The end of this week I took a few days off. By “off” I mean, not in the shop making soap, unfortunately, off didn’t mean not thinking about all I have to do, all that I want to do. It seems overwhelming the amount of things that I want to get done, above and beyond getting my inventory set, I still want to learn Spanish, take a chemistry course or two, go for my aromatherapy certification, volunteer and take the class to be a PA Master Gardener, and the list goes on and on. I always wonder if I am one of the few people that live like this, with a huge list of things to do that seems like it will take a lifetime to complete. Or maybe that is the point, to keep your life full and fulfilling until you die and I am on the right track.
In the beginning of this week I was tired. Sitting in front of my calendar I realized that I had been working for 21 days straight. It is amazing how fast the days fly by, how many “work days” I don’t think of as work while I am doing them (like a show day, or a day that I call a “short day”- only 8 hours rather than 10-12), but how these days add up and how living with your work can give you all the opportunity in the world to never take a day off. And you know, even when I decided to take four days off- I still made up a list of things to do for those days, it included some gardening, some knitting, reading, and cleaning the house some, funny how those things are usually on my list of things to do even on work days…. Hmmmmm…
Anyway…Monday: I brought C to the airport early in the morning (about 4:30 am) only to learn that we could have gone at least an hour later, since his “plane” ticket to Newark, was actually a “bus” ticket and he didn’t have any security to get through in Allentown, or any baggage to check…Once I got home I went back to bed and was glad that I got up when I did because K come to work and she cam earlier than I had expected. She labeled lip balms while I poured more (so unfair, I know). I also made a bunch of soap (4 batches), did laundry, paid bills, ran my credit cards from the weekends show, and blogged. I actually made it till about 9 pm before I fell asleep. I spent the evening watching Deadwood, Season 2. I’ve finished the show but and going back and listening to the audio commentaries (I am such a geek).
Tuesday: I poured Soap on a Rope, and shampoo bars, as well as the last of the lotion bars. K came and finished up the lip balms and started shrink wrapping them. I finished mowing a little section that C didn’t get done before he left and K and I emptied the van of its inventory and put everything where it belongs and restocked the rest of what can stay packed between shows. I also did the usual chores: bringing the garbage to the road, checking the hot tub chemicals, cleaning the cat pan. That night I took a class about Taxes for the sole proprietor. I learned many, many thing, the biggest of which is that I really, really, should have an accountant do my taxes…
Wednesday: I did laundry, made soap, mailed an order out, applied for my Maryland Sales Tax license so I can try and do a show there in a few weeks, sent in the show app for the Maryland show, updated my mailing list, and figured out my inventory sold from the last show. K shrink wrapped and labeled the lip balms and the started labeling soap bags (the small bags I wrap soap in at shows that have a label with contact info and the soap fragrance). I picked up C at the airport- it was supposed to be at nine, and it was close to midnight.
And here I digress….I called a promoter about a show... a promoter and show that will right now remain unnamed. I made a mistake and double booked a weekend. One promoter has many shows during the year, the other has only one. So I decided to do the show that is done once a year and try and see if the other promoter would let me do another show instead. I called right before Easter and was told they’d get right back to me after the holiday. I waited a few weeks and called again, this time leaving a detailed message. I called again on Wednesday- they told me to call back, that they couldn’t help me because they had another show over the weekend and were busy. And the kicker- that this wasn’t important because the show I was admitted into is in July and the one I want to do is in November. WELL ITS IMPORTANT TO ME YOU IDIOTS!!! I need to book shows far in advance and I am being forced to not apply for other things this same weekend in November because I am waiting for you to get off of your lazy butts and help me- you know the person who wants to pay you hundreds of dollars to be at your event, the person who wants to tell my whole mailing list to come see me. The person who wants to blog about your event, list it on my calendar, my website… Part of me will be relived if they won’t let me into their November show, because I don’t have that much respect for them right now..
Thursday: I started the morning at the grocery store. They didn’t have a few things I wanted. I went to the Post Office, cleaned all my molds, etc. K took pictures of all the things I need to list on e-bay and wrote up descriptions and weighed them so we can figure shipping. We went to lunch at Wegaman’s and I didn’t pick up the groceries I missed that morning, thinking I’d pick them up the next day at another more local grocery…
Friday: It was my first of four official “days off”. I started with Home Depot to get weed block, and edging, and some brackets to put up window boxes. Then I went to a few local garden shops and picked up flowers for some planters and some vegetables for the garden. And I tried to get those groceries at another place and they didn’t have them either. Then I got to take a nap (*smile*), I knit, cooked dinner, and did a few household chores.
Saturday: I put stuff away into the shop that needed to put away, boxed up yarn for mom, and stuff for J. C and I started working on the garden. We got most of the sod removed before we just got plain tired. We went to lunch at Red Robin and then saw Spiderman-3. Once we got home I started to watch the NASCAR race (boring)….
Sunday: We got up and went to breakfast and gardened some more. The edging I bought didn’t work and we went to Home Depot to get a different kind, and we got more soil. I got frustrated because the garden wasn’t coming along as fast as I hoped so I took a nap, calmed down, and we went back at and almost got it finished.
No comments:
Post a Comment