We're at less than a week to go for Christmas. Hanukkah went beautifully, and I'm now realizing that the candles do give me a bit of a headache. That's okay--it's only a few days, and it's worth it for my family's enjoyment.
I listened to a book yesterday that offered the theory that, in order to thrive in what the next thirty or so years will bring, we must teach our children resiliency, flexibility, and creativity. As much as everyone is screaming bloody murder about distance learning, I know that it is at least teaching our kids that there is more than one way to learn and more than one way to connect and collaborate.
Kiddo decided a couple months ago that she is too grown up for the sheets we bought when she transitioned to her "big girl" bed a few years ago. Fair. Last year, she wanted Harry Potter sheets, and I didn't love the options available. The printed theme sheets were all polyester, which just sounded painful in an area that gets hot in May and stays that way through most of October. No, thank you. The issue remained, though. She wanted character sheets, and I wanted her room to not smell like a gym bag. I finally found all-cotton sheets on the Pottery Barn website, but they were too subtly themed for Kiddo, and more than I could justify, pricewise, for twin-sized sheets.
Now what? I ran through the JoAnn Fabrics for something else that week, but noticed a nice display of HP fabrics. On sale. Whoo! I picked out a few good prints, and bought enough for a quilt to utilize the panel I found at the thrift store a while ago, along with a few yards of a small print. Since I couldn't buy a sheet set, I was going to customize one.
A couple weeks later, I found a sheet set that would coordinate with the print. I then made new pillowcases and covered the hem of the top sheet with more of the small print. Thus, we had what both of us wanted: theme sheets made of breathable material. I shared this tip with a friend who was trying to find king-sized sheets that celebrated the San Francisco Giants. I'm not sure if she managed to find an orange king-sized sheet set in the appropriate thread count, but if she did, I bet it was spectacular.
This year, Kiddo wants Descendants sheets. They don't even make Descendants fabric. I managed to score some ribbon from Etsy, so she's getting Descendants-trimmed sheets, and I do not feel guilty about it. Someday, she'll decide she doesn't like the boy wizard or the singing villains' kids, and I'll seam rip all the character stuff off to make the old sheets into guest sheets. It'll be the end of an era. For now, though, we have grown-up theme sheets instead of baby stuff.
I wonder what next year's characters will be.
In some job interviews, I have been asked what I consider to be my greatest strengths. The truth of the matter is that my actual strengths are that I keep showing up, even if what I'm doing isn't the coolest or the highest profile, and that I can make what I have into what I want. I'm pretty sure my former supervisors from corporate jobs still have nightmares in which I confidently declare that I will just get creative, but that is ultimately the biggest skill one needs when one is dealing with low- and mid-level shows.
A designer friend tasked with creating a Suessical on fifteen hundred dollars (which is a lot, until you actually figure out how many looks need to happen...), collected all the tired Grease dresses and combined them with the very simple Music Man dresses, then had me put zippers up the back. Behold--fantastical Teens-era frocks, ready for quick change! For not free, but already-paid-for! I've made stage-worthy costumes from curtains and bedsheets. I've organized workplaces with stuff I've pulled from the metal recycling bin. My siblings would give me stacks of hand-me-downs, and I would find new uses for them. It's not the most glamorous skill, but it has been one that has brought us through some very skinny times. I hope that I'm passing it on to my kids.
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