It’s all about me, sort of
I think that maybe maybe! I might actually have some time in the next week to do some woodworking for myself. My time, for me. A “me” project….
I think that maybe maybe! I might actually have some time in the next week to do some woodworking for myself. My time, for me. A "me" project.
I've been wrapped up in so many writing projects lately, plus a couple of road trips, and haven't done anything for ME in the shop in ages. The question is: What to do?
The amount of "me" time isn't sufficient to start and finish a large project of any kind, and the last thing I need or want is yet another unfinished project getting in the way gathering dust. (Real dust, that is, not sawdust.) I already did a good cleaning and organizing effort not long ago, so that wouldn't be a choice; besides, that's not the kind of "me" time project I had in mind anyway.
I was out in the shop last night pondering what to do and happened to notice a clipping up on the shop door with a magnet. It's a printout from some online office supply place and depicts a table-top podium, the kind teachers use in classrooms. Putting my detective skills to use I began the deduction process of who might have put it there. Let's see: I didn't put it there, and I doubt that either of our cats put it there (the lack of opposable thumbs being the clue that rules them out). That leaves my wife as the only remaining possible suspect. Coincidentally, she happens to be a teacher. Well, King; I guess this case is closed.
So you're thinking that doing a project for my wife isn't exactly a "me" project. You'd be wrong. While I really enjoy "me" projects, I think that my favorite type of projects are those that I make as gifts for others. I enjoy surprising my wife with unexpected gifts, and while this isn't the same kind of gift as surprising her with a new Dick Francis novel she didn't know was out, I think having that podium ready in time for the start of the new school year is the perfect project it's small, won't be hugely time-consuming, and I have all the materials I need on hand.
And the smile on her face when she sees it will be all I need to confirm that this is indeed a good project to undertake.
Till next time,
A.J.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
