Bead Dynasty: Craft Room Barb and the $5 Mystery Bag
Previously on Bead Dynasty…
Craft Room Barb was sent across the border with a budget, a Hobby Lobby mission and what I can only describe as a very questionable amount of trust.
She came home with beads.
Good beads.
Useful beads.
And against all odds, the Hobby Lobby Experiment was declared a success.
I thought that was the end of it.
Apparently, I have created a monster.
“You Owe Me Five Bucks.”
I stopped in at Barb’s tonight for a quick visit. She’d been away for a few days at her trailer camping, so there was coffee to drink, things to catch up on and probably at least one conversation where Barb would ask me why I needed something craft related.
You know. The usual.
And then, completely out of nowhere, she says:
“You owe me five bucks. I bought you something.”
Excuse me?
Now, anyone who knows Craft Room Barb understands why this statement immediately raised several questions.
What did she buy?
Why did she think I needed it?
And perhaps most importantly, why was I already financially responsible for this purchase before I even knew what it was?
This is Barb.
It could quite literally have been anything.
My curiosity was at its peak. For $5, I could have been the proud new owner of a ceramic squirrel, 14 mismatched buttons, a questionable kitchen gadget or something Barb found at a yard sale and decided I could “probably use for crafting.”
There was no way to know.
Then she pulled out a bag.
A BAG OF BEADS.
Well, well, well.
Look Who's Shopping for Beads Now
Apparently while Barb was away, she stopped at a crafter’s sale. The woman selling the items worked with beads and was downsizing some of her collection.
And Barb — my Barb — looked through the wares, spotted a $5 bag of beads and thought of me.
She bought them.
Without instructions.
Without a carefully prepared shopping assignment.
Without me standing beside her whispering, “No, Barb. Put that back.”
I won't lie. My heart grew a few sizes.
Not just because she thought of me, but because I suddenly realized something much bigger had happened.
Barb is noticing beads in the wild.
This is progress, people.
After the Hobby Lobby Experiment, I knew we'd made some headway. But apparently the programming has continued working even when I’m not around.
She sees beads.
She thinks of me.
She buys the beads.
We are so close.
There are still a few things about Craft Room Barb that I simply cannot fix, but I'm beginning to believe the bead portion of her training may actually be taking hold.
But What Did She Buy Me?
And that brings us to the important question.
What exactly does $5 buy when Craft Room Barb is left completely unsupervised at a crafter's downsizing sale?
Was it treasure?
Was it a bag of completely random beads that will require an intervention?
Did she find something fabulous?
Did she accidentally purchase 400 beads that I will spend the next three years trying to figure out what to do with?
I hadn't opened the bag yet.
And suddenly this innocent little visit had turned into another episode of Bead Dynasty.
Because apparently Barb no longer needs an official experiment.
She's conducting her own.
Money. Power. Pony Beads.
Coming next: The $5 Bag Reveal.
to be continued…
