Another job done, but not at home like I wished for. It seems that I am lagging behind in my timeline of completely organizing my house. Instead this time it was the gift show. Somebody had to do it.
The first day didn't start out looking like the picture. All of the boxes were wrapped in shrink wrap and on pallets. The picture shows what it looked like about two hours into the day. After we had unwrapped, semi unpacked and generally scatter things about. There were boxes everywhere. Packing everywhere. And product everywhere. Everything you could imagine you would find in a tourist gift shop. Everything from magnets, pencils, sippy cups to jewelry, wind chimes and other assorted trinkets. It took five of us eight hours to make this mess look organized, presentable and desirable to the buyer. Finally we were all set. Ready for the buyers to come and buy. Hopefully buy lots.
Days two through four were all about selling. Selling, smiling, selling, smiling, smiling, smiling and even more smiling. And selling. I didn't realize how hard it is to smile all day. It is. Try it. You attempt to smile all day, all day. No frowning or scowling, just smile. I came to grips with the fact that I am just not a smiley person. I tend to be more on the sarcastic and bitchy side. I function better that way, and most who know me understand that that's the way I am. Anyway, back to the show. Most of the people were happy. I am happy to when I'm shopping. We sold trinkets and schmoozed with the crowd and all in all it turned out pretty good.
Day five, the final rush and tear down. Every buyer trying to finish up all their business before close of show. And exhibitors running around trying to buy and pick up their buys before the end of the show. Then the announcement that the show is close. Whew! Now the hard part comes. After working hard for the eight hours to set up, and the week on your feet, smiling and selling, comes the packing. What we had all day to do, we had half that time to undo and get out. It turns into a larger mess than it was to start with. Everybody tired, achy, hungry and just wanting to be done. The packing up was not nearly as neat and orderly as it came. Which leads me to the organizing part. At least, a hour or so was waiting. Waiting for our empty boxes to return. You see, you have to put the empty boxes back on the pallets and have them hauled away. For some reason, the fire Marshall thinks that it is a fire hazard to put them under the draped tables. I have heard that if they find some, they will shut down the entire show until they are properly disposed of. So, before the next show at the end of February, I plan to have as many of the cardboard boxes converted to.......whatelse......plastic totes! Plastic totes can be stored under your tables! How original, who would of thought. Not only will it save time and get us out faster, it will be cleaner and much easier to haul. So even though, it is not my original location for organizing, it is still organizing. At any rate, it makes me feel like I am sticking to the plan (my daughter says "You always have to have a plan"), accomplishing the goal of clearing crap and calming the voices.
On a completely different subject, after being away from home for six nights, arriving home, I discovered that Michael had completed many of the items that I created for him on his list. (Remember the list?) My refrigerator, that we have had for almost a year, is hooked up to water AND the ice maker even works! The pop cans were returned to the store for a grand total of $12.15 (that's a lot of cans), that will in turn buy......TOTES, of course.
All in all it wasn't a bad week. Went out to dinner, had martinis (yum) and managed to stick to the plan. I even had some time to make more lists of things to be organized. The voices are happy. Until later.
