Reality Sets In

Well it's a very good thing we celebrated before the package came for D#2 from Hopkins. I am in shock, sticker shock. We're expected to fork over something like 1/3 of take-home pay for college. Seriously. DH will call the financial aid office (again, they apparently started their winter break early, as in when the letters went out!) and I've been selling off my jewelry on eBay. I used to collect vintage costume jewelry, especially if it needed a repair that I could do easily (restring, set a rhinestone). I've hauled out my repair stuff to make sure everything looks good, and on a lark I listed some of the jewelry I made. And sold them! Along with the costume jewelry, which is selling pretty well for a down kind of year.
So I've opened a shop on Etsy to sell the jewelry I make. You can take a peek here. Up top is a pair of watermelon tourmaline earrings in sterling I made a while back that's in the shop. If you visit and decide to buy something, mention that you are a blog visitor, I'll give you free shipping in the US and discounted shipping elsewhere (cost of shipping elsewhere minus cost of US shipping = your cost).

I think one thing has been completed for my new office. Wonder how much they'll get done while I'm away. Yes, I am going away, supposed to be vacation in Los Angeles for my nephew's bar-mitzvah celebration, but I've been asked to speak at the City of Hope Hospital for Cancer Research, since I'll be in the neighborhood (30 miles as opposed to 3000 miles). I guess that makes it a working vacation. I haven't been to LA in over 3 years, should be exciting to see the changes, visit old and new spots (we know we're going to Malibu one day (weather permitting) and the Mojave Desert for a few days). Hopefully I'll return on the 17th to an office I can move into, then my cramping shoulders will finally feel better and I'll be able to knit again.

Do you schmap? I didn't, had never heard of schmaps until the schmaps folks asked if they could use one of my photos of Tucson in my Flickr album. Glad they asked for permission and attribution. Now, if they ever need someone to go someplace to take photos, I'll be quite happy to do that!