What to do with craft show earnings

At first it's wow, look how much money I made at the craft show....... and then reality sets in.   Bills have to be paid.  There is rent, insurance, and credit card bills.  Damn, somebody has to pay them.

So I wrote checks for those expenses but made sure to save out a little to put back into the business.  (I usually do.)

Come next spring I plan on buying carrying bags for the tent poles (those are heavy suckers!)  But for now I bought a rolling jewelry case that holds fifteen trays.  I bought divided inserts for the trays and foam covers.  I figured the case is something I can use now so it took top priority.

Before this I was dumping everything into nested white boxes and clear shoe boxes and small white jewelry boxes.  It was a hunt and peck method, often leading to tangled or missing pieces.  It will take longer to load this up, but at least things will be more organized.

I have to admit though at first I thought I got ripped off.   I pulled up the side zipper and un-velcroed (is that a word?) bottom.  The flap would only open wide enough for me to get thirteen trays in.  What?  Why doesn't it zip across the top so it opens wider?  So, I went to bed perturbed and thinking about how I could alter it to make it work.  I'm glad I didn't do anything.  A couple of days later I found another zipper on the left and now all fifteen trays slide in so easily.  Another senior moment!

Mental Blocks

I've always been a little ditzy, but as I get older it gets worse.  It's like my mind says...... I'm done thinking.  I won't do it and you can't make me.  (Hey, that's what my last piece of jewelry told me too...... must be a conspiracy.)

That's why I do something the minute I think of it.  If I don't,  the thought will be gone and it won't get done.

There are certain things that I seem to have a mental block about.  No matter how hard I work at it, I just can't seem to remember certain things . One of those things is the order in which to use the Tri-M-ite polishing papers.  (I do remember that green is first, followed by gray, then blue.)  The papers are colored as to their coarseness.  When sanding dry clay or polishing fired clay the papers are used in order from the coarsest paper to the finest paper.  

To help you see  if you've sanded enough, it is recommended to sand in opposite directions which each paper.  In other words, sand vertically with the first paper and horizontally with the next paper.  The third paper will be used vertically and the fourth horizontally and so forth.  

At the last PMC Connection Retreat at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, TN, Ruth Greening taught a class on using the Flex Shaft.   She provided each of us with a kit that included a set of 3-M radial bristle disks.  Inside the lid of the set was a chart showing the location of each disk, it's color and it's order of use.   When I sit down to use my Flex Shaft (I don't have a Flex Shaft but I'm having a mental block to the generic name for that tool.)  I always use that chart.  

At the PMC Conference this past summer, Rio Grande gave everyone a little packet of Tri-M-ite papers with an insert that explained the coarseness and order in which to use them.  So....... following Ruth's idea, I taped that little insert to the lid of my tool box.  Bam!  One less mental block to deal with.  Now, if all those blocks were that easy to solve.