*Walks in slowly and plops on couch*
Hi Mr. Blog. I sure missed you. Please lie down for this long story. *Waits until he does*
It was a tough pill to swallow that I didn't even break even on the RV show.
My half of our booth was $250.00 plus $40.00 for parking.
I only sold ten games in four days.
I thought the seniors would love to play and refresh their driving knowledge but I was wrong.
They told me that they had satellite dish TV and DVDs and that was all they liked.
Ugh.
The ten people with teens bought them on the spot happily.
Driving down on Wednesday to Qwest Field for set up was fine.
Lots of childhood memories seeing downtown and the Smith Tower.
Taking the bus from Holly Park housing project for shoes from Nordstorm
when they only had shoes in the '60s and going to see Santa and Frederick and Nelsons.
I'd never seen Qwest field and convention center and it was really dandy.
I got to drive right into the upper level and push everything out of the van at our spot.
Then I found a safe spot in the garage right under the ramp that I liked.
I spent two hours duct taping black tablecloths from the Dollar Store to the van windows.
It took me hours to set up our booth. I started at one o'clock.
I just used the garden canopy I had without the cover and it has nice white legs.
The Dollar Store didn't have yellow and black so I got red and white crepe paper
and wound it around the legs and top poles and draped red shiny garland and guess what?
The show colors were red and white! All the signs and backdrops were red and white!
Then I tied the 3 & 4 foot tall pussywillows to the front leg and put my pot of tulips
on the floor in front of them. We were the first booth when people came up the stairs
and it looked so pretty! Nicolette had the front side covered with luscious Cookie Lee jewelry and I had the walkway side with my driving game. I taped three maps to the front of my table
and had one game displayed vertically and one flat for people to play.
My gold prospector claim sales neighbor, Bill, helped me put up my giant NIXPIX.COM sign up on the backdrop. I didn't like the way it looked so I climbed up on a chair and hung it from
the back poles of my garden canopy poles and then it looked really cute.
When I get my business going I am SO going to buy a motorhome and gold claim membership!
So at eight I finished decorating and went to camp in the parking garage.
I locked myself in with my aluminum baseball bat and butcher knife and sat on the back seat
and had a half of a beer from my cooler.
Funny thing is Mr. Blog, I wasn't scared at all.
I used to camp alone in the 80s and what scares me are bears.
I had a bunch of camping pads and four sleeping bags and it was one weird fit.
I had my head in the back but to stretch out I had my legs between the front seats.
It is only a six inch gap so I had to lay on my side.
I forgot about King Street train station being next to the stadium and boy was it loud
when the trains left the station! First the bells, then horns, then the van shook
like a salt shaker with me inside of it! That was about ten times at night and morning.
I forgot my watch battery was dead so to check the time I would have to climb out of my sleeping bags and find my keys and put it in the ignition to start the van clock!
I had my dandy Coleman camping toilet and my favorite pillow and Winnie the Pooh
stuffed bear so I slept great and got up around eight for my Raisen Bran.
I went inside around nine and started making little bouquets of pussywillows to pass out.
I was about half done when Nicholette arrived at ten.
She was like a fresh July day on feet and I'm not kidding!
She looked so much like Alice Bacon I couldn't believe it.
Alice was my best friend in 1967 when Marta moved away for fifth grade.
She had olive skin, hazel eyes, wavy brown hair and a zillion freckles.
I LOVE freckles. They just make me think of summer, Kool aid and climbing trees all day.
So anyway, Nicholette got her jewelry display finished and the show opened at eleven.
I only sold one game on Thursday and she didn't sell any jewelry.
So at eight I went out and jumped in my van and turned on all my flashlights
and wrote out all my valentines that I had with me and then konked out.
I slept even better the second night cause everything seemed familiar.
When I got in at nine I could have killed for a cup of coffee!
The vendor wasn't coming in until eleven so I found a security guard and he took me took to the front door on First Avenue and told me where to get coffee one block over.
It was a lovely, blustery morning Friday and NOT raining so it was great to get outside.
The coffee girl was adorable and friendly and I got two huge cups to start my day.
I took my time on the main floor looking at motorhomes and RVs going back.
When I got upstairs Nicholette was there and ready to rock.
She had lots of sales on Friday and I didn't have a single one.
I needed a shower so I jumped in my van at closing and carefully drove home.
Despite not seeing great at night I made it home and LOVED my shower and bed.
I kept dreaming about Earl and Winston
and woke up with tears in my eyes that they were gone.
When I got ready for the show I was so happy after seeing Terry and Troy.
Teddy was at his friend Cameron's house but his team had won their basketball game.
I was in a cheery mood when I got back and happy to see the security guards.
Qwest Field has the nicest security guards in the world
and since we practically were living there four days it was like a huge family reunion as
we all got to know each other and horse around.
Barbara and Just Rita were handing out vinyl siding flyers and they were both adorable.
Maybe a few years older than me but charming as the day is long!
Bill's co-workers at the prospector's booth were great and friendly
and Howard and Cynthia at the Washington State park booth cracked me up.
Howard and I were taking a stroll down the backside of the booths and saw the cute
Progressive Insurance lady from TV on the life-sized cardboard cut out.
The booth workers weren't there so we were looking at the good loot on the table.
We both had picked up a pen and post-it note pad and big notepad and were admiring how many freebies Progressive Insurance could afford to pass out when we heard a loud voice say,
"Hey! Whatdaya think your doing?!"
We jumped out of our skin, dropped everything and turned around
and the Progressive Insurance ladies were laughing their heads off!
Howard and I had such red faces and the ladies
came behind their table and joked around with us and made us take all the freebies we had dropped. We just all laughed and laughed together and if Uncle Doug
wasn't our insurance agent I would SO BUY PROGRESSIVE Insurance.
I sold two games to retired couples and two to people with ten year olds
and the other six to people with fourteen and fifteen year olds.
The kids were wild about the game and there were a half dozen that
couldn't talk their parents into buying it for them.
I remember when I took it to Brookside Elementary last year and let the kids play it at recess when it was raining. Those third graders were fighting over reading the driving manual of all things and that is written for teens and up. Geez I miss those kids!
So I was darn happy at the end of Saturday to have something in my deposit bag.
I got home and crashed in a heartbeat and left early on Sunday.
Jim and Bob of the roofing company helped me sneak my five eighty pound suitcases out the fire door before the show opened so I wouldn't have to do it when I was tired at the end of the show. They had some GREAT stories about naughty stuff they had done that I'll be keeping secret 'till I go to the grave. I may be a screw up in a lot of ways but
I KNOW HOW TO KEEP MT MOUTH SHUT.
I stopped by the Garlic Gourmet stand and enjoyed visiting with them for a bit.
They are the nicest people in the world and they had bought
their booth as a franchise and told me that was the way to go with Nixpix.
I don't know about that but I do like working at the conventions
more than the arts and crafts fairs.
The convention vendors are a rare breed of people.
Outgoing, friendly, funny, caring, and they all have the BEST STORIES!!!
Nothing I like better than a good story told by a real person.
I like that better than TV or movies put together!
So Nicholette got there and told me a scary story.
When she left the previous night she stopped for gas and got jumped at the gas station.
Two big black guys saw her dripping with jewelry and grabbed her wrists.
She told them it was fake and she could have it but they didn't let go.
She had a six pack of beer in her hands and raised it up and told them to take it.
When they let go of her to grab the beer
she skedaddled right out of there and jumped in her car.
I was so scared that she had been accosted that I was upset for hours and so was she.
I was thinking how dumb that was to get gas in that bad part of town
and realized I had just slept in my van there for two nights and was really stupid!
Once we got customers coming and got busy
we shook off the bad vibes.
It was Valentine's Day and Nicolette made a killing
and I was so excited for her!
At noon Connie and Vince showed up and I couldn't believe it!
She took over for two hours and I went and had lunch and watched the American Cookware Waterless Cooking demonstration that I had been smelling for four days.
Leroy did a great job and I could not believe how yummy the food was
cooked without ANY water or grease!
The minute I get my business going I am so going to buy a set of that cookware!
Then climbed in my VERY FAVORITE FLEETWOOD MOTORHOME!
I laid on the bed and imagined owning a motorhome.
I'd have it painted bright yellow with giant Nixpix.com logo on every side.
I'd travel to all fifty states selling Gin Latin and my driving game
and meet all kinds of nice people and a few cranky people.
I'd give the cranky people gift certificates to Outback Steakhouse all over
and they'd be all happy and feel better.
I'd give the happy people smoked salmon from home
and wine from Barbara's vinyard and Ritz crackers.
I was having such a nice daydream that it was hard to get up and go back to work!
I took a quick spin through the gold show and picked up odd golf freebies
to send to my step-dad Jerry.
If there are single girls out there they need to go to the golf show or work there because
there were wall-to-wall handsome men there!
AND they had on nice clothes too and knew how to shave!
So I got back upstairs and Connie had sold two games
and she needed to get Vince back home 'cause he was starting to catch a cold.
By then it was near three o'clock and Nicholette was making a
killing on that Cookie Lee jewelry!
I didn't have any more sales so I was chatting with my new friends from
Yakama RV park. Man, they were such nice people that I would so stay there if I had a motorhome! I was too shy to ask their names but I wanted to really bad.
I miss them and Nicholette after hanging out together for four days.
I might even go there and stay in a teepee!
http://www.ynrv.com/
So I went to wash up before going home and Debbie from siding
was hanging out at the beef jerky stand so I went to hang out for a minute too.
Then the nice man with the big beard came up behind us and started scratching our backs!
We were so happy and he'd been giving us samples of that great jerky for days.
We were all laughing and having fun and enjoying ourselves so much!
So at five we all packed up and since I had taken the bags out in the morning I was driving home by 5:15!
I woke up this morning feeling really sad about not making a profit at that RV show
but after telling you all about it I just
realized that I had some of the best four days
of my life at that RV show.
I may never have the cash to buy an RV Mr. Blog.
I may never be able to afford one of the cool electric scooters either
but you know what?
I don't care.
I saw a lot of homeless people down there in Pioneer Square
and I have a nice home.
It is old and dumpy but I don't care.
I have the nicest husband and kids in the entire world too.
And I have perfect health Mr. Blog.
I mean Margo will have to have her hip replacement soon
and sissy will have to go to dialysis for the rest of her life.
And you know what Mr. Blog?
I have the nicest friends and relatives in the world too.
What more could a person ask for?
*Looks over at Mr. Blog snoring and quietly gets up and covers him with
a granny-square blanket from the closet and tip-toes out*
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