The Parts You Don't See

I made ribs for dinner last night.  I was on my rib A game.  I came home during lunch to put the rub on the ribs so they'd have plenty of time to absorb it.  I was diligent with the meat thermometer, cooking them to the perfect medium rare temperature.  Everything seemed to be going great.  Then I tasted the rub {which was applied thick enough to be a legitimate crust}.  Sometime was wrong.  The mixture was entirely too salty.  Initially I thought that I'd tasted a part that just happened to have too much salt.  With horror dawning, I realized the entire rub was like a giant salt lick.  I raced through all of the ingredients in the rub, and realized...I'd completely left out the sugar.  My perfect ribs were basically coated in 1/4 a cup of salt and some seasonings.  At that point there really isn't much you can to salvage them.  I scraped off as much of the mess as I could and wiped them down with a damp cloth, but the damage was done.  They had absorbed too much of the salt fest.  They were palatable with a {generous} dosing of homemade barbeque sauce, but otherwise were almost inedible.

My early cooking days with my younger cousin, who has always been like a sister to me.

The situation was a reminder to me that everyone, at some point in time, screws something up royally.  In blog land and on Pinterest {specifically}, it's easy to see all of these beautiful projects, pictures, food presentations, clothing ensembles, etc. and judge yourself by those standards.  When I first started using Pinterest, it zapped my creativity.  I felt so untalented and pedantic compared to all of those beautiful pictures.  What I didn't think about was how many "salty ribs" the authors had gone through before they finally got it right.

Stump project...currently waiting on a chainsaw to finish

I post craft projects frequently, and I often detail the steps.  What I generally don't mention are the crying breakdowns, the complete do-overs, the "I'm never going to finish this effing project" thoughts  I experience all the time.  And that's a pity.  A friend of mine once remarked to me that he read all of my blogs postings, but would never try any of them.  He was convinced he'd already failed.  But, for as many successful projects I post, there are dozens of other flops.

Half sanded in my office since March 2011.  Determined to get it up before school starts.

Creativity doesn't always pan out.  Sometimes you end up with a huge pile of useless wood veneer and a sad attempt at a lampshade (me).  Sometimes you're going to end up with the best thing you've ever created.  You're going to have to accept the failures to realize the successes.

The bane of my existence.  Still working on plans to get this damn thing to work.

I have an intense fear of failure regarding most things in life.  I've never actually played baseball/t-ball because even as a small child I was paralyzed with fear about not hitting the ball.  As an adult, I've realized this shortcoming and am working really hard at being ok with just trying something.  It's not easy for a perfectionist, but I don't want to leave this earth having been too scared to try.

Nothing really is going wrong with this painting, other than it's take a ludicrously long time to finish...considering it's smaller than a sheet of paper.

So go make mistakes.  Screw up projects.  Pile them behind your big ugly chair.  You never know when you're going to create a masterpiece.