Right now, I am sitting at home trying to prove my friend SMC WRONG WRONG WRONG. Of course, I'm cheating by putting it on my blog because I know that she will read it because it will pop up on her blog dashboard, but she is still wrong!

Here's why:

The other day I went into this gallery to get something reframed. (I always love going there and I always love hanging around a little. Fun Company + Great Advice = I'm A Greedy Girl.)

However, lately, because of some recent experiences (combined with some recent conversations, including one with HerSelf) I have been trying to be more "determined." (Does it get any more ironic than trying to be more determined?) And, I've been trying to be lower maintenance as a customer, client, whatever. I say lower because let's face it, when you're like me, shooting for low maintence is just a lofty goal at which to miserably fail ...in a meteoric way. Frankly, I'd also be concerned about the rebound effect.

(I should get credit all the way around for this current attempt.)

Here's how it usually works: I go in to get something framed (or reframed) and SMC shows me about 5,783 options which are all very similar...because she is a master. I then proceed to slowly narrow them down by removing about two or three at a time and then, I wind up choosing one of the first two she suggested.

(Someone who reads this MIGHT remember my mother.)

Although SMC is in the business of selling artwork valued at very substantial thousands of dollars she patiently stands there showing me choice after choice: a silver frame with an off-white mat, a white-washed silver frame with a white-ish mat, a brushed silver frame with a beige-tinted white mat, a goldish-silver grey frame with...you get the picture, no pun intended.

I choose everything she pretty much has suggested (I think), I leave, and then I call her within 24 hours to question my decision and she spends even more time reassuring me. Can it get more complicated?

It can.

Let's remember that I brought in the last piece thinking I was going to become more of a DECIDER, and with my new commitment to being lower maintenance. It meant I had to pay closer attention to what was being said AND I had to reject the possibility of more choices.

Combined with the fact that SMC knows me pretty well now, this has completely set me up.

She knows I'm not good at picturing things, she knows I have a hard time making up my mind, and she knows I like to think about things and then I change my mind.

(She was the one who told me this and because I had to pay closer attention to everything that was said, I heard it very clearly. I have considered whether my feelings are hurt but I've decided -- being the DECIDER that I am -- it doesn't matter. On the other hand, I have a bathroom vanity which requires a stepstool...so maybe it does matter. Well, maybe it doesn't matter so long as someone like her is around.)

But she's still wrong.

Although I can't remember the color of the mat of the piece I brought in and I can't remember if I considered whether that will look good with the frame I wanted which was supposed to match the other piece, and I can't figure out if that will look good in that color frame, I am NOT reconsidering this.

I was lost on back roads in Goffstown, NH in a foot of unplowed snow and I was thinking about that frame but I did NOT call SMC. I think that is profound self-restraint and I await your enthusiastic applause. Except for this sneaky little blog thing, I am not calling her.

I remain calm.