Idyll Hands

This evening I have allowed myself to take a break from the knitting and candy/cookie making marathon that today turned out to be. By marathon I mean that I spent all day doing those things and still didn't finish. Aren't marathons supposed to end with finished products? I know I'll finish the brother and nephew gifts before Christmas, but they still hang over me, mocking my every move, taunting me with their words "I'm sitting here... unfinished... you can't wrap me and put me under the tree unfinished...".

I'm still enjoying my break, even if the unfinished projects loom over me. One of my brothers made it into town from Minneapolis in time for dinner this evening, so my sweet boy and I went out to the catfish place to eat with my mom and brother. I had plans to come home and do some more Christmas prep in the kitchen, but I didn't. I curled up on the bed with my cat for a while, checked out the Etsy forums, took a LONG and very HOT bath, checked the Etsy forums again, and realized that I have a lot of Etsy work to do once the new year gets here.

My Etsy goals for the new year:
Streamline my pictures - make them look alike and get rid of the bad ones
Get new earrings in my shop (similar to the style at left)
Add a couple of wrist warmers and neck warmers to my shop
Post something new every three days (that won't be too hard to follow... will it?)

That is all I'm going to commit to at this point. No need to set goals that I'm not going to follow. The new year will also bring thoughts of my spring gardening, so I need to make sure and leave time for that.

I'll leave you all with something gorgeous. The UPS man came to my house today with a package from Kerrville, TX - home of James Avery Jewelry (started in 1954 by James Avery and while it's quite the operation now, I think it's still handmade stuff). These amazing earrings were a Christmas present from my best friend. I can't wait to wear them and I can't wait to make some ear wires similar to the ones on these.