Miscellaneous

So here’s a little update on life in general.

I’ve been doing moderately well with my Etsy shop. I try to add something new about every 2 weeks, and I probably sell something about twice a month. That means right now I make enough to buy new supplies and a few much-needed McDonald’s play area outings. (Sitting with a good book for an hour or two or even three while the kids run wild, without the mess and stress of being at home – it’s amazing.) I’d definitely like to do a little more business, but I realize it mostly means updating the images I use for my items. Since I have no photography skills and not enough revenue to hire a legit professional photographer, I’ve been using a black-and-white drawing of frames that I can insert any new item into. It works okay, but when you look at the whole collection of items in the shop, it’s too busy and confusing – and it makes it hard to really see what the products are I’m trying to sell. Anyone have bright ideas on how to fix this? Want to trade paper goods for photography services? Unfortunately, I’m well aware that my work is far too amateur to be worth much of a trade.

June has entered the terrible not-quite-threes. Evan did the same thing; for most of his two-year-old year he was sweet and obedient and wonderful, but then everything turned upside down. June is grumpy and grouchy and really, really hard to deal with. She screamed/sobbed/wailed for 40 minutes straight the other morning because I told her she needed to put pants on before going outside. And last week she threw a 30-minute tantrum because she couldn’t find the underwear she wanted. It’s exhausting – for me! June never seems to be as drained as I think she should be after a tantrum. I wish she were still as loving and sweet and happy as she used to be. These days I expect at least one meltdown, probably more, before Jarom gets home from work. I know it’s a stage and eventually she’ll move past it, but it sure makes life harder for all of us.

Evan loves preschool. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the afternoon, and he’s supposed to bring a snack. One day I was stressing about getting everything and everyone ready to go, so when Evan came and asked me what his snack was going to be, I told him it was a surprise. (When I’m stressed, I hate answering questions; I tried giving an answer that would be the most effective in preventing any more questions just then.) Now Evan tells me he wants a surprise snack every time! He’ll run out of the kitchen covering his eyes if I say I’m getting his snack ready. And when he gets home from school, he’s always excited to tell me what his snack was. Recent favorite: butterscotch pudding. He was crazy about it. Right now their class is putting together “All About Me” books that they’ll bring home, all finished, next week – I’ll scan his to show you. Apparently for his family picture he drew himself as a zombie. No surprise there, honestly.

I’ve been a little on edge for a week or so. I don’t want to read, or cook, or paint, or even waste time playing games – I just feel slightly irritated about everything. I still manage to get things done, mostly because I’ve learned to embrace my moments of “I’m ready to get things done” feeling. I definitely don’t feel depressed or mopey, just . . . irritated and a little bored. I like food, but when I think about cooking, every dish I can come up with sounds roughly the same. And for some reason, right now I don’t want hot food. Weird.

What have you been up to lately?