Sometimes you should just say NO...

I got a call at 4:00 yesterday afternoon from a guy I know at the local sports commission. They are having an NCAA tennis tournament here next week and he needed a favor. Post-tournament on Monday and Thursday, there will be banquets for the players. He wanted to know if I could make 15 centerpieces for the tables. I am not sure if he just found out or if the person who was going to do them and had passed on my name had just backed out at the last minute. As usual, my mouth was forming the words "Sure, No problem" while my head is still pondering what I am agreeing to and do I really want to do this. Thoughts like, "aren't you going out of town Wednesday and will need to wash, pack, and do the ritual cleaning of the house" wandered through my head along with "you have tennis Saturday and Sunday when are you going to do this". Oh, not a problem at all, I say. I am terminally agreeable. I endears me to many people (mostly people who need volunteers and last minute help) but truly is a disease in which I wish I could occasionally have the fortitude to say NO.

You would think perhaps I have made centerpieces before to get a referral. You would be wrong. My thing is baking so am not entirely clear on why my name was tossed into the ring. I was told the person said I was creative and might be able to do it. Partially true. I will admit it. I have a crafty side in my head even if I don't use it.

The only specifics I was given were:
1. There is a budget of $450
2. Make it a tennis theme.
3. The NCAA logo is blue and white

I googled to get some ideas. There wasn't much out there but did get me to thinking which was what I needed. Mad dash to Hobby Lobby and Walmart after making dinner and tending to my better half who was somehow paralyzed with back pain. Not sure what he did but I slapped a self adhesive thermacare on his back and went to the store (I know, I felt bad... I did buy him a heating pad while at Wal-Mart). I still wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do so basically decided to see what they had at Ho-Lo and go from there. I was ecstatic to find EXACTLY 15 vases in the size I needed - WOO HOO! The rest was just a mix-up of flowers and fillings.

So here is a picture of my den after I tossed my Hobby Lobby purchases all over it...



Some half finished vases as I started to pull my plan together...



He asked me to send him a picture of what I was doing to make sure we were on the same page before I did all 15. I was hoping he would be OK with the plan since there was literally no other ideas in my head if he didn't like this one. Luckily, I got the return e-mail proclaiming it to be "GREAT!" so I was off and running with the other 14.



and the finished products. Now, I am the one with the hurting back. Maybe Rick can slap a thermacare on me!