Planning For An Upcoming Craft Fair - First Time!

My friend and I are participating in a craft fair for the first time ever. I am super excited and a little worried. Excited to have the possibility to earn a few extra bucks doing what I love, creating stuff. And worried because, well it is my first time and I want to make sure my overhead does not exceed the sales.

We will be offering a variety of handcrafted items, with a focus of tie dyed items. They are an item that seems timeless and so much fun to make! My friend is amazing at this and I can certainly hold my own.  I will also be doing some smaller crocheted items, such as washcloths, coasters, and cup coozies.

We do not have a "business" so I do not feel that limiting my offerings by sticking to a "branding" attitude is needed here. I just want to spotlight the various things I love to create.

I have quite a few ideas and some time to work on them as the fair is a bit over a month away.  I was thinking of offering handmade gel air fresheners, sewn kitchen towels, and I may just leave it at that.

We have an 8'X8' booth with a table and I am bringing a clothing rack for the tie dye clothing.

Has anyone had experience with this? Any ideas?

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Our First Family Picture in 8 Years! Graduation Day

This is the first picture with all three of us in it since 2006! Talk about a treasure :) .

Hubby hates to have his picture taken, so we usually have to be in stealth mode to capture him. This generally means, the picture does not do him justice and one of us is the photographer in stealth mode!

I am so glad to have this picture!

How Do You Say Goodbye To A Childhood? Graduation Day!

Today my son graduates from High School and this Mom is having a much harder time with it than she thought she would. I mean, how do I say goodbye to the childhood and hello to adulthood for this boy?  He is my only, my baby. The baby that towers over me, sure. But, nonetheless MY baby.

Am I a helicopter Mom? Not so much anymore, but yes, I was for years. This is the child they told me I would never be able to conceive.  This is the child who has Asperger's Syndrome and went through hell to get a correct diagnosis at 8 years old.  This is the child that was bullied for years. The child that is introverted to a point that we genuinely worried. The child that spoke his first word at 5 months old, spoke complete sentences before he could walk!

How do you say goodbye to Dinosaurs, Pokemon, and bird fascinations? Goodbye to the word Mommy? Goodbye to being the one to fix things? Skinned knees? Bump on the head? Bad nightmare? It's OK, a hug a kiss and a Mom will protect you and make it go away always worked. Not so anymore!

This is my child, and I am so proud of every accomplishment he has ever made - especially when the odds were stacked against him. I am amazed every day with the young man he is!

He has learned so much in the past few years - self worth, pride, and courage. Oh the courage! Here is my child, bullied through High School, taking his Senior year at the Community College, showing up for his Graduation practice in a place where the very bullies exist- with his head held high and doing it of his own choosing!  He did not have to take part of the ceremony to get his diploma. They would have mailed it.

But he chose to attend, because he EARNED it, he DESERVES it, and those bullies have no impact on the happiness he has found.

Yes, I guess the child is mostly gone and the adult is doing a wonderful job in forming itself.

As I shed my tears tonight, they will have a dual meaning - mourning and celebration!

But, damn, I will always miss that child- even while I embrace the adult.

GMO Foods and Some Of My Basic Thoughts

It is a hot and heated topic these days. GMO safety, labelling, etc. Unless you have been living under the proverbial rock, I am sure you have at least heard something of the debate.

Here are my basic thoughts on the subject:



My issue is not that the foods are modified. Scientists and others have been modifying plants for so long. My issue is the Roundup and other pesticides they spray on them in mass quantities. Sure the PLANTS can grow with them, as they are altered to do so. However this does not change the fact that the pesticides HAVE been sprayed on them. 

I also have a huge issue with the fact that our pollinators, bees, are dying en mass due to this. Do people understand the ramifications of this? Sure I loathe bees as much as the next person, but they are a necessity in agriculture. What happens when they are gone? How long until we are no longer eating actual food?

Should we label them? Yes! We should label GMOs and much more. What are "Natural" flavors and "Natural" colors? Secretions from the anal sac of a Beaver? Oh sure it IS natural, they are not lying. But do I want to eat that? Same with the crushed beetles that are used. Ewwwww.....

Of course these are my personal feelings. Again, I am aware foods have been modified for years. It is not necessarily the modification per se I am concerned about here. It is the pesticides that are KNOWN carcinogens. I have lost too much to cancer.

Just Applied For A Big Promotion

Those who know me, know I am currently pretty underemployed. Sign of the times, I know. But, still very disenheartening. The bills do not decrease over time. Everyone knows this too.

Today, I decided to go for broke and apply for a pretty big promotion in our corporate office. I am very nervous about this. See, I am a very outgoing person and I am excellent with communication skills. These two skills would make me an excellent candidate for this position. I am also very detail oriented, a research junkie, and eager to learn just about anything.

BUT........  I interview horribly! I walk away thinking "Who the hell was that?"

Hopefully this will be different this time. Hopefully, the two years I have spent with the company has afforded me the comfort level in its players to just be myself.  I am hopeful!

My Botox Experience - Migraine Therapy

I have been diagnosed with "Persistent Chronic Migraine" by my neurologist.  This is a diagnosis 16 years in the making. When the headaches first started, my doctor diagnosed me with Cluster and Tension headaches.  I have had 3 MRI's, with and without contrast, many CT scans, an EEG and tried so many medications, diets.....

Basically, I have run the gamut of options. That is, all except two:

Botox Therapy  and Surgery to interrupt pain receptors.

Today I had my first Botox treatment. See the red dots on the picture above? They represent each place I had to receive an injection! And, let me tell you, it hurt. Oh my.... did it ever! Then the burning. And after the 4th injection, the forced migraine began. Now tell me, is this supposed to help of cause them? Of course I know the answer and was prepared for the possibility, but it still sucked.

All I know is I am putting a lot on the line hoping this is my "magic bullet". It costs $813 per script. That is $813 every 3 months! Oh, yeah, and that is with prescription coverage. And the process is very painful.

That is all I know right now. Hopefully I will have many more updates in the coming months.