A Month Off

I decided to close for the Month of May other than Friday and Saturday. Every other day was by appointment. Acting as a single Mom while George is working and living near Champaign and the kids and I in Canton. It's getting hard to keep up with things and get things done. George is in Canton on weekends and it's usually improving the farm or planting the garden/trees etc. Seems there is always WORK to do and not much else. So, since the kids have gotten lax with their chores and I try getting my own done in the evenings so I can't follow them around to be sure they are doing theirs in the short time before bed, it's gotten neglected!! So I took the month of May to attempt to fix it. I figure if we don't have much "Stuff" we won't have much to pick up. So I've been trying to deep clean my home and get rid of STUFF. And really clean everything from the winter confinement.

We are working on putting an addition on to our shed for our now 14 sheep and about 50 chickens we raise and we are taking out a window in our Master Bedroom and putting in a door to fix a cracked wall that water continues to leak into the basement from. I've wanted a green house for years and haven't gotten it yet, but this door area is going to be made into a small one of sorts. I really just want to grow lettuce and tomatoes throughout the winter. I have grown tomatoes in a pot in the house through the winter the last 2 years and they seem to die off about this time when we start planting new plants outside. We are working on seeing what other veggies we can grow through the winter. This year I'm going to try Strawberries too.

Being a business owner, wife, mom, and all the other titles I carry sometimes catch up with me and I feel like a failure because some of them aren't where I'd like them to be. So before Corbin starts Ball and Summer hits us all I wanted to play catch up and make a plan. Amelia and Quinten wanted to play ball as well but there wasn't enough sign up for them, but I will admit to you here that I did pray about how I was going to get 3 kids to practice and games and run a store and still take care of the farm. So I guess, maybe God was answering me. I apologize for those others that wanted to play and don't get to. LOL. So Corbin alone will keep me very busy. Monday nights he has ball practice, Tues &/or Thurs he has baseball games and Wed. afternoon he is doing a Jr. Chef Camp, which he is very excited about. He likes to cook but Amelia doesn't like to let him. LOL. So now that all 3 will be able to cook I've decided to make things easier on myself that the kids can plan and prep a meal 1-2 nights a week. We tried this a couple years ago but that meant Pizza, Nachos, Hotdog or Hamburgers and fries, or macaroni and Kielbasa each night that they cooked. Not much nutrition in there but very easy meals for the kids to make. So we are going to try it again and better nutrition added. June we have Art Camp at the studio from June 6-9th, Red, White and Blue Camp June 21, and a Dad and Me Day June 17th. I will be busy planning and teaching these. Ok so most of the camps are already planned but still have to make the example projects for them. July we have Science Camp on the 4th, Amelia goes camping with her girl scout troop the first weekend, then she and Cj go to camp 17-21, she is to start band that week too. then the 25th Amelia starts band on Tues, and Thurs and the week of the 30 she goes to Girl Scout Camp for the week. Still trying to figure out pick up for camps cos they are on Fridays and I have to leave the store and no one but Quinten to cover and he's not Real outgoing. Corbin has ball thru June and Chef Camp thru July. All of this on top of running the store and taking care of the house. I will be stretched thin but I know God will see me through it all. It just makes it hard to keep up with things.

I got notice in the last 2 weeks that both Martha with Quadfarms is pulling her Goat Milk Soap and Sharon with Sharon's Country Blessings is pulling her glass art. They both have different reasons for pulling out but basically they are paying for the space and we haven't done much business over the winter. They both will be doing some of the shows and such this summer. I know Sharon did the Spoon River Drive set up in Cuba last year and Martha does several in Galesburg area. Sharon has all her glassware for 50% this month before pulling it out. People just don't seem to be shopping these days. Restaurants are always full but other businesses don't seem as busy.

We did do our first HUGE party this month. We had 20 painters and about another 10 spectators with them. It was a great time, kids all had fun and hopefully the parents will return with them over the summer. A few did mention coming for camps so that is good.

This month of closing at the store I got molds gone through. Still not ALL of them, but several. Got some organized and found some pretty good ones, we think, that we got poured or ready to pour. It will be a very long time, I'm sure before we get through all our molds. We did find some 20" witch and wizard molds I'm excited about for this fall. Found a mushroom and an apple kitchen set but not a complete set yet so looking for those. WE are also still searching for a large plain mugs as it's highly requested. So far just finding smaller 8oz size ones. We have found several steins or tankards but we do have a couple poured but it's not a real popular item so we are working on pouring one of each to display and will take orders if someone wants one. WE also found several large like 12" and 20" chess pieces but not a whole set still. So those too would be by order. We are hoping to do more camps and classes but would love feed back from our fans and followers on projects of interest to make these better. All ages too.

So after this month off, I am in hopes that I have things a bit better organized for summer. I know I will be planning a Monday or 2 for Freezer meal making. We just picked up half a cow and still have some chicken and a bit of pig left in the freezer so I will be making some meals to make these busy weeks a bit easier. The kids aren't super excited about being at the store all day every day throughout the summer so trying to figure out things they can do to while here. Why not turn it into a camp or class and let others join the fun?? Well, we hope this summer brings many of you in to paint and attend our class and camps. By the way, we have a special program we started to. When you attend 6 camps or classes, you get the 7th camp or class 1/2 off. That means when you sign up for the 4 days of summer camp you get 4 of the 6 done. So be sure to get registered for the camps and classes for the summer. All can be found on our facebook event calendar.

See you all starting back on June 1 with normal hours of Tues- Sat 10-6pm with appointments only on Sun and Monday.