Bookcase Complete...very nearly!

Finally, finally, FINALLY we have finished the bookcase! As you can see here, the backing was screwed on in the upstairs position.

Then we had to find a place to put it. Sarah has had it in mind where it would fit from the outset, but I had my doubts that it would work out. It turned out very nice. We will complete decorating it in the coming weeks.

As soon as we had it lifted into place Jamie took possesion. We had a little photo-shoot for her and then she had to go to bed. The next morning after her bottle of milk, Jamie went straight for her new throne.

I'm still finishing a couple of shelf edges, but a full-assembly photo was needed for the purposes of saying I was done. Really, I've got about 1 hour left of work to complete it. A big thanks to Ralph for his more-than-generous contribution on this project!

Cowgirls

As it turns out, Jamie follows closely in her sister's footsteps...

http://ia331420.us.archive.org/2/items/Mater-Horse/Picture018.avi

Here's Caitin...

http://ia310825.us.archive.org/1/items/K-10S-horse/Picture020.avi

I grabbed the wrong one of Jamie...she's now riding the spring horse, Thunder! I'll get that video in here soon.

Bookcase Update

I made some significant progress on the bookcase this week. The final coats of poly were applied to the main frame, although some finish buffing will still be needed. Today I cut out the plywood backing, stained it, and applied the first coats of poly, as well as applying another coat to the shelves. I set the stained backing into the mainframe for a glimpse of the finished product, and now I can't wait to make that permanent!

Although this may look like some fancy picnic table, it is really the backing ply and two shelves, each with a fresh coat of poly.

I've learned a lot about finishing wood in this project. Mainly I've learned that it is easy to make it look "home-made". The most difficult thing is getting a smooth finish with the poly. I suffer from a lack of patience, so when I should probably tape off and work on one section at a time, I end up just jumping into all of it at once. If I can find the time, I could possibly have some finished product pics by next weekend.

Back to the '80's

Here Jamie is holding a Leapster alphabet refrigerator magnet. She knows how to push the button to get it to sing the alphabet. She starts it and holds it up to her ear like this and walks aroung the house...over and over again. She would have made a great '80's child with her boombox propped up there!

Book Case Project

Right around September/October of last year, Sarah asked her father for a home-made book case for Christmas. The plan became that we would pick it up when we were there for Thanksgiving. Due to some unforseen setbacks in the supply and demand sector (the first batch of wood was stolen), the project actually began the day before Thanksgiving. The fortunate result was that I got to spend several hours with Ralph in his shop learning some tips and tricks to woodworking. He even took me on a field trip to his hardwood supplier!

After a few days the project looked like this...a point at which I could take it home and "finish it by Christmas"...yeah...Christmas 2009! I'm meticulus and slow when it comes to finishing a project, so what should take a couple of weeks takes me a couple of months.

So here it sits...in my shop, having been stained and received several coats of finish, but still not up to par. Now just a bit more super-fine sanding, and a final spray coat of finish will complete the main frame. The shelves still need several coats, but with the main frame out of the way, I can cut out and prepare the backing and shelves more easily.

Anyway, Ralph...here's the progress!

Marie Calendar's tryouts...

Alright, so I really REALLY love having church that begins at the proper time of 9:00 a.m. We came home from church this noon and after a quick lunch were able to take a nap. AWESOME!!! (I really must be careful about how much I rejoice in that, cause there's inevitably a calling out there that requires every Sunday afternoon...)

Anyway, after the nap I started baking the most amazing pie I have ever baked. Now I am admittedly not a pie lover...in fact I hated pie as a kid. Something about the dry nasty crust and never enough filling to compensate for it, always kept me at bay. Thus my goal when I make a pie is to have enough gooey filling that one need not fear the crust end of it. As it turned out, I took some notes yesterday from America's Test Kitchen for the filling and pie layout, and this beautiful Black & Blueberry pie was the result.

I don't brag about many things, but I'll tell you that this pie was tastilicious. (So much so, that Sarah ate a second helping!)