The Most Unlucky Entrepreneurs

I check Martha's blog pretty much everyday, (everyone else's too) and love to read about what she's doing. This morning, however, I was tickled to death. Let me explain...

When my sister and I were little, we were always scheming to find ways to make money.

We would put on plays and force the other children in the neighborhood to partipate. Most of these plays were musicals. I would do the choreography, normally to a ridiculous Beach Boy tune and we would go door to door selling tickets at 10 cents a piece. Not suprising, no one wanted one.

We tried to make a scientific "bee book" where we collected literally over a hundred bees, pulled their stingers out, and stored them in jars. One day when we went to the garage to start putting them in a book, they were all gone! My Mom had thrown away two months worth of research because, "it smelled so bad". I guess it never occurred to us to store the bees in a cold place.

Then there was the band we put together called MCM with our friend Michelle. I was the lead, Michelle was on keyboard, and my sister was the drummer. Now, this band was pretty awsome, but bare bones. I had no microphone, Michelle's keyboard was a kid's toy, and my sister's drum was actually a tire. No one wanted tickets to these shows either.

Then there was our home brew perfume. We'd go searching through the woods and people's gardens for flowers to make perfume out of. Then we'd smash the petals in a bowl, mix it with water and let it age in plastic bottles. For research purposes, we convinced one of our friends to try it out before selling door to door. Unfortunately, her neck turned yellow and she smelled like rot for a day.

The best of the best was the idea Martha and her friends stole from us. Dog Hair Yarn. That's right, we were making dog hair sweaters back in the day, 1987. On her most current post, Martha talks about making dog hair yarn out of her chow Paw Paw's fur. Our neighbor Chris, had a huge chow dog. Candice and I would run over every day and collect the disgusting fur that the dog had shed. Then we'd put it in zip lock bags and try to spin yarn. Everyone made fun of us but look who's doing it now! Yes, their process is a bit more sophisticated, but nevertheless, we take credit for the original idea. I really should be a part of Martha Omnimedia!

Kids used to be a lot more scrappy.