Thanks, Mom!

So, it's official, I'm becoming my mother.

But I hope in all the right ways.

On Good Friday, I decided my little girl needed a one of a kind Easter dress for Sunday morning. No problem, you say. There are lots of unique shops around. 2 days to shop. Should be fun.

Sorry, that's not how we roll. I designed, created a pattern for, and sewed her new dress before Sunday morning. THAT'S how we roll.

Thanks, Mom. (With a ring of truth but dripping with sarcasm.) This idea that I can, and should, do anything I want is met with frustration from my husband as well as myself when projects go way longer than expected (cabinets) or end up not being as "cost-effective" as I thought.

I learned early on that I could do anything. Whenever. Not because she ever really said this. She just did it. We rearranged our bedroom furniture almost monthly with no comment from her. (Except maybe, "As long as you do it yourself.") We repainted, recovered, and built whatever we wanted. I do believe I was even allowed to skip school to go fabric shopping on occasion. One day, my sister and I decided to switch bedrooms and we just did it. I don't think we even felt the need to ask. We knew that if we could accomplish it on our own....she wouldn't mind. As long as she knew where to deliver the clean laundry.

I never thought much of this until I got married. My mom has helped me to realize that she doesn't actually know how to do everything. She just does it. With common sense, some creativity, you can figure anything out. This mentality DID get me royally electrocuted at a young age as my small arms were needed to help put a belt back on the dryer!

Re-carpet my own stairs?      Why not?
Lay my own flooring?      Awesome!
Refinish my own cabinets?     Easy.
Tile my backsplash?      Still waiting to find the right tile.
Design and create a dress from scratch in 6 hours of work?      Done and done.

I'm trying to treat my children the same way. With a quiet expectation that if you want to do something, you will. Not "You can do it if you try!" or "I'm sure you will figure it out." (Not that these are bad!) Just a calm assurance that my children will accomplish what they set out to do......because they are my mother's grandchildren!