Mt. Dora
Well kids, it's been a while. I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to blog. But I hope your in a reading mood folks, because this is a long one.
So I spent the weekend working an antique show in Mt. Dora, Florida. Never heard of Mt. Dora? That's because it's in the middle of NOWHERE! Said to be 30 minutes from the Orlando Airport, my brilliant Mapquest directions not only took me over an hour, but through the worst ghetto I've ever seen. We're talking Compton here people.
So finally I get to the house we were renting. Cute house. But it's someone else's house, and that sort of thing freaks me out. But since there are pretty much no hotels in Mt. Dora, we weren't left with much choice.
So after picking up the keys for the house, it was time to set up the booth. I drove out to what was a gigantic field full of people setting up crap. Nothing to me looked like good antiques, just people's old junk. So after three laps around the area, I finally find my booth. It was in the middle of a grass field, uncovered and next to a swamp (the people running the fair liked to call it a lake- lake my ass, it was a swamp). So I get to my booth and nothing is there. No tables that were supposed to be delivered and no books. I drove around to the office and finally found my boxes at least. 30 of them, heavy ones. Loaded up the rental car (a Jeep thank God) and drove them over to the booth. I started unloading. Keep in mind it's now about 80+ degrees, humid and extremely sunny. After the boxes were unloaded I called the people we rented the tables from to see when they were being delivered- and guess what...they can't deliver them. So I get directions and drive about 20 minutes to the rental place. They help me throw 5 8-ft. tables into the truck and I'm on my way again cruising down the highway and at fast 45MPH because the tables don't fit in the car and had to hang out of the back.
So after I set up the tables it was off to Wal-Mart to get some things. I needed tablecloths and either a beach umbrella or some sort of a tent to cover us. I was told that beach umbrellas weren't in season. I thought that was strange since I was in Florida, but OK. No tents either. Only the type you sleep in. So I bought some tarps to cover the tables in case it rained. I went back to the booth to set up the tablecloths and realized our booth was covered in ant hills. And these little bastards can bite. I have the marks to prove it. And it wouldn't be one that bit you, it was like 10-20 at a time, in your socks, shoes, outside your pants, on your legs....getting an icky feeling? Trust me actually having it happen was much worse.
So after all that I went back to the house to take a shower and hit the local Publix for some food shopping. Because hey after a day like that, who doesn't want to food shop? So I picked up a few things to have diner ready for our author when she got there. She called and had problems at the airport so now not only did I have to have some sort of dinner ready for her, it was like 10pm at night. I was hungry, tired, homesick and miserable. Finally she got there, we ate and it was time for bed.
Next morning we went to the show and by the end of the day I think we sold 2 books. All I kept thinking about was how screwed I would be if I had to ship all these books back.
Saturday was also slow. But we did have some entertainment. We found a dining canopy at a different Wal-Mart and tried to set it up. Setting up a tent is not easy. First we thought there were no steaks and tried to hammer the poles into the ground. One broke so we taped it. The poles wouldn't stay in the ground and everything kept falling, so we gave up and threw it out.
But by the time Sunday rolled around it got a little better (despite the rainstorms, ant biting in full effect and the swarms of gnats from "the lake"). We sold a decent amount of books which made us feel a little better. But then it was time to pack up the rest of the books and the tables again. Thank God Kim was there to help me this time.
Then it was off to the airport. So sad to have to say goodbye to Kim again. I hate that. But all in all we had a lot of laughs this weekend. How could you not?
So I spent the weekend working an antique show in Mt. Dora, Florida. Never heard of Mt. Dora? That's because it's in the middle of NOWHERE! Said to be 30 minutes from the Orlando Airport, my brilliant Mapquest directions not only took me over an hour, but through the worst ghetto I've ever seen. We're talking Compton here people.
So finally I get to the house we were renting. Cute house. But it's someone else's house, and that sort of thing freaks me out. But since there are pretty much no hotels in Mt. Dora, we weren't left with much choice.
So after picking up the keys for the house, it was time to set up the booth. I drove out to what was a gigantic field full of people setting up crap. Nothing to me looked like good antiques, just people's old junk. So after three laps around the area, I finally find my booth. It was in the middle of a grass field, uncovered and next to a swamp (the people running the fair liked to call it a lake- lake my ass, it was a swamp). So I get to my booth and nothing is there. No tables that were supposed to be delivered and no books. I drove around to the office and finally found my boxes at least. 30 of them, heavy ones. Loaded up the rental car (a Jeep thank God) and drove them over to the booth. I started unloading. Keep in mind it's now about 80+ degrees, humid and extremely sunny. After the boxes were unloaded I called the people we rented the tables from to see when they were being delivered- and guess what...they can't deliver them. So I get directions and drive about 20 minutes to the rental place. They help me throw 5 8-ft. tables into the truck and I'm on my way again cruising down the highway and at fast 45MPH because the tables don't fit in the car and had to hang out of the back.
So after I set up the tables it was off to Wal-Mart to get some things. I needed tablecloths and either a beach umbrella or some sort of a tent to cover us. I was told that beach umbrellas weren't in season. I thought that was strange since I was in Florida, but OK. No tents either. Only the type you sleep in. So I bought some tarps to cover the tables in case it rained. I went back to the booth to set up the tablecloths and realized our booth was covered in ant hills. And these little bastards can bite. I have the marks to prove it. And it wouldn't be one that bit you, it was like 10-20 at a time, in your socks, shoes, outside your pants, on your legs....getting an icky feeling? Trust me actually having it happen was much worse.
So after all that I went back to the house to take a shower and hit the local Publix for some food shopping. Because hey after a day like that, who doesn't want to food shop? So I picked up a few things to have diner ready for our author when she got there. She called and had problems at the airport so now not only did I have to have some sort of dinner ready for her, it was like 10pm at night. I was hungry, tired, homesick and miserable. Finally she got there, we ate and it was time for bed.
Next morning we went to the show and by the end of the day I think we sold 2 books. All I kept thinking about was how screwed I would be if I had to ship all these books back.
Saturday was also slow. But we did have some entertainment. We found a dining canopy at a different Wal-Mart and tried to set it up. Setting up a tent is not easy. First we thought there were no steaks and tried to hammer the poles into the ground. One broke so we taped it. The poles wouldn't stay in the ground and everything kept falling, so we gave up and threw it out.
But by the time Sunday rolled around it got a little better (despite the rainstorms, ant biting in full effect and the swarms of gnats from "the lake"). We sold a decent amount of books which made us feel a little better. But then it was time to pack up the rest of the books and the tables again. Thank God Kim was there to help me this time.
Then it was off to the airport. So sad to have to say goodbye to Kim again. I hate that. But all in all we had a lot of laughs this weekend. How could you not?
posted by JJ at 7:38 PM
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