So you want to know what a bad blogger I am? No, seriously. I am horrible blogger. Also, I got so insanely busy that I think my immune system packed up and moved to Albequerque.
I am in my cold living room, literally covered in dogs (one big dog leaned against each hip and Dexter laying like some kind of cat on the couch back behind me) waiting for my boys to get home and pick me up so we can go somewhere that I don't have to cook dinner.
I have pictures for you, if I could only get my camera to load. Although I have a million knitting projects and sewing projects I really should have photographed, I did this dumb thing where I made a shit ton of stuff for my booth, and immediately SOLD it!
Okay, well, it's not that dumb. It made me money! Guys, honest to God, I'm a real life big girl crafter now. I had a booth at the Pacific Arts Holiday Market with my wonderful friend (and now, lovely business partner) Michele. She sold jewelry and knitted items, and I sewed up a storm of kitschy items from re-used and upcycled fabrics. I turned ties into wallets and bracelets, discarded slips into dresses, doilies into apron pockets, pillowcases into aprons, and t-shirts into shopping bags.
And it was a rousing success! People loved my stuff! I got told over and over how clever it was and how great my designs were, and that I should really look into expanding into boutique sales, and the plans are in the works for that, after Christmas. I made my money back and a bit more, and while it wasn't what I'd call WILDLY smashing, it was definitely worth the time and effort, even though I really overextended myself.
So, about the overextending myself....
First off, as much as I loved Mexico, I will never ever ever take another trip during the middle of a quarter again. It took so much time to catch up, and put me so behind. I missed valuable class opportunities that I couldn't make up, and it made the rest of the quarter a real battle. Secondly, the stress of catching up while working close to full time, managing a household (one in which my dear husband lost his job and then lost his shit about 2 weeks after I got back) and pounding out inventory for a craft fair while trying to make holiday gifts was just much too much. It was all I could do to stay standing, and when my immune system went, my entire life paid the price. I got dysentery on the Mexico trip, got back, got a bit better, and then fell victim to the killer flu/cold/sinus infection/martian death plague from Hell. After the Lord Captain Richie Poo got sick and was hospitalized, and we went to see him (after just recovering from my first bout with Captain Common Cold on Steroids) both John and I came down with this horrible super high fever non stop vomiting oh god kill me now I can't swallow anything and if I do I just puke it back up thing. I literally THREW UP OUT THE DOOR OF THE TRUCK on the way to Nutrition class one night, and my poor instructor took one look at me and gave me a sympathetic "go home and rest". (I'm sure if I had a student like me, I'd probably invest in some immune system supplements and a bottle of Jack Daniels.)
So the long and the short of it was that I was sick, sick, sick and then busy busy busy and I finally had a week to rest. I made lots of gifts this year, including a pair of knucks for my Dad, a felted laptop bag and an octopus for LCRP, a knitted hat with a bill for Chaser, a knitted cable hat for Jonathan, wallets and bags for my sis and her man, shopping bags for mom and Trish, and lots of other cool things that I am right now forgetting.
I now have pictures, and the next time I am able to steal the computer back from John, I'll even get around to posting them in here. For now, I hope your holidays were happy and that you're set to kick 2009 in the ass and make it work for you.
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