Progress Measured in Nightstands

It's a funny thing at my house, but you can tell how much I have going on by my nightstand. It seems like all the stuff that 'really matters' ends up here. Will is the same way, everything he doesn't want to forget, everything he needs to attend to first thing Monday morning, all the important papers, pile up by the bed. I am very proud of myself because I worked through my pile. I returned the books I borrowed, I finished the sketches I was working on (and then put away my colored pencils), and today I finished the border of a large cross stitch project. All I have on my nightstand now are two-ish projects. I say two-ish because with one I have no idea what I want to do. I don't think it should count against me if I haven't figured out what I'm doing yet.

So all that's left are the charms I need to sew onto my kitchen curtain and the picture you see above (we're not talking about the one I haven't figured out yet). I've decided to sell boxes. This is part of the lid. I think boxes will sell fairly well, I can do a lot with them as far as styles go, and boxes are appreciated across many markets by many audiences. I can make boxes fairly quickly. I have three possible places to sell them. Or I should say I've settled on three places. If I really pushed it, I could probably sell to a dozen or so places. But I wanted to start slow.

Part of the problem is the boys really eat up my time. I hate to plan out every moment of their day, but that's almost what it takes to keep them out of trouble. If left to their own devices they begin to bicker. They may fight or they may get into things they shouldn't or they may just be really gross. Mostly I remind them of rules, settle fights, try to teach appropriate behavior, and scream at them to act like they have some sense.

Besides the boys themselves, the rest of my day involves doing things to take care of them like cooking, laundry, setting appointments, planning various activities for family events, prepping for the next school year, deciding if they should be involved in clubs or sports, and then all the fun stuff you're supposed to do with boys like fishing. I don't do much for myself anymore. Will and I don't get to go out on dates often and when we are alone there's a 90% chance we are discussing the boys.

My goal is to have made at least three boxes before making a sales pitch. This one is barely started and I am already getting enthusiastic feedback. I hope that is a good sign which translate to open wallets when I actually have finished product.

I'm working hard at keeping up with material costs and labor time. I haven't settled on prices yet. I'm also putting a good bit of magick into the works because really, if you have the tools and resources, use them.