Awkwardly attempting augustness

I consider my desk to be 'clean' when I don't have to take anything off the keyboard or hunt for the mouse. 
And yes, that's a red Swingline stapler in the top right.

August.

What a depressing month.

No, no terrible personal events or tragedies (that I can remember...), I've always just found August to be the least pleasant month of the year. It might have something to do with still associating August with the beginning of school, but I think it has more to do with knowing that the year is way more than half over and winter is closer to starting than it is to being over.

If that makes sense... it does to me.

August also means that my birthday is a month away. At this point in life, birthdays don't mean that much. And now that my driver's license doesn't get renewed until January, I don't even have that to look forward to.

But enough slagging on August.

This month is looking pretty busy already. I did up a to-do list for the month so I had something to torture myself with midway through the month when I have nothing done. 

No, I really did a to-do list so I could get organized now rather than later. I've applied to be in my very first craft sale next month (Sept 11, to be exact) and need product to sell. Right now, I have none, and I don't want to sell what I've got listed in my shop, so I've got to come up with new - and different - product to sell.

My plan at this point is to make:

• pincushions, in a couple of different styles and sizes;
• needlebooks, mainly because I need one and if I need one, other people do too;
• sewing pouches, like the pouches I sell already, but with a few pockets on the inside for scissors or something;
• large sewing totes, which would be like this tote, but, again, with pockets on the inside.

So that's my plan for the craft sale.

I'm also starting to look at doing some graphic design stuff to try to catch some Christmas/holiday-specific sales this fall. I tried doing some things last fall, but didn't get them ready in time and wasn't really happy with the work I had been doing. I had a few different styles of gift tags and cards, and I may keep some of the elements but probably redesign the majority of them.

This is almost the perfect month to get a lot of work done, too... Keith has quite a few days off leading up to the 8 days he's away at a golf tournament, and my mom's already said she'll take Maddy for a night while he's gone.  Maddy's able to play by herself a lot more and doesn't need to be right with me all the time, so I can do a lot of embroidery while she's playing. I'm still going to make time to get outside and relax in the yard before the snow flies, and we're probably going to head out to my parent's next weekend and maybe to Winnipeg this month.

 It's all about using the time we have available appropriately. And I can't work all the time. As much as I try (re: want) to.