Long Day

Today, I...

~ Made 3 8x10 canvases
~ Made a canvas-covered mini-book
~ Baked 2 pumpkin pies
~ Made a HUGE mixing bowl full of hand-whipped cream
~ Cooked a VAT of mashed potatoes
~ Yelled at my son and my husband a lot
~ Still feel like poo
~ Wish it was tomorrow now

I am so, so tired.

My in-laws have had a rough year. In August, just before her birthday, they lost their family matriarch (Mike's grandmother). It hit everyone really, really hard. Then, just after Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law lost her mother to cancer. The following week, my mother-in-law's uncle passed. Happy holidays, right?

So, early this week, my mother-in-law called and asked if I would make some kind of "tribute" to these people to display at her house for Christmas (which is being held this evening). She specifically wanted this poem on there (if you click on that link, turn your volume down). I spent 3 days wondering how I was going to fit that entire poem, three funeral programs and pictures on a 12x12 piece of paper, and then finally realized that I wasn't. I got 3 8x10 canvases and went to town (pictures will come later..).

Here's where I'm going with this: I honestly don't feel like I did this project justice. I didn't know these people. Mike's grandmother and I were fairly close, but I'd never met Monique's mother, and I only met Gilbert once - at our wedding. How do you make a fitting tribute to someone you don't know? I should have put my heart and soul into something like this, and it became a test of aesthetics (does this fit here? no? let's move it here..).

So the end result is that they're very happy with it (or at least that's what they said), but I feel like it was completely inadequate. I think I'm just doomed to NOT like my own work. Ever. It's a sad thing.