I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my business and how to manage things better. I think I do pretty well with it, after all, we’re really only up & running for 4 days a year. We don’t really ever make much of a profit, all things considered, but last year, we did manage to put quite a lot of what we made back into stock for this year, which helped out a lot.

If I were going to get truly serious about this, and try to travel to other faires in other places, I think I’d go to Western Governors online university, and get a BA in Business Management, that way I could learn a lot more that just my GED & life’s experience have taught me about running it, and we might even start making enough money to make a difference for both Dawn & I. If that were the case, I could go back later on for an online mba and even if my own stuff didn’t work out, I wouldn’t have problems getting hired somewhere else, at least in theory. I still live in small town Utah, where I’m sure there are plenty of people with degrees, but it’s a thought & something I really need to think on for awhile.

I never did get that fabric measured and cut. I had a terrible headache Thursday & was just not feeling well, Friday morning was about the same, and then later, my mom wanted to go out shopping, so we did that & when I got home, I just didn’t feel like doing anything. I did find a stencil cutting kit which will help out a lot for painting the signs I sell in the booth, so at least something craft-related was accomplished yesterday, right?

Maybe I’ll get around to at least cutting the pieces today, if not sewing anything, it all depends on my motivation later. I can already feel my head starting to pound, so the outlook on that one is fairly bleak. I’m thinking today will be a good day to relax & watch TV, or maybe see if Dawn can run me to the store for some colored pencils, so I can get some other stuff done that won’t be too taxing.

I know most of why I’m feeling badly is allergies & the usual PMS stuff, I just wish I felt better & really hope I do by tomorrow. We’re going out for the day with Dawn & Jason & I really want to be able to have a fun day. I want to feel good & have nice weather. I’m concerned about the weather thing, since where we’re going isn’t as far south as I thought it was & so it’s only supposed to be about 58 tomorrow, which is okay if you’re not outside all day, but can be a little chilly if you are. Oh well, we’ll see what everyone else thinks & how we feel tomorrow.

I think I’ll get all of the walls & table runners measured & cut tomorrow & start working on them Friday & Saturday. We’re going out of town on Sunday, so that’ll just be a day off for us, since we’re celebrating Jason’s birthday. I’ll see about picking up the white sheets I need on Monday & finishing everything up by the end of the week, then I can just concentrate on getting the roof fabric purchased, measured & cut out, then see if I can actually make it fit. I just want our booth to look so great this year & I’m willing to do whatever I have to to make that happen. I’m really excited about it!

I’m not feeling great thid evening & my legs really hurt from my workout this morning. I wonder if I need to look into taking a glucosamine hcl supplement, along with everything else? It could also be a result of my extremely restless night, too, so we’ll have to see if it continues. I know you’re supposed to hurt to a certain degree after working out & that it’s been awhile since I was a regular at the gym, so it may just take time for me to get back to where I was.

Anyway, I think I’ll take some Pepto & go watch TV awhile.

I’m trying to decide whether to get the walls for my booth started tomorrow (I can’t finish them until I get some white sheets for the backing) or to start on the paintings for my living room. That one will likely depend on the weather, since I’m going to have to work on that out in the shop. I don’t know that I’m feeling up to cutting all of that fabric & then sewing it, so maybe I’ll get it all measured & cut tomorrow & then start sewing on them on Friday.

There are people asking me to sew garb for them this summer, but I want to do that about as much as I want to discuss what to use for age spots removal, it just doesn’t interest me, I don’t even like sewing my own garb anymore & I’m definitely going to need some this summer. I have no bodies that fit & have no idea what I’m even going to wear, at all. I have a pattern for a dress for me to wear for the Royal Procession, but other than that, not a clue. Maybe I’ll see if any of my old ones fit, just for this year, that’s about all I can do.

I guess it was an okay meeting. People who have supposedly retired from the board still seem to have a lot of say in what goes on with the faire, which is a little disconcerting, while our opinion is still not very valuable. A lot that was talked about yesterday was productive, some of it was combative & unnecessary, and wouldn’t have happened if we all actually listened to each other.

There seems to be a debate about the camel rides & Troy & I are trying to figure out why they are so important to other members of the board. To us, it’s a smelly mess with a vendor who shows no respect anyone she doesn’t believe is “in charge” and refuses to wear the proper garb. We aren’t a western faire, so a cowboy hat, boots & a skirt aren’t appropriate.

Troy is unhappy with someone the other members have brought onto the committee to take care of food vendors, he feels like they’re trying to bring him onto the board through the back door and very likely won’t be comfortable around him until he knows the truth for sure. I can’t say one way or the other, I’m a little too trusting at times, so I’ll leave that one up to him.

Basically, it’s business as usual. We always feel like mushrooms. Neither of us have ever had a clear idea of what our jobs are & now they’re bringing in other people & giving them jobs. So, I guess we’ll see.

Morgan did a really good job for her first public ritual. She was a little distracted & a lot nervous, but she powered through it. She cooked a nice dinner for everyone, remembered to include an egg dish & it looked like they were all going to be having a good time. We had to leave right after the rites, because we still had so much prep work to do for today. It was really cute when they came out & into the circle, they both looked so shy & scared. They were wearing witch hats (we believe in embracing the stereotypes & turning them around into what we want people to know about witches), and Morgan’s was limp, so we all had to comment about that, of course & her friend’s was too small for her head, then Glen’s snake puked on Dawn.. it was a fun & light-hearted event, as I think Ostara should be. Remember these girls are in their very early 20s & instead of being worried about blackhead treatments mani/pedis & their hair, they’re trying to forge their own path in the Pagan community, granted, Morgan was raised in a Pagan household, but her friend wasn’t, so this is a pretty big deal.

I’m very proud of both od them & happy to say I was privileged enough to attend their first rites.

It’s still very cold today. It would be pretty nice, but we have a biting wind today, so it’s really ruining the weather. Dawn & I went out so she could sign up for a gym membership, and then we went shopping for the little girls for Ostara & got what she needed to make cheese enchiladas, deviled eggs & boiled eggs for dying. I just hope it isn’t freezing cold tomorrow, we really wanted to hide eggs for the kids and have ritual outside. We’ll figure it out otherwise if we have to, but it would be nice if it actually felt warm & springlike, you know?

Well, I need to get ready to go to Morgan’s house for her Ostara rites, then probably to Dawn’s to dye eggs.

I’m still sitting around waiting on Dawn, but we’ll be going soon, I hope. She’s finally out of bed, which is an improvement. I seem to get more bored when I’m waiting for people than I ever do otherwise. Most days, I can keep myself busy for 18 hours or longer, really. If I have to wait for someone who’s coming over or coming to pick me up, I tend to be afraid to start anything, because I don’t want to be interrupted. We aren’t going to work out today, apparently, because we have so many other things to do, which is fine, as long as we get started on something here pretty soon.

I do silly little things to pass time, like clean up my computer. I removed some old games I don’t play, free seo software I never used, but downloaded, got rid of a bunch of other files I don’t need, so at least it’s productive, just not a lot of fun.

Anyway, I need to go change clothes & try to get my hair to behave so I don’t look like I just rolled out of bed.

I probably won’t get much for the booth or house done today, as far as crafts go. I’m going to the gym with Dawn when she calls me, then I think we’re going to the store to get things for Beth & Cerri’s Ostara baskets and maybe some other stuff. I also need to decide what we’re doing for our ritual and all of that & make sure I have everything I need for it.

There’s the everyday stuff of cleaning & getting dinner ready, too, but I’ll have the cleaning knocked out before we go to the gym, I plan to start on that here in a few minutes & it never takes me very long. I guess that’s the advantage of getting it all done every day.

Tonight, we’re going over to Morgan & Glen’s for their Ostara rites & then Dawn & I are heading to Walmart to get New Moon – or she is at any rate, I don’t have the money for it right now. I’m hoping that after that, I can come home & crawl into bed until morning. I can’t sleep incredibly late, since we have to go to our pickup site & get our produce basket, but I can sleep past 6, which will be a nice change of pace.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day, I just hope this snow melts off by then, so the little ones can have their egg hunt & play in the yard. If not, I guess we’ll punt & figure out something else to do, it just won’t be as nice for the kids.

I didn’t get anything crafty done today, at all. I cleaned house, cooked & did laundry. I did some yard work, as much as I could handle with an inferior rake. We need to buy some new ones if we want to get that yard done any time soon. I did get some of the roses pruned, but didn’t do a great job on them, they were too overgrown to really take care of them like they needed.

I didn’t even go through any boxes today, other than to search for my new flip flops, so I could wear them today. I think I’m just very tired & ready for the next weekend. I want to sleep past 6am for just a day or two, it would feel so great! I know that will most likely mean 7am, because that’s about when Tiny starts whining to go out, but an extra hour is an extra hour & I’m not about to turn that down.

I don’t think I mentioned that we’re going to be grandparents again, did I? Dawn’s daughter, Morgan, is pregnant again & due on November 1. If you don’t know the story as to why we’re grandparents, it’s because Troy has been the closest thing Morgan has ever had to a dad & asked him to be Beth’s grandpa before she was born, and I got added to the mix, because they insisted. We’re all pretty excited about it & hope for the best between her & her current boyfriend (our friend Vicki’s little brother). I want to help her get the best prenatal vitamins we can find for her, to make sure the baby is healthy. Thankfully, she hasn’t been as sick this time around, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Anyway, I’m going to go & cook some rice to go with dinner, so everything is good & ready to eat when Troy gets here!