Sad

I felt sad today. So much so that I shared my feelings with a few people, noting that it might be Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), a result of being cooped up inside for most of the week, lots of rain/no sun, not getting much exercise, etc. I had forgotten the physical feeling that accompanies this--it is hard to describe to someone who hasn't experience depression, but it's a heaviness somewhere in the stomach. Anyway, if it doesn't clear up soon, I'll do something about it--or I won't, because I won't feel like it...it's a bit insidious that way.

I went to Prayer Night at church tonight--that always helps lift my spirits on the best or worst of days.

...which reminds me, there has been lots going on at church lately, and more to come, especially with Christmas coming. That may be part of my problem--too much to do. Where's the Grinch when you need him, anyway??!

Kate People

Kate started drawing 'people' a few months ago. I think they are so funny and cool. Lately they are getting hands, feet, fingers, more hairs, etc. But the crooked smiles and big eyes are definitely fuzzy-feeling inducers.

Maybe one day she will be a great artist, just as I once aspired to be. I never made it past Graphics 12, though.

October Happenings

Things are going well heading into mid-October. The last month and a half have been quite busy with Michelle's school stuff (busier than usual for September even), which has kept me at home with the kids a lot, on some late nights, mostly. But in-between I've managed to do a thing or two, such as:

-finish up the kitchen, notably with some tiling:

-modify a used bike trailer we bought at the thrift store to be towed by my bike (it was missing quite a few parts). I have used it twice to take Kate to preschool; however it's hard on Malachi as this happens during his nap time and by the end of the pick-up trip he doesn't want to be in there anymore. So I'm not sure how much more use it will get.

-discover how to 'right click' the mouse on a mac laptop. I knew you could press ctrl-click or whatever, but I didn't know you could just hold the click button down a bit longer.

-teach a few junior high sunday school classes. Absolute Chaos! --but not the whole time. There's been a few good, teachable moments every week.

Solid Surface Renos 8

Note: this is the last post in a series of countertop renovations. See #1 for the beginning and work your way backwards from there. :)

I placed the big sink piece and it fit pretty good. I think I had to scribe a little bit, but not much. Then I placed the other half on top and glued it together.

After sanding the site seam, I hooked up the taps and eventually got the plumbing sorted out too. I had a small leak but some plumbers putty seemed to fix it up!

After a week or two I got around to making the other corner piece. It is made out of four little sink cutouts, and I ran out of colour-matched seamkit so there's a couple of black lines where the seams are. Oh well, it's usually covered with stuff anyway!

Done at last! ...except for some painting and tiling. Oh, and the bar under the windowsill... :) I'm happy with it, it's looking good!

Solid Surface Renos 7

Finally starting to look like something...

I disconnected the old sink, including the garburator. (I made sure the new sink would line up so I wouldn't have to change the drain pipes. It's 1 inch deeper but still fits as the countertop itself is a bit higher.)

Time to take out the old tops! There's a few screws from below.

Routering the drain board with a half-moon type router bit. I shimmed up the straightedge on one end to make a trench that gets deeper towards the sink, helping the water drain away from the countertop.

Solid Surface Renos 6

Profiling the front edges with a quarter inch radius router bit.

Profiling from another angle.

Attaching the sink with silicone, clamps.

Applying build-up and batten strips (to support the many seams).

Front edge, plywood build-up, batten strips (bottom of countertop).

Solid Surface Renos 5

The first few seams. Notice the clamp, spray can and measuring tape--those are strategically placed as weights to make the seams level.

Checking the size so far with my cardboard template.

A mirror seam in progress. The straight router bit takes a sixteenth off of each side, leaving a perfect seam even if my straightedge isn't perfect (it's a little warped).

The main countertop, all one piece now.

I had to cut a big piece off one end to fit the whole top in the elevator; it would be seamed back together in my kitchen. It hurt to cut it apart though! I also cut my sink hole using a plywood template that I drew out using the actual sink basins as a guide.