Guess who is in town?

Well there is that guy ... but the really fun guy came via Southwest!



Mike arrive before the President and his traffic stopping caravan!


We like to treat our family and guests right, so we took him to the Mexican market for a $1.49 taco.

It's loud and crowded, and has the best fresh Mexican food around!

While the food court rocks the bakery needs a new decorator. Elmo? Really?

Those are pieces of Jell-o in colored flan...  Yummmm-no!

We found the good pastries and a half size panettone!

 

Then we we zipped over to the Ghetto store in the same plaza, and Mike found the deal of the day!

A Fubu robe, suggested retail, $129.00 for $10.00

We love to show folks the real Vegas!!!!!!

Somebody was pissed.

Mom and I went to look at some houses that are to be auctioned off at the end of the week.
Two of them were nice. White walls and clean floors.. manned gates letting us in to check it out.
then there was this..
I like to call this Topher and Josh's new investment... Using the the new real estate buzz phrase, "Sweat equity."

Broken window and a little wear and tear.. Curb appeal sort of sucks.... a lot.

Did Jackson Pollock live here? 

A little Clorox, a hammer and chisel, and it will be like new. 

Build in shelf for your big screen!  Classy!

Perhaps Rorschach lived here?

I see naughty body parts.. Wait no, A butterfly... Ah wait.. what is the right answer?

 

Nice big yard that apparently was some sort of prison for children?

A puppy mill? Whatever it could not have been good.

A young family must have lived here... Wonder if they let the boy vandalize this room?

I don't know what is worse the wall color or the baby shit color they splattered.

House hunting is fun!

All clean!

Mom and I have been working hard the last couple of days to get the Sutter home cleaned out of all personal shit and making it sparkle.


Doug the new tenant moved in.


You wouldn't think it was that hard to clean out a house that hasn't been lived in that long.... but honestly everything over there reminds me of Dad and that makes it hard.
It's the small things that get ya.

Like when you run across his silly floppy hat.

It's not worth anything, it's a little dirty, but it is so Dad. 

Or his crappy everyday watch. Again not worth much, but he always had it on.

Hold on to it and decide another day.. That is what you do. 

We removed enough stuff and clothes that were his.. Mom held it together.. but the drive to Goodwill was bittersweet.

So now we have stuffed all the closets and empty spaces of this place. 

We have a little moving room.

And we have a strange guy living next door.


He seems normal enough, a quick search didn't bring up anything criminal.  We found him on craigslist. Some might question the wisdom of that. 
But reality is, either going through a agency or doing it on your own you never know.

A credit score of 850? And a billion in the bank?  You'll be a great tenant!

Oh shit!

   
Sometimes you just need to go with your gut and have a little faith in mankind. 

Ethel M

Every tourist website has the Ethel M chocolate factory and cactus garden as a free fun thing to do..
I like free.. And I love fun!

Wonder where I get that from?

I have found factory tours entertaining.. I had a good time at the Celestial Seasons tea warehouse.. It smelled good and we got to drink sample after sample of tea goodness...

Years ago I went to the Coke Museum and floated away after rows of fountain machines encouraged free flavors. Sticky floor be damned!

So I had high hopes....  All the chocolate I can stuff in my gob! ......... or not.

After walking down a 20 foot hallway, looking through 3 glass panels of boring, a woman handed us a small piece of chocolate... one.  Their grazing sucks... 

I guess they wanted us to spend $2.00 a piece for their stupid chocolate. Ha!

Disappointed we went outside to the cactus garden.

Purple pancake cactus.. who knew?

Is that a weed?  Yawn... 

Sarah, I know you wanted to go... but you are on your own or these pictures will have to do.

Not for the allergy prone or little children.

Mom is about as amused as I am.

I give it a D+ ....... 

Hey, where is Chumlee?

Mom has had a playmate in town.
Her friend Anna from Reno... 
It's been a week of touristy things and things that aren't so tourist driven.


Friday we thought it would be fun to check out the Gold and Silver Pawn shop.
After digging around for something fun to pawn... or just pretend to pawn.. we head out for downtown.

Yikes! Why is the line so long?  Wrapped around the damn building.

When they film episodes of Pawn Stars, they close the doors and make you wait... 

The parking lot on the other side was mostly Taxis. Those crooks know where to make a buck..

I had found Dad's old flintlock pistol.. We were curious as to it's value, so we waited around.

The store next door had Elvis to entertain us!

Once the doors opened again, we showed the dude letting a few folks in at a time. our Las Vegas ID's and didn't have to wait in that huge line..

Thanks Dude.

Hopes high that the gun would make Mom rich, we dropped the weapon on the counter and asked it's worth.

It looks like this, but a whole lot crappier.

 

We didn't get to meet the guys that are on the show... 

It's just as well the dude behind the counter knew his stuff.. 

Told us it was from the 1840's.

But it is in such horrific condition he offered $20.00 bucks for the thing..

Sigh...

The settee that Mike and I dragged around for hours at the Reno  Convention  Center.. Aint worth much.. and we didn't get to meet the Keno brothers.. 

Mike and I learned that lesson in 2004 at the Antiques Road show... old doesn't always equal big $$$$$$$$.

collections

Some people collect strange things.

Hello Kitty!

Did you know Dexter had collector cards?

Creepy creatures 

*Shiver*... hide me!

My favorite..

Learn something!

Then there is the guy we met today.. he calls himself John, but I think that it just his American name...

(When I handed out paychecks in Boston, the people I knew as Kim or Cindy had names like Phuong Nguyen on their checks.)

Anyway John is Korean, and has his own kind of collection.. Pianos.

Maybe he should have chose the name Liberace???

He bought Moms piano today.. another Craigslist sucker! So now he has six pianos..

I would think that there are easier things to collect.. easy and smaller and more mobile.

 He was a talkative fellow.. who rock climbs.. refurbishes things, plays at Korean piano bars.. buys a piano and doesn't bring anyone to help him.. (He was just slightly bigger than me.)

He was entertaining and knew how to tickle the ivories!

Pillow case hoarding and stuff.

Here are a few truths I have picked up on in the last couple of days..
My allergies are all Moms fault.. I thought I was a freak when my face would swell up for no reason, but today Moms eye started to do that trick.. 

Ouch!

Thank God for Benadryl... It's better to be loopy than a PT Barnum attraction.

House hunting has taught me that people whose house is a short sale don't give a shit. No need to clean, hide or pick up dog poop... I am losing money on this house anyway.

But the neighbors are nice.

Everyone knows how I feel about the little part of Vegas called Summerlin.. but did you know that you have to pay $35.00 a month just to reside there?  FU Scummerlin.

Really? you couldn't pay me to live in your little snobbish piece of the world. (Save some money for your mortgage payment)

While cleaning out the linens in the Sutter House I learned that Mom is a secret Pillow case hoarder. 

She can open her own store!

No more linens for you! Actually we did a good job at getting rid of lots of stuff... thanks to Craigslist and the neighbors!

I also found out that Mom is a liar... But she has to confess her sins to everyone of her children.

Just because your helping a sick neighbor, and she sucks the life out of you... and she is a racist, homophobic, dried up old cat lady.. doesn't give you the right to lie does it?  

Yes it does! Spare her feelings and back away.. then run as fast as you can!

Craigslist you scare me..

I know that Craigslist has a bad reputation... Because it is evil... Yet kind of fun.

Probably has something to do with those murders, rapes, sex trade, scams and stuff.. 
But the new tenant is coming and  Mom needs to clean out some of the Goodwill treasures and other collectibles in the Sutter home.
So I have been doing the Craigslist thing..


Here is what I have learned..
If you post a Wheelchair for $50.00 somehow that translates to $30.00

See how clever I was in my ad? 

Someone texted me and told me they were going to come pick it up and they would give me $30.00..

Hey Douche? Did we even negotiate? Don't tell me what you are going to pay!

Sorry about your luck.. but you pissed me off.

I sold it today for $50.00 to a very nice woman who was spending $200.00 a month to rent one.. We all win.

When we started looking to rent out the house I looked in the housing wanted... I forbid Mom to look, too many sad stories and she would be renting it out for pennies... bleeding heart that she is.

I  came across these posts, that made me sad to be part of the human race.

A poker playing, old nudist..  wait! is in to poly! (One who likes to have many sexual partners, short for polyamorous.)
At least he is clean and neat! A little demanding on the internet needs.

Woot!  Bondage in exchange for rent.. Male, Female, whatever!

Nope! Mom was not allowed to search these posts.. 

 I also found that people want lots and lots of money for their used stuff... 

Not my fault you paid 15k for this set.. And I am not paying 5 grand for your regret!.  I can buy lots of NEW stuff for $5,000. 

And finally I learned that people will sell anything on Craigslist.. 

No! No! and NO! I am not ever going to buy a used toilet... Do you know what people do with those?

Craigslist can be useful... But really one needs to be careful and use common sense.. 

This PSA is brought to you by the people of Rhinelander Drive.