Yes folks, it’s true. The normally perky and intrepid Cristina is flat out crabby these days. Yesterday Jennifer and I ventured out to our first trade show. The demographic we were going for (women our age, with kids, who love cute clothes enough to pay for them), were, uh, not in attendance. Clue #1: the event was in Hopewell. Mike told me it was nicknamed Hopesmell. He wasn’t kidding. I don’t know what they make there, but ewww, it sure does stink. Clue #2: the trade show part of the event was held in the Hopewell High School gym. Fact #1: We saw more Crystal Gayle look-alikes in 2 hours than I’ve ever seen in my life. Fact #2: I know everyone here makes fun of West Virginia, but there are A LOT of people in Hopewell that are missing plenty of teeth. Fact #3: I’m going to be firebombed and hatemailed by people from Hopewell.
But hey, I have to call it like I see it. Hopewellians are a frugal, pragmatic bunch - they shop for onesies and toddler apparel at Wal*Mart, or when really breaking out, Kohl’s. We wre just really not in the right market. We sold $0. Literally. Jennifer says that’s okay because we got a chance to put our booth together and see how it looks, as well as figuring out what we still need. We are considering doing Bizarre Bazaar at the end of March. Apparently Jennifer’s family isn’t considering it - they’ve already booked their tickets! We are hopeful now that the fine folks at BB will allow us to give them $500 to display our wares.
In the meantime, Steve finally went back to the doctor. His heart rate is crazed and he was literally vibrating. He has been re-admitted to the hospital and is going to have his heart “shocked” tomorrow to see if they can reset the rhythm. My normally overactive desire to research literally anything on the internet has gone away. I don’t want to know what the options are if this doesn’t work. I can’t deal with it - at least not tonight. I haven’t talked to my brother since he got home from the hospital and he hasn’t felt very well and talking isn’t a lot of fun when you feel like your chest is on fire or your heart is going to bust out of your ribs and do a frenetic irish jig on the coffee table. I wish more than anything that I could remove all of the stress and worry from his life, or protect him, or fix him, but I can do none of those things.
Yes, I’m crabby. This too shall pass. In the meantime Arden is enjoying her brand new nap mat (she is obsessed with it and kept screaming and pointing at the closet at daycare, saying “NIGHT NIGHT! ME WANT NIGHT NIGHT!”). Lily is obsessed with Robots, the movie, and wants me to buy her a pair of robot boots (blue metal). She also got in trouble today for saying “Poop” and “Pee” during lunch. This incited everyone at her table to scream it along with her.
