Almost Done

It has been a very tumultuous week.   I am not going into details here until I have reviewed my options and had time to let the news I was given this week settle. 

This is also my final week at Hunsaders.  It has been a good show, but 3 weekends in a row has been hard.  Also, I'm a bit agitated that they allowed another soaper to have a booth this weekend.  There have been two of us for the past few years, which is fine.  Our products have been just different enough that the competition has been healthy.  Add in one more though and it just forces the scales out of balance.  There is a lot of work involved in preparing for a show and when your share is cut down to 33%, it is irritating.

As I'm reviewing this blog entry, you can tell I'm irritated.  I will tell you I'm Sorry now and promise you will understand once I post about this week.

Happier Post next time, promise!

Two Down, One More To Go!

Yesterday was the last day of weekend number 2 of the Pumpkin Festival.  It was hot, dusty, dirty, and very crowded!  How did I do?

This week will be spent making soap.  And lots of it!  I am out of Pumpkin Spice, Lavender, Spa Bar, Yuzu and Dog Soap.  The others are running thin.  Nothing like bringing home empty boxes!

Everything sold this weekend.  Washclothes, soap dishes, soap saver bags, gift sets and just plain soap.  I even had someone ask if the flowers on my table as decoration were for sale!  CRAZY!

I took my camera out so that I could get some photos of the event.  However, it doesn't work too well with the memory card still in my computer at home!  And I wouldn't have had time for it anyhow!

The end of this event is nearing.  I have to admit, I'm looking forward to a Saturday that I can sleep past 4 a.m.! 

Things I Want, But Won't Buy

I'm totally into jewelry. However, if you saw me in person, I always have on my wedding ring and that is about it. Even though I have a jewelry box that is as tall as I am.


In honor of this, I've decided to show off some things that I would love to buy, but won't because I know I won't wear it.

First, this necklace from Talbots.

White blouse, black blouse, dark green suit....Oh I can just see it!

Then, there is this necklace, also from Talbots.



I could pretty much just ditto my previous comments.  This necklace just make me smile!

That is all for today.  Getting ready for another long weekend at Hunsaders!!

Respect

One of the definitions of respect in the dictionary is as follows:

"esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment."

I consider respect to be that of what the definition says along with a few more aspects. 

We try to teach our children to respect others, especially elders.  Somewhere adults tend to have difficulty in understanding that respect not only is that a child will listen to you, but that if you just love them, the respect is automatically there.  You become a role model for that child.

I am always amazed how adults tend to want a level of respect from everyone around them, but sometimes forget to respect those that they are speaking with, living with, or working with. 

Respect to me is the crucial point of listening to those around you, understanding their point of view, and not talking down to people.  Why do we treat our family and close friends one way, only to turn around treat others differently?

This is all stemming from a few weeks of ignorance, poor customer service and just the plain lack of respect that I have encountered around me. 

Our air conditioning needed to be worked on, the guy that showed up was just a bit scary to say the least.  At one point, Jeff walked into the garage to find the man sweeping up glass Christmas ornaments.  The box had "accidentally" fallen down the attic stairs, breaking all of them.

It then took us over 3 weeks and two missed appointments to finally get someone out to repair our solar hot water heater.  Then to have the gentleman tell me the part is only $9 and we could have fixed it ourselves.  "Umm, excuse me?  That would require ME to get on the roof."  Yeah, not happening.

Then last week, our cable stopped working.  Repair guy needs to go to the attic, guess what we found?  Yeah, boxes (and I'm talking rubbermaid) of Christmas decorations crushed and all of the ornaments ruined.  I am dumb founded as to what the heck the air conditioning guy had been doing in our attic. 

Add in a few other things here and there and you can understand my frustration. 

I try to teach Kyle to think before he speaks.  The past few days I have had to repeat that mantra in my head.  I just wish others would do the same.

Mmmm....Smells Good!

One weekend down, two more to go.

This weekend finally marked the beginning of the Pumpkin Festival at Hunsader Farms. You poor people who follow my blog have read about this Festival approaching for months.

Every year it is a learning experience. Last year we changed our booth every single day. We added something, took something away, added shelving, etc. We even moved the location of the booth once. Which is where our location is today.

This year, we set the tent up in the back yard and worked out the kinks from there. Do I still want to make some changes, yes. I took some pictures of our booth, I obviously wasn't thinking, because I didn't take a picture of the booth in its entirety. 



Lather Lovely Booth





Lather Lovely Booth

 



Booth Photo



 

Yuzu Soap and Fragrance Free





Camo Soap Gift Set (Soap, washcloth and soap dish)




Pumpkin Spice Gift Set



New Bags For packaging this year



View down one row from our booth

  

View looking down main walkway, that is our booth on the right of the photo





This is Jan and Tonia, they make beautiful decorations from Gourds

 


Gourds

As always, the other vendors were wonderful to work with. It is a joy to see Tonia and Jan every year. They are a hoot! Last year they helped us move our booth from next door to them, to across the way. This year, Jeff helped them kill a spider that was in their tent. Spiders in Florida aren't small either, if you are wondering!

We had a good weekend. Saturday started off slow, but Sunday ended with a bang. I will be making soap all week to replenish my supply. The biggest seller? Camo. The fragrance of this soap is amazing. It was actually based off of a mens fragrance oil, but everyone loves this scent!

The title for this post is due to the fact that I wish I could have a dollar for every time someone picks up a soap, smells it and says Mmmm...Smells Good! I wouldn't have to worry about selling anything.

There will probably be more changes to the booth for next week. I have a few more items that I would like to add. I will also focus a little more on my clients next week as well. I will take a few pictures of their smiling faces as they walk away with some of the best soap in their hands!






Today Is The Day



Photo from Hunsaders website



It is finally here.  Day 1 of Hunsaders Pumpkin Festival. 

Ready or Not, here I go!  After a long evening of wrapping, tying, labeling, printing, cutting and more labeling, I was up at 4 a.m. this morning to do some more.

I would like to believe I'm ready.  So that is my story and I'm sticking to it! 

I will post photos tonight of the booth and other things going on around us.  The weather is supposed to be perfect, 82 with a low of 60.  Couldn't ask for better Fall weather!

It's Friday!

It's the Friday before the Pumpkin Festival begins.  I am busy beyond belief.

So, in honor of that, I going to leave you all with a link for a Blog Hop!

Have Fun!

Boost My Blog Friday!

New Logo for Lather Lovely

Lather Lovely has a new logo. 

Isn't it wonderful?  I need to thank Madeleine R Design for working with me on this.  It was easy and fun!  I have to admit that what I ended with was not what I saw in my vision.  My vision, I didn't like so much.  This was all Madeleine. 

Let me know your thoughts!  I will be blogging photos of finished soaps and packages tomorrow.  My website guy is ready to kill me.  Remember I posted about my procrastination back in June.  Yeah, I haven't changed much.  I know I have photos and descriptions to get to him.  I currently can only do 10 things at once and that isn't one of them.

Sleep, No Thanks.  I don't need any!

Over Before You Know It

The weekend is over before I even realized it began. 

It was a busy weekend.  I made Pumpkin Pie, Lavender, Plain & Simple, Baby Bar, and Lemongrass soap.  I then worked in to Cucumber & Melon bath bombs, fizzing bath salts, and Kumquat (which smell fantastic) bath salts.

Also got my labels together, the tent is mapped out and cleaned up.  I still have to label, which I can do each night up until Saturday. 

Jeff and I went to dinner Saturday night at Cafe Gabbiano.  Oh my lordy, it was so yummy.  I felt like I was eating inside of wine cellar.  I had the Scaloppine Piccata and Jeff had Pollo Mamma Lucia.  Along with a couple loaves of bread, Buffalo Caprese and a great bottle of wine.  Add in the drive home with the top down, and it was a great evening.

I ended Sunday babysitting for my friend.  We had a good time, even though he was getting sick.  Never seen anyone so excited about going outside before!  You can tell I have too many animals though, instead of asking him if he wanted a snack, I kept asking if he wanted a treat.  I didn't put a leash on him to go for a walk though, so I do know the difference!

Ending this long weekend with a massage.  I am counting down the minutes until she gets here.  I hope everyone had a fun and fulfilling weekend!

Plans For The Weekend

Soap, Soap, Oh, and MORE Soap!

That is the plan for this weekend. 

So far, I have a gorgeous Pumpkin soap, Lavender, Yuzu, Energy, Lemongrass and another I have yet to name.  It doesn't sound like a lot, except there are two or three batches of each.  This weekend will be spent making more of those listed above, along with Oatmeal Stout, Pumpkin Lager, Peppermint, Charcoal and a Gardeners Soap. 

As well as bath bombs, sugar scrubs and then wrapping and labeling everything.

This Monday is a Holiday for us at work, so I have a long weekend.  And I couldn't be any more thankful!

I am also babysitting the son of a friend of mine on Sunday.  He is two.  It has been 13 years since I've had to deal with a two year old.  Well, besides two nights ago when Kyle retreated to his former self.  Keep me in your thoughts and I will post an update later on in the weekend.

One more thing...the weather here has been FABULOUS!  Mid 80's with hardly any humidity.  Yes, I did say that.  Florida with the humidity under 30%.  Seeing as it is typically around 175%, we are in heaven down here. 

Stress

Stress can cause all sort of things to happen to you.

-Loss of appetite, or an increased appetite.
-Loss of sleep, or the feeling of all you want to do is sleep. 
-Feeling like you could cry at the drop of a hat
-Not knowing which thing to do first.

This is currently my state of being.  I am thankful I do not have a doctors appointment anytime soon.  I am quite sure the flush in my cheeks is from my blood pressure being elevated continuously. 

I am looking forward to November 1st.  Yes, I actually need time to fly by a little quicker right now.  Get the Pumpkin Festival over with, and put me into Holiday mode. 

Oh, the Holidays come after November 1st.  Maybe I actually need to look forward to January 1st. 

October 1st

Okay, so I didn't finish out the month of September as I had planned. 

It is now October 1st, and the Pumpkin Festival is 15 days away.  Am I a little freaked out?  Yep.  I know what to expect this year, unlike last year that we went into it blind.  I wanted to reorganize my booth, but I'm not sure I will have time.

On a side note, I have December to look forward to.  I finally made reservations for Jeff and I to travel to Asheville, NC to visit Biltmore Estates.  We were supposed to go over Spring Break, but didn't make it.  Now, we have our flights booked and reservations to stay at the Inn at Biltmore.

Now there are only 71 more days to go!