Feeling like a failure

Last week, I was trying to help a co-worker, a single mom with three children, after she just moved into a new house. It was the cutest little thing, and each child would get to have his or her own room.

First, I spent a day sewing curtains from fabric I had at home. I went to Walmart to see if I could find some fabric on sale, bought one item, but realized most of the curtain rods I liked were out of my price range. I was most excited, however, over some lace fabric I found for very little money.

When I got home, I had the idea of combining the lace fabric with some sheer blue fabric that was in my closet. The effect was great – just perfect for the mother’s room since it faces the street. It would block out curious eyes but still let in some light.

Since I didn’t have any measurements, I just guestimated the size of the bedroom windows. Cute little houses have tiny little windows, right? Wrong.

I drove the family home Tuesday evening so I could see my work – they are without a car since theirs broke a couple of weeks ago. I brought two café rods that would go inside the window frame for the sheers in the master bedroom (aka the dining room). I rushed inside and held up the curtains – they were several inches too short in width. Together with the middle child, a daughter, I ran upstairs to see if the curtains would fit in her room since she had smaller windows. Again, I struck out. Of course, one of them would have fit in the smallest window, but the curtain rod was too big for that one.

On Wednesday, I was determined to do some good to help this family out. I picked up an IKEA Allen wrench from my toolbox to take with me to work so I could at least help one of the daughters put together her bed. She had been sleeping on the floor for several days. Then I said to myself, I better bring the whole toolbox, just in case.

I stopped by Home Depot to look at curtain rods since I had some money left on a gift card, but I struck out on that as well. Turns out, they had no rods that looked decent for less than $17 – and that’s for just one rod, one window. Unbelievable (of course, here we go again with the “window treatments.”) I gave up and walked out.

When I took my evening break (which rarely happens), I announced to the mother that I was going to her house to help the girls with the bed. “Great!” she said. A few minutes later, I was standing with both girls in front of the bedroom door – it was locked. Nobody knew where the keys were.

An hour later – after taking off the door handle and putting back on – we found the keys and got into the room. While the girls got the bed pieces together, I went to my toolbox to grab the Allen wrench – it wasn’t there.

Somehow, debating over the tool or the whole toolbox, I must have left it out. It was still at home. Another failed day.

On Thursday, I brought TWO wrenches, and the bed was finally put together that night. And on Friday, I got to take the oldest daughter to her middle school prom. So I guess the week picked up after all. But they still don’t have any curtains that fit.