The Busiest Month

Everybody would probably say that December is the busiest month but for us it's February. It's my oldest birthday on the 6th, Valentine's Day, the 15th is my niece's birthday, our biggest show of the year, and then my husband's birthday.

This show usually forecasts how well our year will go sales wise. There are gallery owner's, antique collectors and sellers, then lover's of arts & crafts handmade work. Which is sort of stressful since we depend a lot on this one show. Last year was very unusual, maybe because of the big storm but on Sunday it was not busy at all.

Last year there was a terrible storm that came through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. We of course had to drive through it! So we left way early and drove through the middle of the storm. Can you say S-C-A-R-Y. I was on the edge of my seat until we drove out of the storm, which took like 4 hours! Some of our friends left after the storm and were stuck in traffic forever. It was so bad people were running out of gas because the cars weren't moving. We learned to follow the big rigs from the storm, they always know where to go! Some of the expressways were closed because of really bad accidents. The big rigs have all the connections so they never had to turn around like we did.

The plus side is, that it takes place at one of the awesomest hotels I have ever been to The Grove Park Inn! It's located on Sunset Mountain, and you get the best views of the sun setting. We don't stay there because it costs a lot and it's a courtesy to the people who are go to buy. We are pretty much there from 8am-1am or later. So it's like we're staying there! Plus they have 5-7 restaurants and this year we remembered to call for reservations for their seafood buffet. It books a few months in advance but this year I'm on top of things!

My mother in law who is great, is staying with the kids. I have to have meals pre-made and planned. I had my oldest make a chart of each meal (she's the pickiest) what they would eat, what choices they had etc... Last year they barely didn't touch anything I made. This year she knows what's going to be served and has to stick to it or no dessert for the kids.

I wish I didn't have to be so strict with food but my oldest is very hyper when she eats things that don't agree with her body. She will flap like an autistic child because of what she ate. She is unaware that she is doing this even though she is going to be ten. We've put her on the SCD in the last 2 months and she has been improving greatly. She has been flapping less and she has found her volume control. Usually she talks way to loud but over the holidays people couldn't believe how quiet she was. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the process of digestion and how it effects children/people with gut problems. It's called Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride. The book is expensive but she does recommend these sites and this if you are interested and would like to learn more. I do wish they would talk more about kefir, and other fermented foods. We make sauerkraut and will be fermenting other things over the summer when our food co-ops start up. Yogurt only has a few of the many strains of good bacteria found in the gut. While kefir has something like 28. Okay enough with all the nerdy health talk!

Looking forward to February. If I have time and remember to photograph it, I'm going to do a tutorial for a Valentine's Day wall hanging.