I have literally been looking forward to today for WEEKS! The 'Gem and Mineral' show is in town this weekend, so as a confirmed bead-a-holic, I bounced promptly out of bed when my alarm went off this morning (NOT my strong suit), did my AM chores with the kitties, and bustled out to visit the show. I figured getting there right as it opened would be the least crowed time, right? Errr, WRONG, as it turns out . . .
Now for a little background . . . I freely admit, I'm a grumpy old biddy. I love my son, who's 29, but will admit to not 'liking' him much many times during his adolescence, even while I still loved him. I really have minimal affinity for other people's kids. (I firmly believe the disintegration of American society can be traced to when we quit thinking it was OK to beat a little respect and good sense into our kids, lol.) So, anyway, kids - not my favorite thing, especially en masse.
I pulled into the parking lot at the Community Center at the dot of 9am, credit card in hand. WooHoo . . . bead shopping here I come!
I trundled across the parking lot to the entrance . . . only to be brought up short by the sight of 3, yes, THREE school buses pulling into the porte-cochere and disgorging what appeared to be HUNDREDS of middle schoolers. I'll give you three guesses what I said . . . here's a hint . . . it started with an "f" and ended with "me running".
While those masochists known as 'teachers', (there're some people who are candidates for sainthood, in my book!) were getting their little charges organized, I slipped to the front of the line, navigating through all the milling squatty-bodies.
"I'm here for the show" to the attendant at the gate. "Well, you'll have to pay to get in if you're not with the kids", she says. Oh you have NO idea what I'd pay to be here without the kids; however, since they're not going to send them all back to school, I paid only the $4 admission fee and scurried into the exhibit hall, making a beeline for my favorite vendor, Magpie Gemstones.
( www.magpiegemstones.com - the BEST weborder bead merchant, bar none!)
I introduced myself to Kateri, the young lady in charge of the booth, and started in on bead heaven. I got in about 8.5 minutes of uninterrupted bead bliss, before the horde arrived. Kateri was immediately swamped with questions, comments (and since she is a very attractive young lady, LOTS of 'hey look at this' from smitten young middle schoolers).
I finished perusing the pretties at the Turquoise Magpie booth, and paid for my stuff . . . (I counted 11 interruptions from Kateri's adoring public while I checked out, lol.)
I made my way around the exhibit hall, gingerly avoiding the little rats, oops sorry, kids thronging the space. I found one other booth that was mainly beads, which are apparently less attractive to school kids than loose 'rocks' are, and found some nice pearls. By this time the noise level was rising exponentially. I made one more circuit of the hall, unable to get close to the vendors, for the passels of kids stacked everywhere.
The heck with it, I can always try again tomorrow, I guess.
The good news is that I spent far less than I planned, and still came home with some really pretty beads. Maybe that was the 'sign' . . . that I needed to save my bead budget for next weekend's retreat in College Station . . . which I have on good authority will be adult only, thank God!
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