Smithville Jamboree

I shared a booth at Smithville Jamboree (July 4 weekend) with Maggie (in the picture). Not a bad show - about the best I've done at a craft fair, actually, but I still wasn't happy with what I made, considering I sat in this tent for 25 hours that weekend. And packed up in a storm, with the car a block away.

The economy is really killing craft fairs. Anyone else notice this? Seems like people go to browse, with no intention of buying anything. They walk by with this glazed look in their eyes, not really seeing anything. It's kind of sad. I did another fair two weeks after this one and made $13 over my booth fee.

And I gotta ask myself, is this worth the hassle of lugging my stuff and setting up and losing a day of "real" work? I'll post more on the gallery opening in a few days, but my stuff is selling a lot better there and I don't have to do anything... I think my plan is to lay off the craft fairs until the holiday season.

How are craft fairs going for you?

Still Working?

The economy is the news topic of choice these days. News sources seem to be having a party with their DOOOOOOOOOM DOOM doom! stories (swine flu... really now, was it all that bad? Sorry pig farmers, I mean H1N1).

I don't know how you're doing in your neck of the woods, but in spite of the fact that people keep saying to me, "At least you have a job," it seems like everything is more expensive and the faster we run the behinder we get, and the ends stretch but don't quite meet. The savings we had, we've eaten through. I think it's rough on just about everybody.

But for those who have lost jobs... well, I can't even imagine what would happen if I or my husband did at this point. I ran across this very sobering animation of job loss/gain in the US since 2004. My son described it: "it's like watching a bunch of nuclear bombs go off at once." Do click the link and hit play... it's quite sobering. And I don't think it's much better anywhere else in world.

The Geography of Jobs


So I'm taking a moment to acknowledge the jobless and those who, like us, are stretching it paycheck to paycheck WITH jobs. Hang in there. We will live to see better times, though it may get worse first.