So,
all of you who know me-- pretty much know my all time favorite “LSS” (Local
Scrap Store) is none other than “Absolutely Everything” in Topsfield, MA. Even while working at Michaels and every time
I teach a class or buy my SCS secret sister a goodie, I boast about “AE”. Kate, the owner and her hard working crew, really
keep this store fresh, filled with new exciting things for each visit. She offers great customer discounts and
everyone who works there is knowledgeable and eager to assist the customer. It is truly mine and others therapeutic
experience to walk into this store—all negative things drip away with each
impending aisle of creative ideas, fresh merchandise and handfuls of freshly
printed decorative papers. Oooo lah-lah! It is the best place to go if you are
experiencing any temporary lack of creative mojo—I guarantee you will walk out
with a head full of fresh ideas and a bag full of the latest merchandise on the
market! If you take a break to the restroom
it too is decorated with incredible hand painted artwork and wise inspirational
literature and song phrases! There is no
escaping the elevation of excitement here!
So,
for the past few months, Absolutely Everything has had a promotion going that if
you spend $25.00 in the store, you fill out a chance coupon and entered in the
“Marathon Run”. Easily, I had 5-6 of these chances sitting pretty in the
lucky bag and today was the day for the 1 minute (think about this) à1 minuteà to grab
handfuls of items (“No duplicates and no stuffing things in our girlie
underwear bits, no wearing an oversized sleep shirt to serve as a carry-all, no
stretchy head bands where you think a few dies or blingies might hide in your
tresses and definitely no busting the seams of your favorite stretchy work out
pants—hands/arms only!) I took this seriously and had the notion to have my
darling husband roll up the sleeves on my “lucky t-shirt” so I could jam things
under my armpits and my skin would hold it in place-- before I left the house
this afternoon!
There
had to be at least 100 crafters storewide. We were mingling; shopping last
minute chances were ringing up at the register like it was lottery day! The Marathon Bag was bursting with little
scraps of white paper and all of our names were in that bag! We could slice the tension with a paper
trimmer! All of us casually milling
around the store and memorizing where your favorite things were on
display. I had so much fun chatting with
my peers and cracking ‘what if jokes’-- about people getting carried away –the
lack of space to run and grab—oh we were giggling with nervous anticipation and
then all of a sudden, it was time…
Kate,
in a very loud inside voice, announced the rules which some were suggested by
her good friend Mr. Tim Holtz and he’s a toughie when it comes to rules—hence
the no putting goodies in one’s shirt and no substitute runners-regardless if
you have a broken leg! Ha-ha
Kate
reached into the large clear plastic bag…the room was so quiet you could hear a
pack of charms hit the carpeting…no one answered the name. Sigh of relief, again, Kate called out
another name….silence….no answer! If
your not present you cannot win….stated in the original bylaws small print…Then,
Kate pulled and looked at the third chance ticket and said…”Oh she’s here”…(all
the ‘she’s in the room knees got weak) the entire room gasped and leaned foreword…
”Kathleen S-----“!
All
of a sudden, a woman, a few display racks away from my circle of fans move
back. Kathleen drops her purse and runs towards the
other room. We hear she is at the Tim
Holtz section of the store. (We all stood frozen.) Kate was Kathleen’s shadow
calmly counting down the seconds and then, they reappear with Kathleen lugging
a Vagabond die cut machine and armfuls of Tim’s dies as she puts it up on the
counter, one die drops to the floor and she announces; “I’m Done!” We all urged her to continue...she had some second’s
remaining.—“RUN…GO…Kathleen!!!” Kathleen
threw her arms up in the air and she was done!
I
called out to her name to ‘look this way for a picture’….She looked-I clicked
haphazardly but I got it! Applause and
excitement and congratulations were hollered from the sea of crafters in every
gully of the store...”Ahhhh, that was fun!” was announced by a lot of us.
They
tallied up Kathleen’s winnings and Kate said, I think there are more seconds
left over on the time clock—I am going to choose another name…all I heard was a
huge sigh of a deep breaths from everyone standing around me—no way—yes
way…another name!!!
Kate
announces another name…..<silence> (“good for us!” comes from the immediate audience)…Kate
announces another name…<silence>… Kate picks another name from the bag
and very slowly announces Suuuusaaaanne <my pounding heart> Gleeeeasonnnnnn! 10 seconds………..
My
body went into shaking shock mode—and I think I screamed, “THAT’S ME!!!” I dropped my purse, camera and turned
around…running over two aisles of the Spellbinders dies on the wall—my eyes
were blurred out of focus my head felt on fire and I grabbed one die, then
somewhere I said the word “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE” to myself (that slow motion dream
like sensation) I ran back to grab the very large Copic storage bag and with
the other hand grabbed the pack of new Copic markers and I heard. “That’s 10!”
As I turned and ran towards the front of the store counter and crashed my bulky
winnings on top of the counter! I was so-so
shaky happy, nervous, excited tears were welling-up…my new friends had grabbed
my camera and were signaling me to look their way taking MY picture this time! (In
my head, all I am thinking is I forgot to put make-up on today!) I had to calm myself with 100 deep breaths
and my new friends that I had been joking with just moments before were hugging
and congratulating me! It’s that feeling
like your head is at the top of a rocket headed for outer space and your body
is limp from shock! Unreal and so much
fun!
Thank
you Kate @ Absolutely Everything, Topsfield, Ma and thank you to a very generous Kathleen S for sharing
her BIG minute of fame and fortune with me! ---This is going down as one of my
favorite days! J
