Listen Up Kids, This is Why You Should Stay in School

I come from a business family. I think if you have a head for business, you probably have a head for numbers. I wasn't cut from the same cloth. My father was an accountant, my sisters and brother all involved in business careers. None of my dad's math skills was passed on to me. Math and phonics were my worst subjects in school. I would sit and daydream while the teachers were droning on and on. Well, didn't that come back to bite me in the rear. You see, as a teenager I sat there in class and thought, when will I ever need to know this outside of the classroom. Well, here is an example of maybe a geometry problem.

I saw a simple fabric bucket on the internet. I immediately thought this would be a quick, fun gift for so many people. Well, the pattern was not an online pattern, I couldn't download it. The pattern was only available through mail order and the pattern was out of stock. Rats, I really wanted to make a few over the weekend. How hard can one little bucket be? I mean, after all, it is a rectangle and a circle. Sweet. I can do it. Well, 4 days later and countless redo's I finally had a bucket to give to my boss. My goal was to complete 4 bucket over the weekend. I completed one bucket in 4 days. I decided to use a 7 inch basket from Ikea that I got from quilt retreat as my inspiration. I wanted my bucket to be 7 inches high. Useful as a little sewing trash can. I started out with my measurements plus additional inches to account for trimming. I somehow forgot to trim extra fabric under the embroidery so the basket ended up to be 9 inches tall. I don't think it's very useful. I think I re-cut the bottom of the bucket four to five times to make it fit. The lining was recut and re-sewn at least three times to make it fit.

My husband would die if he knew that I gave this bucket to my boss. He wouldn't think the embroidery design is an appropriate thing to put on there. Well, my boss had a good laugh. She told me that at the last board meeting she was at, she was called "Barbie" since she is always so put together.

So kiddos, pay attention in math class. I'm a fine example of needing math skills to complete simple projects. As you can see, engineering was not in my future.