Tales of Exhaustion!

Exhaustion – extreme fatigue or serious loss of energy.

This definition describes the end of our craft show season. As a crafter, it seems like your whole year revolves around the hectic Fall craft show schedule. Either you are thinking about what to make for the shows, busy working on products to take to the shows, worrying about the weather for the shows, packing and unpacking the truck to go to the show or working at the show. All of that can be exhausting.

This year we had a great show season planned. We have been in the crafting business long enough to have worked our way up the vendor ladder and we can now pick and choose the shows we would like to participate in. We are blessed to be able to do this and it has happened through many years of trial and error. Because of the busy work load on my website, Print Me Prim, we had decided to only take part in 4 large established shows. Things were moving right along and I was feeling pretty confident about all the folk art items I had in inventory, because once the craft show season starts it is very hard for me to replenish items I have sold out of. Everything was looking right on target.

Then just when you think you have everything under control, WHAM, reality hits you up side the head. We were affected by Hurricane Ike and we were without electricity and internet for 14 days! Now living in South Texas you come to terms with hurricane season, but boy does it throw a monkey wrench in your work schedule when you are camping out in your own house. So you try to make the best of the situation and work on projects that you can do without electricity. My first craft show was scheduled for 4 weeks after the storm, so I thought no problem. The show was still going to happen and it had been almost a month since Ike tore apart our area, so I was looking on the bright side and figured we would still have a great show! The week before the show the stock market tanked and there went my hopes of a tremendously profitable season.

Well as in most things in life, you cannot explain people or the way they spend money. That craft show was a big success and the two following shows were fabulous! Sales are up, people are spending money and all is right with the world. I am sold out of many items I needed for inventory in my final craft show, so I am busy trying to get enough items to fill my booth, I know it will be a long weekend of work.

I know it seems like I cannot make up my mind, too much work or not enough sales. Like my mother used to say “You would gripe if you got hung with a new rope”, I guess that is true. This is a problem I really don’t mind having and I should be thankful for this problem. Exhaustion really isn’t such a bad thing; it gives you a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, pride in your abilities and satisfaction that people like what you make. So this has been my craft season Tale of Exhaustion!

Take a peek at our craft show booth!

Tale of Courage!

You know there are many kinds of courage and my family has experienced it all. I have a niece and her husband who are police officers, a niece who is an EMT and a brother-in-law who is a fire fighter; all of these jobs take obvious courage. My family has had the courage to face many personal battles as well; from alcoholism, to drug addiction, to divorce and violence, but the biggest hero in my family is my little sister, who faces cancer.

My sister’s journey started in November 2002. She called to tell me she had a doctor’s appointment that day to find out about an infection in her breast. She called me later to say they had gotten her an appointment with a surgeon and she would be talking to that doctor later that afternoon. By evening she had been given an emergency biopsy on her breast and the doctor told her he thought she had inflammatory breast cancer, but that we wouldn’t know for sure for a few days. Within days she was diagnosed with this very rare form of breast cancer that could not be detected by mammogram or ultrasound. They told us they didn’t treat this cancer the same as regular breast cancer and that she would have to have a double radical mastectomy and both ovaries removed after she first had several rounds of radiation and very strong chemo. This was all done the last weeks of November and by Christmas she was bald and ready for her surgery in February. My sister was given less than 6 months to live and she was 42 years old.


My sister has celebrated almost 6 years of living with inflammatory breast cancer. She is a hero in the truest sense of the word. I have seen her face the scariest thing in life, her own mortality, and do it with style and grace. I have seen her face danger from all the operations and infections, and have a smile on her face. I have seen her face severe pain and I didn’t know how she would get through it, but she came through like a champ. She is always quick with a joke, ready to enjoy life and full of love and fun. She makes me proud each time I look at her. She makes my small complaints seem trivial and petty. She once told me that she was so proud of her husband and daughters and with the careers they had chosen for themselves, but they don’t compare to the life my sister lives. To me a police officer, a fireman and an EMT all go to school to learn to face the dangers they will encounter, who teaches you to face the unknown of illness?


October is national Breast Cancer Awareness month so it is fitting I should tell you the story of my sister. It is a hard journey, but one we travel together as a family. She is my hero and this is her tale of courage!

Please join an Army of Women to find the cure for Breast Cancer, go to www.armyofwomen.org and help us find the cure for breast cancer in our lifetime!