Ups and Downs

See-saw.

The weekend was great and it was also a miserable mess. We got lucky with the weather on Saturday, and although it was overcast, it rained only lightly early in the morning while we were setting up. The turnout was phenomenal, the crowds huge, the sales going gangbusters, and I was starting to get a little worried about how my stock would hold out for the second day, because I came durn near selling out of a bunch of stuff.

So I scurried around that evening, woke up extra early in the morning and worked feverishly to get a bunch more stuff ready to sell on Sunday. The morning was dry and it looked like maybe the weathermen would be wrong about all that scary storm stuff. And I figured that if it turned for the worse, at least I'd be ahead a little for the show I was setting up today. Yeah, I set up another little craft show this afternoon, and yes, I am totally insanse.

The crowds started a little slower, as Sunday always is, but began to buzz quite nicely around noon, and again, I began selling my little wares at a rapid pace. Then it started to gust wind, and rain lightly. But it didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits just yet. Until the rains turned into downpours, and we got a little worried. The hearty Northwest souls still were zipping up and munching elephant ears, even in the steady, solid wet and drippy skies. But then the wicked Mother Nature decided to tease us by easing up and almost quitting, enticing us all out of our little dry corners, and then bopping us over the heads as soon as we poked out with the most torrential buckets of water ever. It was awful. In the space of a few short minutes, the gutters clogged up so deep we were up over our shoes in the middle of the tents. The tablecloths were soaked halfway up, the poor little tarps and tent tops finally gave up the ghost, saturated beyond capacity and droozling all over everything underneath.

I had to pack it in. I was nearly sold out of many of my flavors anyway at that point, and with my gusty corner booth, had already had to move a lot of things out of the way. So it looked sad and pathetic, but was now entering serious damage territory. And as I said, I had to set up another show today, so I packed up what I could salvage, tucked everything away that could be used again, and hiked off to sit in the dry car for a small bit before we could bring our cars in to pack up.

So sales were great, rain was miserable, crowds were fabulous, my living room a mess from all the overnight drying out and re-packing. But it worked out in the end. I have a little display all set up out there at the Starving Housewives show in Bothell, and I'm ready to go. Exhausted, I need to clean the house tonight for houseguests arriving this evening. What is this hamster wheel and why is it moving so darn fast?

I'll post all the details about this week's craft show tomorrow morning when I get more than two minutes to sit in front of the computer. It starts tomorrow at 10am, and if you just can't wait, check the website calendar for the scoop. It looked really good this time - cool birdhouses, charming antiques, lots of pumpkiny crafts and gifts. I already started to shop, and then had to slap myself before I went a little crazy, walking out the door with the biggest hotel birdhouse in the place. (But if it's still there in a day or so, I won't be able to help myself, so someone please go out there and buy them so I won't go broke.)