Happy Holidays!

I really haven't posted in awhile... wow. Well, a couple weekends ago, the craft fair went alright - I made $35, but I only sold 3 pieces. Of course, one of those were the oops!-too-small slippers I had made for myself, so it was at least nice to get those out of the way. The other things, at least, don't take much more room created than they did uncreated, so I've just got a bag of necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that I can sell at a craft show at the drop of a hat! :)

Kinda got sick of being at home finally. For awhile it was really bad: I could barely get myself to do anything, and I wasn't too pleased with anything I did, either. But now that the nearness of the holidays is setting in, I'm perking up again with things to do that seem worthwhile.

Today has been amazingly productive so far: I finished my laundry, chatted with my sister, edited my sock & undie drawer, vacuumed my room, and - wonder of wonders - donated 4 boxes worth of stuff (mostly clothes, with some books and other random things), to Dibs and Goodwill. (Dibs, for those who aren't local, is the "nicer" resale shop my school and its feeders opened this year to help lower tuition - with great success!) So far, I'd say that's pretty good. And in between accomplishing tasks, I am breaking by working on sections of the mittens I started knitting yesterday. I'm almost done with the first one (probably will finish it by tonight!) and they're looking and fitting great! I had a bit of trouble here and there, but I frogged and re-worked and whatnot and it's capital now. This is my first time making mittens, so I'm pretty pleased that they seem to be turning out so well, and Mom is surprised by how quickly they are going!

The rest of today is decently mapped out. I'm vacuuming the spare bedroom in preparation for Nicole, Joel, Garrett, and Cade staying in it next week, and then there's the bathroom to be cleaned as well. If I don't lose steam, I'll vacuum the stairs too, but I'm starting to think that that'll have to wait 'til tomorrow. We'll see.

These next couple weeks are going to go by real fast, I think. It'll be Christmas week and I'll be spending time with the family, then I'll be going up to Nikki's next week for the first half to celebrate her and her husband getting baptized into their church up there, and also to ring in the New Year. Then I'll be coming back again to spend the next few days packing and loading up my car for another trip across the country! Wowza!

Happenings and Occurrences

It's been an interesting last several days. I've been hard at work preparing for a craft market that I'll be selling my jewelry at on Saturday. Hopefully I actually sell things - I'm a bit nervous, as it's my first time really setting out my wares to hawk them aside from donating them for charity auctions. It's been good to get those creative juices flowing, and equally good to put to use all of those jewelry-making odds and ends that I've been hanging onto for at least half-a-dozen years now.

When not busy beading bracelets and earrings, I've been taking care of things around town, which inevitably leads to other occurrences. Delivering a jar of Outer Banks, NC sand to my middle school science teacher led to mini-presentations to her class and another former teacher's class on working in the parks. Picking up my sandals from the shoe repair led to a pleasant catching-up with an old school friend.

Both of these occurrences naturally led me to wonder (albeit, rather self-servingly) how people from my past see me now, which leads to lots of introspection. I'm sure anyone who "grew up" away from their childhood stomping grounds can relate.

In the meantime, I just finished listening to the first "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" audiobook, and started the audiobook "Around the World in 80 Days" this afternoon. Between all the jewelry-making, my current knitting and sewing projects, there's plenty of time when I can listen to something more mentally progressive than the semi-redundant drone of the radio. I've got more craft market preparations for tomorrow, then I'll be figuring out the pricing and displays on Friday, and Saturday I'll "test my mettle" as it were at the market. Wish me luck!