The grass outside my 3-season porch is greening up. Finally!

Winter in Minnesota seems to drag on forever, and each year it seems a little longer than the rest. I know I'm not alone in wondering why I'm still here (in MN)! But moving some place warm just isn't in the forseeable future.

I thought I'd be retired by now, but instead I had to go back to work in order to have health insurance.

Maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed retirement yet. I'm still young - although the next birthday - next month - is a milestone. The BIG SIX OH. And with a spouse who is almost 10 years older than myself, how many years will we actually have to enjoy retirement together? He has never planned on living past 80, despite having parents who both made it past 95. In fact, my lovable little mother-in-law turned 97 in March. My own mother died a little more than a month short of her 66th birthday. So in reality, my future is not as promising as my husband's.

Is there a moral to this story?

Life is short, when all is said and done. The older you get, the shorter it seems.

We all have things we're looking forward to, but sometimes you need to look back at where you've been and how you got to where you are. Sometimes you need to evaluate if where you are is really where you want to be.

Sometimes you need to change your priorities. Sometimes the hopes and dreams you've had are just not worth pursuing. I've slowly given up bits and pieces of my jewelry business - like when I stopped doing arts and craft fairs. It wasn't by choice, and it was a devastating reduction in sales. Having a website and on-line store has been a constant struggle. The past few months on Etsy have also been devastating to sales. Etsy no longer cares about the makers of one-of-a-kind items. If you aren't selling 30 or 40 of the same personalized item, you pretty much don't exist as far as Etsy's SEO is concerned.

I spend too much of my time now days on the computer. One more thing that I didn't expect to be doing at this time in my life. I gave up the computer industry as a career when I went back to work in 2015. I don't really want to waste my limited amount of free time pinning and tweeting and instagramming and posting ad nauseam.

So I think this is the year that I go out of business. 

I've been putting it off, but it really isn't something I can put off much longer.

So the sale begins. Today. And ends...when it's all gone.

Use coupon code 40PERCENT for 40% off everything. 

Yes, there will be more coupon codes with even better discounts. But if you see something you really want, don't wait until the last minute. Almost everything I make is one of a kind, and I don't plan on buying any more supplies. In fact, I have another shop where I'm selling my supplies. It's here if you're interested.

So that's the scoop. Cheers to the future!

Laurel