Sometimes I Amaze Even Me!!

So, Martha Stewart I am not. Nor have I ever, ever claimed to be. Cooking, at the very least causes me copious amounts of frustration, and at the very worst has sent me to the hospital. I am an expert at putting out stove fires (not to toot my own horn, but can you do that Martha? Can you put out a stove fire without batting an eye or breaking a nail? I didn't think so...) Cleaning - well - I can do it, but mostly I just chose not to. And who here needs a wreath for every season and every holiday? Certainly not me.

However, if you want to talk about perfection...that is a different story. I am a bit of a perfectionist...a lazy perfectionist, if you will. That is, if I can't do it perfectly the first time round, then I simply don't do it. This has, over time, been the crux of many a hilarious story involving yours truly, a frustrating task that absolutely cannot be accomplished perfectly the first time around, and a "lesson" in humility and my own humanity (shocker *I am not perfect* - I struggle with this reality everyday.)

So, in August when Q mentioned that he wanted to be a shark for Halloween I thought, "No big deal...E-bay is my best friend. E-bay has everything. E-bay will have my shark costume." After a few weeks of watching E-bay, and etsy and googling 'shark costume' with no luck I thought, "No big deal...I'll talk Q into being something else for Halloween..." Right. No such luck. Ok. I thought, "No big deal, I'll make him one. How hard could it be?" I mean, I took Home Economics in junior high. I made a cute little purple reversible apron. Shark costume? No problem. Back to google for 'shark patterns' and it quickly became evident that my child is the ONLY child on the face of the earth who has ever wanted to be a shark for Halloween. Great....

So, I thought, "No big deal. I'll make the pattern." Super easy, right? I mean, I could picture it in my head, all I had to do was put it on paper. My goodness, it was going to be a walk in the park!

A month went by, and then six weeks. And I still had this perfect picture in my head of what the shark was going to look like. I had thought about it for so long that it would practically make itself by the time I actually got around to making it. You understand that I was not going to stick a cone on his back, paint some fangy shark-like teeth on his face and call it a day. This was going to be a head to toe costume. It would be effortless. It would be perfect.

I bought some pattern paper (I still have no idea what it's actually called, but that's what I call it.) I bought some pins. I even bought a measuring tape. I took all Q's measurements, added an inch to each side for the seam. Then, came the task to find the perfect material for my shark. Pleather, my friends, is my new best friend. Seriously, I can see why so many designers work with it (uh, does Zellers count as a 'designer'? Probably not...) These supplies sat in the house for another week or so until I realised it was 3 weeks until Halloween. It was no longer August. It was October. Okay, so I'm a lazy, procrastinating perfectionist.

Dudes, here's the costume. It's done. Martha, who's da bomb now, huh? Oh yes, that's right...I am. I'm kind of freaking, though...'cuz man, I've set the bar high for future costumes...

the pattern

the end result...

(p.s. don't mind Q's 'art supplies' in the background...)