IT IS FINISHED

The Bazaar is over. Our team loved the event and wants to do it again. We only had eleven vendors and everyone sold something. The Bazaar was not a massive financial success, but it was an emotional and unity building success. We have only one vendor complaining that the event was a giant waste of time. He lost money and resented being asked to contribute to the total expenses. At the moment he is bad-mouthing the event.

No one promised him anything. He knew and understood that since this was the first time we will learn some things and doubt it will be financial success. All but our one detractor are novices to sales and just thrilled that anyone would want anything they made.

Barb makes absolutely beautiful Afghan’s in the most contemporary colors. She sold two and was walking on air. Our big winner of the day was the baker who made a great variety of loaf breads. She made 24 and sold everyone of them. As usual, I brought too much of everything so lost money even though I made more money than I ever have at one of these events. I do have leads on four people who may possibly want some portraits. If this happens, I will be the big winner and actually make money for the very first time. Three are looking at having portraits done of their grandkids and they each have three. One is a single drawing. Just to get my name out there and begin making a name for myself my special offer was for headshots unmated and unframed for $100. It’s cheap but better than nothing. One of the resident’s daughters came along to help me get on EBay. I have been encouraged to do it before, but a bit nervous. There are parts of the Internet that make me nervous. If she successfully gets me going, I plan to double my prices to $200 for an 8-10 headshot. Prices go up from there. Hope it works before my hand begins to shake so bad I can no longer draw.

We are getting together as a group next week to evaluate the whole bazaar experience, make plans and recommendations. The best idea so far is to try and rent the church that two of us attend. Four times as much space, easier to find, less emotional stress and by opening it to artisans from the church we would have younger bodies to help set things up. It may also help draw people to the church (side benefit and selling point).

Working with management here was exhausting. Neither of the two people making decisions about what we can and cannot do came by to check it out. We learned that they thought our desire to decorate and hang some Christmas lights was a waste of time. They could at least have come by to see how beautiful their ugly room was.

I’m just a bitter old man. It is annoying to have to fight for everything we get. They have no concept that we are customers and not inmates. They are not the least bit interested in helping us enjoy life. They are pulling out their van for the first time in over a year to take us out for a meal next Monday. It has space for two wheelchairs. One of our residents can only be taken places in that van. He is too heavy for any personal vehicles and cannot transfer to a car seat anyway. Big boy! We almost had to send around one of the boys to break some arms to get this concession. They removed the position of activities director so we took over that responsibility but they would not give us any financial assistance because we were not employees. They stopped providing anything they had always done – coffee for coffee breaks, cakes for birthday parties, basic supplies for monthly potlucks, the van for a monthly outing or even to go shopping for groceries. We have only had the van for about a year. It was donated by a community organization and has sat unmoved for a year. Great use of resources! We are loved.

IT's OVER

The inspection has come and gone. Surprisingly, everyone survived. I say surprising because of all the pre-inspection fears. You would have thought the world was coming to an end.

It was a simple inspection. They secured model numbers off the fridge and stove, checked for leaking water, checked that the heaters worked and left. That’s what they normally do.

They have finished all apartments now so everyone is relaxed. For me — I’m in the midst of final preparations for our Bazaar on Nov. 6. Just finished a final note for vendors and am about to prepare a brochure for portraits that I can complete before Christmas. If I can get headshots only, I can do one every two days. I will try to work for every three days. Need a cushion as I tire easily these days.

I have my Christmas cards ready. They are mostly humorous. I have a beautiful one I am working on my personal use, but doubt it will be ready by the Bazaar. It will reflect the meaning of Christmas.

I am tasting samples of the baking being done for the Bazaar. I will definitely gain weight. Love the candy. Very sweet! Reminds me for the candy my wife’s mother made.

Have a great weekend. I don’t think I will be able to post again until Monday.

BUSY BUSY

I am in the midst of preparation for the Bazaar. I have not only my things to get ready, but a few others as well, especially the bakers. The ladies I have are terrific bakers, but struggle with packaging for display. I want their things to show well and not look messy. Because of the limited space, items must be able to stack. That means lids of some sort. I purchased some things for them. They will pay be back out of profits (if there are any).

On top of all my own prep, which is going into overdrive, Management has decided to throw in a thorough inspection this Thursday. They added some things thus year. Usually all they are terribly concerned about is leaking water (they pay for the water), a working smoke detector, items cleared from the heaters and our ability to escape from a window in case of fire. I wish the architect had given thought to that when he placed things where they are. There is very little clear wall space and the apartment is too small to center the furniture – unless the backs of things were put to the middle.

They placed a heater under the window not designed to escape. So we are not supposed to have anything in front of either window. That takes care of more of our wall space. My living room is fine. The TV sits between the windows. The side windows are not a problem because I have the front window to get out. However, it would be a challenge to get out of any windows in my bedroom. When I set it up that way, I reasoned that all I had to do was knock over the bookcase, use it as a step stool and out I go. I think that is still true. Whether they will accept my reasoning in another issue. Also, nothing is to block the electrical panel. My bookcase is 1/4 inch too high. I would have to move the bookcase in my living room to keep that clear. That would be a problem – I can’t think of another place to put the bookcase. I don’t want to spend the money to get another one.

My oldest granddaughter has just begun to come by every other week to clean for me. She did a good job when she was here so I don't have to do as much. But still, when I work, things get spread everywhere. I have been designing Christmas cards. After I get one done I set it out to look at from time to time and then come back and add or change something, I end up going through 4-6 changes before I am satisfied. My sofa is covered, the table beside me is covered, and TV trays are covered. I have one tray set up for my paper cutter. This is when I miss a large table. Of course there is no room for any table in here and I am using the drawing board.

The natives here are always restless. I don't believe there is a way to make someone happy who is determined to be angry. I like the new maintenance man. He is tough and will take no guff. He was working on repairing the entrance from the garage to the main building. The walls along the way are seriously banged up. He is installing vinyl to protect the walls. In the process he mentioned that he was going to return all the carts people have dragged here from various area grocers. That's a great idea but it will greatly deplete our cart supply. I believe there are only four here that the housing authority has purchased and two of them had loose baskets on top and the baskets have been stolen. Go figure.

One of our regular complainers let him have it for even suggesting he would get rid of the stolen carts. "What will we do?" He blasted right back — We are not keeping stolen goods here even if someone with memory problems brought them here. Get used to it. I loved it. Our guy is a hard worker and not just maintaining things, but also actually improving this place. I love it. We now have cool automatic doors at the front. Insert a key and both doors open. It's great when your arms are full.

I look forward to whats next. I know he’s working on new carpeting for the public areas. What we have in most places is 16-17 years old. It shows it just like the rest of us.