TB's first craft show

We participated in TB's very first craft show yesterday and I thought it went very well. He was excited about it for days, alternating between a positive high and anxious worrying. The event was at his mother's retirement village and it's been a pretty big deal locally for years. When we first found out about it, we were eager to participate but didn't have the money for the table. A few weeks later, the lady who organizes the event called and said someone donated money for a table and she asked if we'd like to take it. Did we!

We went on Friday to set up for Saturday morning. There were fifty crafts people with tables.

TB makes adjustments to the stand he built to display his plaques.

TB had thought he'd be able to display everything he had but found out that the tables don't hold as much as you'd think! One solution is to get two tables. One of the other crafts persons, though, suggested an even better idea: layering with boxes. All we'd have to do is cover up the boxes with linen so people wouldn't see them.

People were so friendly and helpful! Our table was on a corner, which I thought was an ideal location. While we were setting up, another crafts person suggested we take the plaque stands and face them two ways so that customers could see some of the plaques from two different directions!

TB's mother helped out for a while in the morning. That's when most of the people came through. TB got a lot of compliments.

How did we do? I thought we did great for a first show. We learned a lot. People admire things but won't buy unless the price is right in this economy. The other crafts people told us that they never make back in labor what it cost them to create their items. They make pennies an hour when you figure it all out. We also need to know the community we're going to be in. For instance, lap top and ipod holders didn't appeal to the seniors. Bookmarks went like hotcakes mostly because they'd make good stocking stuffers. He got one order for a remote carrier and several people took his business cards.

With the money he made selling his items, TB plans to set up a business type account. The money can be used for materials he needs or to pay for tables at craft shows. This is the way to get a business off the ground and hopefully make a modest living!

First aid for a baby bird and other stuff

What do you do when a baby bird flies into your window and crashes to the ground? TB picked the poor little guy up and cradled it in his hands. We didn't know how badly the little guy was hurt and hoped it was just stunned. I found a box and we put a little water, birdseed, and some leaves into the box. TB gently put the bird down and it just did not want to let go of his finger, poor little thing!

We had to go out for a doctor's appointment. When we got back, we checked the box and it was empty. It looks like our little patient was just stunned and needed to rest before flying away! :)

We went to Good Will the other day for sheets. We were hoping to avoid buying new queen sheets just for this craft show. Good Will has everything and is a godsend for people in need. I like shopping there and don't mind the inconvenience of going through each piece of clothing to find my size. It's worth it! They also have everything from socks to bedroom sets and more. Anyway, we didn't find queen size sheets but we did find a set of three. I think they're full size but can be pieced together to make the size we need. It cost us only $6.99!

TB's been working almost around the clock to get ready for the craft show. I took a couple of pictures of the smaller items he's made and will bring.

My favorite is the mouse with cheese. TB took better pictures of his creations because he used a white backdrop. I plan on getting more pictures of the other projects the day of the craft show.

Yet again, I will need to call Medicare. TB and I want to compare health plans and hopefully go with one that has vision and dental. There are two in our area and when I discussed them with a Medicare agent named Jose they both seemed pretty good. He told me the monthly premium would be $84 for one and $89 for the other. I got a comparison report on those two companies from Medicare and was completely confused by the price breakdown. There were about a dozen breakdowns in different categories. Was I supposed to add them up? The report said the monthly premiums would be about $115 a month. What happened to the costs Jose gave me? So that is what I need to ask Medicare. What is the *real* monthly premium?

After that, we need to figure out if our doctors participate. In some cases, like with Dr. Greenbaum our bariatric surgeon, we're not going to want to switch to a stranger. Next, we have to figure out the cost of co-pays. Right now, we have no co-pay. If we switched, we'd save around $200 a month (I think) but then we'd have to figure how many times we see a specialist in a month. The specialist co-pay is $25 or $35. I think I would need a specialist once a month as long as I'm healthy. Switching might be a good option for me if it means I can get dental and vision.

Today I'm calling our doctors to see if they participate in either of these two plans. It's especially important for TB that they do!

This week I'll be thinking about whether I want to push off PTSD therapy to the new year. Susan, my therapist, insists that digging around in all these memories is supposed to dredge up all these feelings and reactions. That I've not reacted with strong emotion nor cried tells her that I'm resisting and using my defenses to stay away from painful memories.

I'm sure she's right because most of the painful stuff either feels like it's in a block of ice in the freezer or in a box stuffed into the back of a closet.

Well. Maybe what I should decide is whether it's worth trying to tackle all that PTSD stuff period. It took me over 50 years to build these walls and defenses and I don't think much will change in a 12 week program. So, I'm thinking...

And while I'm thinking, I've decided I like the Black Friday movement to boycott all but the independent businesses and stores for Christmas shopping. Big name brand stores make tons of money and don't treat their employees well. I suppose the little independents treat their employees similarly which makes me mad but I think I'd rather support them than the big chain stores who could afford to behave better toward their workers. Maybe what I'll do is just boycott everybody and make my own gifts!

On Facebook, I share pictures that resonate with me. Today there was one that pissed me off. It listed the outrageous salaries the president and members of congress earn *for the rest of their lives* and then lists the average social security salary of a senior as $12,000. And it's some of these senators and congresspersons who want to mess with social security and medicare. You'd never see them say anything about reducing *their* forever salaries!

Thursday Thirteen Random Thoughts on Friday

I meant to post this yesterday using the meme format but I just never got the time to sit down and do it. I'll get to that in a minute.

1. So Bank of Satan, I mean, Bank of America, is thinking about dropping the idea to charge all its customers $5 a month for using debit cards. They say it's because of all the feedback from their customers. Ha. I'd like to think it has something to do with November 5 switch-from-a-corporate-bank-to-a-credit-union day. I heard some of these other banks that were jumping on board with BOA are also reconsidering. Thank you. How much money did we spend on bailing out BOA and other banks again? They're making nice profits and what do they want to do? Squeeze more money from all of us!

2. And don't get me started on those obscene bonuses executives of other corporations bailed out are receiving!

3. Part of the reason I didn't get to blog was because TB and I were busy going to Walmart and Lowe's to get a couple of things for the craft show on November 12. This venture is costing us. It's not expensive if you've got it but we're using money that would go to other stuff. TB needed things like lemon oil, sand paper, cash box, queen size sheets ... Yes, queen size sheets. I think we're going to borrow them from his mom. They're to cover the table from top down to the floor. The lady running the event said she uses queen size sheets so it should be good.

4. I'm seeing "Blithe Spirit" with Kristin on Saturday night. She's treating me, which is really nice. She's taking drama this semester and one of the requirements is that students have to take in a play. It's been quite a while since I've seen a play...maybe almost two years. Tickets for non-students is only $10 so Bill wanted to join us. I'm looking forward to this!

5. I'm relieved that Dr. Greenbaum was pleased with how TB's doing after his most recent appointment. The abdominal wall infection cleared up and the seepage from the incision slowed down considerably!

6. We're having a hard time remembering to finger stick first thing in the morning! Our sugars have been running over 100 lately so the doctor wants us to test for two weeks before deciding what else to do. After testing several times a day for years, you'd think this would be old hat to us but I guess two years of freedom from it all has totally erased all the old habits. If we forget to get the fasting level, we go for an hour after the meal. I'm kind of bummed that the levels have been above normal.

7. Another reason I didn't have time for blogging is I had a therapy appointment. She thinks I am depressed again. Really? I think it's situational. Yes, I'm stressed. There's a lot going on. I don't think there's a pill for that. I take a nap to escape the stress.

8. Christmas decorations in October? If you looked, you could see them lurking in the background. The Halloween decorations barely came down before the Christmas ones went up. Does anyone else get depressed about this stuff? I mean, what about Thanksgiving? Can't the stores wait until "Black Friday" weekend to start all this commercialism? The arrival of Santa at malls was traditionally after Thanksgiving. Now it could be anytime in November. I was in the middle of filling out this survey for B101, a radio station in my area, and they want to know when did I want to start listening to Christmas music? Now? November 15? After Thanksgiving? I was about to say after Thanksgiving but then I thought if I have to be subjected to all this other crap now, why not enjoy the music? Holiday music does lighten my mood considerably.

9. Now I'm rating Christmas songs for B101. There sure are a lot! It doesn't seem like they all get played because in past years if feels like I just hear the same ones over and over.

10. Kristin's taking ASL 101 this semester and it's fun to practice with her. Her signs are nice and clear and her face is very expressive. I'm glad I can help her practice. She's doing very well in this class.

11. I'm still working on that Christmas song survey for B101. I wonder if they'll pay attention to my results? I wonder if anyone else had the patience to sit there and rate all those songs?

12. Why does trying to find the best insurance plan/a doctor have to be so darn difficult? We're still trying to figure out our medicare options, waiting for the information about the insurance companies to come in the mail. Also: Kristin was on the phone for about an hour trying to find doctors that would take her insurance. We'd first called the insurance company and they passed us off to the "preferred provider", whatever the hell that means. The preferred provider at least was more helpful. The representative got on the phone with the gynecologist's office and finally got them to understand who they were. The doctor's office then agreed to make an appointment for Kristin. As for the other doctor, well, we struck out and so the rep is doing a search among nurse practitioners to find an appropriate doctor. Don't ask me why nurse practitioners are doing this. I have no clue.

13. I don't think there's an end to this Christmas song list on B101. I'll probably be here tomorrow too! ;)

Happy Halloween

Halloween has always been a fun sort of day for me. One of my earliest Halloween memories comes from spending the afternoon at my grandparents'. They'd raked up a huge pile of leaves and my brother and I spent hours jumping in it. We'd roll around or bury ourselves in the leaves and just generally made a mess. That was back in the days when people burned leaves. Burning leaves is one of those smells that brings back memories of childhood. When it was dark, my parents took us around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat.

Back in the day, my brother and I would collect quite a bit of loot. We'd go home periodically to dump the candy, sift through it, and give my parents everything we didn't want. They'd give out our rejects when they ran out of candy. I guess candy was cheap because people gave us a lot. Nowadays we have to limit our candy giving to one of those teeny tiny bite size pieces because candy's gotten so expensive. We used to have a wide roaming area for trick-or-treating on our own. Was it really safer then? It seemed to be. We didn't have as much publicity about poisoned candy or child predators out and about.

Eventually we outgrew trick-or-treating but it was still fun to dress up when giving out the candy. There were also Halloween parties to go to. I used to enjoy decorating the place. In the last few years, though, we haven't had any decorations. This season, TB made these pumpkins:

There's a little bit of glare on the windows but it's pretty clear to see they're pumpkins. There are little orange LCD lights in them and we turn them on at night. They're pretty cool!

The neighborhood is pretty beat though. I don't know if it's because we're generally older or if there is a high percentage of conservatives around. Only one or two of the houses are decorated. In the last few years, a declining number of houses leave their lights on for trick-or-treaters. Well...maybe it's the cost of candy, too. I know I said "ouch". I only got a bag or two. Less and less kids have been coming around probably because hardly anyone is giving anything out. I don't bother dressing up anymore. I do still enjoy seeing the kids' costumes.

One of my daughters was invited to a Halloween party over the weekend and she got to dress up. She had a really great time and I'm glad. The kids don't get to do a lot of fun stuff. The costume brought back memories of the years I used to dress up!

The big plan for the evening is to watch a spooky movie with whichever of the kids will be around and to give out candy to anyone who shows up.

The other plan of the day is to get TB to the surgeon's office this afternoon. His incision started leaking a bloody fluid. :P

The Green Woodworker and other things

TB's hoping to get a business off the ground and wants to call it The Green Woodworker because he'll be using recycled material. He's made various things for people over the last year or so. Here is an example of what he can do. Someone with a nautical theme asked for an anchor to fill part of her wall and this is what he came up with. I think it looks beautiful! I'm sure the customer will like it too.

Here is a spice rack TB made for our cabinet. He's very creative and can make all sorts of things--magazine racks, wall hangings, ornaments, and on and on. He can customize things to what the customer wants.

What we basically need to do is get a website going with pictures of his projects. We also need to get the word out. Being able to participate in that craft show will help!

So we survived the great snow storm of October 2011. Yes, it was an event but I didn't see a reason to go all ballistic about it the way some people and news stations did. I like to watch Judge Judy and it's carried on a station out of Allentown, PA. Well, last night the show was preempted for non-stop coverage about this great storm. I guess Allentown must have gotten a lot of snow. We got just a dusting but I heard some areas got up to 8 inches of snow. The way they carried on at that station, you'd have thought the world was ending! I watched something else.

I didn't get any pictures of it but Munchkin lent a paw to "help" me fold laundry. She'd put her paw out to hold down a sleeve so I could fold the shirts properly. The only problem was, her claw kept getting stuck and I'd have to gently remove it. I tried to convince her that I didn't need any help but she insisted on assisting. ;)

On the down side, diabetes may be creeping back to TB and me. :( For the last several days, our sugars have been running higher than normal in the mornings. I contacted my doctor who said to track it for 2 weeks and if the levels are consistently high, I'll need to get some blood work done. It's very discouraging. One thing I'm trying now is cutting way back on carbs. On one of my previous visits to Dr. Greenbaum, he was concerned I was losing too much weight too fast. At that time, I added a lot more carbs to my diet to try and slow down the weight loss. The same thing happened with TB.

It's always something! :P