Live from Chi Town!

Hey peeps!

I am here sitting in the lobby of our hotel picking up some free WiFi so I can check in with my favorite blog readers. We made it to Chicago in 7 hours yesterday, and that was with 3 stops! I hardly even sped.

The hotel we are staying in is fabulous, except they booked us in a room with only one bed. They tried to blame it on CHA, but CHA knew it was their fault. The bad news is there are no rooms they are able to move us to. We are at the top of the list in case there are any cancellations during our stay. Ann and I plan on switching each night who gets the bed and who gets the hide-a-bed, which is horrible. Ann slept on it last night and nary got an ounce of sleep. Tonight's my night, so wish me luck. I definitely need my beauty sleep (I need all I can get, trust me) and I need sleep so I have enough energy to work the floor tomorrow at CHA!

Speaking of CHA, I took the hotel shuttle over to the convention center this morning to get my press credentials. Wow, is that place huge! There were people scurrying all over getting their displays ready for opening tomorrow. Today is primarily Education Day. That means they have technique classes that CHA members can sign up for and participate in. As a press member, I was allowed to stand in the BACK of the room where the class was taking place and observe what was happening. The highlight for me today was sitting in on a class being taught by NONE OTHER than Tim Holtz, master extraordinaire for the Ranger Ink product line! Tim is the Designer and Senior Educator for Ranger Industries. I got to the class after it was well underway, so I didn't get a chance to see what exactly they were making, but it entailed using his new Distressing Powers and Crackle Paints.

I haven't spotted any famous bloggers around town yet! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for them though. There are quite a few coming. On Saturday night we are having dinner with a bunch of bloggers and Craft Critique reporters. Guess who one of the guests will be at dinner that night? Taylor Van Bruggen from Taylored Expressions!! I am so excited to meet her. We've emailed each other a few times for swaps and the such and she is such a sweet girl! I promise to take pictures with the "celebrities" so you can see who I'm hobnobbing with here! Just kidding. They put on their underwear everyday same as I do! LOL.

Well, I'm signing off for now. Be sure and stop back tomorrow afternoon for my first real "report" about the show! I'm so excited!!!!

Hugs,
Amy

p.s. Everything with Muriel is the same. She is still sedated and receiving kidney dialysis every other day. I think they've discontinued all her antibiotics except one, the biggie. She was scheduled to go into surgery tomorrow to have her wound closed by a plastic surgeon (remember, when they went into the heart wound to clean the staph infection out, they kept it open in order for it to heal). Unfortunately, she developed a fever Tuesday (102), so surgery was cancelled. I am looking at the fever as a positive thing, because doesn't fever mean your body is fighting against an infection? The drs. have been very baffled she has NOT had a fever through this whole ordeal, which makes the infection harder to heal. So, I am hoping this is a good sign that her body is starting to fight. I totally feel better she won't be having surgery while I'm gone!