We live in a fixer upper.
It is a 30-year old ranch with a lot of charm, a lot of potential and the
best dang yard in the world. Since there
are so many areas that could use a little love and there is only so much time,
effort, and oh yea – money to go around, I have learned to turn a blind eye to
a lot of things.
Case and point: the
curtains in my youngest son, Matthew’s, room.
The curtain rod broke this summer, but it still worked enough to hold up
the curtain. I was busy with taking the
kids to the pool, writing a book, and all that.
The blind eye won. I completely took advantage of the fact that
he was a six-year old boy and didn’t give a lick.
Until today, dear friends!!
God blessed us with a beautiful sunny day where I could banish my sweet
children to the best dang yard in the world.
I bought a new curtain rod on my weekly trip to Target. I planned on getting Eric to hang the rod up
higher because the previous owners put the rod right into the molding. Blind eye, people!!!
Since his current curtains would be a smidge short, I would simply sew some fabric that matches his
room to the bottom. It would add character
too! Gosh, I am so clever!
Except for the tiny detail.
I am a horrible seamstress.
Apparently just being the daughter of an extremely talented seamstress
is not enough. I do not have the
patience to do all the necessary steps for it to not be a complete disaster. Straight lines? Ha!
They would be long and pool on the floor (per HGTV standards), so who
could tell if they were straight or not?
The thread was nowhere close to matching? Insignificant detail! It was not my fault I can’t remember how to
change the thread, so I have been using the same color for two years. And do you know how hard it is to maneuver
with all that fabric?? I do. It is a bitch. And I didn’t discover it until I had the
petal to the floor stitching a way.
So this was the result. The Gordon Gartrell* of curtains.
Yes. I gave up after the first panel because really what was the point???
There were a few tears and a lot of laughing when I sent the
picture to Eric. Then I got real, pulled
out my Red Card, and bought some adorable orange and white chevron
curtains. Orange, White AND
Chevron!!! Why did I waste an hour of my
life??
I also learned a lesson.
It is time for me to just accept who I am, what my gifts are, and more
importantly, what they are not. And that is ok. I don’t have to be good at everything. In fact, the few things that I am good at, I
will focus on those and try to get better at those. Everything else – pull out the Red Card.
I hope to pass that on to my kids too. There is so much pressure on kids today to be
the best at everything. School. Sports.
Various extracurricular activities.
Think they aren’t ranking themselves out on the playground? Think again.
Ella had a real hard time with it last year in first grade. Her teacher had a saying that I just
loved. She said, “Ella, you can’t be the
best at everything. You would be an
alien then!!” Ella would just giggle but
she quit being so hard on herself.
Maybe it is time that I take that same advice. You see… I am a 37-year old fixer upper, with
a lot of charm, a decent amount of potential and the best dang family in the
world.
*And if you didn’t get the Gordon Gartrell reference. Bless you. Enjoy this comedic genius.
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