Welcome to 2018!

As a kid, I used to lay in bed and calculate how old I'd be in the year 2000. It seemed so impossibly far off in the future, I couldn't even imagine! Now that year has long come and gone and I've clicked over to the ripe old age of 60. Oh.My.God. 60! I have to admit I'm sort of in panic mode here. Life is whizzing by!!!! STOP!!! I don't want it to ever end. Am I scared about getting older, aging, possible sickness, all those worries I guess everyone else has? Yes. For sure I am. So I've made a vow this year. Not some stupid resolution that you know you'll abandon in February, but a vow. I'm vowing to live THE BEST LIFE I CAN! Every day, every minute, every second!!! And to do that means I need to live how and where I want to live and that is not where I currently am. Biggest mistake I ever made was moving out of Seattle, but mistakes can be fixed and that's part of my "vow" for 2018!

Aside from my clicking to 60 (gulp), there hasn't been a lot of "landmark" events that have happened in 2017 really. Well our grandma (Granny Hilda) from California just passed away a couple weeks ago and that was huge for us. We loved this woman SO much! She would've been 100 this May 1st. She was truly my hero. A crazy, kooky, free spirit of a woman that I've always loved and admired. She loved everything Western, cowboy, Arabian horse, and country. She raised Arabian horses her whole life and gave me 2 of them. We had adventures together, traveled in her van on road trips, road the rails on a train trip from CA to WA, ate lots of Mexican food, and had just the best of times. On one of our road trips, we took her up to Lake Tahoe, CA to the Ponderosa Ranch where they filmed the old TV western "Bonanza". We tried to hook her up with an older dapper gentlemen who tended the saloon there. Unfortunately he was already married. LOL! Yes, she will be dearly missed...they broke the mold with her that's for sure..

This past year has also brought me a lot of great sales as well as customers in my Etsy shop, By Way of Salem. My sales have increased by like 46% from last year which is fantastic! Surprisingly, I didn't sell as many of my painted snowmen rocks as I normally do, but instead sold a lot of everything else. I think it's cause everyone's sort of getting on board with painting rocks. It's a "thing" now.

My jewelry sales in my other shop, "Salem's Charms" haven't been as great as I'd like, but I do keep selling so I guess that's promising. That's my other goal this year, to really work on that shop and to get better photos of my items as well as create new ones and learn new techniques, and market more. I know it can be successful so that's a plan.

I got another dog this past year which brings us back up to 6 after losing Freckles, my #1 dog and love of my life. This one is named "Dolly". She's a purebred Pit and the sweetest girl EVER! Another rescue I'm afraid. Hubby found her wandering into his GM dealership and she was still wandering around there when he was leaving for the day so he brought her home. She's just the sweetest girl and I'm so happy to have her!

The true goal for my job though is to buy a 2nd home, somewhere where I truly want to get away to! 

Somewhere where there's skiing and snow and four seasons. We're thinking of either Salt Lake City, Utah or thereabouts, or possibly Colorado. And maybe a modular home or A-frame cabin or something. Doesn't need to be huge, just something with a big kitchen and ample room for a craft studio as well as my many critters. Or I'd consider a nice trailer, as in the towable kind possibly to put on a piece of land. Not sure.  And of course must be near skiing! That's a big part of my "vow"; to continue my life doing what I love; skiing.