Oh, Joy

A short postscript--while driving home today, I passed a pet supply store with a sign propped up on the fence that said "JOY dog food." Oh great--now I have animal feed named after me.

Light in the Tunnel

I see light, and I don't think it's an oncoming train. This weekend, I should put the finishing touches on the window seat and check that project off my list. And after next week, I will be off work for 5 days, which should enable me to get some real work done on the final hutch.

It's a good thing I don't know anything about garage doors, because if I did, I would be spending this weekend trying to fix ours. As it turns out, the springs have broken -- again. Rather than spending a fortune replacing them this time (as we've done in the past), we decided to bite the bullet and replace the door.

It's been a long time coming. It's an old, heavy, wooden model that just bears too much on those springs. The repairman (yes, it was a man) told us more than 5 years ago that we needed to replace the door. But it cost about 6 times more to replace the door than the springs. So we kept "springing" for the temporary fix. This time, though, we decided enough was enough. That old door was not only spring impaired, it was also getting cracked, warped, and needed a new paint job. Its time had come and gone.

I'm not as upset about the money as I am about having to be without my garage access til next Wednesday. It will be a total of 7 days! Fortunately, my car was already outside when it happened. But my husband's pickup is stuck inside. (We've been told by the experts to leave the broken door down at all costs til it's removed.)

It's a good thing I'm not doing painting in the garage this weekend-- now that would be a fume death trap!

I Feel Good!

Like the wonderful old James Brown song goes, "I feel good" today! After putting the final coat of paint on the inside of the window seat yesterday, this afternoon I attached the two fixed top left and right pieces, then screwed in the other side of the hinge. The top lifts up and down--like it's supposed to! It's LEVEL!! And it feels sturdy! And you can STILL reach your hand and arm behind the seat (when the top is up) to plug and unplug cords from the electrical outlet. Ta-da!!!

I'm taking a well-deserved 30-minute break now before going back to work to trim my shims (what a rhyme!) and relevel and install the left desk cabinet (which had to be moved until the window seat was installed and painted).

Next phase of the project (you thought it was finished, didn't you?!) is cutting and installing some exterior trim for the seat area. Even though the top will be covered by a thick cushion, I want to fill the gaps between the seat top and the desk cabinet sides. I also need to install a toe kick in the front.

After that, it's paint the window trim white to match the seat/desks/hutch units, then on to build the final hutch section. Maybe by Christmas???? Let's be optimistic!

Redskins 14, Cowboys 13

Way to Go, Coach Gibbs! We're back!!

Teaching Kids to Build

I never knew there was anything called a Festival of the Building Arts, but I'm glad that someone is trying to get kids interested in that sort of thing. I'm no fan of the Washington Times newspaper, but its article on the festival gives a good overview of the event.

What Was I Doing?

My 11-year-old daughter received a "learn to crochet" kit about a year ago, and she dove right into the scarf project it contained. Within about a week, though, she had put it aside to focus on something else. The crochet kit sat untouched in her room, then somehow made it to her closet in a hidden corner.

A few weeks ago, when she was in one of her "I'm bored" moods, I suggested that she finish her crocheted scarf. She jumped at the thought, and before long had rediscovered the long-gone kit. Unfortunately, the passage of time had also caused the passing of her knowledge about the crochet process. Since the directions were also long gone, we looked up "how to crochet" online and refamiliarized ourselves with the procedure. After a few minutes of trying out the steps, she realized how poorly her first attempt had been. So she unraveled what little bit of the scarf she had completed so long ago and started over.

She crocheted madly, and soon she had completed a nice-looking belt rather than a scarf. No matter, it was cute, she liked it, and I helped her make some fringe. When she tried it on, she was hooked. (No pun intended!) "I want to make another one for Faith," she said, referring to her best friend. Within minutes, she had also decided to crochet a baby blanket for her cousin's soon-to-be-born baby, a scarf for the elderly widower across the street, and lots of belts to sell at school.

Clearly, she was on a roll. So when she begged me to take her shopping for more yarn, I obliged. I was just glad she was interested in something other than the TV or computer. We went to Hobby Lobby, and she bought baby yarn, some purple fluffy yarn for belts, a larger crochet hook, and an easy pattern book. She couldn't wait to get home and start on the projects.

She spent the rest of that afternoon wildly crocheting the baby blanket. She even worked on it in bed before falling asleep. The next day, Sunday, she crocheted more on the baby blanket, then stopped to start on the purple belt. Unfortunately, she quickly found out that the fuzzy yarn made it nearly impossible for her to see where she was placing the crochet hook, so she gave that one up. Back to the baby blanket for the rest of the day, when she wasn't playing or eating, that is.

The next day, being Monday, meant an end to the crocheting for a while. School and homework left no time for crafts. When Saturday rolled around, she slept late, then wanted to play outside. Then she wanted to read, to draw, to cook, and to talk on the phone. I gamely suggested that she pick up her crocheting while she watched TV, but she said, "Later." After a while, I gave up. And so, apparently, did she.

It's been over a month now, and the baby blanket is still unfinished. The purple yarn hasn't even been cut, and the belts were never made and sold. When I asked her about it, she said she wasn't interested in it any more.

Now, I suppose I could point fingers here and say she just can't stick to anything. But sometimes I run into the same problem. I have trouble sticking to my own projects, yet it's not for lack of interest. It's usually lack of time, and then lack of mental capacity! You see, if I don't work on a project for a while, I have trouble remembering how to do it. Like Amelia and her crocheting, I can't recall the process at worst, or where I left off at best.

This all leads to my reason for today's posting. I worked on the window seat today, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember what I was supposed to do. I knew I had been waiting for paint to dry (story of my life), but I knew I had bought some wood for something--but what? After cutting and fooling around with the stuff for about an hour, I finally remembered that the wood was to build some new support pieces for the seat top. Of course by then, I had cut it too short and couldn't use it.

I need about a month of vacation to spend undivided time on my projects, so I can compete them without forgetting what they are and how to do them! As I get older, my brain's rewind button just doesn't function as well as it used to. Perhaps it's lack of sufficient sleep or just plain aging. I guess it doesn't matter. What does matter is that I finish SOMETHING. Because there's always a new project waiting around the bend--if I can remember it.

Half a Hinge

Well, half a hinge is better than no hinge, right? Maybe not. Oh well, at least I got one side of the thing screwed in this weekend. I still have to put one more coat of paint on the other side of the wood before I can screw in the opposite side of the hinge.

I took great pains to refit everything before I plunged the drill bit into the hinge holes. It never ceases to amaze me that I can level everything perfectly, then come back a week later and it's out of kilter ever so slightly--but that ever so slight aberration makes an ever so huge difference! I spent about two hours fixing the thing before I could do the half hinge.

That kind of stuff makes me unhinged! And when you're already menopausal, that's the last thing you need :-)

Role Reversal

We invited some neighbors over for a Labor Day cookout this week. The husband is a skilled woodworker in his spare time, so I excitedly updated him and his wife about my current project. The man is also a hot pepper lover, which meant that my husband, Scott, shared his recipe for homemade hot pepper shake, made from his homegrown peppers.

Scott waxed on and on about his pepper patch and told the couple that he used his dehydrator--a birthday gift last year--to dry them before grinding into the pepper shake. Knowing that I had received a table saw for Christmas last year and a router for a birthday present, the wife started to chuckle. "You get a table saw and he gets a dehydrator," she laughed. "Now that's a role reversal!"

Yeah, I guess it is. But it's one that's fine with me!

House in a Box

Habitat for Humanity is doing what it does best--build houses for those who need them. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the organization is launching Operation Home Delivery. Through the program, Habitat will mass-produce "homes in a box," disassemble them, and ship them to areas that will need massive rebuilding efforts along the coast. Volunteers will then reassemble the homes onsite.

The program will be piloted in Jackson, Mississippi. Plans call for the project to get underway after the initial response and recovery missions of the rescue workers are complete and rebuilding has begun.

Good for Lowe's

Lowe's is coming to the aid of Hurricane Katrina victims with a promise to match customer donations to the Red Cross up to $2 million.

Visit Red Cross to donate.

Hinging Hijinks

After taking a break of several days from the window seat, I went back to work for a while today, trying to figure out how to hinge the seat top. I ordered a custom 60" piano hinge online since the ones from Home Depot were too short. It came yesterday, and I was itching to get at it today.

I was desperate to install the hinge in the underside of the top, so I used some scrap wood to test fit it. It just wouldn't do, with the configuration of the support piece and the wall. The only thing to do was secure the hinge to the upper side of the seat. I guess it will be ok since the cushion will cover it.

To make sure the hinge sits flush with the top, I routed 1/32-in. depth x 5/8-in. width recess. Since I don't have a plunge router, I had to rout all the way to the ends of the wood, even though the hinge leaves about 3/4-in. at each end. I guess once it's painted it won't be too noticeable.

Tomorrow, I'll drill the pilot holes and screw the hinge to the top and support pieces--just to test fit. If it works well, I'll dissassemble it, cut and install the front edging, and get the painting done. That means I can't install the hinge permanently til next weekend at the earliest since I need 2 coats of oil-based paint, and it takes forever to dry! At least I accomplished something today.

We had a Red Cross drive at our church Friday--raised about $7,000! So much more to do, though. This tragedy is beyond comprehension.