Yes! ME!!!! Sunday edition, June 14th. Article should be linked from the newspaper website at: http://www.newsleader.com/
Not sure if it will be a link from the homepage, but it should be.
Ok, so WHY am I going to be in the paper?? Well, the News Leader has a column called "CheepSkates" and on the website, there is a blog that goes along with the column. I have offered some tips, hints, advice on the blog, and the author emailed to see if I was interested in being interviewed for an upcoming article. Well, I wasn't sure until hubby dear came home and told me that he already bragged on me at his office, so there really was no choice for me.
The interview was done over the phone on the 26th - author is supposed to be anonymous, hence the phone interview instead of face-to-face (I know who it is, but promised not to tell...caller ID is a wonderful thing...lol). We spoke for about an hour or so about how I cut my groceries in half (from $1000 a month to roughly $500 a month!), and other ways we save money (one of the big ones is sewing clothing, but I also cut the guys' hair, make meal plans, we've started a garden....etc.). While we were talking about the sewing, I happened to mention my business (hey, it's free promotion as far as I'm concerned) and she was really interested in it and asked what sort of things I make. Well, OF COURSE I told her, starting with the SNuggleBags and working right through the jewelry and bath products, giving her my Etsy site and mentioning the local craft fairs that I am at. It was a fun, sometimes hysterical (try being serious when a 35lb child is tugging a 117lb lab around because he wants his toy but doesn't want to hurt her!), and may even be the start of a cool friendship. At the end of the interview, she asked if I would be available the next day for a photo shoot....um....sure....I guess....
Now, the reason for my hesitation is because I really don't like having my picture taken, despite the yearly family themed pictures and such. But hey, if it helps get my name/face/business out there, then I'll do it. So the next day I was hoping for an email saying if I was to go to the office or if the photographer was coming to the house....no email, until FINALLY, she sent one saying that she had to go into her children's school and would call me when she got back, sometime around 11am (photo shoot was scheduled for 130pm). No problem! On the off chance that they would be coming to the house, I became a cleaning whirlwind....living room free of papers? CHECK, kitchen cabinets and counter scrubbed down?? CHECK.....kids' socks and miscellaneous clothing bits tossed into their rooms?? CHECK!!! Then she calls and says she hasn't heard back from the photographer, so she was going to leave it up to me as to where the pictures were done....um....lol...STUDIO!!!! We chuckled over my response (hey, even if it was clean for me, I was afraid that "something" might have gotten missed), and then she told me what she had in mind for pictures and what she thought I should bring.
4 bags later, and I'm on the road. I took: Elizabethan court gown, DDs Civil War costume, DDs dressy coat, dress and pinafore, DSs 2 favorite shirts that i made for him (Asian print and Star Wars), the very first shirt I made for DH - yes, it's still holding up nicely, 2 blouses for myself and one of my skirts....PLUS....one of the bath gift sets, 2 padded bags, a reusable tote bag, some fabric, patterns, shears, pins, a pin cushion that I made, oh, and of course, I wore some of the jewelry that I've made. I think I covered all the bases, what do you think?? LOL It was pretty funny trying ot get everything organized and choosing my favorites from all the things that I've made...every bedroom was almost torn apart and my workroom was a disaster area, but I got everything together and made it to the studio 30 minutes early.
The only problem was that the photographer got there and really didn't know what the shoot was for - he hadn't checked his email or phone messages and had been gone the previous few days....ARGH!! SO I explained what it was for and what the article was about, and off we went. Suprisingly, it was fun and I was fairly relaxed - in fact the only complaint he seemed to have was that I wasn't smiling enough...which is fairly typical in photos of me. He took some candids while I was setting up the fabric and various little bits, and I was so into it that I didn't even notice until the flash had gone off a couple of times.
So........get the word out.....read all about my oddball lifestyle at: http://www.newsleader.com/ on or after 6/14/2009!!!
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