You Are Your Own Worst Critic...

Nope! Not true here. I don't know whether I can be harsh enough on myself or not. Truth is, I don't even have to be. My husband does it for me. I love the man, but God forbid I show him something I've made. Mere milliseconds after complimenting me on a job well done (or in lieu of), he'll point out a flaw. The other day it was my baguette bread. He's not a baguette fan, so when I told him that was the bread of the day, he wasn't exactly excited. He seemed pleasantly surprised at the flavor when he bit into it. "Pretty good," was his response, I believe. Then, he immediately (and so quickly afterward that I actually didn't hear the "pretty good" till he repeated it a second time) added, "Did you perhaps forget the salt again?" And, no, I hadn't forgotten the salt. I even measured it out as stated in the recipe (instead of the dumping-in-my-hand-that-looks-about-right method that I often use).

Tonight it is my apron. I'm happy to say that it's at least partially assembled (though, the rest will have to wait till tomorrow). I held up the bib part with a smile. The response I got was, "Isn't the pocket a little too high?" Not, "Ooh, those colors look nice together," or "Hey, that'll really accentuate your curves." I'm all for somebody helping me to improve myself, but come on, man, learn when it's best to lie! "Does my butt look big?" "Is my belly too huge?" "Is this bread salted enough?" "Is this pocket too high?" The answer is "No, honey, of course not" (forget the fact that he doesn't call me honey).

I must admit, though, that the subtleties of male-female communication can be tricky for men. I do often ask him specifically how he'd rate my meals (to gauge his interest in ever eating them again). I sometimes go as far as even asking him if he has suggestions for improvement. In these cases, I welcome the criticism. I'm actually asking for it. The sticky part is him knowing when to turn it off. See, when I don't specifically ask, I most likely don't want to know. Just smile and nod, somewhat like if you were a non-native speaker of English whose vocabulary consisted of about 3 words. That's safest, I think.

And, maybe the pocket is a bit too high, but, then again, maybe I would never have noticed or cared had he not been there to point it out to me.