It's that time of year . . .

It's fall exchange season.

I don't do a lot of exchanges anymore. I don't think I'm that great a finisher, and I worry my stuff is not up to snuff, not next to those gorgeous finishes y'all come up with! But I'm trying to branch out fearlessly. Or at least I'm learning to pay people to finish beautifully for me.

Anyway, I found this tutorial a year ago. I just think it's really neat. Think how cute that would be with some of the new scissors that are out there for Halloween tucked in. When I found it, I couldn't find the little coffins at the craft store (I think it's amazing I have 4 or 5 craft store chains within 50 miles and nary a coffin was to be found when I was looking, but, on a day when I went in for something else, namely today, I found them), so I shelved it in my memory.

And waited.

And today, they had the coffins.

So I'm going to try this.

Probably not this weekend, though. My chore for the week is to go through every box in our garage and sort out what I want to keep. Some of the boxes are our seasonal decorations, but most of them are full of "cleaning debris." You know, that stuff that gets in the way when you have guests coming, so you chunk it in a box, stuff it away, and hope and pray that the pile doesn't fall while the guests are in the house? I have that pile. I also have a box of books I put in the corner when I moved in, and haven't opened since. It's time to open the box. Left-brain does have to move one of his "big-boy" toys, but he knows I need it moved. We are starting a "library" in the theatre box office, since we all read, and so some of the books are going there, but the ones I know we've read, or things they wouldn't like, those are going to Goodwill, along with a bunch of old clothes.

I did sort through two boxes of books last night. Some were pretty easy to decide to let go--I have tried and tried to read, "How the Irish Saved Civilization," but, so help me, I can't do it. I think I kept it so that I wouldn't feel shame at my lack of interest in my Irish roots, but I've had it this long and won't read it, so it went. Others were harder; "Water for Elephants" OK, but I had to ask myself if I liked it enough to ever re-read it, and it, sadly, didn't pass that test. So it's in the to-go box. I feel better. Plus, better to have 1 half-full box of books I am enthusiastic about than 2 fullish boxes of books I might not want.

Keep fingers crossed for me that I can keep my enthusiasm up for this.