Houston – Festival Update
Caryl Bryant Fallert
This quilt is listed at her website for sale at a hefty price of $61.000! Yes I did not make a typo – it is listed for 61K!
Diane Rusin Doran - Wins third in Minature Category
My incredibly talented good friend Diane Doran won third prize with her “Last Dance” digital image. Diane came down for the ceremony. We met up for drinks and Diane was helping out in the booth. Diane lives down the road from me and is an incredibly talented artist. (here is her website: www. dianedoran.com)
The quilts here at Houston are amazing. I have told a few friends I don’t know whether to be inspired or discouraged. I think I will chose to be inspired.
Festival Opens
Last night Festival opened from 5-7 for class attendees and 7-10 for the general public. We had a nice crowd. I had been warned that today would be crazy. I found it to be crowded but not crazy. I have asked around and other vendors said business seemed to be a bit slower.
I observed that many people were marking down booth numbers and said they would return to buy on Friday or Saturday. We shall see. We had several people say that our booth number was wrong in the program guide- we checked and sure enough – they had us in the 1400 aisle – when we were in the 2000 aisle. We expressed our concern to management and they apologized and promised me a free link on the next show. (A 200.00 expense) I did go to the 1400 aisle and tell the lady that my booth was listed at that there was a mistake. She was very gracious and said she would pass on the correct number.
Gary is on his way back down tonight. He will stay through Monday and help us break down. I have been so fortunate to have 4 friends volunteer to help me. We have all been working hard but still having fun.
Best Sellers
So far the Stamps are the best sellers. During market the BOM’s did great. People are LOVING the printed panels. I think the printed panels really have the potential to do amazing.
The days left…
I have been told that Friday should be busier than today as people take off on Friday. The word is more busses come on Friday. I have been told weekly workers make time for Festival on Saturday and that Sunday is quiet.
Whats happening at home in MD
I have been told the barn now has power and sinks. The flooring has been delivered. My son Austin took his first PSAT exams. My oldest, Brooks is heading to his fifth and final official visit to University of Maryland this weekend. Then he will go forward in making his decision which schools he wants to talk with further. My little guy Cole has sleep over plans. I miss my boys and my sweet little doggy – Lacey.
I have snapped a few pix of the booth. See below.
My First Booth in HOuston - Booth 2031
Straight on View
We sure are in TEXAS!
I told you all in a previous blog that my childhood friend Peggy has been helping me out. Even though she grew up and lived in NY for over 25 years – I think she is a real Texan now. While we were walking back to the hotel after our long lunch Peggy tells me she loves it in Houston. Somehow the subject of safety came up and Peggy told me she was packin’. Packin? Packin what? – A GUN! Peggy has a license to carry a concealed handgun. OMG! I asked her if it was loaded and she said yes! OMG! OMG!So when we got to the room I asked to see it – OMG! I told her she was a REAL live redneck! Peggy stayed last night with Dee and me in the Hotel. This morning I woke up and went out to the kitchenette area and this is what I saw… Dee’s tools and Peggy’s on the same table! OMG!
Stay tuned for more tomorrow. . . . .
Dee's iron and Peggy's iron
HOUSTON … continued.
First Day of Market
Having gone to my very first market in Pittsburgh in the Spring I anticipated that the first day would be lookers, the second buyers and the third day was a few shops wrapping up orders and then personal networking. We were pleasantly surprised that the first day was quite busy. We wrote a good amount of orders. We had people ordering who saw me at Pittsburgh. I had return customers and I had a few people from the school house presentation. It was a great day!
Second Day of Market
We had a steady stream of buyers throughout the day and again more buyers from school house. Now I was thinking – hey , maybe the melt down in school house created such sympathy that they felt connected and placed orders. We spurts of sales all day. Overall we took more orders than day one. The Block of the Month Programs were flying out of the booth.
Last Day of Market
We had a flurry of early buyers placing orders and a lull in the middle of the day. We finished strong with several exhibitors who also owned shops placing orders. It was a great market.
During the slower times I was networking. I met a great lady from an established batik company and we have made plans to work together. She will supply all the batiks I need from her line and I will use them in my samples. In turn I will promote her fabrics – which are luscious and she will return the favor by having her reps show my patterns.
Across the aisle from our booth was a nice thread company called Wonderfil. WE will do the same thing. They expressed interest in using my florals to make samples of all of their thread lines and in turn the would supply me with threads.
Last, I am talking to a well known fabric company about printing my StateStamp TM Panels. Last market I was approached by a few of the big fabric companies and got all excited and they turned into nothing. This time I am taking every overture with a grain of salt. Last night I got a follow up email from that fabric company. That was great. So I will proceed with caution and tempered enthusiasm.
Last night I also got an email from Lark Publishing that they will be publishing a book in Spring called 500 Art quilts. I must have submitted digital images – I do not even remember doing it – but my “Batter” will be in that book. That was a real pleasant bit of news.
So market was done. It was a ton of work and Gary and I considered it a success.
Down Day One
Yesterday (Oct13-Tuesday) was a down day. The two days between market and festival are for market vendors to leave and festival vendors to set up. As I was staying for both events I was able to leave my booth up and have a day off. I dropped by yesterday and tried to scope out the best methods to accomodate the general public. I almost fainted when I heard from several vendors that the attendance for market is between 50-65 THOUSAND PEOPLE! THOUSAND – 50 – 65 thousand! OMG! It was a pure guessing game as what to bring. I had never been to market. I tried to pack 100 of each stamp and 3-4 dozen of most of the others. Having 88 different patterns adds up to a whole lot of boxes of patterns in a small 10 x 10 booth. What I learned it most of the fabric companies and batting companies and the like leave. The pattern companies stay and expand to a 10 x 20 or even 10 x 30 foot booth! Live and learn! It should be interesting to see how many patterns we can move in that small amount of space.
My Best friend from Childhood
This is an amazing side story. A few months ago my kids got me onto Facebook. I do not use it for chatting. My oldest son said many people use it to promote their businesses. So I joined the modern world and got a Facebook account. Slowly all these people who I went to high school with started contacting me. One of the contacts was my childhood friend – Peggy. Peggy and I lived 4-5 houses apart. We played together just about every day. She sent me an email through Facebook. It was very cool. I wrote her back and low and behold she lives in Houston! We made plans to meet for lunch on my down day. That was yesterday.
I was a bit nervous. It had been 30 years since we had seen or communicated. We met and went for coffee. Five hours later at the coffee shop we had summarized our lives. We talked about the “mean girls” who terrorized our lives. We talked about the crazy milkshakes we made with my mom’s new blender. We would mix ice cream, milk and any leftovers in the frig. We remembered mashed potatoes, jelly and even a dash of mustard sounded good then! LOL We also remembered cleaning my mother’s bathroom spick and span in order to get on our mother’s good side so we could sleep over night together. Neither of us could forget endlessly playing Barbie’s and Dawn dolls. I told Peggy I was oh so jealous of her Dawn Doll couch. She had an awesome Dawn doll couch that I just loved. We had a ball and Peggy is going to be helping me at Festival Wed and Thursday.
A New Friend from Business
Gary had a wonderful long time dear friend who just passed from cancer. As it turns out his wife is a big time quilter. Gary was quite involved in his friends last few months and became closer than ever to Sandy his friend’s wife. Sandy knew of me, and me her, over the years through Gary but we had never met. Gary invited Sandy to come and meet us in Houston and even work the booth if she would like. So we met on day one of market. It was instant bonding. We decided she was my long lost sister. I really find these two stories of Peggy and Sandy some of the best things that have happened this week. What a blessing. I see that I have an old reconnection and a new friend for life. Life can be wonderful!
New Artist friends
I have met several artists here trying to make it in this business just like me. We have spent a lot of time sharing and networking.
Was it worth it?
Was all the work worth the trip to market? Yes. But It does not erase how much went into getting here and how much work is to be done when I return. I will have some pile of work when I get home. I hope we can sell a good portion of the patterns we brought and take orders on items we might sell out of. But I am very tired. Still ticking – like a good Timex watch – but tired.
The Quilts in the quilt exhibition
OMG! I was blown away! I have NEVER seen so many off the charts quilts in one place in my life! The venue is all black and dimly lit with spotlights on every beautiful quilt. It is dramatic and creates an aura of refined art. I walked away inspired and in awe. It was amazing to see how many gifted artists are in the world. The energy that these quilts emitted was powerful.
What’s next?
Today is Quilt Festival Sneak Preview. This is when all class participants get to see all the vendors and see the quilts before the Black Friday Rush of 50 THOUSAND people the next morning at 10 am. We have a bit of work to do to figure out a plan to have access to all the inventory. We open festival at 5pm tomorrow night. Stay tuned to see what happens!
IN HOUSTON! update…Shoot for the Moon 28
Day One, Thursday: Anxiety
We (Gary, Dee and I ) flew down on Southwest and flight was on time. I was anxious about the fact that my whole booth and all my quilts had been checked into baggage. It was a huge relief to see them roll around in the baggage carousel in tact in Houston. Once we collected our checked luggage Gary rented a Suburban and went to pick up our pallet of patterns we had shipped to a friend’s local warehouse. We met at the convention center and decided to set up that night even though we had all day on Friday. We got 90 percent done and had made a list of last minute items.We darted around town to get the last items.
We checked into the Residence Inn. These hotels have a small kitchen, a sitting room with a pull out bed, and a bedroom and one bath. Because of all the huge expenses we could not get two rooms for 11 days. When we checked in they had us in a studio! Yes – it was cozy – three of us in an open room. So Dee took the sleeper and we took the bed. I could not sleep because I was stressed because both Gary and I snore – really loud! I woke up at 4 am and went to the front desk and told them I was here for 11 days and I could not deal with the studio! So at 4am – the clerk found an open one bedroom cancellation with walls! Thank goodness. We moved in the morning and it was much better!
Day Two, Friday: Disaster
This was the day of our presentation to wholesale buyers. There is a event at Market called “Schoolhouse”. It is an opportunity for vendors (me) to present new and unique products in a lecture room that can hold about 100 people. We paid to participate in this event.
Gary and I decided that we would use a projector and make a presentation. We had gotten interviews and pictures for the past few months in preparation. Gary tested the whole set up in the room one day one – all was A-OK. The presentation was on day two/Friday at 3:45pm.
I got up on day two and went into the booth around 10 am to finish up the lights and last minute details. I finished around 11 and spent 11-noon walking the show as vendors were setting up. I met Gary at noon to review the presentation. He printed me the presentation outline and we were ready to go. After lunch Dee and I went to the booth and we went over the procedures we would follow for taking orders. I realized I had left the tape in the room and I called Gary and asked him to bring it when he came. That was the last moment of calm for the day!
Dee and I went for a quick bite to eat, then Dee went to visit some friends on the floor and I went back to the booth to wait for Gary. Now it is 2:30 and I was getting concerned we would be cutting the time too close to get all the samples and presentation materials to the lecture room. I decided to call Gary and see what was up. Then – disaster number one….NO Phone. I knew I had used it just before lunch in the booth less than 20 minutes earlier. I retraced my steps – nothing. I turned the 10 x 10 booth upside down – nothing. I borrowed someones phone to call and listen for the ring tone – nothing.
Now, it is close to 3:00 and no Gary, no Dee and no Phone. I needed to go up to the third floor and walk totally to the other end of the convention center. THe convention center is HUGE! (3-4 big city blocks) Gary was supposed to come to the booth for the dolly to haul the heavy computer projector – so I did not want to take the dolly. Freaking out a bit about my phone and the time – I decided to hall up the patterns, two albums, three-four quilts in my arms. I went about a half city block and – my arms were breaking. With no way to contact anyone – and a load full of stuff- I looked around and grabbed a chair. I loaded the chair with all my cargo and dragged it across the hall I was in, up two escalators and down to the furtherst possible room in the center. (No exaggeration!) Now it is 3:15-3:20 and still NO ONE IN SIGHT! Now I realize I left the outline for the presentation in the booth along with the extra supply of calling cards. I run back across the whole center, down three flights of escalators – and get the cards – but cannot find the outline – which matches the visual program Gary put together. Now paniced – I borrow a phone from a passer by – and Gary does not answer. I RUN back to the hall – sweaty and out of breath and it is 3:40! No Gary, No Dee, No outline and no phone. The class in seesion let’s out and here comes Gary running down the hall. He left his copy of the script in the hotel room. We had the computer but no way to print it again. Gary gave Dee a copy on a stick and she went to the inhouse copy center and made a copy.
I speak in front of groups all the time – so I can easily wing it. Gary sets up the projector and turns it on and a horrible loud screeching noise bellows from the back of the room. The sound was fine yesterday when he was alone. Now – no outline and no projector – it is me and a few samples. Then Dee runs in the room with the outline she had gotten reprinted. When I wrote notes I wrote short bulleted topics. Gary had revised the notes and they were long paragraphs – and I basically froze- I was disoriented. Finally being very flustered I threw the script over my head and said – the heck with the script and the projector – I am just going to tell you in plain english what the program is about. I had two of my great MD customers who were there jump up and start giving live testimony. By the end of the program everyone was jazzed and interested in my Block of the Month patterns. It was a terrible presentation – but the points got across.
Being the new kid on the schoolhouse block I got one of the last time slots. Buyers started attending Schoolhouse sessions at 10am. By 4 in the afternoon – they were fried. I only had 16-20 people attend. I left feeling totally spent. I rarely, if ever have bombed like that! Of all the lectures and workshops I have given (over 30 in the past few years) never has anything gone so wrong. Why did it have to happen in Houston? I left the hall and just needed to be alone. I still had to deal with no phone.
I was really doubting my decision to come to Houston. I was doubting my whole line and what I was supposed to be doing. I felt like a jerk.
We went back to the hotel then out to eat. After dinner Dee and I wanted to go to another event called “Sample Spree”. This is a chance for buyers to purchase all of the newest fabrics released in fat quarter bundles. It is a huge event where buyers line up for hours to break through the doors and get samples. It is something like Black Friday after Thanksgiving at wallmart at 4am!I had heard about the event and being a vendor I was able to enter early. Dee and I cruised around. I was shocked – It was like a big flea market. The prices were not great – and there were weird booths selling jewelry sprinkled in amoung pattern makers and fabric companies.
Dee caught up with a few friends and I was exhausted and disappointed from the day and decided to go back to the hotel. The hotel is about 4-6 blocks from the center. It was dark but not too late. I started walking and suddenly this creepy guy is walking toward me in the open parking lot I was passing. He asks for money as he is 100 feet away and tells me his daughter is in a car and he is out of gas. I knew he was homeless and a bit nutty so I pretended to take out my phone (mine was lost earlier) and pretended to call police. He started walking faster and finally started jogging toward me. I took off on a fast stride and someone came around the corner and he left. So what else could go wrong?
I need to post and tell you the rest tomorrow – It is 1am on Tuesday and I need to go to bed! Stay tuned!
Shoot for the Moon #27
COUNTDOWN! to Houston
I am so tired! I have been going flat out getting ready for Houston. For those of you who know me – you might be surprised to hear this – but I am spent! Gary just left with a pallet of patterns and booth supplies to be trucked to Houston. I just folded over 300 printed panels and stuffed them in packaging.
How hard was getting ready for Houston – compared to getting ready for Spring market? Ahhh – 10 times as hard! Of course since spring market – only 6 months ago I have added 12 new products! That is nuts! It was so much easier going to Pittsburgh. We were able to load everything in the car. We had the van in Pittsburgh. Now we have to fly down. We have to rent a car. We have to ship all the booth and patterns. We have arranged for some great friends to help out in the booth. I will be there for 11 days. 3 days of market will be followed by 5 days of festival. I spoke with a customer today about Festival – she said to expect to sell 10x as much in Houston than you do at a regular show. That is nuts! We will see.
What can I say at this point about going National – as a pattern maker? It is a TON of work, physically and mentally. It is a HUGE investment. Easily it is a $10,000.00 venture to get enough product, advertise, pay expenses and get everything in place to start to handle volume on a national level. The toughest part is that you need to have enough patterns to be viable nationally, yet not so much product that you go broke. It is a delicate balancing act with no instructions or handbook. I need to take a break and refuel and go back at it in the morning.
Am I having any doubts? While I am generally optimistic and positive, it is very scary to have invested so much time effort and money. I am sure this is what every entrepreneur goes through when starting a business.I think right now I am so tired that I cannot even think too much about all the doubts. It is time to breath and refocus and balance to get ready mentally for the show.
How’s the Barn/Studio?
They are installing the sinks and have fixed the torn up yard and seeded. The carpenter installed hinges and doorknobs after giving the doors their final painting. I have been so busy that it has been hard to even get out there each day to see what progress has been made.
Homepage/New Patterns and Quilting Arts Article If you have not seen my home page – check it out. www.zebrapatterns.com. You will see all my new patterns and printed panels. There is now a wholesale ordering page and my latest article is out in Quilting Arts! If you do not get that magazine there is a pdf of the article on my homepage below the new product – check it out!
How is the Keepsake Catalog order doing? They have reordered two of my four patterns and Houston should really boost the sales by continuing to introduce Zebra to the market.
How is the family doing? My oldest, Brooks, Has been to SC, FL and tonight he is going to Notre Dame on swim recruiting trips. He is finding out that traveling to school via airplane is not quite as much fun as he thought it would be! He is exhausted. My middle and youngest (Austin and Cole) ran their fist ever triathlon and they both came in first place! They loved it and plan to try it again! Austin is LOVING every minute of High School. Cole is doing great in 7th grade and is very happy that basketball is cranking up again. He has been playing soccer since August. Gary has been working hard at his job and enjoying watching the barn being built. I just got back from a speaking engagement in NY with my sister on Cancer. We also has a Quilt show this past weekend that we were vended at. It was the debut of the printed panels – Everyone LOVED LOVED LOVED them!
Whats on the agenda? My list for the last few days before the show in Houston is as follows:
1. Finish 6 panels – quilting, embellishing and binding.
2. Finish 3 Stamps (MD, America, TX) – quilting and Binding
3. Make three catalogs of all the product line into a laminated book for show.
4. Pack and get all small details for show rapped up.
5. Possibly make sample of California Stamp – which is done – just not made up.
6. Possibly make the secret pouch I have been working on since spring – I already have orders for it!
7. If I have time – take a big nap!
(Of course that is the agenda – bag lunches still need to be made, we have soccer and swimming, dinners and all the other daily life stuff!)
Keep tuned – Might write again before Market!
If you are reading this and are coming to market –
we are at BOOTH 2031! Come see us!
LIME GREEN!
Barn got painted today – Lime green end walls – soooo cool! Love it! I will snap pix tomorrow!
Shoot for the Moon #26
Update on Progress for Houston
CRAZY! We are going crazy getting ready for Houston. Not only do we need to have everything ready to ship by Sept 30 (boxed and palleted) but I need to get as many new patterns done as possible. Today I am finally finishing the samples of America and Texas. I hope to get California and Maryland cut out and finalize the patterns to send off for printing. Don’t know if I mentioned this before or not but we are also rolling out a new product – pre-printed panels! They look awesome and are an excellent solution to letting beginner quilters get in on the “stamp” craze! I have my first shipment coming this week. Along with all this prep we have been getting help lined up for Houston. My good friend Dee (who owned Main Street Quilt Shop in Elkridge) is coming down with us and will help out for both festival and market). The coolest thing happened on facebook – my long time best childhood friend Peg lives in Houston and will be helping as well. How cool is that – that I met up with her on facebook! I just made a facebook account because I wanted to spy on my kids. Who knew I would reconnect to so many old friends? And if that is not enough I have a friend of Gary’s coming from TN (Sandy) who will also lend a hand. That is great because with all the help it will afford me the time to see market as well.
Feelings about my first time at Houston
So what does it feel like to be going to Houston. It is certainly exciting but also nerve racking. When I went to Pittsburgh we had total control. We had our booth. all our patterns, our rug, and everything else we needed in our hands. We drove. This time it is a 20+ hour drive so we have to fly. That means I have to ship everything, I have to rent booth supports for my walls, I have to rent a car etc… SO MUCH more complicated plus – expensive! Then it does not end with three days of market, five days of festival open to the general public follows. So that creates the question – how many patterns of each do we send? What should we ship and what should we carry on? YIKES! Gary has taken care of most of the logistics. Thank GOD! I am feeling okay about the experience of showing at market. Having the experience in Pittsburgh makes me know what to expect. The festival part is a bit overwhelming. We had to solve the problem of accepting credit cards. Do you know to buy a credit card terminal it costs upward of 1,000 dollars plus a large monthly fee? With much research Gary found a way to bypass the expensive route and get a great alternative for a fraction of the cost. It is hard to keep up with everything that is happening in today’s world. Business is changing rapidly due to the crazy speed at which the internet and computers are restructuring how we all do things. It has been interesting starting a business in this whirlwind of transition. Luckily Gary and I are both proud Geeks! My website is so cool – you would not believe it. We just launched a wholesale ordering link! It is pass worded and automated. My site is very fast and comprehensive. It is really meant to be an online catalog for all customers and vendors. I am trying to breath deeply and keep moving forward.
I now know why there are so many pattern designers that must just fall by the wayside. Along with having a creative and diverse line you have to have substantial financial resources as well as a great deal of physical stamina. I often think – can I really make a good living selling patterns? I hope so – and I am going to give it everything I have to make it happen.
So what would going to Houston be without throwing in a few monkey wrenches? This weekend we have a local quilt show! Fri-Sunday in Anne Arundal County. On Friday my oldest son is flying off to Florida for a college recruiting trip. Sunday I have to drive to NY and leave my hubby at the booth alone to give a Cancer talk in NY with my sister. Now throw in that my two sons that will be home are competing in their first triathalon on Sunday morning – plus throw in a soccer game and a basketball game. I think this is called “Insanity”. LOL
The Barn
Sometimes I look out of my current studio and can not believe that I have a new beautiful studio almost done! It is crazy. Yesterday the painted the final coat of white on the walls and ceilings and they started the accent lime green on the end walls. It is always a bit scary to see the color you picked on a tiny little paint chip painted on huge spans of wall. I “think” it looks great! I will re evaluate tonight after the are done. I guess the floors are coming soon! Today we picked door handles and light fixtures. The Barn will be a great thing to return to after Houston – right now I have to work work work!
Metrothreads
This past weekend was our Metrothreads meeting. It is a regional group of close to 80 participants who get together quarterly for a art quilt show and tell. We had about 20 people show and it was an awesome meeting. Next meeting will be Jan 9, 2010 at my barn for a studio tour and meeting. Isn’t that cool?
Okay – better get back at it! Until next time. . . Sorry no pix this time – just type.
Shoot 4 the Moon #25 – California Here we Come!
California Here we Come!
Here it is CALIFORNIA! Their bird the CA Valley Quail, their flower- the CA poppy, the Golden Gate bridge, sunshine and gold mining! I will work on my pattern for this last stamp for HOuston. Then I will have to start making samples as those quilting elves still have not showed up in my studio! Tell me what you think!
California StateStamp TM
Shoot 4 the Moon #24 – This and That…
Fourth and Sixth Workshop
Last Thursday I treated myself to a class! I had won a FREE class from the Nimblefingers guild Challage. The guild had the two sisters from Fourth and Sixth Designs speak and followed up with a lecture. The lecture was on strata. Strata is long strips of fabric sewn together to make new fabric. Then we cut it into small blocks to make a quilt. The class participants chose between one of the two patterns that the speakers provided – but I did my own thing. Awhile back I was going to take a class with another national strata teacher. Once I got to the retreat and saw her work, I was disappointed and passed on the class. I had made 11 hours worth of strata for that class! As I sat and listened to their lecture – I thought – I may crash that class and use that tedious strata from years ago. I did have another motive – I wanted to pick their brains about Houston and quilt market. The sisters shared openly and I learned a lot of details about Houston.
I will post what I worked on below. It is a tossed rainbow strata – of course with a message/typography and symbol. I found the rainbow blocks to look a little sixties – ish and put my political comment on it – time for peace! The whole world is behaving so childishly. We are living is such a rapid exciting time of discovery and learning with technology and communications – that I just want to tell the world – enough already – of fighting and dividing! It’s time!
The piece is not done – I scanned in the finished blocks and designed the rest digitally. I would love to drop everything and finish it but that is not in the cards right now – Houston is coming!
"It's Time" - Strada Blocks with pained white Grafitti
Houston
All the papers came and we are filling those out for show needs like electricity – phones and the like. We have a credit card terminal on its way here. That is a must in Houston. I have three new patterns sitting on my studio table ready for samples…America, Maryland, and Texas. Last night I worked on California Statestamp. I think it is done too. I will post it soon. It is upstairs on my laptop. I really could use some elves right now! I left the patterns on my studio table;e over night – but when I came down this morning – no samples! Where are those elves? Do you have their email?
I am making progress. It was good that the kids had school last week – it really opened up some non interrupted time.
Flashback of my illness
As I have been writing “Shoot for the Moon” I occasionally have flashbacks. Most not so good but some very good! My not so good flashback had to do with neuropathy. Neuropathy is another lovely side effect of chemo and radiation. It is a condition in which your toes and fingers go numb and stay numb until you stop all the chemo. Hopefully, after a good amount of time, the feeling comes back, mine did. It is very annoying. I was reminded when I heard someone say they were having trouble with their fingers feeling numb. It is one of those added cancer bonuses.. not only are you weak, nauseaus, bald and puking… but when you assume the position in front of the porcelain bowl – you can not even feel the toilet seat! Oh I almost forgot – your toenails and fingernails have also fallen off! CRAZY!
So as I was recalling that unwanted memory I decided I needed to remember something good about when I was sick. I thought for awhile and I actually came up with two! The first was fond memories of being very thin and when I had a good day I would get on matching bra and panties and look at my body wearing high heals! It was great – 100 pounds in 3 inch heals – I looked like I was 16 again! Maybe even better! I tried not to look above the shoulders – the bald head did not add anything to the picture – but I do now know I have a nice round smooth head. Being around all those bald people – I felt very fortunate to not have dents, bumps or nasty moles. The other great plus was my diet. When I could eat I would eat a tender rare piece of the finest steak and a chocolate milkshake. Those were the great over riding memories to offset the neuropathy flashbacks! A sixteen year old body and steak and milkshakes for dinner were good times!
The Barn (new studio)
I must get an updated pix on this blog! Will do soon! It is all done on the outside. The dry wall is up and will be done on Wednesday. We lost some time as it is the Labor Day weekend. They start trim as soon as the drywall is done…then paint, floors and final electric and plumbing fixtures. I think the move will not happen until after Houston. I have a ton of speaking engagements on the agenda as well between now and Houston. okay – until the next time …….
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