Giving Thanks

For Thanksgiving "dinner", I went with my parents to Golden Corral, a local buffet restaurant. I wasn't a very happy camper when Mama said that Daddy wanted to arrive there about 11:00. I'm not an early bird by any stretch of the imagination, and at that hour my stomach is just starting to think about settling from the light breakfast I might have had. But by the time we arrived, I found I was famished and we all had a nice "dinner" with everyone getting to eat their favorites with no work to prepare the meal or mess to clean up afterward. Quite a deal! I was also surprised at the number of people who were there so early. I came home and took the dogs for a walk. This was a treat for them, but it was also to help my meal settle. The dogs enjoyed it much more than I.

While on our walk, I pondered the things I have to be thankful for. Yes, it's been a hard past 9 months, but I am thankful I am still here giving it the good old college try. I am lonesone for the companionship I have lost, but grateful for the family and friends I have. I'm thankful I'm still able to support myself with my own little business, and that I don't have to work for someone else. I'm thankful that I have my health, and am sleeping much better these days.

Now I believe a nap is called for, then it's back to the grindstone. I have a wholesale order to fill, a show to do next weekend as well as the next, and I must take some time off tomorow to go into the big "city" for a jewelry market and to pick up more lumber.

On the Road Again

I made a delivery again today, leaving home in time to arrive at my destination before the shop opened. A cold front came through last night to blow all the humdity out of the air and it was a nice, sunny drive. I had to wait a short while for the shop owner to arrive but I found a nice bench in the sunshine and a shop kitty to keep me company while I waited.

I treated myself to an alpaca scarf being sold in the clothing room of the shop. I needed a warm scarf and this seemed to fill the bill...soft, natural fiber, and warm. The shop owner is friends with an airline hostess who picks up goods for her on layovers, the scarf was from Peru.

After making my delivery and receiving yet another order, I drove into San Antonio to pick up more lumber. I stopped in at Pet Smart to get some food for the dogs then ended up getting caught in a mess of traffic. I knew there was construction in 3 areas of town today and where they were........I made certain to stay away. What I hadn't planned on was that the traffic from one of the highways I didn't get onto was being diverted to a street I was on. Holy crap, what a mess. I was just then trying to get to a certain restaurant for a quick bite of Mexican food before going home. I gave up the notion of getting where I wanted to in the first place and while driving by a mall, thought "what the heck?" knowing that at least there was a food court. So I parked and found the food court...there was a Mexican grill with a Carne Asada Plate special that was really decent. They even used a leaf lettuce in their salad instead of iceberg, and had 3 different hot sauces. I tried 2 of them, and I'm missing at least six layers of skin off my tongue....I think the sauces were so hot that they cauterized that place in the back of my throat that usually acts up, making me cough and be hoarse for the first few minutes while eating a hot salsa.(but that doesn't deter me)

So with a full stomach and missions accomplished, I found the back way out of Dodge and arrived back home to check on my parents. I found myself more or less corralled into making a trip to New Mexico in December that I hadn't planned to take. My brother and his family are celebrating Christmas early with my nephew and his expectant significant other coming in from Minnesota. They are renting cabins in Cloudcroft for a couple of days, and Daddy wants me to take Mama, as he wants to go to La. to visit with his brother who is in the last stages of Parkinson's. I really don't mind the trip, I've not been to Cloudcroft that I remember, although Daddy says I have been there when I was too young to remember. My niece wanted to take Mama, but with her disabilities and the fact that Tamrah hasn't driven on snow before, and since I have 10 years' experience at it, if there's snow or ice to worry about....Daddy wanted me to be doing the driving.

So it's back to the grindstone, and the same old same old....build inventory.

Election day

My weekend market was another not so good, not so bad show. The weather was pretty chilly so the shoppers were pretty slow to get started in the morning. Normally the shoppers arrive as early as 7 a.m., but it wasn't until about 10 that the crowd began arriving. But since I always enjoy going to this market, and I did make a little money in the process,it wasn't a loss.

I must get going this morning, get out to vote and then put my nose to the grindstone. I have an order for signs to be delivered, a show next weekend to make merchandise for, and I should stop by a local shop to see which of my signs she wants to buy, as the owner visited me at Gruene market and wants to buy from me. I need to mow the yard, plant some winter flowers, and paint the trim on the front of the house, but there's only so much of me to go around with so few hours in the day, so some of the chores will have to wait.

....later in the day

I decided to run some errands while I was out to vote, then came home to unload and sort through signs for the shop here in town. I checked my messages only to find I have picked up yet another wholesale customer. I foresee many late nights in my future.

Campout

I've been working very hard the past couple of days trying to get ready for my Market Day in Wimberley this Sat. and to get some of one of my wholesale orders started so I can start delivery next week. It's been fulfilling in that I can see just how much work I've done, but it's been a week with disruptions too. I've had workmen here the past two days putting a new face on the studio (front of the house) because the wood was rotting out.

I'm really looking forward to the Market this weekend. It's a camping trip of sorts. About 10 other vendor friends are in the same general area of the market, and all go up the day before to set up. We arrive in the afternoon and work awhile then visit back and forth as we work awhile and then visit awhile until dinner time when we walk to a nearby restaurant. Afterwards we work and visit until bedtime and sleep in our booths or vehicles. It's an early market, and is over at an early 3 p.m. We pack up and then all meet in town for an early dinner before everyone scatters to their homes. It's not the most profitable of shows, but a very nice change from the norm. The weather is going to be chilly, so I hope it'll make a nice holiday spending mood for our customers.