Evan's Secret Weapon

Evan recently let us in on his secret weapon. He informed us that he uses it at school if someone is mean to him. Now I share it with you:



Evan was serious when he first told us about it, but after watching it on the camera and laughing with me, he said, "That was funny. I mean funny."

Craft Show

So, the craft show... I actually did have a lot of fun, but it wasn't as profitable as I was hoping. (I don't think it would do me much good to figure out how much I made per hour.) I didn't do a good job of keeping records, but I think that, after taking out my expenses, I made somewhere around $150.

I just had no idea what would sell. I wasn't confident about the aprons, but those were my biggest seller. I was confident about the evergreen arrangements, but people just were not interested. So 2 days of work didn't amount to much. Money wasn't a problem there, since most of the materials were free from the bush.

I really think things could have been different with the Christmas arrangements if there was snow on the ground. Everyone is amazed, but there is no real snow to speak of. Last year around this time, I remember a huge mountain of snow by a nearby parking lot from all the plowing. But the weather has been extremely strange this year and we have no snow. So I think people just aren't in the Christmas mood yet. I ended up selling 8 of the 16 arrangements I made, but I really think some of those purchases were based on pity. :) The other 8 I had fun giving away, so it's not all a waste.

I did have a lot of fun being at the show. It was fun to see so many people and get to know some people I recognized from around town, but didn't really know. And now I have an idea of what people buy for future reference. Chalk it up to good experience!

I'm only posting because I accidentally came across this old photo and it gives me the shivers. And maybe because, while I'm proud of him for being a real-life superhero, I also want to get back at him for some unknown event. (Hint: If you blow up the photo so it fills the screen, it's really scary.)



And, no, I don't want to talk about the craft show right now.

Maybe I will tomorrow, after a good night's sleep to take the edge off my grouchiness. (Hmm....maybe I'm just feeling irritable and homesick and since Kendall's not here for me to take it out on him in person, I do it through my blog. Sorry, buddy. I knew you could handle it.)

I better go to bed now before I start posting other freaky pictures to make myself feel better.

Goodnight.

Craft Show

This is what has been consuming my time, energy and thoughts lately. The craft show is tonight and tomorrow. I've been so nervous, not knowing what to expect. Will people show up? Is there even a market for the things I made? How much do I charge? What do I do with pajama pants that don't sell? What do I do with 16 evergreen arrangements if they don't sell? Do I even have 16 friends to give them to? Do I really have friends? Does anyone like me? What am I doing here?! I'm such a foreigner! (Whew! Got a little carried away there... Actually, friendships are one of my very favorite parts of living here and it would be no problem to find 16 places to give arrangements.)

Anyway, I went today to set up and now I'm getting excited. There are quite a few sellers and I realized that I know more of them than I thought I would. And I get to be right beside Sue and her yummy homemade donuts.

Here's how my kitchen looked yesterday. I ventured out into the bush alone to cut these evergreen boughs and I made it back alive. I will not be showing photos of the rest of my house at this time since I have...um...let it go for the past little while.


I was happy with how they turned out. Thanks to Laura for the demonstration she did a couple years ago.


Here are the pajama pants and cloth napkins. (As a side note, I'm going green: I'm going to make cloth napkins for us to use. I hate using so many paper napkins. Is it actually "greener?" I guess you have to wash them. We could just resort to Eli and Evan's method of wiping our mouths on our shirts- they're going to be washed anyway.)


Here's a close-up of the napkin rings I made out of some sort of cable and floral wire. Now I'm really wanting to take a jewelry-making class.

There are also aprons, but I still need to set up that display before the show opens tonight.

Photo Session

Here are the results of a photo session with two cute, but uncooperative, boys:








Oh good grief.

Insights

Oh, the insightful little tidbits into the way our kids' minds work...

From Eli: When I was younger I thought that if you were raised as a girl, you'd change into a boy. And if you were a boy, you'd change into a girl. So I wanted to be a girl.

Me: So you'd be a man?

Eli: Yeah.



And from Evan... I was watching him in his class during circle time. His teacher was showing the class a crudely-drawn pair of gloves as they worked on words that start with the letter G. She asked what the drawing was. Evan eagerly raised his hand.

Evan: A hand?
Mrs. Morse: No. It's something that you wear on your hands.
Evan: Fingers?
Mrs. Morse: No. It's something you put on your hands to keep them warm.
Evan: Skin?

Smile.

Someone just pointed our son's fame out to me. (Click on the underlined part.)

So, we submitted photos to a community contest earlier this year in hopes of winning a new camera. We didn't win anything, but they still got our photo.

By the way, if perusing this website really gives anyone an itch to visit Red Lake, we know of a good place to stay and good (most of the time) people to hang out with!