Jewelry, Craft Shows and Ghosts

I hate to make excuses, but seriously, I have a few. Work has been confusing at best. We've been busy. And I've been paying more attention to Travian, Helium and my newest blog, Politics - My Way. I can't go through life without shooting off my mouth, so let that be the place.

Ed and Becki are getting ready to return to school, which is good. Along with that, Gloria and Chris both mentioned that they want to as well. I'm thrilled. None of them have work, with the exception of Gloria, so they might as well go to school. It can't hurt to have something bigger and better to offer when the economy straightens up. As President Obama explained about the Stimulus and the Health Care Reform, there are provisions for greater education opportunities just because as the needs of the economy changes, so will the jobs. Not only will we need our younger workers to better educate themselves, but we will need our older workers from time to time to broaden their understanding and abilities as technology advances. This is a good thing.

So Becki has been busy selling jewelry, which isn't as easy as it sounds. The product is nice and it is expensive, which is the last thing anyone wants to spend money on now. Where she's finding buyers, she's not finding hostesses. We did a craft show a few weeks ago. To say we received an education here, is an understatement. We sold five pieces all together, for a decent total. A problem arose when we took a book order from a young lady who shouldn't have ordered anything. Without going into details, it proved to be a nightmare. As I told Becki yesterday when we discussed it, when we sell at craft shows for now on, it will be from the jewelry we have on display and not from the catalogs. She agreed whole heartedly.

Gloria held a party for her. She lives way out south and neither Becki nor I are familiar with the neighborhood. I was unbelievably ill that day, but I insisted I would go with Becki just because the old van is ready for the junkyard, and I was afraid she'd get lost. So we got lost together. On the way home, we got turned around, and we found ourselves further south of where we were suppose to be, and in the middle of the night at that. Not to mention we were in one of 'those' neighborhoods that the Southside is famous for. We found directions easily enough, and we were able to get home, but it took a lot longer than it took to get there. I thank God that we stayed safe, because obviously the neighborhood we were in has a bad reputation.

Becki was asked to babysit for a friend of Jon's. When she came home after having spent the day there, she said, "Mom, that house is screwed up!"

It took me a good couple of seconds before I realized what she meant. "You mean Jon didn't tell you about that place?"

"You mean he told you?" She said that when she first arrived, she heard a lot of commotion in the kitchen, but considering it wasn't her house, she assumed it was the noises that are unique to every house. They had a cat who spent most of his time in the back room, so she assumed maybe it was him. But when she went to get a change for the baby from the baby's room, she said, she felt something in there and it didn't like her at all.

Checking around I learned that the baby's brother doesn't sleep in his room every night because he feels uncomfortable there. I was told that one sitter was holding the baby in her arms and began to fall asleep. She woke up when someone tried to take the baby from her. "That could be a good thing," I told her. "Someone is protecting the baby."

"Scared the hell out of me," the person told me. "I won't go back there."

Later Becki had a jewelry party at a home where the previous owner was a clock collector. She said she felt his presence when she walked through the door. When she mentioned it to the owner, she was told that every so often what is left of the collection winds itself up and sets off the alarms.

Then yesterday Becki invited her friends from Chris's car club over for a fire. She said it was kind of embarrassing. The monk came out for the first time in months, and it followed her around the yard. I told her she has to be firm and tell it not to bother her. "Yeah, Mom. These people already think I'm nuts. What are they going to say if the catch me talking to the invisible monk in the back yard?"

Ah, good question.

Did I mention Ed and his buddies where having a fire in the yard when he threw his knee out? Poor kid has been laid up all weekend. He spent his Fourth sitting in the emergency room at Cook County waiting for someone to come look at him. Jon, too. It was suppose to be Jon's birthday party, only Jon had to drive. My brakes went out so I couldn't. Anyway, Ed is wearing a brace and I am waiting on him hand and foot. He hasn't been so bad that I'm ready to strangle him, so I won't complain. It's hot here and he isn't. Not so bad I guess.