In mid-January I found out I would be moving in early February. It was an opportunity to upgrade everything about my living situation except the amount of space I had, so I jumped on it and here I am on the far side of a move - and two vending events. In my mind I still live in the same city, always have for the past decade plus, though my address has changed (I will update the contact list sometime soon).
I spent the second half of January packing and culling stuff. This is the first chance I've had as a post-college adult to actually sort some stuff and sell / give away / throw away some of it! I did not get as much sorted as I'd like, but what I did do was refreshing.
Then, eight days into February, I did a convention in Dallas. It wasn't spectacular but it's the third event of three, and guarantees me a spot in the next convention, which will have William Shatner (Capt Kirk from Star Trek) as a guest! Last year's con had Patrick Stewart (Capt Picard from Star Trek), but I did not get to see him because I was stuck behind my tables in the Dealer's Room the entire time. Guess what's going to happen this year? Yep, same thing.
After the February convention I came home and hit the ground running - did an entire week where I got up, packed, and took an entire carload of stuff to the new place every day. At the end of that week some friends came and helped me move furniture. The day after all that, I was so tired I couldn't hardly do anything. Then I spent the next 6 days wrapping up and cleaning.
The next 2 days I spent trying to organize things at the new place (I'm renting a room from friends who have a house. And a 3-year-old. So there is not a lot of space for stuff) to make my room livable, and then... two days of prep time before my next show, in Dallas again. I was so stressed about time that when I got back it took me a week to realize that I had 3 weeks between the previous event and the next event, rather than two! So after another round of supplier orders - pretty big since they have to get me through the next three events that happen on back-to-back weekends - I actually took a day off and didn't do much beyond recovering.
This Friday I head to the first event in that series of three. After event#3 there will be a family visit back in Oklahoma for a couple of days, then home in time to get my taxes done (did I mention I've been running flat-out since mid-January? Yeah, doing a tax return will stay at the bottom of my priority list until about the 12th).
Trying one last vegetable gardening strategy since the soil in this area is crap and no amount of amendments will fix it - sub-irrigated planters. Like those pots with water reservoirs in the bottom, only you can make them out of 5-gallon buckets or old refrigerators or what-have-you. Details and pics to come!
