it's not hoarding

The last of the Christmas orders were shipped Friday,  the last day of school and the kid's Christmas parties, and Lou's leader day were Friday as well..... which means I can get back to regular things now.  Like sleep and a normal level of sanity and snack preparation. We just have two birthday parties and a few last minute gifts to pick up this weekend to fit in.  I only had to pull a few late nights to get all the orders done on time! Unfortunately I had to turn down about a dozen last minute order wanna-bes.  This was my fourth year on Etsy, and the best so far. 

(snow day... it snowed like 2 inches in a few hours in the morning. Lou and I sledded and built a snowman.  The snow was all gone by the time Bee got home from school.  She missed it all.  It's been so warm this week, we only needed jackets!)

Back to the hoarding issue.  I am not a true hoarder, it's just a running joke with several people that I must be a hoarder.  Whenever someone says, "I need to find a little ___ for a project."  or "Can you pick up ____ at the craft store?"  I usually have some on hand.  Saved from an old project, picked up a garage sale, or sent to be by someone else who knows I collect items.   I'm also often given little sacks of random left over craft items or fabric scraps (because everyday is Christmas) because they know that I will save it and use it at some point.  I say it's not hoarding if you keep it organized and tidy.

Recently, a girl I teach with brought me 15 of these plastic caddies.  She said, I thought you could use these. "Because I'm a hoarder?"  "You'll use them," she said.  I knew that every person in my family would get pretty excited about these boxes.  Bee had claimed the most.  Her polly pocket clothes and accessories are organized in three boxes, her pet shop accessories are in a fourth.  Lou's mighty guys pieces are in a box and another holds random marbles and string.  The best news is that there are 10 more to fill up.