Weekly Mileage #265 and the OH Homeschool Convention

Monday I worked on pockets and such, getting ready for the convention. I was supposed to run in the evening, but it rained all day, so the trails were too muddy.

Tuesday I got up and finished the pockets, then we went to music lessons. After we returned home I worked on the backpack for a bit. That evening we went to karate class and I ran a couple errands on the way home. Picked up a medication refill and got some food for the trip.

That night I finished the backpack, filmed how-to videos for the pocket pal kits, and added straps to the panel trolley to hold them in place. I finished packing up the my bins and hauled them upstairs, then packed clothes and stuff.

Wednesday morning we loaded the car and Sunshine and I headed to Cincinnati. It was a long day of driving, made longer by long stretches of construction that slowed us down. Sunshine got some good driving experience in- mountains, curves, and construction, all at the same time.

At the hotel I had to recharge before getting a little bit of work done, then I went to bed earlier than normal- I was sooo tired.

Thursday I got up and edited the videos for the pocket pal kits, then successfully uploaded them to youtube after some trial and error. Sunshine bagged up the pocket pal kits while I messed with the videos. I tried to add my newer products to my website, but Shopify was having technical issues.

Then we went to the convention center, unloaded, setup, etc. We were a hot and sweaty mess, but we got it done.

Shopify was back up, so I added the pocket pals to my site, but I ran out of battery before I could add the rest of my newer products. I could have plugged into the power bank, but I wasn’t feeling it, and I was pretty busy talking to people. A couple stopped by who had signed their son up for the course when I was there in August- he’d completed it and loved it and they were anxiously waiting for the next course. I explained what had been going on with the delay and they’re excited. I was happy to hear that he’d completed it and liked it as there had been no feedback via email or the class community (which I’ve discontinued because no one was using it).

We sold quite a few pocket pal kits, which is really encouraging.

Back at the hotel, I ran some updates on my computer, so hopefully it won’t run so hot anymore- it was struggling with all the video work I was doing.

Friday we arrived at the convention center just before 9:30 and I worked on product listings in between talking to people. It was slow going between trying to edit photos and upload them on my hotspot that was also running three other devices and didn’t have great signal.

It was a long, exhausting day, but sales went well and there were lots of people to talk to. By the end of the day I was close to my sales point at the SC convention, but only about 2/3 of the way to what I’d like to hit. No course registrations yet, but I could easily hit my goal number with just a couple of registrations. Lots of smaller sales. the pocket pal kits have been super popular and I’d almost sold out of them by Friday evening. I also sold a number of t-shirts (oddly, I only sold a few in SC).

Saturday I sold a course registration first thing. They’d stopped by on Friday and the son was interested, so they decided to go ahead and sign up. It as another busy day, with lots of talking. Which means I talked to lots of people, which is good, but it’s also so exhausting mentally/physically/emotionally.

Other than the course registration, I had a slow start to product sales, but I managed to hit my goal number just with product sales. Add in two course registrations, and I exceeded my sales goal for the convention. I’m expecting more course registrations as people return home and look over their budgets. I’m also finally moving forward with my email marketing, so I anticipate more online sales as well.

At the end of the day we packed up and hauled our crap across the street to the parking garage. We didn’t even bother with the line to get into the loading dock. We were loaded and gone and there was still a line of vehicles trying to get in. I’d ordered our food online mid-afternoon, so we picked up our food and headed back to the hotel for hibernation time. I was glad I brought the bio-mat this time- laying on it each night definitely helped with the recuperative process.

I didn’t sleep particularly well Friday or Saturday nights, but Sunday morning we got up and moving and on the road. We almost got sideswiped/run off the road fairly early on: there was a cop car on the side of the road with his lights on, so I moved to the left lane. As I did so, I was tracking a pickup truck that was merging into the right lane from the on-ramp, but I had the thought that he probably didn’t see me as we were about even. Sure enough, he hit the right lane, then started to continue into the left lane, right where we were. Since I was paying attention, I honked, sped up, and scooted over half onto the shoulder so he wouldn’t hit us. Lots of fun and a great (?) way to get your heart rate up. Sunshine tried to sideswipe someone in a similar manner later on since she didn’t check her mirrors 🤦‍♀️. I saw the van though, and stopped her from moving over any further.

It was about an 8 hour drive and I drove just under 4.5 hours, stopping once to pee, before switching so Sunshine could drive. I haven’t driven that long since before my narcolepsy diagnosis. Maybe this is an indication that the meds are actually making a difference?

While we were driving home, Jeremy and the boys went to church, then picked up my sister from the airport. She’d just completed a Ragnar trail run in Atlanta and rather than fly back to UT, then turn around and fly back east two days later, she came to stay with us for a few days.

Max was not happy with me- she was giving me the side eye and being a bit standoffish- she did not appreciate me leaving without her. never mind that she couldn’t have come, she was still mad at me.

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I hurt my thumb last time we did sparring- by the way it hurts, I’m guessing I tore something. I can’t bend my thumb all the way and if I do bend it too much, it hurts worse. I looked at thumb braces and finger splints, trying to come up with a way to protect and support my thumb, but all the options I found were bulky and/or didn’t keep me from bending my thumb. Then I saw the rolls of KT tape, and I decided to give that a try. wrapping a piece around the length of my thumb supports it, allows me bend it just a little if needed, but keeps me from using it too much, bending it too much, and isn’t bulky. Winning all around. Now I have to see how long it takes to heal- soft tissue damage takes so much longer to heal than a broken bone.