DIY Wife

 I love independent, strong women. I love the do-it-yourself attitude that my mom always had when it came to home projects and fix-it situations. I love creative solutions to problems and the satisfaction of having conquered a difficult task.
 I lack whatever gene my mom possesses that has blessed her with these abilities. When I try to fix things, usually they just end up more broken. My husband has several tool sets and knows how to use everything in them; I have a girly multi-tool hammer and my swiss army knife.
 But I did inherit my mom's nothing's-going-to-beat-me-attitude, the same one that promted her to successfully replace the carpet in the now-empty bedrooms with hardwood flooring. By herself. And they look awesome.
 Which brings me, anticlamactically enough, to the subject of laundry.
 Months ago I saw a really cute, clever idea post on Ikea wherein the laundry was sorted into cloth baskets hung vertically up the wall, thus not only saving floor space but making the dreaded task of sorting and washing clothes much simpler - and more attractive. The laundry has been winning since I got married and suddenly had double the clothes to wash and only knew how to properly launder half of them; my husband and I would often do our own laundry seperately as he is as baffled by the "delicate cycle" as I am by his sorting methods. Something to simplify this awful task? I thought this was brilliant, and finally my husband and I set out for that fantastic place to buy the necessary items. (My husband is careful of how often he takes me there - I can and do get lost for hours wandering around collecting ideas and spending hypothetical money. Sometimes *usually* I spend non-hypothetical money...)
 Of course, by the time we got there, the baskets and hooks we intended to purchase were sold out. I spent some time internet shopping for similar products, but everything else I found and liked was prohibitively expensive.
 So, I decided, why not just make my own? I love to crochet, I have the perfect yarn already in my posession, and then the laundry baskets will be as laundry friendly as the clothes they sort!
 Figuring out the right pattern is taking a bit longer than merely swiping my card at the store, and then of course I have to make more than one, but I am having a lot of fun in the process, and then when the baskets are done they'll mean a lot more to me than something I just drove down to the store and threw in my cart.
 This venture, though, has sparked something in me, and my poor husband is a little worried at the results. We need a new table eventually; the $100 "seats four" dining set I bought from Walmart when I first got my apartment really doesn't comfortably seat four people plus the food they eat, and everything is getting a bit rickety. Pricing dining sets, however, makes me feel a little ill; I don't want to spend so much just for a table and chairs I don't even like all that much! I want something a bit more rustic and cozy then most of what I see in the stores, so I decided: why not make my own? I've watched enough HGTV to know that a table is a pretty basic DIY project, and since I have a friend who enjoys woodworking to refer to for advice and any necessary assistance, why not? I'm looking forward to serving meals and teaching lessons on a table that I crafted myself.
 But then, why stop there? I really don't like the square bowls that came with the dishes we bought when we got married (seriously, trying to wash bowls with deep corners is NOT FUN); instead of buying a new set, why not learn pottery and make my own? I even took a pottery class last week and loved it!
 So maybe I'm taking this attitude to a bit of an extreme, but I've always loved crafts and learning new skills and working with my hands, and I find it very relaxing and therapeutic to have myriad hobbies into which to pour all my excess energy (thank you ADHD), so why not?
 For now, I'll work on finishing these laundry baskets and save for the lumbar and clay I hope to purchase soon. I may not be able to fix a plumbing problem like my mom could, but I am totally okay with making my husband do that since it's gross anyway; I'll stick to the pretty stuff ;)