show recap

I am getting ready to head out to Lincolnton and my final craft show of the year. I thought I would take a minute to recap Christmas in Davidson from last week. No pictures, just been too busy to even pick up my camera.

Christmas in Davidson. It was cold most nights, rainy Saturday during the day but cleared (and got real cold) for Saturday night. The show was from 6-9 pm on Thurs, Fri & Sat. Friday night was very busy, the other 2 were just so-so for us. I over planned (as usual) for my premade items. I sold some but have a lot of stock left over. Setting up and tearing down each night was a pain but doable.

Also

• Hannah does not do well in the cold.
• I really need to take off the weekend before a large show - just too much to do in too little time.
• My fingers are in terrible shape from all the woodworking
• My house is pretty filthy right now
• The lighting was terrible - probably the worst part of the show for me.
• Adults cannot make a decision.
• Children however can. They pick what they like and are done.
  
• I had many repeat customers from earlier shows

All in all I am glad I did it. Not sure I would do it again. Three days in a row is alot, the lighting was terrible and the weather easily could have cancelled the show. But then again.......

another show

St. Marks Catholic Church
11/21/09
started out slow
then we suddenly were jammed
no lunch, no bathroom breaks
sold out of stock
our biggest one day sale so far

2 things I want to brag on
These display racks I MADE ALL BY MYSELF

and my kiddo
She rocked!
She sold and sold and sold
She handed out numbers.
She designed frames.
She got a $20 tip from a customer.
She was utterly fantastic.
Working with her makes it a long day worthwhile!

2 weeks ago...

was halloween and I am just downloading my images now. Oops.

Hannah carved her pumpkin 100% on her own this year.

But she did not like how it turned out so she bought another on the 31st and for a second try. I think it's pretty cute.

She and best bud Mandy went trick or treating - a devil and a cowgirl - they had tons of fun.

Funny story - when they came home and were looking at their stash I noticed Hannah's pile was about 1/2 the size of Mandi's.
Hannah - how can your pile be so much smaller than Mandi's when you hit up the same houses???
Oh, she says, if they had candy I did not like I told them no thanks.

What???????? This cannot be my child.

7:10am....

word plates...

I have not posted any of my word plates on the ol' bloggy. I thought I'd show some of the finished products since they are so hard to explain.

Customer picked out the letters on both of these at the Harrisburg Show 10/3:

Sample side view:

Back view

A sample I made up:

October is flying by...

So, it is October 17th already? Yikes. Well, lets just assume that I will be a slow blogger for the rest of the year. I seem to be overwhelmed these days. But that is better than bored!

Lets see...if it is October that must mean that the Rock Family is back!


We started out October with a craft show on the 3rd. Here is our booth near the end of the day. We hustled along from about 9:30am - 1:00 pm then were slow for the rest of the day. The booth looks a little bare - we sold some of our displays. LOL, this is before I knocked over the easel and broke a few frames.



After the show I spend quite a bit of time filling custom orders and running back and forth to school. It seems it was bookfair week and guess what? I was supposed to be there everyday to collect and deposit the money. Oops. I forgot.

The next week, Hannah was busy finishing 2 projects. One was a newscast on a book - she choose Harry Potter 1. If I can load it to YouTube, I will link it here. It is quite the hoot.

We also had our first band concert of the year. Chris and I got there at 6:30 for a 7pm show and it was packed. And I promised Hannah I would not embarrass her by going up front with my camera. She wore a bright green shirt so I could spot her though...


That it for now!
And I am not kidding about not posting much in November and December. I have craft shows on 11/7 &8, 11/21, 11/28, 12 3,4&5 and maybe 12/12. Yikes.

my first show...

On Saturday, Hannah and I worked a craft show to sell my name frames. I knew it was not going to be good when it was calling for heavy rain. The show was moved indoors - but still not a great show. Not many customers on the floor - and no one was selling things. There were lots of corporate booths there with businesses giving away goodies - so I don't think people saw a need to spend money with all the free stuff.

But...I did learn alot, Hannah was fantastic and we got to spend the day with Julie who helped me learn the ropes for craft fairs.

It was not till we were packing up that I remembered to take pictures...

The 3 of us


My side of the booth - as we were tearing down (so it is a little messy)

My order book - full of alphabet letters

update

It is Thursday and H is back in school. Woke yesterday morning without a fever, worked on homework all day long and ate well. I imagine she will have a back load of work coming home with her today.

news flash...

Hannah felt crummy on Sunday.
Took her to the Dr. on Monday thinking strep.
Nope.
It's the flu.
So we are all washing our hands like surgeons.
And Miss H is feeling crummy.
But I think might be turning the corner today.
She has to be 24 hr. fever free so no school tomorrow either.

potd time 4

I am playing catch up on my photos...since the ol' back has been bothering me, it was hard to sit at the computer and process the images. But last week, it made a drastic improvement and I am back at it.

My 168 piece frame order...ready to start assembly.

Working in the shop. Chris even let me use some of his power tools.

Thirty years later and look, someone is reading Tolkien.

I stuck my face in this spider's web turning on the faucet yesterday. Yikes, he was a big one!

camping - mt. pisgah

We went camping over Labor Day at Mount Pisgah National Forest on the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of Chris' favorite places to camp - just ok to me. Maybe because they do not have hot showers. We left out on Friday and returned home on Monday.

On Saturday, reaching across Hannah's bed to unzip the windows, I popped my back out. Or bulged it, or blew it or whatever. It was a goner. I did a hike afterwards trying to keep lose (2.5 miles uphill to the firetower, probably not a good idea) but .... it was a tough weekend for me.

So a recap on the weekend - but I am short on photos...

Hannah immediately claimed the recliner.


This is why they call it the Blue Ridge Parkway...


Climbing trees...


...and playing on the DS



On Sunday we did something completely different for us - different while camping that is - and drove into Asheville and spent the afternoon at an outdoor arts festival. We walked and shopped, listened to music, browsed some books and had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom.



Finally it started getting too crowded for us (and my back was screaming) so we headed back to camp.


And the final picture....Chris and Hannah doing the dishes for me to give my back a break. Kind of a motley pair don't you think??

schools back...

Getting home on tuesday....

POTD 08.30.09

Photo challenge this week is perspective.
This is the old dock across the street from us - shot with the camera on the planks, looking out to the lake - for a little change of perspective.

and last week's challenge...

was shapes. Specifically circles. My image was from an old junk store up in the mountains - I just liked how the bottles looked.

and i won....

The photo challenge a few weeks ago was hands, fingers, feet and toes.
Hannah suggested this shot while we were in the mountains.
And guess what - it won the week's challenge.
Yep, $5 worth of products. :)

Back at school....

Crummy light.
Very early in the morning.
Co-operative kid.
Eighth grade!


I took her to school today since it was the first day. When she got out of the car and waved I wanted a shot - but I got a car monitor in the way. Drats.

finally....

I have had my camera set up on a tripod at the breakfast area windows for about a week - trying to shoot the elusive hummingbird.
Yesterday, I was was taking the camera down to take to school - here he comes. First (which I missed), he hangs in the air, pointing straight at me.
Like he is posing for a shot.
Which I missed.

But I got my act together and turned the camera on and got a couple. Not great but....

camping | davidson river

We spent last week camping at Davidson River - outside of Brevard. There was tons to do in the area - a national forest, a state forest, 100+ waterfalls, the town of Brevard, hiking, tubing and a really really good ice cream shop.

I am going to post a few images from the trip - and plan to later post some of the many waterfall images I shot. We did hike to 8 waterfalls during the trip.

The campsite - we stayed right along the Davidson River. Good and Bad. Good = river access. Bad = road noise.


This was the scene looking upstream about 6pm on Saturday night. Notice the poor ol' fly fisherman in the middle of the waders, tubers and swimmers. I think a smarter fisherman would have been somewhere else!



One of my favorite pictures from the trip - Hannah in the lounge chair playing video games. BTW, she had run out of books after reading the 4 she'd brought with her.



This waterfall is Looking Glass Falls - right alongside the road. It is always crowded with people so I got up and drove to the falls about 8am - there was only 1 car there, shoes on the ground but no people to be seen.


And surprisingly, at the top of a waterfall in the Dupont State Forest we found a covered bridge!

POTD 08.10.09

Hickory Crawdads vs. West Virginia Power.
Monday night in Hickory means a very light crowd.
This was the view from our seats.
The sun has gone done, the Crawdads are getting whooped and Hannah and Britt spent the night trying to catch foul balls.

moving on up...

..to the front seat of the car.
Plus there are
Dials to spin.
Seats to electronically go up and down.
Glove compartments to explore.
Lots of fun!

POTD 08.04.09

Hannah's new back-to-school shoes.
Please note the size: women's 9.
YIKES!
To be fair, these run small. Her other shoes were 8's. But still....

POTD 08.02.09 times 2

P.O.T.D. = photo of the day

In 2009, I decided to start taking a photo a day. Mainly to get myself better acquainted with my camera and how to use it.

I have been slack...there is only so many thing you can photograph around the house.

But I am back at it. Trying to get better with my camera. So occasionally I will post my POTD which has nothing to do with anything except it was something to photograph....

Kinda like these....except I KNEW WE SHOULD NOT AVE BOUGHT A 3LB BOX!

photo challenge...close ups

The photo challenge this week was close ups. Since I do not have a true close up lens (macro), I decided to shoot while in Linville Falls as close as I could with my 18mm-70mm lens, which was on the camera.

There were tons of trees that had been cut down on the side of the trails...here are a few ...

And the full view of the stump...