All play and no work?

Someone commented and asked me with all this play, surely I was working hard too.  Yes, but I didn’t think anyone cared J.  So, since I was prompted, I thought I would share my latest project that almost sent me (and the sewing machine) over the side of the boat.  Note:  If you're looking for a tutorial, this entry is not for you.

Before we left San Diego, we bought yards and yards of no see ‘um net.  For anyone who doesn’t know what no see ‘ums are, they’re tiny little bugs that are hard to see (go figure) and bite you.  They usually come out in the morning and at night in warm, humid weather.  Well, we’re far enough south now, that we’re starting to see both no see ‘ums and mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes in Mexico are known to carry diseases so we’ve been advised by every doctor and person we see to wear lots of bug repellent (not the kind that’s regulated in the U.S., the big daddy strength they sell down here in Mexico) so as to prevent things like Malaria and the Dengue Fever.  I was supposed to sew screens for all of our hatches (nine of them) before we left.  For anyone who has followed this blog from the beginning, you’ve learned that I do own a sewing machine but I’ve only used it twice – once when I was pregnant and felt I should sew something for my new baby, and once when we bought the boat and I was too cheap to pay someone to sew curtains.  So here we are again.   Non crafty Monica trying to be crafty (red lights should flash and sirens should go off here).  I started the screens when we were in Cabo (I think, can’t remember).  In Los Muertos, I decided to take another poke at it.  I got four of them done.  They’re awful.  Really.  Ugly, not straight, ugly…did I mention ugly?  I put a picture here to prove it.  I had a near meltdown. 

The problem is I have no useful skills on this boat.  I may have mentioned this before, but my only real asset (from a working perspective) is my ability to make order out of chaos, plan, get people to talk to each other that wouldn’t normally do so, project management stuff.  Well, this is fine when you’re getting paid for it and dealing with a bunch of people that have been told they need to listen to you.  Not such a useful skill when you’re dealing with your husband and a 4 year old.  I had the chance to show I had a useful skill, right?  I really thought I could pull this sewing thing off.  Andy tried to help me by offering suggestions and all it did was work me up (why am I the one doing this?  Of course he would have better ideas and be able to pull this off…HE HAS SKILLS!)  Just as I was about to crack, he saw my tears and told me they looked like they would keep mosquitoes out so it looked good to him.  Nice guy, huh?

So, for the safety of the crew, I’ve put my sewing machine away.  I know I have five more screens to sew, but I’ve decided to wait for a day when there’s not so much fun to be had J.