2013年6月25日 星期二

What a little DIY can do

My in laws are moving this week, and as part of their transition, theyve offered up various pieces of furniture to their children. One such piece is a combination dresser and desk with three drawers on bottom and a flip-top style desk at the top. Marred by many years of use, it had a variety of pen and whiteout, graffiti-style scribbles on the inside of the desk door from years of teenagers doing homework there, my husband included. But underneath years of use, I knew there was a great wooden piece in need of a little TLC. 

When we were choosing paint colours for our living room, I considered the desk in the colour scheme and chose a limey green shade to add a pop of colour to the space. Putting paint to brush seemed like a little more work than I wanted though, so I decided to give spray paint a whirl. The type I bought Krylon Fusion boasts its ability to stick to pretty much any surface,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. including plastic, without the need for priming or sanding. Perfect. Another huge pro? It dries super fast, allowing me to apply two coats during one naptime. Score. 

Giving in to my inner control freak, I did lightly sand all of the exterior surfaces of the piece before I painted, just for good measure. I removed the drawers and started with those. A few patient sprays later, the desk was transformed. Plus, I had a Home Depot gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up some great new pulls and a knob to give the piece an extra boost. 

If I had to do it again,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. I wouldnt change a thing. This project turned out just as I had hoped. With just two cans of $7 spray paint, someone elses trash has become our treasure. 

Generally, birthdays are a non-issue for me. We did not celebrate them in my house.We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. I never even memorized them. I was off by three days about my mothers birthday until a couple of years before she died. On the up side, she always got her card early. So I've got that going for me, in the event of some future cosmic reckoning. 

I was 50 before I realized my brother was born only one year after me. I blame my parents for holding him back from kindergarten, which made him two years behind me in school. I dont think a 6-year-old should be required to do math to figure out how old his brother is. My sister and my father are still a problem. Their birthdays are three days apart in April, and the only mnemonic I have is that one of then shares a birthday with Adolf Hitler. It makes asking the birthday question awkward: 

Refresh my memory, Patti. Is it you or Dad who was born on the same day as the most famous villain of the 20th Century? (A word to the wise: goose stepping and using the comb under the nose as hints? Equally awkward.) 

Carol introduced me to celebrating birthdays. They were a big deal to her, so in a few years I went from saying it was just another day to wearing an eye patch and brandishing a plastic sword to lead a treasure hunt at my sons pirate-themed party. Carol was kind enough to preserve it on video, in case I ever tried to deny it. Several of her close friends in Los Angeles have birthdays in June. This led to a tradition of group birthday dinners that Carol helped to plan. They were always delightful, among the handful of memories that make me miss the Left Coast. 

I have been at least 700 miles away from Carol since March 30. I have been miserable about that most days. Carol is probably my soul mate, although the word reminds me of two things that make me a little nauseous. Maybe Im cynical, but it seems like a shorthand way of being a smidge more connected than other couples: Yeah, were married and everything, but basically, the Universe brought us together. Soul mates. And where did you two meet? A bar? How fun! 

Spiritually, claiming to be soul mates is also a pretty bold statement unless you are, say, the Dalai Lama. He spends his life seeking eternal truth. He has done the homework. I am a little more skeptical of a guy standing in the parking lot at Whole Foods wearing Birkenstocks and carrying a tote bag from that latest WMPG pledge drive. Being Counterculture Lite does not automatically qualify you to judge your relationship in terms of The Infinite. 

Here is my defense for using the term about Carol. I met her two weeks after breaking up with a woman who kept saying we were soul mates, and it felt like a noose tightening around my neck every time.Bringing iccard mainstream. So I knew about the incorrect usage. Carol and I broke up often, but something kept throwing us back together. We were like sumo wrestlers who couldnt knock each other out of the ring. I asked Carol to marry me after three years because it was the only way to break the cycle. She said yes, perhaps for the same reason. Come to think of it, I never asked her why she said yes. Maybe I was her project. During the early marriage we argued a lot, some might say constantly, but even at the worst of times,More than 80 standard commercial and earcap exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. she always made me want to be better. I think I did the same for her. In two crazy, unstable careers, Carol was my biggest fan and most demanding critic. So soul mates it is. 

We do it the old-fashioned way, he tells me. Over the years we have made some improvements. The pipe corral segments that fit together work. The important thing is that the neighbors and their hired hands and the all kids like the cowboy stuff. This is their chance. 

At 6:30 that morning, we were sitting at the large kitchen table, drinking coffee and solving the worlds problems, as if anyone would listen to two old guys. While thus occupied, we were looking out of the south-facing wall of windows as truck after truck drove past all hauling goose-neck stock trailers with from two to six horses already saddled inside.
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