I had planned a day to work on formatting a book and time in my feather studio.

I was happily getting lots of work done on the Structured Water book I am helping get revised for reprinting on CreateSpace, and just about to take a Brunch break.

Then the phone rang  just after noon.

It was a guest artists who was showing in Commonwheel’s Pots By The Pound Sale Gallery event.

He asked me how I was, and I said “Good, thanks.”

He replied “Well, you won’t be so good when I tell you this.”

I had visions of large broken pots, as that had happened at a past event . . .

He continued by saying “The Gallery isn’t open. I called about 5 people trying to find a member’s phone number, and someone had yours.”

Why there was no longer an “Emergency Phone Number” sign in our window, I have no clue. There was by the time I left the Gallery.

This was a Saturday of one or our biggest sales, and I later found out all the invited guest artists had been contacted to bring in items to restock today.

I didn’t hesitate or think about what I had planned on getting done today. I told him I would be there as quick as humanly possible.

I changed out of my clothes that were more suitable for being in my feather studio than looking like a professional artist behind the desk in a Gallery.

Grabbed a energy bar and something to drink and flew out the door.

I made it there in record time – and yes, I walked, hiked, or kinda dashed to the Gallery, about 6 long blocks away.

I had the Gallery open by 12:30, and since it was a lovely day, I left the door propped open so people could see we were OPEN!

I really didn’t have time to check in properly, people followed our guest artist in and I made sure they all understood how the sale worked.

And people quickly brought items up to the sales desk to purchase them.

Soon I was kinda swamped and a bit overwhelmed.

Mind you, one must weigh the pottery to find out its price, and that takes a bit of time. Then when it is sold, it must be properly wrapped and packaged for the customer to carry out of the store and get home without the chance of it breaking.

And this sale entices people to buy multiple items, as they are getting great bargains on beautiful pottery and other art work that is marked way lower than normal.

A very new member showed up and immediately offered to help me by wrapping the pottery. What a lifesaver she was.

And there was an unusual situation when using the new Square Credit Card “machine” that took me a bit of time to remedy. Never had seen this challenge before, and took some tries to get out of the situation.

Because I was smiling and laughing and let everyone know this was a new challenge, but I would resolve it, all the people in line just relaxed and encouraged me to not worry about them. And someone noticed another person had many of the food items. That customer said yes, I love the Women’s Project food items and they are marked at half price, so I am stocking up! Two other customers then went back while waiting and picked up some of those food items.

Sometimes glitches can be very profitable.

I got the Square back on track, and my helper had taken advantage of my slowness to weigh other customer’s pottery, so the line then moved along very quickly as I tallied up the sales, and she continued to pack them up.

And everyone was thrilled with their purchases and the bargains they got that day.

It always helps to keep people informed and let them know you appreciate their patience when dealing with a challenging situation.

A simple thank, and acknowledging that you appreciate someone’s positive attitude can be magical in shifting people’s moods and creating understanding.

I had called the second shift worker to be sure she would show up. And she hurried through her errands to arrive a bit early and relieve the other member and helped me until her shift time arrived.

Things quieted down as her shift time arrived, so I did leave her alone.

When I got home had a small lunch sitting in the SUN on my porch considering how to finish my day.

Instead of putting just one hour into my book project, decided to go into my feather studio an hour before my scheduled time, knowing I still had to write my blog posts later.

I have had a sudden series of mask orders, so that made the most sense to me, for how to spend my time in a longer block focused on one thing, rather than begin a short time on the computer, then have to stop and get into my studio. I was afraid the computer project could delay me from my studio time, so up the stairs I went.

And Carnivale is Coming to Manitou Springs in the not too distant future. Another good reason to get myself into my FantaFaces studio for longer periods of time right now!