MAKE DO AND
MEND CREATE
Perhaps it was because we were brought up during wartime years when everything was in short supply, and everyone learned to “Make Do and Mend”, or, as I’m inclined to believe: we all got a heavy dose of the “Creative Curse”.
You can be blessed with the urge to become a
writer, or a musician, or an artist, or many other creative endeavours, it only
becomes a creative curse when you are showered with so many different urges and
capabilities that you have no specialty.
At one time, this ability was referred to as “Jack of All Trades” with
the last portion of this phrase being “Master of None”. As I am one of the Jacks that I will be
referencing in the following stories, I object to that last portion.
There was a time when I was in a very deep well
of grief that prompted my Covey to decide that I needed activity and
creativity, so working individually and collectively many creative big and
small endeavours were attempted. There
was a big job: purchasing, renovating and selling a house, and then, there were smaller efforts which I’ll start
with first.
As a person always on the look-out for a bargain I think I hit the motherload when I heard that the department store Simpsons was selling off all their old Christmas display decorations in preparation for a new decorating theme. There they were: masses of green, red and silver, sparkly, shimmering pieces of plastic all shoved into large tea-chest sized boxes.
You know the kind of
box: about 4-foot-tall and 2-foot side walls.
Each box was priced at $5.00. I
wanted them all, but my Ex insisted that he could only get two in the car.
For a while, two bulging boxes full of
Christmas cheer, sat innocently in the garage as I tried to figure out what
could be done with this enormous amount of glitz.
Then the creative urge hit! I can’t recall who had this brilliant
idea. Possibly LS. However, the “who” is not as important as the
“what”. It seems we had the means and
the opportunity to make our fortune selling Christmas Centrepiece decorations
at the local flea market! So, we let the
creative curse take over as we began taking apart and reattaching these glitzy
elements into some extremely unique and glorious household decorations.
Hard at Work - Creating! |
Naturally, we had no intention of making this a life time endeavour. Our plans were to make a quick killing with the available ten dollars worth of materials from the tea boxes plus a purchased box of Plaster of Paris. This meant that the containers for the centrepieces were garnered from whatever we could find that looked suitable. There was no rhyme or reason to the selection, it might be a cup, or a saucer, in some instances it might even be Christmas coloured. Mainly though, it just had to be at hand.
Creations completed, flea market
space booked for a two-day weekend, hair curled and fluffed up to a dazzling
degree, LS and I set out to strike it rich.
Saturday was a tiring but
successful day, lots of interest and lots of sales. We had hoped to sell everything on this first
day but we still had a fair amount of inventory for the next day. Sunday rolled around and although by days-end
we had depleted our stock there were still some items that would need to be
taken home. Taking stuff back was not in
our plans! We couldn’t just abandon it,
so we sold it all at a reduced price to our neighbouring booth, and then went
home to count our money.
Counting our Money |
It could have been when we were flush from our success at the Christmas decorating, or it may have been earlier when we made some amazing Styrofoam creations which we sold at a larger venue.
I wish we still had some pictures
of these creations. Children’s names
were popular, but so were the colourfully painted character cut-outs. How we became interested in this endeavour is
no longer available to my memory bank, but certain little titbits stand
out. For some reason, my youngest
daughter’s teacher and her husband play a part as information providers. LLB features heavily as the electrical expert. Styrofoam can be cut with a serrated knife
but if you want fine-smooth-edges it needs a heated wire. LLB’s constructed a two-person cutting
platform where LS and I could work together.
Somehow, amongst this array of activity, LS and I managed to purchased a rundown rooming house to renovate and once again make our fortune. The only stipulation that LS insisted on was that she did not wish to work evenings or weekends – she had a life to live. We soon realised that this stipulation was not going to happen because evenings and weekends became our busiest times. This was one creative endeavour that sucked the entire Covey into its vortex.
Contractor's Van |
LB became our contractor, LLB became our electrician and every other family member who could stand upright, hold a paintbrush or a hammer was called into service.
Partial Crew |
It soon became apparent that we should not have been so cavalier accepting
offers of hammer holding. LS’s help in
this regard necessitated major correction after a glancing strike resulted in
lots of unwanted running water.
Nevertheless, we did renovate
this house. We did pass government
inspection (albeit with a lot of smiles and eyelash batting from LS). We did
sell it. What we didn’t do was make our
fortune, but that was never the real goal.
The real goal was achieved: I’d had no chance to think, my Covey had
kept me busy for a few more months.