Daddy Do List
Today was "Daddy-Do List" day. This is my dad - Frank. (He's modeling his safety glasses!) We got all the projects done today that were on the list and he gave me good advice on a couple of others - one of which got done after he and mom left and the other got a good start but requires some new hardware that I'll have to get at Lowes soon.
A recap of our projects...
I needed some help moving the media cabinet so I could get an extension cord into the electrical outlet smack in the middle of the wall behind it. That allowed a switching of the lamps so the tripod lamp wasn't falling over on the too small table at the other end of the couch and it let me move the photo frame from the kitchen to the living room so I could enjoy it whenever I'm hanging out in that room. Even though I cook a lot I do hang out a lot more in my living room than in my kitchen.
The "surprise" of the day came while we were working in the garage. I had a moldy spot on the ceiling of my garage that I wanted dad to take a look at. After investigation we think it's nothing but I'm going to pick up some Kilz the next time I'm at Lowes and paint it to make sure it doesn't spread in the future. While trying to figure out the scope of the problem, Dad hopped up into my attic and unearthed several things including this train set left by the previous owner. I had never even popped my head up there so had no idea all that stuff was up there.
In addition to the train set there really were ghosts and goblins in my house - the plastic, light-up kind. Those will most likely go to the Goodwill Store but I think the train will stay.
While we were in the garage I got a quick tutorial on rewiring a lamp. A project I completed after mom and dad headed back home - turning my previous floor lamp which starred as a Pixar Lamp knockoff in a photo a couple of weeks ago into a nice desk lamp that I'm enjoying thoroughly at the moment.
We also replaced the bulb in my microwave. Ordinarily I could do this one all by myself. However, the metal part of the bulb had welded itself into the socket so it involved unscrewing the entire bottom off the microwave, removing the socket, getting the metal part out with some pliers and finally we could put the whole thing back together again. I wonder how long until the fact that the lights are "uneven" will bug me enough to just change the one on the left.
Finally, we headed upstairs to tighten screws on the knobs of the jewelry drawer of my lingerie cabinet - again normally a project easily doable on my own. However, the drawer doesn't come out and the liner required quite a bit of brute strength with me holding the cabinet so it didn't fall over while Dad yanked out the liner. Then accessing and tightening the screws on the knobs was easy.
Finally, dad brought over his Forstner bit so we could drill some holes in the back of my desk. I wish the people who design desks and only put holes in the tops of them actually knew something about running wires and that putting an extra hole in the back would also be a good idea. We did make a cloverleaf shape as the bit was small for my overall needs. I'll smooth the edges with the rotary tool later in the week. Using that bit was a LOT of fun - I wonder what else I could think of to put a hole in.
While they were here Dad also advised me on the sewing table that's in my "studio". I don't use the sewing machine all that much but I love this table. It has a fold-down leaf so it doesn't take up much space but if I do want to open it up and work on a big project it's super easy to open up. Part of the leaf had come un-glued and was falling off and it required some strength and two people to get all the parts off before I could glue the planks back together again. They are currently curing with the Gorilla Glue and I'll drill some new screw holes to finish the tightening next week after I've grabbed slightly larger screws from Lowes.
Mom and Dad took the pooch home with them since I travel a bit this week. I miss her already, but she'll have fun playing with her "cousin" Sammy (Mom and Dad's golden retriever). Sorry this post wasn't all that exciting, but I really did want to catalog all the stuff we got done today. It was a fun day working with my dad and just getting a bunch of stuff knocked through really fast felt great. I hope everyone has a great week.