I think I can, I think I can...

There's this funny thing about me. Just one, you ask? Yes, just one. The thing is, I wouldn't call myself overly confident or prideful, but somewhere in my heart, I truly believe that I can do anything. Really. I hardly ever buy anything at art fairs (though I love going) because I always think, "Oh, I could do that." I have a list of other careers I believe I could be good at, including chiropractor, landscape architect, and coffee barista. I think I got this belief from my Mom...I always remember her saying, "You can be anything you want to be." She would repeat it all the time, especially when we talked about what I wanted to be when I grow up. She says that I once said I wanted to be an elephant, and she said "Okay."

It can get in the way sometimes, because I tend to dream, dabble and not finish projects. There are definitely things I CAN'T do, duh, and tons of things I can't do well. Even so, I hope I pass this quality on to my own children, because I certainly do enjoy the feeling of a life without limits.

My niece S called the other day after she came back from the Relay for Life in Yorktown, New York and said next year we should all go and sell homemade bracelets. At that event (and ours, too) so many people were having bake sales...and there are just so many brownies you can eat in one day. I'm all over that, I said, but at our relay in Grand Ledge, the person who was really raking in the money was this clown who was making balloon animals. Hmmm...bet I could do that. Pretty sure I would be GREAT at it. It looks soooooo easy.

Well, I got online and sure enough, there are tons of videos showing you how to twist and bend and tie all kinds of fun shapes. I watched different instructions for about an hour, then went out to Hobby Lobby and bought two bags of 20 balloons each and a cheapo pump and got to work (after the kids went to bed, of course....I didn't want to traumatize E with balloons popping all over the place). I popped the first one, got over my mini-panic attack, and remembered that you have to let some of the air out after you inflate them so they are more workable. The result?

These are the "good" ones...counter-clockwise from the left.

• Pirate sword...not bad, handle needs work.
• Bumble bee...cute, must have a black marker to color stripes on its back or you wouldn't know what it was.
• Hummingbird....very cute, very easy.
• Flower...need green balloons for stem, but the cheap bags I bought didn't come with any green.
• Dog...easy, but needs longer legs.
• Ball...super cool, but took forever to make because I'm afraid of popping the balloons. I'd have to charge about $20 for it at this rate, so I guess I either practice a ton or stick with the simple ones.

So I figure I need to learn a few more, including a balloon hat, and I'll be all set to make, like, a million bucks at next year's event. The only thing is, I will not dress like a clown. I CAN, I just WON'T.