Where does the time go? I blame it on the time change. Now that it’s dark when I get home from work, it makes the hours in the day seem less and less.

I have so much I want to get done before Christmas, as I’m sure many people do. And I’m constantly discovering new things I want to try or do or make.

For instance: when I was at Michael’s yesterday picking up my stamping goodies, I also popped into the scrapbooking aisle. We finally got back all our wedding photos, and I was thinking I really ought to put them into a nice scrapbook. I had good intentions of making a beautiful scrapbook with lots of journaling and embellishments and pretty papers… but ya know what? I’ll never get it done. I have a backlog of photos from four years ago that are still waiting to be scrapbooked. I’m ready to admit defeat, scrapbooking is just too time-consuming and I’m just not willing to devote the time and money it takes to make nice albums.

… But then I thought, maybe I should try digital scrapbooking. It almost feels like cheating, but at the same time, I’m betting I could get a lot more done if I didn’t have to actually get the photos printed and then go find all those stickers and papers and doo-dads. Thus began my search for scrapbooking software for the Mac — pickin’s are slim, my friends. I decided I’m going to try downloading the trial version of iScrapbook to see how that works. I realize I could do it all in Photoshop/InDesign but I’m going for simplicity here. I like the idea of just editing my photos and then being able to drag and drop them into pretty little layouts with frames and pictures and spots for journaling. Yup. Laziness wins out.

Then I got a bug up my butt today over my craft studio. I really haven’t been spending much time in there at all, except to wind a hank of yarn every now and then. My desk is covered in… well who knows what. Half-done projects, paperwork that needs filing, etc. And then there’s the whole issue of the “cat stuff”. When Gidget arrived at our house, we had problems with Gracie (our dog) trying to eat her food and (*cringe*) scavenge in her litter box. (WTF is up with dogs doing that!?) To solve the problem, all the cat stuff (food, litterbox) wound up in the craft room. That’s fine, but to make room for the cat necessities, all my things had to shift (in a hurry) so it’s just a mess. Nothing is in its place. Things are piled on top of eachother. It’s making me crazy. Like most cluttery messes, I can tolerate it for so long, and then I go ape-shit and turn into a clutter-busting tornado. So, that’s #1 on my agenda tonight. I even made a little sketch of how I want to rearrange the furniture and whatnot. Because I’m a dork like that. I also have the idea in my head that I want to go to Home Depot and buy some shelving. Then get pretty baskets for the shelving, and fill the pretty baskets with pretty yarn… oh yes. *drool*

Anyway.

So then, on top of that, I mentioned to Nick my idea about making Christmas cards (stamping/coloring) and he thought it was a great idea. Nick rarely shows any interest in my crafty endeavors, so when he actually is enthusiastic about something, I feel I have to do it then. So another trip to Michael’s is in store for me (tonight probably) to find some cute Christmas stamps for cards.

Oh but wait, there’s more! There’s also the three pairs of socks I’m knitting for Christmas gifts. And the hats/scarves I thought I was going to make (but may abandon hope on) for other gifts.

And it’s my own fault, ya know? None of these things (well, except perhaps for tidying up the studio) are necessities. I decide to take it all on because it’s things I want to do. But I feel like I can’t not do them! I would be sad to not have handmade gifts to give to people, for instance.

It’s scary sometimes because in times like this, I can plainly see how much like my mother I am. She’s always taking on these incredible projects as gifts for people (quilts in particular). She works on them to the point of exhaustion, but never complains because she wants to do it. I always kind of wondered why she was so crazy, working so hard when it wasn’t necessary. Now I understand. You do it because you love it, and because you love the people you make these things for.