Tripped At The Finish Line

I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath to hear how my Super Craft Saturday turned out. Well, that can be summed up in a few words.

All hail procrastination.

I have been running for weeks trying to stay on top of everything going on in my life. But, apparently, I should have started running sooner, treated life more like a half-marathon than a 100 meter dash, or at very least more like a relay and passed on the baton more frequently. At any rate, I tripped at the finish line and fell rather flat on my face. (I think I'm out of running metaphors now.)

We had too many projects to begin with. I knew that. I just didn't know how to trim them down any farther, especially since so many of them involved the same set of skills with minor variations. I'd say at least half of the projects (and the most popular two by far) involved vinyl stickers. We had permission from RM's employer to use their plotter to cut our vinyl. We just had to supply our own vinyl, transfer tape, etc. Life being what it is, we didn't have a chance to actually use the machine until Friday night.

We got there an hour later than expected. We had a problem with the files and had to reformat them before we could try cutting. Then, when we were finally able to start cutting (after 11pm) we discovered the blade on the plotter was so dull that it started to shred our vinyl. (Good thing I accidentally over-bought.) It was after midnight when I texted my Relief Society President and asked her to call me if she was still up. She did and I explained about the dull blade and that all the stores that carry replacement blades wouldn't be open again until Monday. She was very reassuring and said that it would be okay. We'd just have to have a midweek activity sometime soon to finish them up. She told me to come home and go to bed. Which I did. But, not until after 2am.

To add insult to injury, every RS Super Saturday in the valley must have decided to do marble magnets, because the marbles have been sold out for weeks. I called every day last week, 2-3 times a day to see if the expected shipment had arrived. No luck. So, I guess we'll do the magnets sometime after the marbles come in. Sigh.

I was SO looking forward to having this project done. Then I was pretty much off the hook until after New Year as far as big church responsibilities go. I guess now we just do our best to get this project over before Thanksgiving. And, yes, it might take that long because I don't know how to fix our vinyl problem. I have a few options, but I still don't know how to resolve this.

Option 1: Wait for RM's work to replace the blade on the machine. I have no idea when they'll get around to doing this and it's not like I can demand they fix it so that I, the wife of a contract employee, can use it for an outside project.

Option 2: Buy a replacement blade for the machine ourselves. The thing is that they cost $60-70 or more. Not sure this is the best use of my funds. If we are going to lay out that much cash, we might as well look at Option 3.

Option 3: Buy my own plotting machine. We very seriously considered this after using the company's machine to cut out our prototype projects. I really wish I had, then I wouldn't have found myself in the mess I made last week. However, the machines are rather spendy, starting in the ballpark of $300. (You can occasionally find better prices if you hunt online, but if you want the "instant" gratification of walking out of a store with it in your hot little hands, you'll pay more.) Fancier models, sturdier models, larger models can all range into the thousands of dollars. I still haven't quite been able to classify this as a need instead of a want, though I'm not alone in wanting. RM can see numerous applications in his world of engineering and would love to play with the machine too. And, I could, once I owned the machine, make use of it in a part-time business kind of way. But, I worry that I'm not creative enough on my own, without reworking others' ideas, to do that sort of thing and the thought of running the business end kinda stresses/depresses me.

Option 4: Find another plotting machine that someone is willing to let me use to cut my stuff.

In any case, we need to figure out what we are doing soon. I'd love to hear your opinions.

The rest of the projects went rather well, I think. I seemed like I was forever running from table to table answering questions and explaining projects. I also spent more time than I had hoped trying to find all the supplies. They were all in the building, just not all with their kin. (Again, all hail organization, or the lack thereof.) Still, everyone seemed understanding of the situation and rolled with the punches, so I can't feel too bad.

But, truth be told, the after-project-high of a job well done just isn't there.