A Swanky Tail Tale

Once in awhile I emerse myself in a project that takes me away from all reason and sanity. It takes me to a place of mania, mayhem, and madness.

For over a year I have had a looming project. She has stared at me from the corners of my garage and spoken softly to me every time I moved her. Every so often I would think, "I should get that done." But always I would put it off like some surgical procedure that I was afraid to have done. Finally, the day arrived when my little determined heart got up the courage to attack the project head on. I told the Pink Lady, "I have set a date." In layman's terms that's "Stacey" for "I will be doing nothing till this project is done!"

I took the pony from the garage and prepped a table in my front room for the procedure. Now some of you who know me well, understand that putting a project in the middle of one of my rooms is dangerous. This is because I HATE things out of order. So having this plastic mare in my front room was a huge motivator. And yes, you heard me right a white plastic horse now occupied my front room. She was going to become one of the Pink Lady's treasures. At the time she didn't look it.

My sister was originally supposed to take on this project, however she didn't quite understand our lovely Pink Lady's conception of the task at hand. Trying to convey her ideas is like trying to explain the inner workings of a satalite to an infant. It is really tough to do without a translator. But sometimes I often think that translators must get frustrated and want to do the task themselves to avoid having to try to find the right words to accomplish whatever job is needing to be done. For this reason I decided to take over for my sister. I have trekked into that dangerous mind of the Pink Lady, and although I don't understand everything I can see glimpses of her vision.

I decided to just dive in head first. The saddle of a carousel horse is generally the most ornate portion of the fantasy. The saddle on this horse is of Spanish design and therefore not the swirly, girly, frilly, frothy type that my Pink person wanted. However it's what I had to work with. So my first version of this horse wasn't exactly what she wanted.

We headed to the computer and took that journey into Pink Lady's imagination......that dangerous place, her mind. We finally found something she swooned over. After entertaining the thought of maybe buying a whole different horse and then realizing that would be extrememly expensive. We moved forward. This time I said to myself I am going to paint this thing and get it over and done with.

At one point I met Pink Princess in the Hobby Lobby to pick out some trimmings. I thought that it would add a touch of life if we added some fringe or tassles to our saddle to make it more frilly, frothy, and fancy. So I brought the horse with me, which at this point had been named Fancy Fanny, because I had painted rather large roses on her butt. So with a horse in my cart I spent about three to four hours at the Hobby Lobby (my new favorite store). By the time I left I had received hugs from the lady at the cutting counter and two cashiers. I must have had a look of absolute defeat on my face.

I came back home and attacked the project head on. Poor William didn't get any cuddles from me. As long as that horse was in the house I was consumed with nothing else. I had even commissioned him to create a stand that the horse would need. While he was working on that project I had to tend to something in the house, I think one of the kids needed me for something. A few minutes later William comes into the house to inform me he needed a bandaid because he had just shot himself in the finger with the nail gun. After my complete and utter panic had subsided, I realized that he had already pulled the nail out of his finger and all I had to do was slap a gauze bandage on him. Drama Drama Drama

Now more than ever, I wanted that horse to go home to Pink Lady. I was a woman with a mission. I finished her up and without so much as a "how do you like her" I took her home. I was praying that Pink Lady would love her, but at the same time dreading her first meeting because I feared that she wouldn't like her and I would have to start all over again. Alas, she told me Fancy Fanny was perfect so we installed her pole and stared at her for an hour or so.

Of course there is the promise of my return to Fancy Fanny because we have yet to find a proper finial and ribbons for her to complete her look of perfection.

It has been suggested by Pink Lady and my mother that maybe I should paint more of these maddening mares to make a profit. However this is a venture I plan to never do again. I stared into the eyes of a pink horse, painted her butt with large pink roses, and glued lace to her saddle. I think I have done all I can in the world of equine fantasy. When I finished that horse it was like seeing "The End" at the conclusion of a Tim Burton film. You are completely relieved it's over.