Ugh, it happened

Hi, everyone.  My name is Jojo, and I am addicted to Etsy. 

I admit to many senseless obsessions in my life-- the Kardashians probably the most egregious.  (No matter how I try to justify that addiction as something more than plain old enjoyment, it still just is what it is.  No, it's not "an insatiable but intellectual curiosity for how the undeservedly wealthy live life."  It's just a pathetic relishing of the escapades of the K clan.)  But my newest addiction is a shopping site-- insert eye- roll.  No, it's not Amazon (though I do my fair share of "browsing" there too-- which almost always ends up with a package on the porch and would explain my HAVING to have Amazon Prime even though now we have to pay for it). 

Etsy is, in case you are unfamiliar with it, a crafters' community.  It's also worldwide.  Artists and crafters sell their work-- from jewelry to housewares to furniture to notebooks to gardening tools.  I've always liked Etsy, as is evidenced by my jewelry and place mats I so love.  But now that we have Mabel, Etsy has become a dangerous behemoth of an addiction.   I might need to block myself from it soon.  Doesn't Yahoo offer some program that does that?  Or isn't there an app?

While I'm definitely expressing disdain for and a little embarrassment about my addiction, I must also say it makes me feel good to buy from artists.  A lot of the people who run Etsy shops do so as their sole means of income.  And their stuff is simply gorgeous. 

I think at the heart of my new addiction is a bit of envy.  A former jewelry- maker (though I don't fancy myself NEARLY as talented as most of the Etsy shopowners I've perused) and dabbler in home- made wall hangings and home crafts, I wish I had it in me to build the motivation to start my own Etsy shop.  I think if I worked hard enough on honing in on one craft, I could maaaaaaybe pull it off, and that's a double- bolded, capitalized, and italicized "maybe."  I'd be horrible with upkeep, and I'd get anxious and would fall into a frenzy if my orders began to proliferate faster than I could fill them.  I'd be messy with paperwork too.  And I wouldn't begin to know how to run the financial aspect.  Don't even get me going on the sheer terror that would ensue if a package were to get lost or someone hated my product.

So, since I'm not with- it enough to start my own Etsy site, I will continue to stalk and purchase from others.  I was stopped in my tracks last night, though, when I realized I'd bought too many things for Mabel's room.  Her room doesn't have enough walls.  Nor does her play room.  I need an Ets- ervention. 

The interesting thing about this new habit is that I've never really had what some call a "shopping problem."  I buy clothes and shoes when I need them.  I've never had to cut up a credit card.  And I've never had to keep myself away from a mall (contrarily, I HATE malls).  So why this now? Once I figure this issue out-- and what it says about me-- I'll catch you up.  For now, I need to at least stay away from Etsy until my most recently purchased products arrive and I figure out how to hang them without making Mabel's room into a collage.