Breathe

I can breathe again. I've just come back from delivering my merchandise to the arts and crafts show that I do each year.  I delivered 374 items including packaged notecards, boxed gift cards, Christmas cards and my new framed reproductions. Phew!

Usually I am pretty much a one-person factory.  I also would ordinarily try to have the bulk of my preparations ready before our Thanksgiving weekend (it took place this past weekend in Canada).  This time, with all of the production and computer troubles I had (including my C drive failing on Friday), I ended up having a ton of preparations still to do over the holiday weekend.  My parents and sister Karen drove eight hours from Ontario to spend Thanksgiving with us.  I'm not sure how much fun I was.  They say that they still had a good time. :) At one point, I had both my mom and dad sitting at the dining table helping me with price tags!  My husband took over all of the chef duties for our guests.  I missed going to the apple orchard with everyone, but made good use of the quiet time I had in the house. The dinners each night with everyone around the table were wonderful.  I am thankful that I have an understanding and helpful family.

I'm so relieved that I made my delivery deadline.  I came so close to cancelling my participation on Friday.  I am really proud of how the framed reproductions look.  It is so important to me to be proud of what I produce. Next step is getting my Etsy shop up and off the ground. I am also looking forward to going back into my studio and working on a painting--it's been days since I've done anything except computer repair and product packaging!

For those of you who live in the Montreal area, the arts and crafts show is called Boîte de Noël.  It is a juried show that has been held annually since 1977.  I've been a participant for over 16 years.  The women who run it put a huge amount of energy and time into it.  The whole show is set up like a boutique.  It's at the Royal St-Lawrence Yacht Club at 1350 bord du lac in Dorval, Quebec on October 13 (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.), October 14 (10 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.), October 15 (10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and October 16 (11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.).