10 Degrees and Getting Colder

Can we just take a moment to note what a disaster this week was when it came to getting actual work done. Seriously - so awful. There. I feel better just having said it.

It wouldn't have been so frustrating except last week was the first week in a while where I felt like I gained some traction with work projects and life in general. But no sooner was I all like, "Finally, I've got my groove back" before the groove was gone. Then again, I'm starting to wonder if "my groove" is kind of like my sense of rhythm: nonexistent. 

Andy was home a good portion of the week, although the majority of his waking hours were either spent in a deer stand or scouting deer on foot. It's been all for naught so far, which feels a little strange considering how quickly last year's deer season was buttoned up. There's still another week left in the season and plenty of deer in the woods.

It's been a cold, snowy week. Running is officially hit or miss. I'm not sure I like it.
  
Despite getting next to nothing done this week, my Etsy shop took off like a rocket this past week. Sales galore, custom orders, oh my.  I thought I was ready for the holiday rush, but apparently not, especially since I was somehow sweet-talked into knitting five pairs of birdesmaid mittens for a wedding the second weekend of December. If you need me between now and the end of the month, I hope you don't mind my knitting needles tagging alone. Cripes.

Despite a little Etsy holiday stress, I'm feeling rather festive, which probably has to do with the fact that I spent yesterday afternoon perusing the local shops for gift ideas for the annual gift guide I compile. I have so many gift ideas swirling through my head at the moment and am inspired to do the vast majority of my holiday shopping locally this year. (Says the girl who says that every year and then ends up buying the majority of her presents from Amazon.)

I'm also thinking about doing all of my Christmas shopping with cash, to give local merchants a break on credit card fees and keep the pesky holiday credit card bill at bay. In other news, I'm completely debt-free at the moment. I finished off my student loans last week and vanquished my credit card bill this morning. Although I've never carried a balance on my credit card, it's rather exciting to have the total amount I owe anyone at the moment be $0.00.

I spent yesterday morning volunteering at our community Empty Bowls event, which raises funds for the local food shelf. (That's the bowl I took home, up above. If I'd photographed it in better light, you'd see what a beautiful sapphire blue it is.)  My summer schedule prevents me from getting involved with pretty much anything in the greater community, so it felt so nice to be able to give some time to a good cause, meet some new people, and reconnect with a lot of familiar faces. I contributed some treats to the bake sale component of the event and as I was cutting up my batch of Scotcharoos, it struck me that I may hem and haw about not getting any "work" done, but that those bars will probably do more good in the community than anything I would have produced at my computer. Consequently, I'm coming to believe that you can learn everything you need to know to get through life in a church basement (I'm not even talking about Sunday School here), but that's another post for another day. 

Today is Andy's birthday and I am not baking him a cake. After five years of trying to foist my family's tradition of birthday sweets on the poor man, I'm starting to realize he doesn't really give a fig if he gets a birthday cake, or pie. Perhaps a pan of cinnamon rolls are in the works, but we'll just see how this day goes, shall we.