Tuesday, July 19, 2005

MORE FUN WITH TOOLS!!

The other night, I finished putting up the miniblinds. I had started this project before going on vacation and after the first couple of blinds , things had gone fairly easily. Monday night, I was going to put up the last two which were the ones to be installed in my daughter's room. God love her, Meghan is a tad (ha!) high maintenance; therefore, it should have been no surprise that her miniblinds were the ones to give me problems. To begin with, the windows were both 31" wide; but one of the blinds was 37" wide. Yet another trip to Lowes solved that.

The first blind went up easily. Then the last blind. The last screw. Jammed. It had about a half inch to go in and it stopped. It wouldn't go in and it wouldn't come out.

After the requisite amount of cursing, I went for the hammer and started working on it. I hammered at it. Then I tried prying it out.

The hammer broke.

It was now time to bring on the big guns. An old pair of Karen Scott chunky-heel pumps. One whack and it smacked that screw out of there.

At the next try, the screw jammed again, but it did come out MUCH easier. Then I moved the screw slightly to the left and was successful in completing the installation.

As my daughter and I stood back and admired my handiwork, we realized both blinds were about an inch too narrow.

Nuts.

And as I was putting away the drill, I found one of the drill bits had broken in half. That must have been what was jamming that screw.

The next day, we moved on to putting up pictures and wall hangings. That went fairly well, until I noticed that two small wooden shelves on either side of the Monet print above the piano are off by an inch. And I carefully measured and even used the level. But they were definitely off.

After checking the back of the shelves, I found that the holes were not in the same place; even though they are supposedly identical. To move either shelf would expose the holes already made in the wall.

I came up with an idea. My friend, Kathy, used to have a woodworking business, so I called her and she's going to bring over her tools and we're going to re-drill the holes in the back of the shelf. We're also going to drill holes in the back of the cabinet I'm converting into an entertainment center.

YIPPEE! WOOD SHOP!

And since I have a professional helping me, this should go well, right?

I'll keep you posted.

4 comments:

Leetie said...

Your hammer broke???

I see Craftsman brand hammers in your future.

Anonymous said...

Sly, two words:

White toothpaste.

Anonymous said...

sly - CG has the very same problems with the very last screw into the wall - (see my ceiling fan, bathroom wall mirror, etc) -I think the manufacturers do it on purpose so that when you fix it you feel a sense of major accomplishment!

Anonymous said...

I'm tired just reading that.

*goes on break*