Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Some People Should be Banned From Crafts

The Matron is one of them.

Over the past four days, Scarlett has labored over highly decorative messenger bags for her 30,000 (okay, seven) best friends She's ironed stencils, painted, glued. On Friday, the child is saying good-bye to elementary school and her cadre of dear friends.

The plan is that Scarlett's friends will carry these bags to an asusement park tomorrow when sixth graders are liberated for a day of fun and water. The girls are all aflutter about the bags, the t-shirts another friend supplied, the end of an era.

But the Matron noticed that while Scarlett labored over bags for her friends, she neglected one for herself. All of her dear friends would be carrying highly decorated bags, but she would not.

So today, the Matron set out on a quest for a bag for Scarlett. First, she visited a craft store in an Eastern suburb. No luck. Next, she went to a craft store in a western suburb. Back to the east. Over to the south.

Finally -- after over almost TWO HOURs of driving and shopping, she secured the BAG.

Which went otherwise badly.

Let's just say the Matron is incapable of ironing stencils in such a way that the letters are right side up. She put the E in Scarlett upside down. She burnt fabric. Glue burned. Glitter spilled. The felt melted at the iron. She squinted and knotted. And didn't enjoy any of the process.

At the end of four hours of creating Scarlett's surprise, she wondered why she wasn't familiar with vodka.

And when she picked up Scarlett from school?

Scarlett: "Mama!? Can we go back to that craft store? I really regret we didn't get a bag for me. Everyone else has one and now I think I should have gotten one for myself."

Matron: "I don't think we have time to do that tonight."

Scarlett: "Okay. But if we did find time, I'd like to have a bag like my friends."

And when Scarlett walked into the house and saw the highly decorative bag -- even with its flaws?

American Express commercial: priceless.

Chalk one up for the mom.

12 comments:

Smalltown Mom said...

You did well.

Anonymous said...

*Sob* That is the sweetest story. I love that she loved it.

Anonymous said...

Awww....that is the cutest story. Cheers to you. :)

Jen on the Edge said...

I love this story. It's going to make me smile all day.

Karen said...

tears. in my eyes, right now.

Thanks for sharing.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I don't think we can ban someone who just earned a 5-heart salute!

GMGKnits said...

You earned a 'mom stripe' -- maybe two.

MJ said...

Regardless of your feelings on the process, I think we've found a crafting (albeit unwilling) mom in our presence! Welcome to our club!

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

That's what being a mom is all about--she's a lucky girl.

dkuroiwa said...

this was wonderful!! don't you just love it when, by the grace of the powers that be and the perfect alignment of the stars...when you get it just perfect? and an unsuspecting 'perfect' is..well....perfect.
good job, mom!!

Saucy said...

You see? It didn't have to be perfect... it just had to be. I love that.

Bonnie said...

So where is the picture of your creation????

xox