DIY Decorating Tip: Always wear protective eyewear

It was the last night of VBS, and I was done. All my nice had run out, it was after 10 p.m., and I was tired! We were doing the last of the VBS tear down and un-decorating. The decorating is always fun but the un-decorating…not so much. So we were on the last room, and I was standing on a step stool to cut down some inflatable blow-up marine animals that were hanging from these circle things…



The circle things are part of the normal décor. When we came up with our theme for preschool church, we decided to go with a jungle theme and call it Jungle Journey…where kids are wild about God. (And sometimes the kids are just plain wild about everything.) Sumer and I placed all of these circles (placemats) on binder rings and fishing line, got on a scissor lift and hung them up. It was quite a job, but Alicia will tell you that I’m always willing to drive the scissor lift. And it’s true because not everyone can put scissor lift operator on their resume.

The ceiling in the Jungle Journey room is high…like 30 feet high and the scissor lift only went so high. So we tied a very large, heavy bolt to the end of the line and then tossed it over the pipes that are on the ceiling. It worked great, and we were quite proud of our design on a dime idea…placemats, fishing line, binder rings, and bolts! (Honestly, I had a phone consult with CraftiMama. I told her my vision, and she told me how to make it happen.)

Anyhoo, back to VBS. I was standing on the step stool, stretching my arms to cut the string and looking straight up. My scissors must have tugged a little too hard because the circles starting falling and the bolt at the end of the fishing line hit me in the eye (from a very high distance).

And then Kim, Alicia and Ashley got to witness the most dramatic episode of VBS 2010…

It kind of happened like this…

I dove from the step stool, straight to the floor, grabbing my eye and screaming…..oh, oh, oh, oh, my eye, my eye, my eye! Ashley and Alicia came running over to me, and Kim went to grab a phone. I waited for a moment for the pain to subside. At this point, I was wondering if I still had an eyeball? The bolt had hit my eye so hard that I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. Pain, loss of eyeball, blood, trip to the ER, etc. I sat up and there was confirmation of a small amount of blood and a tiny cut. And then I slowly opened my eye, and I received confirmation that my eyeball was still intact.

And it was at this time that someone started to laugh a bit because I was sitting on the floor crying, mascara running down my face, and I was dressed like this...

Quite a sight...it was a crazy day indeed :)