It may or may not be a good thing, but I tend to have a “if they can do it, so can I” attitude about most things in life. Now, I don’t have the desire to do everything, but when my friend Kara posted the bookshelf that she made, I was interested. Then she made a bed. I was inspired. I headed over to ana-white.com, where she got the plans for the bed. Then I really started feeling the itch. There are so many great projects, and the blog is written by a woman. And that’s when the “if she can do it…” kicked it. I looked at all of the projects over and over, dreaming of making beds and armoires and coffee tables. For a long time, that’s all it was – dreams. When Carter’s bookshelves fell apart, I asked my neighbor to help me make some cuts and build a new set. As much as I would love to take the credit for them, mostly I just watched him cut and then assembled them. I still really wanted to make something on my own though. For Christmas, Mike got me a Kreg jig. If you don’t know, it’s a system to make joining pieces of wood much easier than just nails and glue. So then I was waiting for it to get warmer so I could do my cuts outside. Finally I just decided that I needed to just get going on something or I wouldn’t ever get to it. So I did. Every workshop needs a good workbench, so I started with that. I know that these are horrible pictures, but it’s in a corner in the basement with a lot of other crap. 
And then I got to work on some more bookshelves for Samantha. Since we put her in her own room, she has been keeping her books in cardboard boxes. Real classy, right? I had been promising her some for a while now. At one point she told me I should just go buy some. But I’m glad I didn’t. Once I finished building hers, I finally painted Carter’s while I painted Samantha’s. And here are the finished products:
Carter’s painted and ready to go back upstairs: 
And Samantha’s all finished! 
It may be a small thing, but I love it. I feel so much pride when I look at them. They aren’t perfect – for my next project I will look harder for better wood. But I love that I made them from start to finish on my own. I love that they are so sturdy. I love that I can make something with my own hands for my kids, even if they don’t understand how great that really is. I love the confidence it gave me. And now I can’t wait to do more! I’m thinking a new bed for Sammy. Or maybe a coffee table? Workbench for the garage?
