My name's Trevor, and I suffer from CBH

Good evening, crafty types.  Mandy said its strange to post on Friday night because Saturday is not a big blog day (I guess everyone's busy), but hey, I'm a man blog, right?  I don't have to follow convention.

Back in January Mandy sent me a link with the caption "my birthday list - - I"m giving you a long heads up..."  The link went to plans for this craft desk.  I thought "that's strange, why would she want plans for her birthday?" I had big plans - I would have them printed in COLOR and then bound and wrap them up nicely.  I'm thoughtful that way.  Then in April she sent me the SAME link with a short note that simply said "just a reminder."  I knew then that she really wanted those plans, and being the DH that I am, I'd deliver.

Fast forward.  Earlier this week I realized that this would be a 4-day weekend and I sent Mandy an email asking what she wanted to do with the extra time.  You know, camping with the kids, hang out with my brother, see Avengers or something.  Mandy sent me a reply with the SAME desk link and this comment :  "hint hint  my dreams would come true....it says it's a day project, estimated 6-9 hours, so maybe it could get knocked out on Friday - - the kids could help and contribute  :)" [editor's note:  there are at least 4 false statements in this quote.]

Somewhere in my man mind a small warning siren started going off, getting louder and louder until it screamed "SHE WANTS THE DESK YOU DUMMY, NOT PLANS!"  This was confirmed Wednesday when I got home and she had already printed off the plans.  I quickly recovered and told I'd do it in a day.  If Ana White thought it was a 6-9 hour job, I'd knock it out in 3 hrs max.

So this morning I picked up the wood and after a few errands and stalling techniques, started working around 11:30 AM.  Of course, the first thing I had to do was clean out garage.  [Little secret here...I love cleaning the garage.  It's my man cave.  I could spend hours arranging and rearranging the tools, optimizing the peg board layout, finding studs in the walls for more hangers...]  Then I hung two more shop lights that I'd been meaning to get to. I snuck them into the lumber purchase [craft blog money - don't tell Mandy]. 

Now it's 1:30 PM and I get started on the project.  But no worries, 3 hr project.  Max.  I start by ripping the plywood and cutting all the boards.  The something very strange happened.  This weird feeling came over me, and my thinking became blurred.  My focus shifted from the project to...the blog post.  Everything circled around the post.  It wasn't "how will I get these three 1x2's to line up evenly" it was "how will I capture this step for the post."  Have you ever tried swimming in jello?  Yes?  Good, then you know what I mean.  I then understood why a 6-9 hour estimate could get slapped on a 3 hour project. Instead of mentally working three steps ahead like I usually do in order to shave out some inefficient steps, I was mentally thinking "this would make a great Instagram!" or "I wonder if I'll go viral with this on Pinterest?"

Some of you might have experienced this feeling before.  I asked Mandy about it and she responded with a knowing smile, "It's perfectly normal, dear."  What's happening to me?  I even started to take artsy pictures of my progress!

Turns out that this is a common, well documented phenomenon.  It's called "craft bloggers haze", more commonly referred to as CBH.  Symptoms include constant photo taking; spending long hours online; typing with toddlers hanging on their legs; using children as craft models; having Pinterest, Facebook, Blogger and Stumbleupon open simultaneously; and using phrases like "super cute."  I should have known it was coming.  I think I caught it from Mandy. 

Since this was my first bout with CBH, I managed to fight through it and work until about 10:30 PM.  Minus breaks I'm 5 hours into my 3 hour project.  I estimate 2 more hours tomorrow to finish.  Unless I go through another episode of  CBH.