Ok, you wanna know why it took me a million years to get this post out?

It’s because when I first wrote it and read it over, I realized how incredibly defensive and negative I sounded. Which is really not who I am or the traits I want to convey.

Well, let’s correct that – I AM defensive.  I AM negative.  Two of a million character flaws I have and I own each and every one of them. Which means because I am aware of these less than desirable characteristics, I need to consistently take charge of them and diffuse those moments, whether it’s a conversation with another human being, an inner conversation with myself, or a blog post to y’all.

I’m going to again refer back to my So Get This interview with Lisa Berry from a few weeks back.  She and I were talking about treating ourselves better and that it’s extremely important to give ourselves time to hone the skills needed to do that.  She gives herself a year to make something a habit.  Baby steps.

And that makes total sense.  When we take on so much and try to change so many things at once, it’s overwhelming and we set ourselves up for failure.  We need to be realistic, listen to ourselves, and know that all things worth doing take time, dedication and practice.

I’ve made a conscious decision to change my internal dialogue from negative, even abusive at times, to positive, supportive, and compassionate.  Through internalizing these habits, I will be able to be consistent with my external voices as well.  It’s a rocky road that I stumble through daily.  My foot goes in my mouth so much I’m surprised I don’t have sock lint stuck in my teeth.

Getting back on the horse after I’ve had a setback is HARD.  But I’ve made a promise to myself to do it.  And this post is hopefully a demonstration of my commitment to try to stay on track.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still gonna post Shit People Say to Me in the Vendors Room – but my tone, hopefully, will be noticeably less acidic.

So without further ado, here’s SPSTMITVR Vol IV:

I need to tell you how excited I was to have Phoenix at my side in…Phoenix! It was so nice to spend time together!

Episode I

There was a group of four people standing in front of my table for quite a while talking amongst themselves.

They then started putting dozens of lanyards stamped with anti-possession symbols on themselves.

This continued for a bit until someone passed by and told them how ‘cool’ their lanyards were.

One of the four said, “Thanks!  Only $10 each!”

All righty then.

In a surprisingly calm manner, I said, “You cannot do that here.  We paid a LOT of money as legitimate businesses to sell here.  AND you’re going to do that IN FRONT OF MY TABLE??” Yes, I know the use of all caps suggests I was being loud.  The keywords here are ‘surprisingly calm’.  For me, this IS surprisingly calm!

As they walked away I pointed them out to a Creation staff member who caught up to them to talk to them and ensure they wouldn’t do that anywhere else in the convention.

Here comes the compassionate voice: Maybe they didn’t know better.  They were young.  I didn’t see them again the rest of the weekend, so they obviously respected the rules.  Or decided to sell them out of their hotel rooms, who the hell knows.

See??? I did it!!  You should’ve SEEN the rant I was originally going to post here!

Episode II

Phoenix and I were talking about something, no idea what we were talking about at the time, but we were clearly having a conversation.

A vendor I didn’t know approached us and interrupted our conversation to say one of their products was selling really well that had the Mark of Cain on it. That they are making SO much money on that design alone.

I didn’t know this person, I never vended with them before,  and they had no qualms about coming over to brag while I was clearly in the middle of a conversation with my son.

My 11 year-old son looked up at this person and said, “The Mark of Cain? Isn’t that copyright infringement??”

 

Annnnnd the mic drops…

Again – you would’ve read a VERY different post if I posted this yesterday…I’m being really good now, right???

The next story makes me the proudest mama on the planet.

 

Episode III

It was dead in the vendors room because there was a panel going on. When that happens, we vendors tend to walk around the room, shop(!), and talk to our friends (the vendor community – House of Darkly, The Hunters Den, Supernatural Specialties, ConQuest Journals, Charmed Events, Passion Earth Collections (whom I miss DEARLY!!!) – they’re my convention family!)

As I was perusing a table on the other side of the room, I hear a commotion up near the front of the room.  I look up.

Phoenix is in the middle of the commotion, with his arm stretched up holding something in his hand.

I walk back over to the table and he comes over and tells me he found some money and was trying to find the owner.  He reported the finding to the AIR table and the vendors in the surrounding area where he found it.

He showed me what he found.

A $100 dollar bill.

We put it away and hoped that the owner could be found.

Later that day, Trish from AIR came by and told us that they were able to locate the owners – it was a mother and daughter.  It was their first convention and they were devastated that they had lost the money.

We were so happy that Phoenix was able to help them out and return their money to them!  They were also incredibly grateful and asked me if there was anything they could do for him.  I said, “Nope!  Being able to help you was all he needed.”

Trish from AIR came by a little while later and awarded Phoenix with his very own squirrel! Thank you, Trish!!

Random Barbs

Some random comments people made in passing:

“No…nothing here popping out to me” The Jodi of yesterday would’ve said something like, “I can fix that!” The Jodi of today? Well, I STILL feel like posting that.  But I won’t.  Well, I technically just did, but you get the gist…

“Do you really just do this? You don’t work?” I thought having a legitimate business  where I work anywhere from 84 – 112 hours a week WAS working? Hmm….

But – as always – the positive things FAR outweigh the handful of negative things.

Favorite Moments from PhoenixCon

Willow Emerald bought her wedding jewelry from me – she will be wearing “The Bond of Team Free Will” as she walks down the aisle!

My PhoenixCon-test winner Lisa Parks was able to enjoy a free general admission pass for the weekend and had a blast!

Had a FANTASTIC time with Anne aka House of Darkly as we ate dinner in a restaurant with an actual mechanical bull, three foot high towers of cotton candy, and we roasted our own smores in their fire pit.

Most of all – I had a much-needed mother/son weekend with Phoenix and we had a blast.  Made me even prouder of him than I thought possible!

Love to all of you that I met in PhoenixCon and to all I am going to meet in PittsCon!

Speaking of PittsCon – this is the final week to receive entries for a chance to win a free general admission pass to PittsCon!!

In order to enter, just make a qualifying purchase in my shop between 6/3 and 6/26!

Read the details on my facebook page and good luck, y’all!

Jodi