I got to meet a fellow Ravelry member last week. JMknitster and I met up at Mountain Knits and Pearls and had a lovely time. First was breakfast at a local diner and then some yarn shopping. The camera battery was dead so the owner of the shop took a pic for us and sent it so we could have it. How cool!!!

I have also been trying to finish a bunch of old projects. I completed a sweater that was over a year old and a skirt that I started just about a year ago as well. I finished some charity items and am starting to seam together the afghan I am knitting so I don't have it all to do in December when it is complete.

We joined a CSA this year. For those of you not "in the know", CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically I prepay a local farm for food that I pick up once a week during the growing season. This gives the farm some opperational cash during a quiet time and during planting, and gets me farm fresh veggies once a week at a considerable savings from my local farmer's market.

But every week they bounty is a surprise, and every week I need to figure out what in the heck I am going to make from the food.

In the beginning it was easy, I got lots of lettuce and spinach and peas- so lots of salad. Then radishes- fo radish salad.. and then it started- I got Swiss Chard. What in God's name is Swiss Chard?? After being happy that umanity had invented Google, I searched and learned it would be sort of like Kollard Greens. So I would like it, and C wouldn't. So one night I made myself up Swiss Chard with bacon for dinner....

Then what to do with my Zuchini (since I can't eat zuchini bread unless it is gluten free).. off to my cookbooks where I found an Amish recipie for Zuchini skillet. Basically ground beef, zuchini and other vegies.. Very yummy...

The basil became pesto sauce...

The peas became Risi E Bisi- risotto with peas. Yummy too! I think the freshness of the veggies really is taking this food to the next level..

I have lots of leftovers for this week without C and I still have some peas to figure out what to do with. But I am looking forward to this weeks surprise and can't wait to figure out what to cook next!

I don't want to go into too much detail, I need to protect the innocent. Lets just say that a child of a friend (who is a young adult now) went for an "adventure" this weekend- visiting a person that they met via the internet, many hours away (albeit at this person's parent's house).

I was told of this adventure, in confidence, so that if anything was to go wrong at least someone would know this young adult's whereabouts. I asked to be texted along the way so I knew of their safety. After the initial "I am here" there was silence- I went to be worrying, I woke up and worried, I texted, I called, I e-mailed....

I learned that the phone was off to conserve battery and that all was OK. But during this time I imagined having to go and tell parent's of the adventure and having to deal with some awful calamity.

And then I thought that by the time I was this person's age I had gone off to live in Nevada, at the other side of the country, with friends my parents had never met, and no job until I found one, and no car, and no apartment. Wow, I really put them through hell. And this was life's revenge...

I have been really lucky the last two years to be able to teach some local Girl Scouts how to make bath fizzies while they are at his year I had a total of 95 young ladies who each got to make two bath fizzies each. It was so much fun. I got to answer all kinds of questions about my business and how to make my things and how I sell and market them as well. My mom helped us get them all wrapped up and put into organza bags, and K helped make fizzies, as the groups were large (25 girls each) and we only had an hour or so per group.

K had the foresight to take a few picture so I could post one here :)

So once a year my mom comes to visit and her trip just ended a few days ago. I go and pick her up and we arrived back here in PA on Sunday. C picked us up some Chinese food for dinner and it was very welcome, as we were starving.

Monday we went down to Lancaster County and went to her favorite fabric store. Although it didn't have the fabric she was looking for, we did get some fabric so she can make me a skirt. From there we went on and got me some gluten free pretzels from a pretzel maker, some artisan cheeses, and some sugar free candy for C's dad. When we got back we went and saw Up in 3-D. It was very cool and the first time mom has been in a movie theatre in years. After that it was soup and salad for dinner and an early night to bed, we were whooped.

Tuesday was a long day teaching girl scouts and brownies how to make bath fizzies. Dinner was salads from Saladworks. I got this great one with candied pecans and apple slices, yum!


Wednesday we started with another bath fizzy class, and then during our break we went and got Rita's (water ice and frozen custard) and took a tour of the Kraemer Textile mill. It is up in Nazareth, PA and is one of the last places in the USA to spin yarn and other textiles. We had one more class in the afternoon and dinner was burgers from 5 Guys. It is my favorite place to get burgers because they not only make them without the bun, but they don't fry anything but french fries- so they are gluten free and I can eat as many as my little heart desires!

Thursday was garden day. We weeded the gardens and vegetables. It was great to see that my cauliflower were making cauliflowers, and my beans had baby beans. I found three or four volunteer tomato plants and I let them go because they looked better than the ones I planted on purpose. The garlic should be ready soon and the luffa are starting to get big- hopefully I'll have some flowers soon. We went around to a bunch of local garden centers and I picked up a few pepper plants and mom got Rad strawberries for his garden at home. We grabbed dinner at Yocco's. I certainly was treating mom to all the local favorites this trip!

Friday we relaxed. It was nice to sit and watch moves on the TV, relax outside in the screen room, and knit a lot. It threatened to rain all day and finally did so when we went to dinner (Mexican) and it was over by the time we were finished eating.

Saturday was back home for mom. We drove the long way and stopped at a garden shop along the way whee I got some loose leaf tea and she got a new plant for her garden. Rad made dinner- awesome grilled chicken capping off a long drive with a great meal.

Sunday was back home for me. I cooked a few meals for mom and Rad before I left, making their next few weeks of meal planning easier. And then drove back home as fast as I could before the rain came.

I got to go to Puerto Rico for just over a week in June. C has a project at work that brings him there quite a bit, so as long as we pay for my airplane and food, I get to hang in the hotel room while he slaves away at the office.

It just took me a few days to trip and twist my ankle which kept me from doing most of the things I wanted to do the rest of the trip. But I really enjoyed getting some knitting done, enjoying napping in a hammock by the ocean, and listening to a copius amount of audio books.

I hope to get to go back soon so I can explore more of Old San Juan and the are surrounding the hotel. While I was away, it rained here in PA almost all day every day, and there it only rained for the requisite hour a day, and then it passed through.

Lets see here... the weekend after Mayfair K and I went to Philly to check out a show I have applied to in the past (but not been accepted to). I was disappointed in the soapmakers they had there. Obviously, it isn't the quality of my work that kept me out as much as the fact my booth display just isn't hip enough for the indie crafts circuit. I think I'll try again next year since my booth is updated to some more popular and younger colors now.

I went to the dentist- no cavities!! This is always good news. I have been blessed with pretty good teeth so they are rarely a problem and I hope it stays that way, I m not fond of going to the dentist.

We started making bath fizzys. Just enough to get some orders out right now, but more will be made soon...

I went and did another craft show at the Morgan Log Home down near Lansdale. Sales were super slow, I did better last time in the rain:) Next time I will have to evaluate if I should continue to do this...

I am going to be out of the workshop till the 19th. K will be making soap and lotion bars while I am gone. Lucky me:)

Overall, all I can say is UGH! But lets start with the good first...

1) I have THE BEST customers on the planet. Their loyalty constantly brightened my day. Even when they didn't make a purchase, I was showered with smiles and laughs from people who are now old friends (and some new ones too!)Many stop by with their kids who I just love to watch grow up, and some seem to stay forever young as well:) This show does not have the rude, uncouthness of some other shows I do. I truly enjoyed every encounter.

2) We missed the worst rain. One night we left just as it started, at 9 pm and got home and could ride out the rain in the safety of our home. We also experienced no damage that night (a few others did) and no mud or poor drainage in the booth. The other night they claimed a bad storm so we left early. The storm blew over, but a few lost sales was better than the possibility of dealing with rain and hail in a tent:)

3) Sales were not all that bad. Not great, but they certainly could have been worse. About a 25% decrease from last year. This seems about average so far for me at shows. But my orders are up and that is filling the gaps...

and now the bad...

1) Upon arrival, the check in booth was not set up as indicated on the paperwork mailed earlier in the month. Another crafter had to explain to me how to get my booth assignment. It would be better if this information is just mailed to me, like every other show I do...

2) The booth numbers were screwy. Mine was 57, next to me was 68, and 58 was a dozen booths down on the other side of the street.

3) There are maybe 100 vendors, but somehow, me, another soapmaker, and the potpourri guy, all were in the same 50 feet. This means our scents conflict and we can't take advantage of one of our strengths- our fragrance and people smelling it as they walk by and being enticed in the booth.

4) Attendance was certainly down. Usually it is a challenge to get out of my booth at night and to my car because there are so many people. This year, it was empty...Low attendance equals low sales for everyone...

So that is it.. my critique for this year. I will probably be back next year if the lower the price some, but I am not sure if I will if it remains at it's current entry fee. I really thought this show had reached it's low and was on the way back up, but this year I am not so sure now...

I had a doctor of mine the other day relate to me how she tried to learn how to knit when she was pregnant and just couldn't do it. I mean, she is a doctor, she completed medical school, and she can't learn to knit??? Everyone learns different, she tried by a book. But if you are trying to learn and are having trouble try a book, try a class, try videos on Youtube, or try a combination of them all. And if you don't like your class or instructor, try another! Sometimes the way people teach just doesn't work and we just need to try another way.

BTW: this is not my artwork, and I can't find the designer to credit them, so if you know, let me know, so I can do the right thing:)

Yesterday was the Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Show. It was supposed to be two weeks ago but the rain delayed it until yesterday. It was a shell of the usual show, but still not that bad. Typically the streets are lined with really good crafters, some local stores displaying merchandise, and some local businesses drumming up business (think window replacement and gutter dohickies)...

But yesterday the crafters were scarce. I figure that between the rain delay, and the not wonderful weather yesterday, may crafters decided to stay home or do another show. So the spaces that were empty were filled by the local stores with their merchandise (nice stores by the way..) so the street wasn't as much of a crfat fair as a street fair kind of atmosphere.

But even with the questionable economy, and the rain delay, I still did pretty well. I sold two shaving mugs which is exciting and they got a lot of attention as well. I also got a lead on a possible new show which is great news too.

So someplace was giving out balloons to the kids. I kept seeing these white balloons go by with what I thought were the shapes of continents on them. So I turn to K an say "I think those earth balloons are cool, but they would look better if they were blue rather than white"..to which she replies.. "That is because they are cows"...after a better look, there were no distinguishable continent shapes at all..

I got a new exercise program for the Wii yesterday. C got it for me as a birthday present. It is quite a work out. I did 30 minutes at intermediate level and burned off 190 calories.

Reasons I like it better (or the same) than Wii Fit:

1) It weighs you every day
2) It tells you how many calories you burned each day
3) The routine does not start and stop like the Wii Fit
4) You can choose from three levels of difficulty
5) You can work out from 5 to 60 minutes- your choice
6) All the exercise are available- no unlocking required
7) You can use it with or without the balance board
8) using the balance board makes it harder, I think.


Reasons I don't like it as much:

1) to me it is primarily a running game with interludes of other sports, which are fun, but worthless when it comes to burning calories

There are four workouts. Today I chose weight loss, but there is also interval training, strength training, and hill climb. I also need to practice a few of the sports, I can't seem to jump through the tires at all. I need to get the movement right. Just practice I guess:)

This past weekend was the Mother's Day Craft show in Bethlehem. It was up on Main Street. Hands down this show and I have a love/hate relationship. I love the sales and hate the weather. Saturday the show is typically slower and my sales were off by about half from previous years.

I knew that this economy crunch was going to effect us crafter but I think that this kind of show in particular may be the hardest hit. Most of the people there are two dimensional artists (think $1200 paintings), photographers, and jewelers. There are potters and a few other fine crafters like myself, but it is much more an art show than anything else. I think that some people don't want to be reminded of their financial problems by "window shopping" high end fine arts and crafts.

Saturday night the wind came. We survived it, but many, many others didn't. There was rampant wind damage with some people loosing their expensive ($1000) tents, not to mention their work. I counted at least a dozen with major damage. Some even had to come in the middle of the night to get their things that were strewn all over the street. When we got there we just packed and left. To me there is nothing worse than loosing the tent and displays to weather when you can make an informed decision and avoid it. Sometimes storms sneak up, but when you know what you are going to be against, sometimes it isn't right to fight it. I hope that the people who stayed did really well and made lots of money.

So I apologize to anyone who braved the wind on Sunday to come find me, only to find an empty space. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't risk having to buy another tent, and I couldn't risk my safety and the safety of the customers. Wind is dangerous. I'll take rain over wind any day.