Dad Update- 9

Today was a quick visit at the hospital for some pre admittance testing and a meeting with the anesthesia department. It was the typical blood pressure, and such, as well as an EKG to check out his heart. All went well and checks out 100% so he is set for his hernia surgery on Aug 2nd. The whole procedure takes about 6 hours, from the time he goes in, to the time he is released from recovery. I need to be sure that we are stocked up on ice and soup and things like that so that I don't have to run out and get anything once I get him home and comfortable.

Week 28 Accomplishments

This was a week where it just felt impossible to get anything done. I made some Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soap as well as some Peppermint Foot Scrub. I also made all new 3"x5" signs for the booth- I just need to do the 8"x11" ones now. Dad labeled all 1200 lip balms for me, how cool is that?!? I went through all of my crates that I bring to shows and got them all emptied, cleaned, and organized. Dad had three appointments and that made most of the days this week pretty useless to get any real work done, and Blueberry Festival was this weekend, so all in all its been a quiet week. I have one more good full week to be able to get soap made before Musikfest starts, and if I work hard, I should have all that I need to get me through September made by then. Wish me luck!

Blueberry Festival- Day 2

All in all the show showed a marked decrease in sales overall. The crowds on Sunday were strong, almost stronger than Saturday, but I felt less of them were making purchases. The place also was pretty empty by 5 pm even though the festival runs till 7 pm.

When I run through my totals and compare to last year, I did sell less of everything, but except for lotion bars, not one thing was down in sales by a considerable amount. It was just an across the board decrease in sales. I also noticed in Sunday that "The Usual Suspects" didn't come by at all. There is a group of about 6 women or so that seem to turn up at every festival I do in the area, all year long. Even if they don't make a purchase they always come by to say hello, sniff the new fragrances and just catch up on small talk. I saw none of them this show, and I know they all stopped by last year. So I really think the construction and the schedule move really changed some people's plans.

There was another soap maker there this year (who only made soap, no toiletries), but I only sold 10 bars less than last year, even though total show sales were down almost 50%. So the good news was that they had really no impact on individual soap sales. I have always had a gut feeling that competition makes little impact, and in this case I was right.

So best sellers were:
Soap: Lavender
Bath Salts: Rejuvenation
Lotion Bars: Bug Off!
Lip Balm: Coconut Lemongrass
Bath Fizzys: Lavender