Bead&Button Preparation Season

My husband Jim is an avid archer. He loves hunting deer and elk with his bow and arrow and gets so excited for bow hunting season, that he created Hunting Preparation Season at the Schweder household. This means that since the real buck deal opens mid-September, he spends basically all of August and the first half of the following month getting all his gear down from the garage attic, sorting through and reorganizing it, culling out any worn or unnecessary items (hunting is an evolutionary sport you know--what worked last year, may not jive with 2010's strategy), etc., etc. (What all this boils down to for me is that I can't schedule any family or friend gatherings or unnecessary doings while he's in this . . . fervor.)

It used to drive me crazy, but I'm in the same boat now getting ready for the Bead&Button Show. I've been notifying attendees, ordering elements for and assembling class kits, creating a movable display (I'm teaching in four different classrooms this year, so I need to be mobile) for teaching and the Meet the Teachers event, planning my book signing attraction (should I invent a Make-n-Take again this year?), and manifesting a new steel wire demo at the Create Your Style with Swarovski Elements booth. I'm  even scheduling and gearing up for a Guinea Pig class at my home studio since this is the first time I've taught a three-day workshop on resin jewelry techniques.

Of course if that's not enough, I need to be involved in set-up of our Loose Bead Society package check, help in the organization of the Go Global: A Global Bead Society Exchange, and assist with a little soiree Debbi Simon and I are hosting for our fellow CYS-Swarovski Ambassadors.

(If I told you now that my god-daughter's high school graduation is the Thursday night of Show week, would you call your therapist to schedule an appointment for me pronto?)

Jim asked me the other night (at my now-twelve-year-old's birthday dinner), "Are you alright? Are you mad at me?" And, after I snapped back to the conversation at hand with a startled, "Huh?," I replied, "Yes dear (get it? deer?), I'm just in Bead&Button Preparation Season!"

And I wouldn't miss all the B&B fervor for the world--come join me!