Taming My Martha Urges

Roo next to her not-Pinterest-worthy cottage with a plastic toy that lights up and plays pop music.

Today we got a giant box in the mail. Well, more giant-ish. 

I remember fighting with other neighborhood kids whenever someone had been foolish enough to discard an oven, dishwasher, or (most coveted) refrigerator box. First it would be a  cottage, then a car, and finally Devo hats.

So, yeah, I was psyched to teach Roo about the glory of a giant box.

But as I was cutting out a window, Martha came out.

You know, those aren’t square. You should have used a ruler. Those scissors are leaving too much of a jagged edge. Go get an Exact-o knife instead. That cardboard looks like it could give someone a paper cut. You should put something on the edges. All of the printing on the box makes this looks a little trashy. Go get the decoupage. You should make the box a uniform color or create a clean canvas for Roo to work on. I saw something on Pinterest that would make this look amazing.

The interwebs are so full of social media savvy, articulate crafting artist/writers who are funny and have an extensive vocabulary living clean, organized, BPA free, homemade, designer, hand knit, organic, all-wood toy lives.

With Martha, I feel like I’m not doing it all but can talk myself down with the “she has a staff” excuse.  

Not so much on the web. Most of the people there do all of the blogging and crafting and cooking in their free time. Because, you know, reruns of Bones don't take up that time for them.

But working on Roo’s box, I realized that I was on the internet to figure out how to fix up a paper box while my daughter was actually playing with it.  

Howdy there, reality. 

So I’m not going to decoupage a collage of pictures from National Geographic on the box, but I am going to tape up the edges. A little Martha doesn’t hurt.

Danielle