grandson. Yes you can look everything up online but to me it's not the same. 
I'm prepping for the boys visit this winter and one of the things I want to is have the learn to follow a recipe. I got lucky and found this 30 year old book at GW in excellent condition. It was exactly what I was looking for! 

sushi and Hawaii macaroni salad

It's Obon season for all the Buddhist churches here in the Bay Area, so the Japanese super markets are running specials on all the festival type foods. One thing I love about living here and one of the big reasons I moved back is for all the ethic grocery stores. I made sushi rice and yes there is rice under all those toppings. 

With the weather being so hot, I also made Hawaii macaroni salad. 

Monterey Bay Ocean Theme Checked Off

I was pretty excited to find these Monterey Bay Aquarium (these are an exclusive toy made for the aquarium) stuffed animals at GoodWill, $4.99 each. 

Sea Otter, Turtle and a Sting Ray.   

I did use a UV light to check that I wasn't bringing home any creepy crawly but my daughter still insisted that everything be washed, which I did. 

We do plan to visit the aquarium and I would guess we'll make a few trips since the boys are too young to handle being there all day. I also have an ocean theme panel for the table tent and a few books about sea creatures so I can check this unit off my list. 

Gnome at home vs elf on the shelf

Working on another creative project for when my grandsons come to visit this fall. It's my take on elf on a shelf but my version will be "gnome at home". It goes along with the mushroom theme panel for the table tent I still have to sew. 

With all the huge oak trees down at the Carmel house, I thought it would be fun to make some interactive gnome houses. I found some bird houses at Joanne's fabric which looks like the ones my dad use to make so that was a happy score.  Having a door that opens, it part of the plan.  It was a little bit of a challenge finding someone who could do it since I don't have any saws small enough.

Tami (the owner) at Cottage Crafts was up for it (true crafter) and looks like she can even hinge the doors. 

The plan is for the boys to leave something for the gnome everyday and the gnome will be leave something for them in return.

Doodling and book binding

A favorite YT artist I follow,  "the Frugal Crafter" announced a week trip to France. Spend the whole time watercoloring at a villa made just for artists. For a brief moment I thought about how fun it would be to go but then I remembered I don't really know how to paint. Ok, I can do a great Jackson Pollack but then anyone can paint in his style. :) I really have to get my skill level up to at least know how to mix color and use my brushes. 

I've been trying to sell this Zutter book binding machine that came from my friend's stash with no success. A few flakes online wanted it but never followed through in buying it. One of the down sides to selling on Facebook market place. After looking (and tripping over) at this Zutter machine for months, I decided I would bind up some watercolor paper for world watercolor month which is this month.  The books fit nicely in the huge tub of watercolor paints and maybe with the books ready to go, I'll actually paint something. I really enjoy the book binding process so I know I'll be making more. 

Last night at Buzz's house we binged watch "Chopped" season 3. I started practicing doodling (Sandy Allnock has great YT videos on this) to help get me in the creative mood. I've started with a fine tip sharpie but I hope to move up to a fountain pen. I have dozens of fountain pens I've collected over the years so it would be nice to at least use of few of them at least once!

More stinky fish

Yes, making another batch of stinky fish. Buzz's house is the prefect place to process the fish. When I'm here long enough to air out everything I make a big batch. The dehydrator can stay out in the garage and it's not a big deal to leave the garage door open for long periods of time. Only thing I really have to worry about is coyotes. Cleaning up the trays is easy  too.  The sink in the kitchen is large farm style one so everything fits. Clean up was an issue I had when I lived up in the hills with a divided sink. It was always a wet hot mess when everything had to get washed. The stinky fish helps keeps Buzz motivated to move around a little more. 

It's been super nice weather so spending a lot of time out in the backyard watching the birds.  Thinking I'll bring over my watercolor stuff (it's world watercolor month) and do some brush stroke practice. I'm one of those artists who has all the materials but never paints. :)

Lion's tail in bloom!

I'm spending the week with Buzz so of course I'm drying his favorite snack - stinky fish.

He has a very large backyard so it's always a surprise what will be blooming. I've never seen this plant before, but this boom is something else! It's called Lion's tail (I looked it up) and it's a cousin to cannabis. Guess it's known for it's THC. Still I love the bloom and I'm going to find out is I can transplant some. 

All Clad

My very favorite brand of pans is All Clad. I do prefer the older pans which I think were made better than the newer ones. It's a rare find at the thrift stores so when I find one I pick it up. I'm not 100% sure what the pan is for but I'm sure it had a  dome lid at some point. I was thinking it would be a nice pan to make soup.

The only reason I was able to score this pan is I went to GW after the big July 4th sale knowing they had to be restocking the shelves. Several bins (the big ones) were out and I went digging to see what was new. Really I was looking for toys for the boys (did find a metal Tonka dump truck $8.59) and I came across this pan. It was pretty dirty and gross looking but I know they clean up well with a little elbow grease. 

River Snail Noodles

When I go into the Asian markets around here, I try and pick up one thing I haven't eaten before. I was going to try a new mushroom soup recipes that calls for all the different kinds of mushrooms you can find.  That's no problem at an Asian grocery store. 

I went down the noodle aisle, yes there is one whole aisle of just noodles. This colorful packaging caught my eye. Thinking that River Snail was just a brand name or bad translation, I thought I would give it a try after checking is was gluten free. When I got home I looked how to make it and found out its claim to fame is the terrible smell. You would think it's the snails (yes it's made with real river snails) but it's the fermented vegetables. I'm just a little nervous if I want to stink up my place for just a bowl of noodle. 

my lone apricot

One of the things I liked about my new place was the huge front garden area. It was a hot mess when I first moved in but I was up for the challenge. The first thing I did was prune back all the trees. The yard looked like a giant spider web with everything growing everywhere. After that, I took out all the dead trees. The landlord just planted trees willy nilly but had no plans to ever  water them. It took months to cut them down to size so I could get them into the compost bins. I've also been working on getting the soil back into shape. The  major problem I'm dealing with  now is having hydrophobic soil = doesn't absorb water. I've been burying my kitchen scapes directly into the soil everyday but it's a big yard so it will take time. 

I'm very excited that I have one apricot that the squirrels have not found yet. Of course they're well fed from hanging out at my bird feeders all day! :)