Time for a Reset

This past weekend, I had to miss our annual local doll show, the Collectors Supershow run by the lovely Dana Cain.  It was bad enough having to miss the show for the first time in probably a decade.  But it was also Dana’s last time running it, as she’s sold the show, and it was the show’s last time at the National Western Complex, as they’ll be tearing the venue down.  The new owners have said they’ll keep the format as a doll show, but it sounds like they’ll have to find a new venue.

I found all that out after having let Dana know I had to cancel.  It was incredibly disappointing, but even had I known, I don’t think I could have done anything differently.  I was really sick, and it was my second time being sick in two weeks, so it hit me especially hard.

I’ve been through a lot of changes since the last time I updated this blog, which was — somehow — a year and a half ago (!).  Last year was incredibly hard, partly because of the political climate of constant crises, and partly because my husband lost his job in August — arguably the worst time in our lifetimes to be unemployed and looking for a new job.

At first I was planning on getting a lot done around the house with his help.  But he was super burned out from his (arguably toxic and terrible) job, plus we had a lot of house sitting for his parents that kept us away from home, as well as other demands on our time.  So one thing rolled into another, and we didn’t accomplish as much of the projects as I’d wanted to.

Ultimately, I ended up getting a part time nanny job to help pay the bills, and a lot of my goals for my doll business (and my writing) fell by the wayside.  So when doll show prep season rolled around, I was not nearly as organized as I had wanted to be.

I’d been counting on the doll show to help me clear out some of my excess inventory and make space for further organization, so having missed the show meant that didn’t happen.  But I’m also not burned out as I usually am afterward, which has enabled me to put some thought into what I want to do next.

And the conclusion I keep coming to is that I think I’m ready for a reset.

By “reset” I don’t mean I won’t collect dolls anymore, or that I won’t have my doll business or my social media accounts.  Those all stay!  But I feel cluttered and stuck, so I need to figure out a change to how I do things, so that I can get back to enjoying the doll collector life again.

I have some ideas brewing, but first things first: I need to get organized!