Pregled posta

Marketing

Write. Right. Days like this I really can not think of anything better then that moment when I finally arrive home from the work place for the evening. The offspring scramble vigilantly to the humans on display living room window, leaving little Umpa Loompa like hand prints across the entire whole of the freshly cleaned tempered glass surface, eagerly awaiting my attention, as I wiggle my way out of my truck. They wave and smile as I make my way from the street up to the front door, and then vanish as I step onto the porch, clearly making a bee line for the entry. I open the front door, and the dogs immediately maul their way through the offspring like a pair of NFL linemen at the first kick off of the Super Bowl, in order to be the first to receive what I can only figure must be my superior like master man blessings. I scold the dogs, hug my progeny, and then ask the Wife how her day was. She shrug’s her shoulders, makes one of her half Muppets “Beaker” faces and says “Mmm, not bad. How was yours?“ At that moment I think I feel like a king. The lord of his domain as returned.

Then comes the moment were I’m finally able to ambulate to the bedroom, strip off wet socks, and begin the thawing process of cold numb toes. I fined peace and comfort in these moments. I feel at peace and I feel alive, and in my own small way I feel distinguished. I consider this as I seat myself at my thrown, sip coffee from a pain stackingly hand crafted black plastic coffee goblet, skillfully encrusted with the CAT logo, and then begin to write.

There is no question that a profitable day has it’s rewards, clearly it does. Job security, the promise of food on the table and a roof over my broods fuzzy little heads, to name just a few. That and an ever increasing quarterly bonus…Assuming some damn fool of a so called truck washer doesn‘t decide he's qualified enough to guide a truck out of one of the bays when the front door is only half open. Rough days don’t occasionally come without a price, thou be it usually a small one from time to time. There are thrills and chills, crossed words, fights, head strong drivers, and all manner of other frustrations that leave me feeling about as enlightened as Hilary Duff in rehab, at the end of a day. Especially if the day involves a lot of time inside the cab of a truck. That might not sound all that stressing, but you have to keep in mind, with the wind chill, the temperature was only 24 degrees this morning. The effects of stepping out of the cold bays and into the cab of a warm truck, back out into the cold bays, and then back into a warm cab. Curiously enough, it takes it’s toll.

Lots of cab time has a tendency to invite the blaus, and the process of running back and forth from the bays to the lot were the trucks are berthed as a habit of cramping the back, and my style, and bay time makes the arms feel sluggish after awhile. It’s a fare bet that by the end of the day I’m going to feel tired in the head, and have trouble remembering where reverse is in my truck. It makes sense. I’d spent a better part of the morning in the water truck, clearing what I can only figure must have been round about a half a ton of instant mashed potatoes that had been spilled out around our building and across the scales as a result of what I can only figure must have been an improperly secured hopper bottom. From there it had been a few constant hours in the bays, and then lunch. Afterwards the truck juggling began.

I find it problematic how my mind will race on days like this, when I am trying to get so much done, juggle trucks, dodge the bedlam of traffic trying to reach the scales, or one of the four bays we boast, and still find time to crack a quick one liner at the right moment, or squeeze in a prank or two. Full docket or not, there is always time for a good one liner, especially when my brain harbors the capacity to actually conger them multiply.

It’s days like this that I tend to prefer taking the long way home. It isn’t out of lack of desire to reach my final destination, but rather garners me the opportunity to absorb everything around me with a little less distraction. I haven’t been down York in a good long while, and the perfect view of fresh snow pack up on the bench it offers, made it a near irresistible meander. It’s always been a good direction to go when I’m needing a little time to unravel, collect thoughts, and possibly even open “lil miss” up a little, when opportunities present themselves. All of the moisture we’ve received this month made the opportunity very presentable. This month alone we’ve already received more moisture then we did all of last winter, and there is more on the way. Locating a nice spot I know no one was going to blow the trespassing whistle on me for utilizing as an implemented recreational ventation location reaped little effort. A moment waiting for the little 4H insignia on the transmission hump to light up, and flinging clots of mud ensue, becoming a symbol

A huge thank you to everyone who braved the weather on Saturday and came out to Adams Morgan for this years Crafty Bastards show. The weather was gloomy, cold, and it rained the whole day long. It was bound to happen with so many years of perfect weather, but I was still surprised by how cold the day was!

The only real bummer about the rain to me was I had purchased 8 cardboard displays, and my plan had been to set them up on the floor. 4 in a row on either side of the tent. Unfortunately with the rain we just managed to get 3 together and put them on the tables in the corners. Of course no one could reach anything on the top shelves and we had to get up on a chair, or stretch really far to get the stuff down. But it still worked out okay. I am excited to try them again at my next show.

We had to rig up a tarp to the back of our tent, and luckily our nice neighbors let us borrow the front side of their tent, so we ended up looking like we were inside a cozy cave. I think it's time we retire our old blue tent because there are a lot of pin sized holes in the top which leak, it does not have sides, and since it's dark blue (which is fine on sunny days) it makes it really dark inside when it rains.

There were still plenty of shoppers, which was awesome. I only walked around once with K. It was just easier to stay snuggled up in the tent and keep dry. Thomas and K came to help out for the day. K walked down to get us jumbo slice, Tom made a coffee & chai run and got himself a burrito. Saw lots of old friends, and had a good day despite the weather.

When we arrived home all the luggage in the back of the truck was soaked, but thank goodness I had all the leftover plush in plastic bags and they remained dry! I however couldn't seem to get warm for the rest of the night, and now have ended up with a bit of a cold. We had out of town friends over on Saturday and then Sunday was K's party so the weekend was packed! Today I am in a million layers of sweaters/scarves/wool socks etc and keeping up with my cold medicine & orange juice ;) I'm going to stay in bed and go through all the photos I took at the skating party. I'll be updating the shop later this week with anything leftover from the show, but I'll post an exact time and date soon.