"Kristi, Everything You Touch Turns To Gold"

I hear these words quite often from Matt. He is absolutely the most supportive and encouraging husband in the world. But one thing’s for sure…he’s delusional. How do I know? Because sometimes, projects go like this:

First, I get a grand idea in my head. A project, a beautiful project…and in my head, it looks simply fantastic. Sheer perfection.

So I go online to find inspiration and helpful info and tips.

I plan, I shop, I gather the supplies and tools.

Then I make four more trips to JoAnn Fabrics because I don’t have enough supplies.

Then when JoAnn Fabrics is out of the supplies I need, I beg the manager to break the rules by ordering the supplies from another store, rather than the vendor, so that I can get the needed supplies the next day, rather than five days later, and he obliges…although a bit begrudgingly…because I’m such a regular customer and I spent boatloads of money in that store.

And then when I realize that I STILL don’t have enough supplies (because I’m mathematically-challenged, and have a hard time with sums greater than 10 since I only have 10 fingers), I twist the manager’s arm once again to break the rules for me, and he obliges…again.

And then I work…for hours…on the project, getting everything just right–measuring with precision, cutting so carefully, measuring again, pinning, gluing, ironing, stapling.

For hours…days.

And when the project is done, I step back, inspect my work, and my reaction is…

Bedside table FAIL.

I tried to make them work. I tried to convince myself that in the “big picture” they would be fine. But my brain wouldn’t allow it. It kept nagging at me…eating at me. When I looked at the tables, I could swear that they were laughing at me…mocking me.

Nope, I couldn’t take it.

To fix the problem, it took me all of about 15 minutes to find the fabric I liked (and that’s just because I wandered around the store looking for fabrics for my own bedroom as well), and about 45 minutes to make (and it took that long only because my gathering thread broke and I had to start the gathering over again).

Bedside table SAVE!!

So…yeah. When Matt says to me, “Kristi, everything you touch turns to gold,” I thank him and tell him how sweet he is, but inside I just laugh. The truth isn’t nearly so flattering.