I had the BEST time at the
Washington Association of Teaching Christian Homes convention!
I had met Bill Waring, one of their leaders
at the Puyallup home school convention and he
told me about their convention right next door in Bothell.
Praise God!
I almost got in a fatal car wreck driving to Puyallup on I-405
so popping over Finn Hill to Bothell was very relaxing.
The only snag was that I got back from camping late
Thursday and barely got my van unloaded and reloaded
for the convention by bedtime.
Might not have been the smartest thing I ever did to
volunteer as a early morning greeter.
I was worn out from having fun camping and slept right
through my alarm Friday morning!
Terry woke me up and I had a whopping ten minutes
to get ready.
Eight years as a flight attendant taught me to pack the
day before and lay out my clothes so I was almost
on time. Working those New York and Boston flights were
so brutal. Six AM at the lobby was two AM Seattle time!
So the nice teen, Micah, hauled my rolling duffel to
my booth and I set up lickety-split
and dashed over to the registration table.
Siri was next to me taking payments and I did all the nametags.
The home school families are so nice!
Since I substitute in the public schools I can't
say something like, "Praise God" or "Let's pray for good test scores"
without getting in trouble, but the home school families love
God and can praise him all they want.
It's awesome.
Besides seeing Bill again, I got to meet Jodi and she
was amazing. Warm, friendly, organized and she has the rare gift
of giving directions without sounding bossy!
After I finished my nametagging,
I went to the vendor hall and was so delighted
to meet my vendor neighbor Sandi.
She has a brilliant game she designed called Rummy Roots
that is similar to my Gin Latin game!
I bought one to show Terry and he was gaga over it.
She has been in business for eighteen years and you'll
never guess where she lives!
COLVILLE!
My dad was interim pastor at the Colville Congregational Church
in 1988 or so and I drove over there in my hot
red and black Camaro with my little dog Susie.
I LOVE Colville!
She was about as wonderful as a person gets Mr. Blog!
She gave me so many business tips!
Across from me, my new vendor pal, Kande Underhill
had a marvelous reading tool of flash card called
"Inside Story."
I will so buy the entire set the minute I get hired somewhere!
I wish I could have bought it to show you but I didn't have
enough money. Fabulous photos of animals with the word usage.
Every teacher 4th-6th should have BOTH "Rummy Roots" and
"Inside Story!"
Kandi was a total kick and made me laugh so hard.
She and Sandi and I had such a fun time sharing stories
of starting up our businesses. Well, they have been in
business way longer than I have and had GREAT start-up stories!
Kande gave me mountains of advice and tips and I wrote everything down.
I saw lots of vendors from Puyallup I had met down there:
The Runkles of geography, the rubber duck man,
the tall gorgeous youth literature lady. I forget her
name but she lives right in Kenmore and I had met her around town!
Oh, and the lovely Mennonite mother and daughter from Oregon.
Ugh. I forget their names but they are amazing.
I asked the mom why they wear the little caps and she told me
it was to remind them to submit to God and men.
Well, when I told Terry that he said he was going to
try to trade me for a Mennonite wife! Dirty dog.
I don't mean to be sassy.
So every family with a teen bought my game to help
them pass the driving test. About ten families.
Then another ten families with younger kids bought
the game to play like Monopoly!
They were all such delightful people
and one lady-I forgot her name, had just inherited
a ranch near Coulee City!
We just went through there on our way to Yellowstone
and she and her husband are historians and you should have
heard her story about their ranch!!!
Three generations back, her husband's great grandfather
found the location and lived in a cave
while starting the homestead
and it is still there!
I love history and geology and we had a long conversation
about the Lake Missoula and she said they
found a cave of a rhinocerous that had died thousands
of years ago and the mud perfectly captures his form!
Whadaya think of THAT Mr. Blog?!
I was so excited by that story I could barely see straight.
Right at the end of the conference, Kande told me she
sold a case of cards wholesale and pointed at the lady.
Well, I chased right after her and waited until she was
done talking to a vendor and told her I'd sell her five games
wholesale at half price.
She said she'd talk to her partner.
Well, I am optimistic so I packaged
five games and wrote up the receipt and
then packed up to go home since the convention was over.
Right when I was getting ready to go, they came
back and bought those five games.
Well, they almost bought them.
They only had a business charge card with them so
I just handed them the bag with a business card and said,
"I trust you. Just mail me a check."
They were so startled!
But isn't that the beauty of owning your own business Mr. Blog?
You get to do whatever you want,
including trusting people.
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