I really wish that I was a more artistic person, at times. I’ve seen some really gorgeous pieces of art & found art in the past few days, and there’s no way I could ever look at a pile of things like wires, beads, broken glass notebook memory and pottery shards & envision it as a piece of art.

I mean I can paint signs & make cute crafts & most of the time, people like them & even want to buy them, but I’ve had some things that I thought through from start to finish that just didn’t seem to go over that well, like my tooth fairy pillows or the little purses & ID wallets I made. I made a bunch of each one time & I’m still trying to get them all sold. I’d have bought them, but maybe I have different standards or ideas than the the people who visit my booth, looking to buy something.

A lot of the time, I’ll look at things I see in stores or on the web & know that I can do a better job at making them & I do & I really enjoy doing that type of thing. I like to pick colors & decide how the hangers I attach to my signs will look & I like hearing people laugh when they read them & seeing what they choose. I guess I’ll stick with being a crafter & let my brother be the artist of the family.

I managed to get all of my sales tax stuff filled out & sent off. Hopefully the state will accept my appeal & sent me a revised total of what I owe them. I’m supposed to pay my sales tax within 10 days of faire ending & that seems to be the busiest time for me & I have a hard time remembering. I was sent a reminder, right after Troy got out of the hospital & I had other things on my mind, so at the beginning of this month, I was told they had figured the amount I owed based on the “average sales” for that event. The average was almost $1500. I don’t generally even clear $300, honestly, so I had to send in an appeal & hope they accept it.

We got our state income tax sent off, too, which is good, since we can’t pay what we owe in federal taxes until we get our state return back. I really miss the years when we always got returns from both, but I’m guessing they’re gone forever. I’d just like to not owe, now, honestly.

I’m probably going to have to go to my least favorite place in the world, soon. That would be the dentist. I’ve had a fairly constant toothache for a few days & I’ve reached the whiney stage, so pretty soon, I’ll be crying & begging to go. Stupid teeth. I also need to go to the eye doctor & get new glasses soon, too.

We lost our cat, Lucky, the other day & I’m still dealing with the sadness from that. We’d had him for 10 years & I keep expecting to see him waiting for his breakfast every day, and when I don’t, I get sad all over again. He was going blind & had arthritis, so I knew it was coming, I just don’t think you can ever be 100% ready for it, you know?

In happy news, I think Spring may be on it’s way. Stores are starting to get new clothes in & the winter stuff is going on clearance, the IFA had a big truck of cattle supplies sitting out in front of it yesterday, which is always a sign of spring around here. The sheep should be lambing in the next few weeks, too. I’m telling you, I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready for warm weather than I am right now. I think I hate winter more every year.

Just got back from the second faire meeting of the year & we have about narrowed down our entertainment, although we’re still looking for a few acts. We need/want a new puppet troupe & some period-type music wouild be fantastic, too, so hopefully we’ll come up with something in the coming weeks.

It’s kind of fun to sit down & read the emails that we get & booth inquiries that come in. Sometimes, we get some really neat stuff that wants to be a part of what we do, like cinnamon almonds or crepes. We have had some great new booths over the past few years, filled with lovely jewelry, custom leather crafts & many other things and those are the types of things we’re looking for. We do get applications from people swelling insurance, tax preparation services, discount blinds, sunglasses & plastic toys. Sometimes we accept a few, if they try to fit in, usually we turn them all down.

We have two belly dance troupes, a fire-eating group, hopefully a magician & some other things. We’ll get more interest as we get closer to summer & more people will begin to send in their requests for information or make phone calls & then we’ll be able to start choosing the acts a little better.

It was a good meeting & as always we got some stuff done, and didn’t just sit around visiting. We do need to go & walk the park again, so we can get a feel for things & decide exactly how our vendors will be situated this time, since we’re trying to move an entire row to a better location. We did put it down on paper & will be able to see what it actually looks like next months when the map gets redone, so until then I’ll hold off on commenting on it one way or the other.

I have a bad case of the winter blahs, I think. The weather is gray, it keeps snowing & the wind is just bitter cold. All that I can think of summer and being warm again, all I want is to stop shivering. I’ve never hated winter as much as I do this year & I just know it’s going to get worse every year. I’m tired of my skin being dry & itchy & my hair being full of static & crazy. I want the windows open & the swamp cooler on, planning what we’re going to grill for dinner. I just keep telling myself it won’t last forever & that soon I’ll be wishing it wasn’t quite so hot.

I think I’ll work on getting a few more books made & start painting some signs and stuff to sell in the booth, that’ll at least give me something to focus on other than being cold & wishing winter was over, I imagine. I’ll look around for ideas for signs on the internet tonight & write a few sayings down, sketch out what I want to paint on the signs, too. I also need to get a grocery list made, since tomorrow is payday & we haven’t been so great at shopping without a list. It’s too bad I don’t have any ideas to use all of my old grocery store membership cards in a craft or something. I seem to have so many in my wallet or lying around the house. Stores seem to change their programs so often, and that requires a new card. I know I should just throw them away, but they’re so nice & colorful that it makes it hard to, you know? I could probably make some little notebooks with them or something if I really tried to.

Anyway, I’m starving, so I think I’ll go fix a cup of tea, some soup & crackers & watch TV a bit.

I can’t believe that Valentine’s Day, it seems like Christmas wasn’t but a couple of weeks ago, really. Anymore, Troy & I don’t really do much to celebrate. He usually ends up working, so I feel gypped if we do plan anything, because we’re either rushing to get everything done before he goes to work or I’m waiting until 8pm to even get to do anything, and by then, he’s tired from being at work all day.

I remember back when we were newlyweds, how important Valentine’s Day was to me, probably because no one had really ever cared enough about me to make a big deal of it before him. I was so hurt that he came home from work that night with no gift for me, he felt so bad that he ran out & bought me some lingerie & chocolates. I felt guilty about acting so immature over a stupid holiday & we never really had a repeat, but then again, I don’t think he ever forgot again.

At one time, when I was young & much thinner, I had a whole wardrobe of teddies and other lingerie, because Troy bought it for me quite often, or maybe he bought it for himself, but either way, it made me feel pretty & sexy. I’m sure I still have many of them & I keep them just for the sentimental value they have for me. I guess I’ve had my years of romantic Valentine’s Days, and it just doesn’t matter that much to me anymore. I know my husband loves me, all year long & he does so many loving & sweet things for me every day that to take one day & say that he has to do something nice, is just silly to me.

I’ll cook a nice dinner for him that day & we’ll call it good.

I actually sat down today & started looking for product for the booth, and supplies for crafting other things, too. I had spent some time awhile back looking for ideas, talked them over with Dawn & then didn’t do anything further with it. I took those ideas this afternoon & started looking for ways to make them happen. I have a bunch of things on ebay that I’m watching, just waiting to get the money to start buying a few of them. I’ll have to get a few things each payday until I get everything.

I plan to put spell kits together, sell bath salts with a specific purpose like purification or stress relief, sell tapestries & altar cloths, my nifty hand-painted signs, incense, sage smudge sticks, balms for different purposes & other things. I think I’ll make one batch of cold process Dragons Blood soap, because I have a customer that asks for it every year & I hate to not have any for her. I think it’ll be a fun season & that we’ll offer things that no one else does. I don’t think that it’ll take any more time or money to get things together for this, it’ll just take a different mind set & method of preparation. I’m really excited about it & can hardly wait to get started.

I’ve been waking up with terrible back pain for over a week, but just in one spot on my back. I’m wondering if it’s really an issue with my back or if it’s a kidney problem, except that it only hurts in the morning. Would a kidney issue do that? Maybe I need to get one of those heated mattress pads, just so I can keep heat on my back all night & see if that helps at all. We used to have one, when we first moved here & couldn’t afford to put propane in the tank for the furnace & used the wood stove, but of course it eventually died & we haven’t replaced it. I’ll bet we can pick one up on sale pretty soon, since they’ll start bringing out the spring merchandise soon.