Six months post eBay

Lead-off image is when the poppies were in bloom. Thrift shop ceramic frog in permanent wonder at their beauty. 

Having taken a six-month hiatus from selling on eBay, I am ready to start over again. I do have my shop tam_gonza and over 1,200+ positive feedback. 

The only bugaboo to this Grand Plan is my product is stored somewhere in a packed outdoor shed.  

Most of the eBay branded boxes and rolls of tape, I gave away. What I found most useful are the different sized polymailers. Those, I kept. 

I will limit my sales to the following items:

Uncut sewing patterns
Unique books on cooking or crafting
Tarot or New Age philosophy deck of cards
Color-coded sets of Barbie-sized clothes
Needlekits

Those are the few categories that I know I still have items to sell. In the move/purge, I can't remember what flew out the door. 

I had been avoiding estate sales. There are certain items, like those listed above, that other buyers overlook. Old bibles and dusty pieces of artwork can be fabulous finds.

Quick thrifting update: New feather/down pillow $9, retail price $29. 

Gardening update: Plants have to be watered twice a day with the 100+ degree heat. 

We are hibernating inside during the heat wave.😡

Here Fishy Fishy

Fishing has been a part of my life from a young age. As a kid, I never caught anything, other than a child's fishing pole at a lake. This image is from 1968 of the pole that I "caught."

A few years ago, I lived the life of adventure. One of the few women that engaged in ocean sport fishing in Fort Bragg, California. It was not an easy sport. The boots were for balancing against the waves. The pink life jacket, while adorable, would be useless if one fell into the ocean and only if they fished you out right away. The fingerless camo gloves were for handling the fishing line and electric reel. There was also blood, bait, and fish bent on biting you. 

I have never been on a fishing party boat. That is where a captain has rented his vessel to take a group out ocean sport fishing. Most popular are the salmon runs (when deemed open by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife), and bottom fishing. 

Worthy of mention is a group I discovered when I volunteered at the Summer Spectacular last month. 

Project Pick Up Fishing Line - a Facebook page dedicated to awareness and education about the dangers fishing gear has on wildlife. The group's displayed lures were found mainly IN TREES in the surrounding counties. 

Since I have many years of experience in the sport (and I am good at it), it would be a shame if I never went fishing again. We will see what life has in store.🚢

Garden Got Up and Went

Contrary to my blog title, the fabric planter did not move itself, I moved it. When I began the garden I was unsure where I wanted to place the planters. One of them was receiving too much shade, so I pulled out one tomato plant and replanted two of them. I removed most of the dirt from the planter, pulled it over to the new location, and then refilled it. Three new varieties of tomato have now joined the garden: Parks Whopper (Improved), Heatmaster, and Red Beefstake. 

The hog wire fencing is wonky on the newly-moved planter. There is a doe I have named Betsy that likes to bed down in the other corner of the yard. She also likes to munch through any available greenery. 

Now it is a waiting game. The peppers and watermelon have flowered. This summer heat will push the tomatos into production. It was worth the push to get this garden to where it is today. This was what it looked like a few months ago. 

We are still clearing brush, small stuff in the twice monthly pickup, and large stuff hauled to the recycle center. 

Tucker sums it up - lazy days of summer.  

The Second Purge Begins

Now that I have moved from one county to another, it is time to start the second purge. By that I mean dramatically downsizing everything from furniture to collectibles. This is a panoramic image of just the shed. 

Items I intend to keep include my craft/book cabinet, certain pieces of fabric, original artwork and some of my sewing pattern collection. Of my collectibles, there are the wooden duck decoys, various dolls, blue Bell jars, and so. much. Christmas. 

The fabric is intended for the local quilting guild. They are always spinning together amazing gifts for those less fortunate. And there is so much of it. Hoarding behaviors were an outcropping of the environment I lived in. 

Housing continues to be a challenge. While I am living with family, it is not the ideal situation. I have placed at least 8 applications for an apartment, with waitlists from 6 months to 6 years from Sacramento to El Dorado counties. My goal is to be in a Mercy Housing community by the time I am 70. Right in my time frame of three years from now, give or take. 

Had it not been for a series of events that have happened in the past few months, I would not have been motivated to plan for the upcoming five years. Our family had to take a hard look at where we would be aging. Maintaining a three bedroom rambler on a good sized lot is more than one person can handle. That one person would be me. 

The organization of the estates then continue. All that is important will be narrowed down to one bedroom each. *sighs* Freeing yet sad at the same time. 

Final Fantasy Flash #8

Part of the fun of the game is being able to change the costume as often as you want. I'd like to add some shimmery stuff to my outfit. I was able to slightly turn her head for this pose.

I had been playing a couple of months when my son pointed out and enlarged the compass for me. Found in the right corner of the playing screen. I am the blue pointer with flashlight and the green check mark is the destination.  

One of my dislikes in the game are all of the tasks you have to perform. Stepping and fetching. And running, so much running around. Sometimes I am in no-man's land and see none of the other players in the game. Sort of disconcerting. 

One of my likes are the dungeons. Dark and scary, lots of monsters. Potential treasure chest loot. Palace of the Dead in the Black Shroud is on my sites to visit.💀

While I would like to be puttering around outside, but we have hit the heat of summer. I am mainly game playing and YouTube watching. 

Happy 4th of July

These patriotic cuties are from my pattern collection. Undated Advance sewing pattern priced at 25 cents from a bygone era. 

I just keep adding to the vegetable garden. Giving a go at growing leeks. 

Wish I had more to report on the thrifting front but I have moved to a less-affluent area. Main items I find now at thrift are athleisure clothing, scented candles, and books for the grandbaby. 

It is interesting that items trend in certain areas. As an example, when I worked in downtown Sacramento, I was a frequent visitor of a Goodwill boutique. There, over the years, I found my tiki mug collection of 10. I have never found a tiki mug at thrift in the outlying areas. 

There were also more sewing patterns to find at thrift the farther out in the country you ventured. Nearer to the city = less sewing patterns. 

I don't pick up all the original artwork that I see at thrift. This painting, while exquisitely framed original price $450, thrift shop price $15, the composition seemed off. 

Just remembered a box of collectible patriotic stuff was left in the move. Unless I missed it when items went from storage to onsite shed. Patriotic cloth doll started the new collection - 25 cents at thrift. 

I buy fresh flowers each week. This week's bunch are particularly fragrant! 

Wishing everyone an enjoyable holiday weekend.🎇🎆

Final Fantasy Flash #7

Finally, I was able to "glam up" to my liking by purchasing the Thavnarian headdress and bustier on the marketboard. Greercourt did the welcome emote. 

A skosh of info on my lack of game-playing ability. I have never played Xbox games. There was an obscure game called Bad Day on the Midway that I loved to play. It was dark and scary. A psycho killer character lurked in the ride section and routinely ended my game sessions. 

Back to the Xbox. I had never operated an Xbox controller. In Final Fantasy battles, I was pushing any button that would do anything for me. He heard me frantically trying to kill a big bully, and discovered I wasn't pulling the trigger and pushing the B button to cast the spells (I am a conjurer). I was damn lucky to make it through a couple of dungeon runs not knowing what the hell I was doing with the controller. Sheesh! My son's online group thought it "cute" that Gramma Tami was trying to learn the game. 

Reading through the player agreement, one's character could be placed in "virtual jail" for online misbehavior. If it is anything like the dungeons in the game, I would not want to go there. 

I am curious to see how the interaction with other players will change now that I have joined the full version. I will have to expand the chat box for one. I pretty much ignored it other than issuing character commands. 

I have yet to gain a "ride" or mount so I have to keep running around or teleporting. I also don't have a house. Kind of like in real life, I am always living in other people's houses. I briefly owned a Craftsman bungalow in midtown Sacramento but let it go on short sale (underwater real estate no bueno). I wonder if there is a Final Fantasy condo or retirement community? I will report back. 

My son exclaimed "You are RP walking!" I was walking through the games populated areas rather than running. Sometimes I do that to look at the other character's costumes. So sue me. 

I see there are a lot of sprouts (players new to the game). I've yet to reach out to make virtual friends. Maybe invite them over to my house for tea and crumpets?