This past weekend has been a weekend of accomplishments. Sarah has painted the dining room, which was a project a year in the making. It looks great. I got to use my miter saw and cut up some baseboard and quarter round to various length and angle specifications, which I enjoyed. I also repaired the drawer that fell apart. I went the hand cut dovetail route. It's not bad. I don't think pine is really the wood to use for that, as it seems much too soft. It's not perfect, but it's exactly the way I made it. Sarah was actually impressed that the drawer functions. I think she feels that if I go out to the garage to make a drawer I'll come back in with a sweater, it having one arm longer than the other. I think she's become more comfortable with my abilities, since she's going to let me make decorative shelving for the basement. Yay me!
This past weekend was also the weekend of cutting the shit out of my fingers. In one instance I got in a fight with my miter saw. It won. Fortunately the blade was not in motion, otherwise it would have been back down forward low punch FATALITY. Anyway, I have a decent cut. I recommend not getting saw teeth in your fingers.
The second instance involved me reaching into the paper bag in which we were temporarily storing the random utensils that were in the broken drawer. I grabbed a knife, lucky me. Not the deepest cut I've ever had, but it was a bit of a shock all the same.
Went on a picnic on Sunday with some friends (including NetGoddess). That was excellent. There was a ten year high school reunion being celebrated there (not mine). They had a DJ and everything. All seven of those people really enjoyed it.
When we first arrived at the park, the DJ's music was very loud. Not sure about everyone else, but I was considering another venue for our excursion. The volume was eventually decreased, though, and the faint background music was almost a welcome addition to the environment. Almost.
The kids were playing in the sandbox for a bit, and then this older gentleman came to the sandbox with his kids. We were probably fifty yards from the sandbox, which is close enough to make sure the kids aren't killing each other but far enough to not listen to their wacky arguments. I noticed the kids were throwing sand, so I walked over to reprimand them. I then noticed that the older guy was constantly telling his kids what to do, like "Build a castle" and "Dig a hole". I also noticed that he was speaking rather oddly. I don't think he was drunk. It's possible he had some sort of hearing problem. Anyway, he had an expression that seemed to indicate he was perpetually in danger of having an aneurysm. I stayed close to the kids until he left. I didn't really want some old guy blowing up at my kids because they produced a mote when they were supposed to be building up a retaining wall or some shit.
There was a merry-go-round there and the kids where enchanted by it. I told them they could not play on it without adult supervision, which probably just served to further increase their desire to play on it. We finally allowed them to play on it. It went slow enough that I was able to watch them without hurling everywhere. Heck, I even got on briefly to help Alex get situated on the darn thing. Then some big kids came by and insisted the contraption go MACH 4. Danger. Several injuries occurred and we kept trying to find subtle and not-so-subtle ways to tell the older kids to knock it off. Later, Brianna would tell me about a situation in which "the one big kid who was kinda fat fell on Rachel and hurt her because he was fat and he stepped on her hand."
Brianna started school on Tuesday. Yes indeed. We took her down to the school, Sarah brought her inside, and as Sarah observed the bond between parent and child prove to be an unyielding force among her peers, she turned to Brianna and said "Be good", to which Brianna replied "Okay, bye!" and happily became part of the class. When we picked her up, she didn't want to come home. I think she likes school.
That about sums up the past few days. I've been exhausted lately, so I just didn't have the drive to lay this massive amount of content on you. Forgive me? Please? Okay, fine.