The "it's Just X" Muggle Mindset Not Just For Cake
Lounge By CeeTee Updated 18 May 2010 , 2:42am by tracycakes
Quick backstory: My love long before cake decorating was scooters. My "first car" was a scooter and I rode up until about 15 years ago when I had a near fatal wreck. (It was not my fault, and the only thing that stopped me from getting another one was a now Ex hubby who was adamant about me never having one) I've literally spent the past year and a half searching for the right scooter and six weeks ago I finally purchased the scooter of my dreams: A Honda Metropolitan. (seriously, I am IN LOVE with this little scoot!)
Since it's just about summer, I need a seat cover to protect my bum since black vinyl seating and 100+ heat are not a good match. pre-made covers for scooters are virtually non-existant, but luckily I found a lady online who does custom orders.
She was great! She went to Joanns one evening and we texted back and forth as she kept sending me photos of fabrics I could choose from so I could get exactly what I wanted. She not only made the cover, but she made matching cell phone and sunglasses pouches from the scraps. I got everything today and the cover is perfect! I'm super happy and everything with shipping cost only $45. (I did offer to pay more because she did such a lovely job, but she didn't take the offer. I do plan to send her some scooter cookies as a thank you gift 
)
When one of my co-workers saw me putting the cover on during my break, she asked about it, and just about freaked when I told her how much I'd spent on it. Her exact words were "Oh my gosh, you got ripped off! That's just two dollars worth of fabric and maybe five minutes worth of sewing!"
*fumes* First, it was NOT two dollar fabric. It was $10 for a yard of it so that's almost a 1/4th of the total cost right there. Plus I was paying for her knowledge and time spent sewing, her custom pattern making, her time, gas, and phone charges for when she went to the store, and shipping.
GAH! I admit I can be a penny pincher when I gotta be, but that just struck a nerve. That mindset of "It's so simple" or "It's just this little thing" just baffles me. Like when we hear "It's just flour, eggs, and sugar. How hard can that be?" (my thought/reply: "Pretty gosh darn hard if you don't know how to do it right!") Needless to say, my co-worker could not understand why her comment irked me.
Blar!! I just had to rant and get that out! I just know all of y'all on here would understand where I'm coming from.
House: Its just some wood, nails and plumbing. The value: Knowing how to put it all together so its liveable.
WEdding Gown: It's just some fabric and thread. THe value: knowing how to stitch it into a wearable piece of art that makes ANY girl feel like a princess. (Otherwise, we'd all get married in blue jeans.)
High school or college diploma: Its just a piece of paper with your name on it. The value: the job you can get WITH one as opposed to without one!
The "its justa" people would think going to mcdonalds was the same as going to Ruth Chris Steakhouse .... after all, it's JUST some cooked cow! 
House: Its just some wood, nails and plumbing. The value: Knowing how to put it all together so its liveable.
WEdding Gown: It's just some fabric and thread. THe value: knowing how to stitch it into a wearable piece of art that makes ANY girl feel like a princess. (Otherwise, we'd all get married in blue jeans.)
High school or college diploma: Its just a piece of paper with your name on it. The value: the job you can get WITH one as opposed to without one!
The "its justa" people would think going to mcdonalds was the same as going to Ruth Chris Steakhouse .... after all, it's JUST some cooked cow!
Love It 
I agree with Doug! (don't I always?? LOL)
I think it would be great to have a spare fabric seat cover, give your friend $2 and have her have a go at it!
This post made me realize that I must love doing things that are oh, so simple!
sewing-zip it up on the Singer-how simple
cake decorating-squeeze some frosting on it-how simple
beading-put some beads on a string-yikes preschoolers do that.
teach first grade-all you need is to be able read and do math on a first grade level, you don't even need to know how to multiply and divide!
oil painting-squeeze some paint from tubes, smear it on a canvas.
Yes! Things are so simple. (unless of course, you are doing them)
oil painting-squeeze some paint from tubes, smear it on a canvas.
Paintings! Good one!!! omg, how could I have forgotten my VanGogh comparison! 
And let's throw in sculptures ... geesh, those are just rocks with some parts chipped away! Where's my hammer? 
No one knows the effort put into a project until THEY are the ones put over said project.
For example, I never knew what all the serving committee chairperson (organizing the post-funeral meal for bereaved families) at our church had to do...until they put me in that position.
No one knows the effort put into a project until THEY are the ones put over said project.
So true! Which is why when my friends ask my help in making a cake or cookies, I am MORE than happy to help them out! (heh heh heh heh!!!!)
My neighbor: wanted to borrow a cake pan. by the time she left, she was loaded down with a pan, two big cooling racks, baking strips, spatula, wilton leveler, decorating bags, tips, couplers, parchment paper, a bottle of wilton's cake release, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. As she staggers under the load she's carrying, she says, "But I only needed a pan!" I said, "No, you need all of this stuff if you're going to do it RIGHT!" 
btw, I gained a life-customer once she saw what was involved. Did the same with a co-worker. Same result.
Friend was going to make her own decorated cookies as her wedding favors. I sent her DETAILED!!!!!!!! instructions on how to do this including a "Debi Does Data" timetable. I think if you printed out the email, it was 3 pages. SHe ended up buying cookies at Kroger for her wedding!
They want to 'learn' what's involved??? I'm HAPPY to educate them! heh heh heh heh!!
No one knows the effort put into a project until THEY are the ones put over said project.
AMEN!
My sister is a seamstress. I -know- what she goes through and how much stuff she has to drag out in order to do a "simple project". I also know what she charges for her work so I know I got a great deal.
BTW, I LOVE everything everyone has said on here!
I'm one of those people who laugh when people say it's just a couple dollars worth of fabric! I've sewn a lot of things and know the time involved to do it right.
Luckily I grew up in the kind of family where you learned the skill to turn the fabric into something beautiful. Or flour and sugar into something tasty.
People are always amazed at things my hubby and I will tackle but when you are broke you learn to do a lot of things and save your money for those skills you done have! And I sure don't mind paying for those skills!
One of my best customers is a woman that took a cake decorating class last summer. She didn't have one qualm about paying my price for the 50th BD cake for her husband. The first thing she did when she saw me to order it was bow down (jokingly) because she realized how "easy" it was to make a cake.
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