It Had To Be Done

Someone once asked me, "Who decided you have to, or should, do something?" He went on to tell me that our daily "have to" and "should" thoughts are self-imposed, and based either on what other people think, or what society, in general, has come to embrace as "normal".

Well, anyone who knows me knows I am not "normal". I have come to live my life based on what *I* find rewarding or important. It was a very big step for me to take and accept. I remember the days of fearing the humidity because my just-dried hair would take on a mind of its own and rebel against the way I'd dried it and do what it wanted to anyway. I am so over that. Someone at work commented the other day that my hair looked curlier than normal, and my response was, "Must be humid out." See? I am over it.

But there are some things that just have to be done. Like paying bills or taxes. Come to think of it, you do not have to do those either, if you are willing to live with the consequences.

Okay, enough philosophy for one morning! I went down this path because I found myself being domestic again, and it is soooo not like me. I experienced two Moments last night. The first moment was when I remembered the Handyman that came over on Monday also took the time to drive in the third of three screws into my Elfa system in my Craft Room closet. I had been waiting for that to be done before I put back any of the heavy boxes. If you recall, my Elfa Meltdown forced me to empty out the whole closet, and there were still boxes that had not been put back yet. Surprise. So I put back one of the boxes and as I put away (folded up) the step ladder, I looked over and saw, really saw, my ironing pile.

Ironing - remember that? I have a lot of it because I can only wear cotton, and cotton is just this side of linen in the wrinkle category. As I rifled through the pile, I remembered all the clothes I used to wear, and realized I could vastly expand my current wardrobe if I just ironed something. Apparently this has not been high on my list of things to do in the past year or two.

So last night, instead of stamping or scrappin', I took out my ironing board and ironed. I was going to take a picture, but I resisted the urge. However, it might have been a good idea to chronicle that event since some of you may never have seen one. ;-) I think the last time I had my iron out was to do the Melted Crayon technique.

So now I am 6 shirts ahead of the game, and I rewarded myself by doing something else that had to be done. I have had the idea for this card in my head for a while, and I finally got it on paper. Check it out:

No, I am not nautical; not in the least. Not even close. But those nautical flags all have meaning. From left to right, the first one is "Whiskey (W), Require Medical Assistance"; the middle one is "Tango (T), Keep Clear"; and the last one is "Foxtrot (F), Disabled". What in tarnation does that mean, you might ask. Think about the letter represented by each flag and it will become very clear. If you still do not get it, email me and we'll talk off-line.

I had originally planned to do something a little different with the nautical flags, and I still might. For example, putting the R and U together mean "Keep clear of me; I am maneuvering with difficulty". And N+C mean "I am in distress and require immediate assistance". Just something I thought might be fun to put on a card (or a T-shirt!)

I now must go bake something. I am bringing dessert to a Pot Luck dinner tonight so I decided to make something high-calorie and high-fat, just because I can. You have to live a little once in a while, right? :-)