Bazaars at the Audubon Treehouse

                                                      

                                                           

This past Tuesday was the last night of the Treehouse Coffee Shop’s Christmas Bazaar and I was there to check out that night’s venders.  There will be more bazaars coming up at New Jersey’s favorite little coffee shop in Audubon. I’ll be doing my Steampunk Granny’s Bohemian Bazaar in April and Tina and Randy have a date set for a springtime bazaar and maybe a summer bazaar, too.

We need to support the independent vendors and bring back shopping trips to our towns!!

Last night Tina and her boys hosted these venders:

                                                         

 

Sheryl Price who is an Esthetician has her shop, Sheryl’s Skin Therapy Studio on Merchant Street in Audubon.  Here is her site: www.sherylsskintherapy.com  I will be interviewing Sheryl Price in the upcoming weeks to find out more about her studio

                                                                 

Sandy Johnson with her one of a kind home décor called Second-Time-Around Mosaics can be reached at tagteacher50@hotmail.com

                                                                  

Robert G. Amadio was also there with his wood creations and he can be reached at robertgamadio@gmail.com 

                                                                    

 

Shelley Szajner, spiritual advisor, artist and author was there to sell her displaying her spiritual art and doing Tarot readings.

                                                                      

 

Shelley’s mission is life is to illuminate the language of the soul and disperse seeds of wisdom. Check her out on her site www.shelleyszajner.com  I will be interviewing Shelley in the upcoming weeks for a list of her upcoming classes.

                                                                  

My editor/friend and soul sister, Patti O’Brien made me one of her bottles of LitBits

                                                                        

and she even put candy inside to help me when I’m overwhelmed. Her personal blog is: http://pattiobrien.wordpress.com/  and her editing site is: http://www.editingiseverything.com/

                                                                   

                                                            

Well, I’m done my shopping for the holidays, but there are more holidays coming up and more chances to buy from these venders!!!! Check them out!

Pull Toy Granny

     So the other day, I was with my fellow writers, and the conversation turned to the different adventures, my grandchildren seem to involve me in. Some good, some strange, and some physical. My problem, there is only one of me and nine of them. Two of the grandkids live in Wyoming, so they don't get the chance to play "Pull Toy Granny.

     I try to give equal attention to all, when I'm not working or sequestered in my room writing, but like I said, there is only one of me. Have they improved cloning yet?

     I'll start with the girls.The youngest is interested in writing and introduced me to a wonderful writer's group. I became involved with Steampunk, thanks to the eldest granddaughter. I never knew there was anything like this and I fell in love with the concept. Once a month, we head to Philadelphia dressed in Victorian or vintage Steampunk clothing, to an affair held at the Double Tree Hotel. I intend to interview the amazing man who runs Dorian's Parlor and try to explain Steampunk in a later post. The middle girl is into everything Japanese including Lolita. Don't ask, this is for another blog, but I will say it has to do with unique clothing.

     Whenever I'm able to take all three shopping at the mall, I play the game,"Pull Toy Granny." To play this game, you must be able to go into three different stores at the same time without upsetting anyone. One of the girls wants to go into Hot Topic, the other to H&M, and the third anywhere the other two aren't. I had two choices, have them pulling me in three different directions( think of the slinky dog from toy story) or tell them to go to their designated stores and I would hop from store to store to check on them. I survive the game by running from store to store and this works...sometimes.

     The boys are into the martial arts. When I walk into my daughter's house, the middle grandson grabs my wrist, asking, "How would you break this hold?"
    
     "Can I first take off my coat ," I ask.

     He's into Aikido and tries his best to teach grandmom how to defend herself. Quite a feat when you consider, I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. The older grandson is into mixed martial arts and he is pulling on the other arm, saying "Try to punch me in the face."

     "Are you crazy?' I reply.

     He needed to practice some defensive move and there I was in the middle, both of them pulling on my arms, the slinky being stretched beyond repair, until the youngest came in and asked me to play a card game. Self defense was put on hold as we all played a game of 500 rummy.

     Do I mind being a pull toy? Hell no. I have to be inventive and able to give each of them equal time and attention, but they have opened my mind to new adventures.

Don't talk to strangers

     "Don't talk to strangers", a warning spoken by many parents, in their attempt to prepare their children for the predators whose path they may cross, but I often find myself on the receiving end of this vital mantra.

     This is usually said by my daughter, when we are out together. How did I land in this position of constant scrutiny, you are most likely asking yourself?

     Well to be be fair, I have caused her enough embarrassment over the years to warrant her frustration because of my free form practice of a social butterflying.

     I am a people person and find it rather effortless to begin conversations with anyone at any given moment, unless of course my first impression of you is warning me that you are a (Dexter in the making) which will cause me to keep my mouth shut and eyes averted.

     "Stop talking to people," she would plead, face red, as I explained to the woman next to me on the Septa bus, my daughter's unhappiness with the doctor we were on the way to see.

     "But, you learn so much by taking the time to converse with people," I replied, but her steady stare showed she did not agree.

     "Do you have to talk to everyone, and stop telling them about my business," she admonished as we exited the bus, followed by a chorus of "Good luck."

     Her views of my networking slowly changed as the information I gathered from strangers even helped find a doctor, she was happy with.

     Now, when we are together at the mall and she is unable to find me, she sends the boys to search with the instructions, "Look for a group, deep in conversation, Grandmom is probably there."

     The extent of my networking came in effect last November, as my oldest granddaughter and I tried to get some last minute shopping done. It was a weekend, the mall crowded, tempers short, and we had entered Hot Topics, to buy a gift card.

    "Hi grandmom," the young man at the register called out, when he caught sight of me.

     "Is he related to us?" she asked as he ran over a gave me a hug.

     "No, we became friends, after he asked me for advice, the last few times, I shopped here," I replied.

     "Stop talking to strangers," she whispered, adding "It's not safe."

     "He's not a stranger anymore, and my advice helped him," I countered, as my purchase was handed to me, with an extra hug from the sales person.

      All in all, I think my family has finally come to terms and acceped, although hesitantly, my ability to talk so easily with others, and they know it's not that hard to find me when we are out, I'm usually busy in a lively conversation with another fellow traveler on this big blue globe.

I hate to cook, but love to eat

Normally when I post, I try updating my facebook friends of my continuing search for an agent, but this week, I needed to vent about cooking. While food shopping early this morning, I spent the hour at the market dodging the bottled water marathon( because of upcoming storm), and running to the safety of the makeup section, happy not to be trampled on, as carts zoomed past me at break neck speeds, heading for the bread section. Apparently, looking good while surviving a hurricane, wasn't on the top of most shopper's lists, and I took advantage of this little known fact to hide among the Cover Girl and Maybelline products.

Now shopping is not one of my favorite things to do. Hitting two markets, spending an hour in each until all items are found and purchased, and unloading the groceries after I reach home, is to me equivilante to getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist, necessary but dreaded, but as much as I hate to shop for food, I hate to cook even more. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some dishes, which I still take pleasure in preparing, but unfortunately, my husband balks at eating the same think every night.

I wasn't always this way. As a young bride, I looked forward to preparing the evening meal, grateful, when compliments flowed my way, but I'm almost Medicare age( another painful subject, which I'll go into with another post) and by my estimations, I've done forty years of cooking. That is a lot of pasta, soup, pot roasts, and chicken cutlets.

I know what you're about to ask, "Does your husband like to cook?"

My reply, "Hell, no."

Which leaves me with a few solutions until we have food replicators, like the ones used on Star Trek. You know what I mean, Captain Kirk or Spock ordering their food already prepared, the way they like it, no one slaving over a hot stove, no dishes to wash, my type of cooking.

My number one solution is to eat out, but this can be expensive, so I found a second solution which is these prepacked frozen meals for two in the freezer section of the market. They're actually good, and they can be cooked in one pan, but my dream is to get my husband interested in cooking. Right now he has no interest in boiling water, but I'm planning on using subliminal messaging to trick him into trying. I'll let you know how this goes.