To Etsy or not to Etsy....that is a Question.

After almost 6 years of being a Stay-At-Home-Mom, or perhaps the better description is a Work-At-Home-Mom without a salaried gig, I am once again back among the ranks of the worker bees who go to their place of employment Monday through Friday for 8+ hours a day.  Hubby, only half joking, refers to this as being a mouse trained to push the food pellet button everyday.  So now my kiddos will be in daycare outside of their school hours.  I am not sure who will have the tougher time acclimating, them or me.  I start this Monday and I am both excited and sad to be entering this new phase of my life and my children's lives.

I like what I do for the most part and my new employer is a decently large company with little chance of being put out of business anytime soon.  The fact that I was hired while they were technically amidst a hiring freeze makes me feel pretty good about not getting laid off anytime soon.  So, yeah...  now that we have a second steady income, we might be able to get out from under a car loan, to replace my aging/high-mileage-doesn't-start-in-winter car, to put more money into college funds, to work on paying off the house early, and to retire (hopefully) before we are 70. 

It also means that my crafting time just became much more limited.  So now I am wondering if I should keep up with my Etsy shop or not.  It is not as though I am doing volume business there.  I enjoy creating and crafting.  Marketing and selling are just not a part of my bliss.  I like coming up with new patterns and putting them out there for people to try.  I like making things that make my kids and friends smile.  The Etsy shop was my attempt to justify the time I put into crafting and the different things I wanted to try and make.  I will admit to a euphoria when someone likes my crafts enough to buy something.  It's a nice validation that what I've done is worth something to someone other than myself, but I might be able to get that same validation by donating stuff to children's hospitals and troop support groups as well as making gifts for friends and loved ones.  So where does that leave my shop?  Should I keep it?  Or should I let it go?  I am still pondering.  I'll have a better feel for things after the first couple of weeks I think.  The shop will stay closed until I make a final decision. 

I will still keep up with writing this blog and The Midwest Texan.  I like writing and it's a nice way to journal things for myself, friends, family, and whoever (if anyone at all) actually finds me or my creative processes interesting.  But the Etsy shop....  I just don't know what it's fate will be.  Time just became a lot more precious to me and something... my crafting extra curriculars... will have to give.