Sunday, June 30, 2019

Swap Meet


I haven't been going to the swap meet too much lately because it's just too dang hot. But after I weighed myself this morning I decided that I needed to go walking, so at the last minute I just brushed my teeth and off I went. 

Here are my deals.

Painting stuff ("$2 for da whole ting")
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Chalk markers ($1 total)
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Chiller bags (Vera Bradley on the right) (50 cents each)
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Ribbon (50 cents)
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Ceramcoat acrylic paint ($2 for the bag)
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Painter's tape (2/$7)
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Tofu press ($2). I was thinking that I can use it to press handmade paper. Or for book binding. Or even for tofu. 
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These packs of paper were free from the tofu press guy.
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Tankichi hooks for Landon ($1 each). There were 33 hooks. I texted Lan and he wanted all.
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I bought 2 pounds of just-picked-on-Friday Hilo lychee for my sister Geri who loves lychee.
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Saturday, June 29, 2019

Celebration


Katherine Kealoha is behind bars, and I felt like celebrating. 

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Cheers!  To the prosecuting team and the jurors . . . Good Job!
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Friday, June 28, 2019

I Got My Friday Pizzas


Amazon Prime members, no forget . . . today . . . 2/$5 pizza at Whole Foods. 

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The slices are huge . . . kinda like getting 4 slices for $5 to me. 
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Thursday, June 27, 2019

Columbia Inn Menu, 1951


Wendell's ex-coworker shared these with me.  Thank you, Ross!


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Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Whole Foods 2/$5 Pizza


Amazon Prime deal, starting today, only on Fridays, until October 1!

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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Muggy


We've had the air conditioner on pretty much all the time lately. The other day it was so muggy outside that there was condensation on our windows and glass door.

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Monday, June 24, 2019

Ross Shopping Hacks


I found these Ross shopping tips on a site called The Krazy Coupon Lady

Sorry for the crazy fonts, but I copied and pasted from the website and for some reason can't fix it.


1. Ross resellers make a full-time job (and salary) out of hunting sales and reselling online.

2. The best deals are often those without a comparable value price.   Given that most Ross prices are about half the comparable value price, many of the best deals in the store are those that don’t automatically calculate that comparable value.

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3. Comparable values frequently underreport actual retail price.  Ross buys inventory in batches — like 5000 units of men’s Nike cotton tees. Ross has a few tiers of pricing for men’s Nike cotton tees, and the pricing team makes a best-guess assumption without ever looking up the SKU to see what the actual retail price of the item is.

The good news? When Ross is wrong, they’re usually undervaluing the comparable value price, especially on apparel. 

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4. Markdowns happen every Monday. Markdowns happen in tiny increments of 10-20%.

Every Sunday, Ross store managers receive the weekly markdown list from headquarters. Markdown departments will vary from one week to another but are generally the same nationwide. Most departments are marked down about once per month.

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5. 80% of Ross’ inventory is closeout merchandise: factory overrun or late shipments. When a vendor over-manufactures, runs late on shipment and doesn’t make it to big box stores in time to sell, or when an item from a department store didn’t sell for one reason or another, opportunistic buyers like Ross swoop in and buy the inventory at a huge discount.

6. All irregular (defective) items are marked.

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7. Identical items arriving in different shipments get separate SKUs, which means unique markdowns.

If there are multiple items on a shelf, always check each one before placing any item in your cart to make sure you’re getting the lowest price.

If the SKU numbers match (SKU is the twelve digit number beginning with 400), Ross will sell you both items at the clearance price. If SKUs match, it would mean the items were in the same shipment and one item just missed its markdown. But, in this case, the two sets have different SKUs, and Ross will not sell both sets of bottles for the clearance price.

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8. Some of the best buys at Ross are department store beauty brands: Peter Thomas Roth, Clinique, Philosophy.

9. One of the best items you can always find at Ross is Nike Air Jordans.

10. Women’s athletic wear is the most popular apparel category in the store.

11. Clearance sections only exist in apparel departments. Elsewhere, clearance is mixed in with regular inventory.

12. The lowest clearance price you’ll ever find is $0.49.

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13. Employee discount is 20% off every day and twice per year 40% off everything but jewelry and electronics.

14. Seniors over 55 save 10% on Tuesdays.

Saturday, June 22, 2019

When Life Gives You Sour Cherries


Eat it with Butter Pecan ice cream!!

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Friday, June 21, 2019

Don't Buy These Cherries


On sale at Foodland for $5.99/pound. I paid $13.48 for a prepacked 2.25-pound bag. 

The cherries are tasteless and a bit sour. So disappointing. 

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Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Kikkoman Shaku Shaku Shoyu


Pal Cleta picked this up for me from Marukai sometime last week.  It was on sale for $2.79. I tried it last night.

It's an oil-based condiment with the "umami of shoyu and aroma of garlic. You can use it on rice, musubi, tofu, pasta and salad."

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The pouch is made to be opened like this, and they advise you to use a small spoon to stir.
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It's very much like a rayu (chili oil) condiment but minus the spice. 
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I had planned to eat it with only this much rice, but after one bite I said, "forget that" and ate a whole bowlful. 
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Thanks Cleta!!

Update on Vitamix:  Wendell said the blender worked real good last night . . . so 🎉 YAY!!

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Vitamix Warranty


Five years ago we bought a Vitamix from Costco. It was around $300. Expensive. But Wendell, Landon and I chipped in $100 each and considered it a Christmas present to each other. 

Lately, Wendell had been having Shaklee's shakes for dinner and so was using the Vitamix almost daily. A few weeks ago it stopped working.

When I checked online I found that it came with a 7-year warranty. I couldn't remember if I even filled out a registration card when we bought the machine, and I wasn't sure if that mattered, but I filled out a Contact Form that I found on the "Contact Us" page on the Vitamix website. I gave the serial number and left Wendell's phone number and email address and checked "email" as communication of choice. 

I didn't hold my breath. I totally doubted a positive outcome.

Vitamix emailed Wendell back almost immediately. After several email exchanges where Wendell was asked to perform a few tests, they sent a shipping label and asked that the broken blender be sent back to them for repair via UPS (free of charge). 

We got the blender back yesterday. The pitcher portion which includes the blade assembly looks brand new.  IMG_1543

Here are the repair notes.
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The blender worked okay last night. But to be honest, it didn't really work "good as new" . . . something wasn't quite right. It seemed to struggle. 

So am crossing my fingers.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Last Breath


If you have Netflix, try watch Last Breath. All I saying is, "True Story with actual footage."

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Moe's Southwest Grill


Last week Wendell and I were at Pearl Ridge Mall killing time, and we ended up at Moe's Southwest Grill.

We were almost gonna get pastries from Brug, but Moe's chairs looked nice and comfy, so Moe's won out.
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We got nachos. 
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And chicken quesadillas. 
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They were ono, but cost $29.65 total! I think next time we'll do Brug instead.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Pasta at Ross


I got this from the Hawaii Kai Ross yesterday for $2.19.  They had a bunch so they might still have some left today. I put it in boiling water with a skosh oil for 10 minutes, and it came out perfectly al dente. 

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Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Wendell's Sweet Sour Pork


Wendell made this for dinner last night. He used the recipe from Cook with Susan blog. He said he used pork butt instead of spareribs. 

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3 pounds spareribs, cut into 1” strips
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
¼ cup flour
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 inches ginger, smashed & sliced
1/3 cup cider vinegar
¾ cup water
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. salt

  1. Have the butcher cut the spareribs into 1” strips through the bone.
  2. Cut the spareribs between the bones into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl. Add soy sauce and mix. Add flour and mix again. Let sit for 30 minutes.
  3. In a large pot add the vinegar, water, brown sugar and salt.
  4. Heat a wok or nonstick frying pan on med high. Add 2 – 3 Tbsp. oil and gently brown the ginger and garlic. Remove and place in the pot with the sauce. Then add ½ the meat to the wok and spread out but don’t stir. Let brown for 2 minutes. Using a tong, turn pieces to evenly brown. Remove pieces as they brown and add them to the pot. Cook the other ½ of the meat the same way and add to the pot. Stir to mix meat with the sauce. 
  5. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil then turn heat down to low and let simmer covered for 1 hour or until tender. Stir occasionally.

Monday, June 10, 2019

Card


I made this card yesterday . . . 8 of them . . . all hand painted . . . all  the same.  Took me all day. 

I'm wondering if I should do more. Maybe. 'Cause it was fun.

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Sunday, June 9, 2019

Last Class Project


For our last art class project, we could choose any medium of our choice and was given a month to work on it. 

Erick did this watercolor painting of a room at Plantation Village. He used QoR paints.
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Cleta did this pencil sketch portrait. The left half is a black and white photo. The right side is her sketch. !!!!!
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This is mine. I used Prismacolor Nupastel sticks. 
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Wednesday, June 5, 2019

My Pasta Salad


Look what I made! Hoo hoo! Was ono.

I learned something about broccoli.  I just zapped fresh broccoli in the microwave for around 10 seconds and it came out perfect for the salad.
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This is at Aina Haina Foodland.  I never paid much attention to this Olives and Antipasti bar before. 
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In fact, I often wondered what people did with all those olives.
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The other day I decided to get this olive tapenade to enhance my pasta salad. Glad I did. It totally works.
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I got some of this artichoke hearts too.
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I got this from Ross last week.  I really like it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more on my Tuesday Ross run yesterday. I did find it at Foodland on sale 2/$7.00.
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I used this dressing from Whole Foods.  It's perfect for me . . . very mild. I don't remember the price, but I think it was under $5. 
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Monday, June 3, 2019

For Susan


As requested, here it is.  And again, to give proper credit to the real artist, here's a link to kelogsloops instagram account.

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And Susan FYI, I used the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors that I told you about for this painting.