A Self-Indulgent Musing..

I call this a "Self-Indulgent Musing" because I'm not really offering anything up here. No step-by-steps for a DIY project or "Something Lovely" to use... it's just me rambling. But of course, what is my blog if not ALL self-indulgent musings?

So I've been knee-deep in crafting mode lately. They are mostly wedding projects but once I get started the projects start a-flowing. In this crafting mode I've been so frustrated that I don't have certain tools at my disposal, specifically: a computer design program and wood working tools (saws, drills, planes, chisels, screws, nails, etc). It's not that I can't get these items for a cost, it's just that I've realized how spoiled I was that I expected them to be right there when I needed them.

I'm realizing how lucky I was with my "creative upbringing". My parents are very creative people in different ways and I had unlimited access to the tools of their trade. My mom wrote newsletters and articles from her home computer as I grew up. While her writing skills did not rub off on me, I did get to play around on her computer programs: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Pagemaker, Corel Draw, etc. Imagine surprise when I got my own computer at work and it didn't have ANY design programs. I thought that it was just part of the normal suite you got with your computer! I was explaining my frustrating to our Graphic Designer at work (also a good friend, I wasn't just whining to the Creative Department) and she looked at me funny and said "Do you even know how to use that stuff?" Now, I don't know how to use it the way she does, but for my simple needs (that are a little more complex than Powerpoint can handle) I do know how to. My mom taught me from a pretty young age how to lay out school projects and reports on Adobe Pagemaker and when she picked up the Corel Suite I started laying out my quilt patterns on it. I didn't realize that this was anything out of the norm!

Then on the other side of the creative spectrum is my dad. My Dad (though now officially retired) is a fantastic woodworker and has built and renovated numerous houses, crafted furniture, carved block prints and pretty much any other wood related item you could ask for. When I was younger he had me help install baseboard in a house he was building and once again I thought it was normal for a 10 year old to know how to use a nail gun and a planer. But with that came my other skewed expectations that EVERYBODY knew how to renovate a house (or worse yet-- that I knew... I've seen it done enough I must have absorbed somethign right?!). At the very least, I was spoiled with all the access I've had to wood-working tools and accessories. So when the time came a few weeks ago to pick up materials to make a Letterpress and A. asked me how I planned on cutting the wood, I looked at him blankly. "Oh yeah... we don't have a saw". (or a drill, or screws...). Who knew that Lowe's would cut the wood for you!

So I consider myself lucky (thanks Mom and Dad) that I've been exposed to these different "tools of the trade(s)" but at the same time it's so frustrating when there's something I know I could do if only I had ___(insert tool name here)____!