The Great Crafty Mod Podge Puffball Revelation

The other night I was searching for instructions on how to cover our boring switchplates with something not-beige. It's something I've always wanted to try, but sometimes I get intimidated by projects that are supposed to have an attractive outcome - especially those that people claim are 'sooo easy'...smug assholes.

In my search I mumbled aloud "I guess I need something called Mod Podge," to which Paul responded "uh, you don't have Mod Podge?!" like it was the craziest thing he'd ever heard!

"Hey!" I snapped (I was PMSing, for the record), "you said you'd never judge me!" Then I got a teensie bit defensive.  "I'm not, you know, one of these crafty people who just have, like, craft supplies just...laying around, jeez! God!"

He carefully and wisely replied "oh, I'm sorry, I guess that did come out a little judgy, didn't it?"

Yes Paulie, yes it did.

The next morning as I was driving to work I realized that I'd been wrong, though. It turns out that I actually am one of those crafty people. Well, hot damn!

As a kid my family made wind chimes, and our summers were spent traveling from town to town, selling our wares at the Cherry Festival, the Blueberry Festival, the Bridge Festival, the Peach Festival, flea markets, art shows, the Annual Flea Roast & Ox Market (where I met Ted Nugent, who might be the ONE celebrity I've ever met that I did not geek out on) - any event that involved people selling stuff, that's where you'd find me for most of my youth.

When I was old enough I borrowed a little corner of our booth space and set up my own table, making and selling custom beaded jewelry - my 'business' was called Amanda's Beadery. Clever, I know.

As an adult I handmade all of my own cards, cutting out bad or funny pictures of myself or other people, gluing them to cardstock, drawing in unexpected scenes, and adding speech bubbles. I had boxes of supplies for all of the crafting I did, I fucking loved sitting down and getting my craft on. So where did that all go?

Over the years and for reasons I will not mention here because this isn't a freaking therapy session, I lost my passion for a lot of things. Writing, crafting, music - you name it. If it had once been an important and major part of how I identified myself and brought me immense joy, somehow, somewhere along the line, it sputtered and died.

I've since re-claimed most of the joy I'd misplaced, and am once again blissed out by all of that I've got going in my life. But crafting - I'd completely forgotten about that. My best guess is that since I moved from a huge house (where my craft supplies were divided between the kids' rooms, which I left behind for them) into a teeny apartment, I just didn't have the space to rekindle that fire. It never occurred to me to allow myself a pile of fabric, Tacky Glue, pipe cleaner, jump rings, Mod Podge and all of the nuts and bolts that come along with creating crafty things.

But I'm not in that teeny apartment anymore. I have space to breathe again - in so many more ways than one. And things are gettin' crafty up in this crib.

Evie's birthday is coming up and we're not doing a party this year, but I still like to add a little flair to the celebration table. I recently came into possession of a shit-ton of yarn scraps, and I just so happened to have read this tutorial on making pom poms. I decided to try it myself.

I had to get creative with supplies

But I managed to get the right idea

Viola!

It's a start.

Now to go find some of this 'Mod Podge' stuff. And a glue gun. And an exacto knife. And some fancy paper. And...ho man, this is going to be a fun day.

Mawwiage

My stance on marriage over the last several years has been pretty consistent: Don't do it. Young lovers? Great. Stay that way. Old Soul mates? Fantastic! I'm glad you found each other. Don't get married. I certainly don't ever intend to again.

Whenever I say this out loud, people get all flustered and say something along the lines of "well, come on now, Never Say Never!" which, by the look in their eyes, I'm pretty sure translates to "chin up, soldier, there's a rainbow just around the corner!"

No matter how much I try to convince people that this isn't a bitter, angry response to my own marriage ending, they just can't believe it. Sure, when my son tells me that his father and the girlfriend are going to get married, I laugh borderline maniacally and say (in my head) "good luck sister! Happy to pass that torch on to you, sucker!" But that's just out of amusement - not bitterness or anger. Pure amusement as I rub my palms together and think "I cannot wait to see how this plays out!"

I just really don't see the point of marriage anymore. You can love someone, live with someone, share your deep secrets, intimate details, inside jokes and whole goddam life with someone...without getting married. Is that piece of paper really necessary? Because I hate to break it to you, but sometimes this shit doesn't work out. And undoing that sweet little sunset ceremony under the trellis gazebo and the over-budget kick-ass party afterward is a huge pain in the ass. Huge! Now I'm not saying I discourage marriage for the simple possibility that things might not work out. I realize that's what my last sentence sounded like. Maybe a little. But really my point is you can have all the good and bad that comes with committing yourself to someone without being married.

So imagine my surprise when I got the happy news that my little brother Chris had proposed to his fabulously rad girlfriend Courtney, and I was SO EXCITED. I got weepy with joy. I  actually (almost) wept. Almost - I'm not exactly a hopeless romantic. But still, these two- come on! They've traveled the world together for the last 5 years, often by bicycle (aka, they're nuts and also my heroes). They've moved across this country several times. They've lived together in at least 3 different major cities, I think, and in many tents and spare bedrooms. If they can survive all of this and Chris still finds it in his heart to be total rockstar man and ask for Courtney's hand in marriage in front of a room full of people on bended knee, then christ, go for it kids!

They're big in Japan

The most fascinating and, I'll admit it - encouraging - thing about their announcement was my reaction to it. My absolute pure and instant crazy joy for them caught me off guard, and was very love-affirming for me. Who knew? I still believe in love! Yaaaaay! Sure I've had my fair share of letdowns in this department over the past year, and let's face it, I might have some more. I hope not, but we all hope that. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. We often don't know which it will be, or when. Actually, we never do. And that's the gamble we take when we decide to say yes. Yes - to love, to marriage, to non-marriage, to any part of it that suits us.

Thank you Chris and Courtney. You gave me back my faith in love. Now please don't break up, that would totally suck and completely debunk my entire point. Also, no winter weddings, okay? When I drink too much and then get up to make an uninvited slurry emotional speech that I start crying in the middle of, I'd like it to be warm outside when I rush out to puke out the vegan reception dinner my body just doesn't know how to digest.

I love you guys.