Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope 2010 is happy, healthy, and prosperous for everyone!  2009 had it's ups and downs for me.  The best thing that happened was when I joined ArtFire.com on February 19th.  When I joined I really had no idea how to sell my work online.  Over the first few months I learned more than I could have imagined.  I'm much more comfortable online now, and have a much better business plan.  I feel like I know what I'm doing (to some extent), and can even offer some advice to other newbies.  I also made many new friends online this year, and they've seen me through the good times and the bad.  They've boosted my confidence in myself and my work, and encouraged me to try new things.  As a result of joining ArtFire and becoming CreativeCritters, I also set up a Flickr account, a MySpace page, a Facebook profile, started my own blog, and joined the Polymer Clay Smooshers guild. A year ago I couldn't have imagined doing all this.  2009 has definitely been a busy year for me!

On the down side, Gramma spent 2 weeks in the hospital this spring, and hasn't been the same since.  She requires much more care now.  Much of my day is spent taking care of her needs, as well as all the basic stuff like cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc.  Of course financial issues always seem to be making their presence  known, this year being harder than last.  One of the reasons I worked so hard to get CreativeCritters established was to bring in that extra money we need so much.  I made quite a few sales this year, and hope to do even better in 2010.  This summer we had the great plumbing disaster and had to have the sewer pipe from the house to the street replaced.  What a mess!  What used to be the back porch is now just a big mud pit, and the side yard is a huge pile of dirt (I'm told it'll settle in 2 or 3 years- lol).  And the worst thing that happened this year was that my Ozzy cat died on December 21st.  That pretty much took away any Christmas spirit we had, and made for some sad holidays.

It's time to look ahead now though.  I got started on my new year this week by beginning to clean and organize EVERYTHING in the house (our stuff, that is).  I've needed to do this for quite some time now.  Part of my incentive, aside from actually being able to find things, is that we'll be getting a kitten or a puppy soon, and I don't want them to get into anything that could hurt them.  Cedric kitty has been helping with the cleaning and organizing.  Ozzy was usually my helper when I did that sort of thing, and I think Cedric feels he needs to help out now.  Part of the reason we're getting another pet is so that Cedric will have a furry friend too.  He really misses Ozzy.  Cedric's never been an only pet, and had a really hard time when my ferret Ziggy died too.  If I could afford it, I'd have quite a few pets.  For now I'll have to be satisfied with 2 or 3 at the most.  So I'd like to start the new year with a clean house, organized craft materials, and a new furry critter to love, (and a bit of money wouldn't hurt either- lol).

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year!

-Michelle of CreativeCritters