Woodwork, housework, biking, and rest!

Today was a good day.  Jenny went to see her sisters today at her parents’ house, and I thought that she might like some sister time without the husband around.  It also gave me a chance to get back to work on the house, which was a good thing.  We want to have the living room finished for Christmas, which is approaching rapidly.  I need to finish the paint stripping everywhere in there before we can paint.  The rest of the room is pretty much ready for paint, so now it’s all on me to get that paint off of the wood as fast as I can.  I’m hoping to have a work session with a few other people maybe next weekend, and see if we can bust-out a few hours of hard-core stripping and cleaning.

Today, I woke up early with my wife to see her off on her trip, then I got to work.  First up was some woodworking.  I’m building a mobile cabinet for the table saw currently residing at my parents’ house.  It sits on a base right now that is a) too high, and b) falling apart.  It also isn’t mobile, and doesn’t provide any storage.  So, a new base was in order, especially since I’m going to be borrowing the saw until I can afford a new one.  🙂  I went yesterday to buy the lumber, which is mostly plywood.  In case you’ve never seen a Subaru Impreza wagon, let’s just say that a 4×8 sheet of plywood is well beyond fitting inside.  I took along a cutting diagram, and had them make a few cuts so that I could fit the sheets into the car.  That worked well.  I also needed a circular saw and a jigsaw, so that I don’t have to borrow my dad’s tools all the time.  Lowe’s had a good deal on the Bosch circular saw and jigsaw, so I picked up both of them.  These tools have some awesome built-in technology, too, but that will have to be for another entry.  Anyway, I had to take the larger plywood pieces and cut the pieces for the cabinet from them.  That was going to be easier to do outside, due to the size of the pieces.  This meant that I had to take advantage of the weather, and the fact that it wasn’t raining yet.  So I took the new circular saw outside, along with clamps, saw horses, and the neat clamping straight-edge guides.  Making decently-quick work of the plywood, I carried everything back inside, and came up to work on the house.

Housework today was paint stripping, so I came up, got the respirator and clothing gear on, and stripped some paint.  Woo hoo!  After stripping a bit, I took a break and realized that I was feeling hungry.  We needed milk and some cereal, and I was getting hungry for some chinese, so I called-up to order from the local chinese place, and jumped on my bicycle.  A quick stop at Foodland for milk and cereal, then a trip to the chinese place to pick up my food, and a quick pedal back home again.  It was a nice little ride, but it was getting really pretty chilly and starting to rain, so I was glad to be getting home again.

After lunch, it was back to the paint stripping.  I did that for a little while longer, and it was starting to get hard to breathe through the respirator, so I could tell my lungs were getting a little tired.  I decided I’d head downstairs to do a little more woodworking.  It was definitely nice to be finally working in my own basement on this stuff.  I loved being able to work in my parents’ basement when I needed a spot, but it was nice to be working in my space.  I was working there for a while when I heard the doorbell ring–it was my uncle, bringing me some apple pie from my Babcia.  Mmmmmm..  good pie.  🙂  While I was talking with him, Jenny came home.  We came inside, I cleaned-up what I was working on in the basement, and came up to spend the rest of the evening with my wife.

That was the day, and a good day it was.  Now I’m resting.  Rest is good.  I’m tired.

jonathan