Hot Box Blues

Do you know what I miss most about my old friend? The ability to openly and candidly discuss anything. Ironically, my inability to do exactly that is what destroyed our friendship. And it is not just the conversations that I miss. The friendship I valued dearly is gone and the person I deeply cared about, and still to this day care about, abruptly axed me out of his life.  He’s one of those guys who thinks it is “cheating” if a woman with a boyfriend has male friends.

I still catch myself looking for a familiar scrawl when I sort the mail. Alas, there is no redemption for a woman who wants her cake and eat it, too.

PHOTO:  cake with grandchildren last Sunday.

Speaking of cake, today is my 57th birthday. My sister Dee treated me to lunch at Pandora’s and then we did a bit of shopping.  While I was gone, the old G locked the house down tighter than a drum and took off to the VA so when I came home, it was like walking into a frickin hot box.

LATER:  Well, plans for our evening cookout got hi-jacked while I was making beans and potato salad… the old G hopped the last bus downtown at 6:45 PM. His plan was to stop at his apartment to get his meds, then take the 7:15 nightline bus back down South Ave, get off at the store, buy some ears of corn, and walk home… total round trip ye maybe an hour. It’s now past 10 and I’ve no idea when he will be here. He did text awhile back, said his daughter is coming, so I assume he is still at his apartment downtown waiting on her to give him a ride.

This is one of those things that really matters when you are young, but age makes you more prone to be more understanding. He is a disabled vet, has metal rods in both legs, and walks with a cane. I know he dreads that 20 minute walk into our hood from the store on South Ave, especially in hot weather, so a promise of a ride is enough to detain him.

Am I mad?

No… just means that I got myself a nice quiet night home alone so I can do things that I don’t do when he’s here… like blog.

Well, he is on his way… he still plans to fire up the BBQ even though it is 10 frickin 30… he will be out there grilling way past midnight. Oh well. All I do is roll with what comes.

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Craft Shows: To Do or Don’t?

I did a craft show yesterday, which reminded me why I quit doing craft shows years ago:

• Set up fees vary from $15 to $150 or more, depending on the spot, and may require each vendor to donate an item valued at $25 or more, which most vendors consider as part of the set up fee.
• The top selling item at smaller craft shows are the raffle tickets sold by the organization sponsoring craft show for chances to win prizes and/or items donated by vendors.
• Crowds vary per weather, whimsy, and whatever else is going on that day.

Craft shows also tend to attract crafters, who shop for ideas and/or enjoy seeing what other crafters do,  which I should have remembered as the only time I did well sales-wise at a craft show years ago was when I sold handmade jewelry AND jewelry making supplies.  I also tend to spend much more than I make at craft shows, but limiting myself to cash in my wallet without borrowing from my show purse (sales & make change stash) kept me from buying too much yesterday.

All in all, it was a good day because – shock – I won two raffle ticket items!

OMGosh, I won the to-die-for “Chocolate Passion” cake donated by CB Confections from Warren, Ohio (her Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/cbconfections) and… just as I wondered out loud how am I going to carry this luscious 6″ cake home with all my show stuff on a city bus, they called my number announcing I won an 8.5″ round cinch top bin in my favorite Thirty-One pattern donated by Carrie Radcliff. Wow!  That was like magic, spoke into being… the cake fit perfectly inside the bin, nestled and protected with a fabric table cover, and the drawstring cinched on the cake’s pretty bow tied cellophane to keep it centered.  Then both slid into the canvas tote to hang on my roll cart, the tote that had carried my donation to the show.

If you are not familiar with Thirty-One products, visit thirtyonegifts.com OR better yet, http://my.thirtyone.com/CarrieRadcliff so the lady who donated the bag will get the credit if you decide to purchase anything.

As much as I enjoy craft shows, they are not the best venue for my products (buttons) due to a simple Marketing 101 concept: know your customers. Do they shop at craft shows?

So, I need to think about that… and explore other types of venues.

Thanks for reading!