It's March

It's a new month. Time to turn the page on the old one. I was so ready for that last month to go - it seemed to go on forever. But that's probably just me.

Ideally, I'd like a little time warp, where I just jump ahead a few months or maybe even a year - when everything's green again instead of gray and barren. The weather is warm instead of gray and cold. The outlook is sunny instead of gray and scary. When the daily news isn't so dire, and grim and depressing.

I haven't actually gotten out much lately - but I had to make a shopping trip the other day and I was shocked at the changes in retail. Even the big box stores are hurting. The parking lots were empty, and just a few rare shoppers wandering about. The stores themselves were empty too. Whole aisles with nothing on the shelves and no displays. Entire categories of merchandise were missing, I guess because stores need to cut back on inventory in order to stay afloat. JoAnn Fabric - you could drive trucks through the aisles. Entire areas are empty. Once it was so packed full, aisles so tightly filled and so close together. It's literally a third the store it once was. Very sad.

On a happy note: Soapworks Studio made its first loan to Kiva this week from all the Suds for a Brighter Day sales in February. The little sacks of mini-soaps are my newest item, with half of the proceeds going to Kiva, giving someone in a developing country the few little sheckels they need to get their own micro business off the ground. That was gratifying, and I hope to continue to do a lot more of that as the months go by. We (my wonderful customers and me) sponsored a group of women in Bolivia who sell cosmetics and consumables and need to buy supplies to keep going. Yay girl power.

And another fun thing - I have FOLLOWERS! Wow! Hi loveys. I've added a little gizmo for them since Blogger seems to be pushing this new toy. I'm not entirely sure how that's all supposed to work, but it's nice to know there are a few regulars here.

Show news updates - I'm accepted to Best of the Northwest for spring, their new summer show in June at Magnuson Park and Hangar 30, and the fall show. I'm also accepted to U Dist again in May and am moving up the block to be out of the chaos of that insane "spin the wheel" game which makes me crazy. Much better spot, nice corner. Still waiting on word from lots of other shows which should come in the next month or so. I had a pal in the garden show a few weeks ago who had a record-breaking great show, which is very encouraging. Maybe a few of us will squeak through another year? Fingers crossed.

Today's big news story was celebrities who twitter. Anyone have time for twittering? Do y'all have a MySpace page too? And are you spending the rest of your time FaceBook-ing too? Gah - it all sounds like so much work. And so much keyboard. Am I hopelessly out of the loop? What can MC Hammer possibly have to tweet about all day long? Put the Hammer DOWN people!