I was rocking along fat, dumb and happy and thought I was well ahead of the curve on this years shows and then I see that number 39 and I didn't feel quite so smug anymore. Panic is a funny thing, it starts out as "Oh my gosh!" surprise and moves on to "What am I going to do?" fear and finally on to "What was I thinking?" full blown panic. Now I am the kind of person that always has a list for everything, so now I have to make a list of all the items that need to be finished. I guess that making that list helps me feel in control and at least I can see some progress. I get a huge sense of accomplishment from checking off those completed items on that list! Today that list is as long as my arm and still growing.
Now don't get me wrong, I have been hard at work on all the new items I have come up with for this years shows, but just when you think you have a little wiggle room something pops up. My printing business has had the usual summer slow down and I can usually expect sales to really pick up by mid-September, but it seems like all the kids went back to school on August 24th and I have been swamped with orders starting on August 25th. Now add to that my wonderful niece Aubrie, the cupcake baker, and her husband Frank came for a visit. These few days off offered me a needed break from work and it was like a mini vacation, we went out for dinners and took in shopping and antiquing. It was a great way to recharge my batteries, but now I need to put a full court press on getting things lined up for my first show.
Several of my girl friends have gotten wind that my store room is almost filled to capacity with completed items and they all want to come for "Preview Day". They like rummaging around that room looking at all the new things and trying to get a jump on each other. One of my friends, Barb, is to shopping what Tiger Woods is to golf. Her husband and I think she is single handedly keeping the American economy afloat with her retail therapy. Well Barb was my first customer this year and I know I can always count on her as a barometer for what she buys, so we are off to a good start!
Well, with extremely long list in hand and a husband off on a business trip, I guess I can get started on my unfinished projects and hopefully get many things completed. That is usually the kiss of death for my well laid plans. I think for the next 39 days things will get pretty busy around here and I will probably put in many long hours, but then the craft show season will start and it will all be over in a heart beat. One thing we can look forward to is that count down gadget will reset itself and I will have 365 days until my next show!
Talk to you next month,
