When I was a little kid, I liked to watch Mr. Rogers. As an adult, I still enjoy watching his show. He was such a gentle, kind man, and I think the everyday activities that he did on his show were probably a calming influence on all the little kids who were watching.
He will be missed.
Grizzly, my family’s cat (we got him when I was nine years old) has died. I’m so sad, but he was very old and is resting peacefully now.
Purr on, Grizz. I’ll miss you.
Since I got into the Portland Saturday Market it occcurred to me I needed a booth. As in, shelter over my head in a rainy Oregon springtime. Looking around at ready-mades, I noticed one thing: hot damn, those things are expensive!! Yeah, I’m talkin’ about you, Ez-Up! They definitely AREN’T for the no-job budget.
The market provides plans for building your own out of wood, but they’re complicated and ultimately hauling around all that wood is going to get tiresome. I wanted something else.
Hence, the wonder that is Google. I found this site (Canopy Masters) on one of several searches (sheesh, you’d think this would be easier, but I spent hours at it). They offer the VERY COOL Canopy Kits in the size I want (8X8) that you make yourself (essentially). They supply pipe fittings for the joints, bungees to hold down your tarps, footpads to anchor the thing, and you supply the pipe. Easy. The kit actually comes with the tarp as well, but it’s not flame-retardant, a market requirement.
So, I bought the kit minus the tarp and saved myself $20 (approximately). Woohoo. But I still needed a roof and sides for the booth. Enter Dragonwing: this guy makes pavilions for Renaissance Fairs. He also sells (for the rock-bottom price ANYWHERE, trust me I did hours upon hours of research) flame-retardant, water repelling, mildew resistant canvas by the yard. If you sew (thank you 4H!) you can make the whole thing yourself, which is exactly what I plan to do. If you’d like info on how to do this yourself, you can email me.
So, yay. A booth. I think I can take my Claire-made tarps down to a local boat-cover maker and have them put grommets in for me, and then I’m set. I still need a sign, and to figure out my display, but that’s all chopped liver compared to the big chores of researching a booth setup. I won’t have this ready in time for this weekend, but next weekend lookout. Soap Dreams will be unleashed on Portland.
The bath candy came out great! They are so cute! I’ve decided to break my “no artificial colors” rule and color some of them so they look pretty in the bags. I bought the basic colors (red, blue, yellow, green) and I’ll leave some uncolored. I can’t wait to get the bags for them, I ordered them yesterday. I plan on tying the tops with raffia, but I haven’t figured out how I’ll label them yet. Might just do a paper tag.
I made myself some lotion tonight. It’s nice.
No job. Tomorrow I call to find out if I’m in the Portland Saturday Market or not. I’m nervous. I don’t know what I’ll do if I didn’t get it.