A report about the craft show

Yesterday was a relative success, and even though the sales were far less than I had hoped for, we still did pretty well.

Jean was absolutely the best person I could have had there for the entire day, and even though I know she is going through a rough time right now, and there were probably one hundred thoughts going through her head, and a dozen other places she would rather have been......

The boys helped to load 'the General' when she arrived Friday night (she kindly brought her Suburban to ferry the books to the sale), and that chore was accomplished in short order. It was a good thing we went that route instead of the alternative idea we toyed with (which was for each of us to take a load of the stock in our two tinier cars). Everything went into the vehicle beautifully, traveled well, was easy to unload (and reload afterwards) - I think getting it all into smaller vehicles would have been like stuffing clowns into a Mini Cooper.

Her SUV tank was a blessing - THANK YOU, JEAN!!!!!

We had an hour to get set up - that was the time allotment from the church committee where the sale was held. No, an hour was hardly enough to get the boxes (and boxes and boxes) out of the Suburban, down the stairs and to the tables, let alone set it all out (which never happened), but somehow we made it work. I had commissioned two tables, which was a good and bad thing, but that was paid for within three purchases. Made up the rest of the costs for being there ($10), and more than made up for the pay lost not going to the sound gig I could have had this weekend.

The tables were in a great location, at the end of an aisle and nearest the doors to get back up and out. There was an elevator, but it was quirky, s-l-o-w and small, making the movement of the books darned near more work than it was worth, so needless to say, we got our aerobic workout - and then some - yesterday. Holy smokes!

Last night, after the ride home from Flint, we found it nearly impossible to make ourselves move from the SUV to the house. But this morning, there wasn't a moment when we weren't moaning or creaking or groaning with every movement! Too funny. As a thank you treat I took her to breakfast at a Greek diner in Blfd Hills - a favorite place to get a good meal for not a lot of cash. After all, we deserved it.

As we sold books all day Saturday, we chatted with neighboring vendors, some of the folks who glanced at the merchandise as they drifted by, and kidded around between ourselves. Somewhere mid-afternoon we were approached by a couple of other ladies drumming up vendors to come to their own church holiday bazaars to sell wares. One of these invitations was to the School for the Deaf on December 4th. Did we want to participate?

We talked about it for a couple of minutes then decided "why not?" Once the books were packed back into their boxes and loaded once more into the Suburban (which took over an hour to do), they could stay that way - safely packed and ready for the next show - and all we would have to do is travel (and then unload and schlepp them, of course). "Why not" indeed.

If I can double my sales at this final holiday bazaar, take home fewer boxes of book (and perhaps open an online account with Amazon or Half.com or some other such venue), I could potentially finish the kitchen work entirely (and perhaps get the stairs completed)! It's all good.

Anyhow, it was a pretty good day - fun and monetarily-wise.

Oh, and a lot of people went home with great books and Christmas gifts for very lucky recipients!