Junky trunk

Another pallet project!  This one has been in the works for a couple of months now, sitting around the garage in pieces while I went to the field, got distracted, or injured myself.  But it's finally done!  Of course, I don't actually have anywhere to put it right now, but I have a feeling it's going to work quite well in the new house.

Once again, I found inspiration for this project from this blog.  I had originally planned to make the trunk in a size that would also be appropriate for a coffee table... but that didn't pan out and the trunk turned out to be pretty big.  I think it's actually going to be perfect for storing blankets and pillows and looking cool at the foot of a bed or something.  Now I'll just have to make something else that can be used as a coffee table!

This was my most ambitious construction project thus far, so I actually had to draw up plans for what I wanted to do.  Almost like I knew what I was doing or something!  (Probably not totally necessary, but it kept me more sane during the process.)

We had a giant stack of pallets in the garage, so Josh helped me pull them apart and make piles of wood.  I went about trying to find the coolest pieces in the pile to make my trunk with.  I'm a fan of pallet wood because you often get pieces that are roughed up or have strange patterns worn into them, or sometimes just funky with knots or bark still attached.  For the outside of the trunk, I was able to piece together 1x4s from the pallets with a few extra boards we already had.  The first step was to cut everything to size and make sure all four sides of my trunk were laid out correctly.  This is where I ended up making the trunk larger than I had originally planned, because I didn't want to have to cut down the width of any of the boards- I just liked the way I'd arranged it and wanted to keep it.

The next step was to paint everything, since I did not want the whole trunk to look like it was painted as one big unit.  I was originally going to paint the whole thing gray and purple, but Josh said he thought I should use red.  So I used gray, purple, AND red.  This turned out to not be at all what he had in mind, and he has since told me numerous times that he does not like the colors on the trunk.  At all.  Too bad, mister.  I painted each board individually, sanded down the paint to expose some of the wood and make it looked sort of weathered, and then doused everything with a dark-colored wood stain.  [And for the record, I do think it would have looked better with only gray and purple, but it's done now and it's growing on me.  From now on, I won't ask for opinions on color.]

After all the paint and stain had dried and set in, it was time to build the main compartment.  I used 2x4s from the pallets to hold everything together from the inside.  And a TON of wood screws.  (This is the point at which I managed to punch a giant hole through my thumb with an electric screwdriver... but we don't need to dwell on that.)  So basically the main box of the trunk is constructed out of pallet boards and a few other spare boards we had around the garage.  I didn't take very detailed photos, but there are 2x4s in each corner, and also one down the middle of both long sides of the box.

After the box was finished, I had to actually spend a tiny bit of money at Lowe's.  I bought four simple screw-in feet (which I stained), some nicer-grade plywood for both the top and the bottom, and a few hinges with which to attach the top.  I stained the top to match the feet (they're a slightly darker shade than the stain I used on the rest of the trunk), and I had Josh work some magic on the hinges so that they would fit around the back corner.  For the bottom, I screwed the large plywood piece into the bottom end of the 2x4s, and then also added a long 1x4 across the middle for extra support.

And there you go!  I tried to keep the weight of this thing to a minimum, so I didn't choose to use very heavy material for the bottom of the compartment.  This means that we won't really be able to store anything heavy inside of it,  but like I mentioned earlier, I think it'll work nicely for pillows and blankets.  And maybe the guest room in our new house will just have to end up consisting of colors that compliment red and purple.

Benched

Since I discovered my new fondness for building things, Josh has been bringing me wooden pallets that he finds at work.  Our garage is now filled with many different kinds of pallets in different states of dis-assembly.

This past weekend I got bored and decided that I would try to make something out of what I had on hand in the garage.  This blogger has made a few different variations of a basic pallet bench, so I took her basic plans in mind and went to work on my own bench.  I didn't purchase one single thing in order to build this bench- every single item was already on hand.

I didn't take very many in-progress photos, but you can probably imagine how it went.  This didn't exactly involve a lot of complicated steps, although I did manage to use the circular saw, the drill press, the electric screwdriver, the electric sander, and the jigsaw- all by myself and without any injuries!  Very proud.  I'm also getting pretty good at the distressed-paint look.  I wish I'd used a slightly less-dark color of stain on this one, but for a quick weekend project, I'm overall super happy with all of how it turned out.

Sale Pending

Do you hear that?  That's me, squealing with excitement.  We're so close!!

Meg's Super-Secret Guide to Lightening the Mood

I'm going to share with you a big secret.  Over the years, I have developed a sure-fire method of banishing crankiness and bad moods.  I know a way to raise your spirits when they are low, and to ensure that those around you are also made to smile.  I have tested my methods many times, and tests have been effective 100% of the time.  You can't get better results than that.  Are you ready?  Do you want to know the secret weapon?

All you need is enough hair to create a rockin' side-ponytail.

That's it!  That's the secret.

Think I'm crazy?  Let me explain.

I used to wait tables in college, and I was often in a cranky mood at work.  I worked with other cranky people, and I served food to lots of cranky people.  One day, I got sick of it and decided to do something.  I went to the restroom and put my hair up in the highest, tightest, most obnoxious side-ponytail I could muster, and came back out on the restaurant floor.  I never broke a smile, I never said anything, I just went back to work.  Within seconds, I heard laughter.  The kitchen staff looked slightly confused, but they were smiling nonetheless.  The other servers were shaking their heads and giggling.  I looked ridiculous.  You see, I'm typically a pretty low-key kind of person.  I don't like to make a big show of myself or draw lots of attention, and (at least, in my opinion) my appearance and dress is usually reflective of that.  This fact definitely contributed to my coworkers' amusement.  Nobody could look me in the eye.  They simply could not speak to me without laughing.  It was working!  People were being cheered up!

The second part of this little test was even more fun for me.  Like I said, I proceeded to go about my job as per usual, which meant talking to and serving my tables in the restaurant.  For the rest of the evening, not one single customer could look at me without staring towards the side of my head.  Some would smile right away, and some would wait until I walked away and they thought I couldn't see or hear them to laugh or comment to their friends.  But everybody was amused by it.   And, in turn, my mood went through the roof.  I was loving it.  My side-ponytail brought cheer to the entire restaurant that night.  It was out of character for me, it was super obvious, and it looked absolutely absurd.  My only regret is that I never got a picture of myself in my former employer's signature starched white shirt and black vest (with red bowtie!) and a side-ponytail.

I have since used this method of smile-inducing many times over the last decade-- most recently, last week during excavation in the field.  Even my heavily-hungover crew members couldn't resist the charm of my side-pony!  Somebody walks up to ask you a question in all seriousness, and before they've even opened their mouth they find themselves distracted and laughing at you.  No doubt that a great many of my past and present coworkers can vouch for it and its effectiveness.  Often times, others will join me once they realize how much fun it is to walk around and see every person you interact with break out into a big goofy grin.  There are, no doubt, a number of photographs of myself with this particular hairdo from many different years and different places.  For the record, through my experiences, I can tell you that it is also a particularly amusing thing to do at bars and parties.  The result is always the same.  People smile.  You get cheered up.  You feel a little ridiculous, and you love it.

Trust me on this one.  Give it a shot sometime.  I'm offering a money-back guarantee.  Hike that scrunchie up high on the side of your head, bounce your step just enough so that your hair swishes from front-to-back as you walk, and just try to hold eye contact with some unsuspecting person.  You'll thank me.

Tour de Acoma

A couple of weeks ago, Josh and I rode the 50-mile Tour de Acoma.  I'd been looking forward to this race for a long time, and it didn't disappoint.

We drove out to the Sky City Casino early in the morning and tried to stay warm while waiting for the race to start.  After a beautiful sunrise and some last-minute technical difficulties (remedied by Mr. Mechanic Josh), we were off on the roads with a few hundred others.  This race is particularly awesome because not only is it an incredibly beautiful course, but many of the roads through the Acoma reservation are typically restricted to the public so this course allows a totally different view of the gorgeous mesas of the area.

Only about five miles into the course, Josh got a flat tire.  Josh is the king of getting flat tires.  We had been riding along with the mass of riders, but as soon as we stopped to fix his flat, the entire field passed us by.  It wasn't a big deal since we weren't actually trying to race,  but it does suck to feel like you're all alone in the very back of the pack.  Luckily, as we stood on the shoulder working on J's flat, a couple of our cycling buddies from Albuquerque passed and recognized us.  They waited for us so that we could all ride together, and we stuck in a group until the end of the race.

This course was seriously so beautiful.  I had a goofy grin on my face for much of the ride and I was snapping photos all along the way.  We rode just past the base of Enchanted Mesa, and then had a water stop just under the main mesa where the Pueblo of Acoma is built.  After the stop at Acoma, we rode through the valley and then had a super steep climb back up out of it and a beautiful view of everything below.  I was giddy.

I can clearly see why this is one of those rides that many people will do every single year.  I definitely plan to return to this race.  Hopefully I'll be able to do the 100-mile event sometime in the future, but this year I just couldn't get in enough training time prior to the race.  The Pueblo of Acoma really puts on a great event.  Plus, their tshirts have a Kokopelli riding a bicycle- you can't get much better than that!