I’ve seen this done before, but never had to try it until today and it worked quite well.
If you have a small sander, like a B&D Mouse, or even a random orbit sander, you can clamp it upside down and then sand your small projects easier. If you sand small projects like normal, holding the workpiece in one hand and the sander in the other, the workpiece tends to just fly or spin out of your hand.
For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
Deuteronomy 32:36
“God’s time to appear for the deliverance of his people is when things are at the worst with them. God tries his people’s faith, and stirs up prayer, by letting things go to the worst, and then magnifies his own power, and fills the faces of his enemies with shame and the hearts of his people with so much the greater joy, by rescuing them out of extremity as brands out of the burning.”
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 32:36
I’ve found this to be true many times in my life and I’m only 34. I believe He allows us to get to the end of our rope before He steps in so that his salvation is sweeter. After all, if He always saves us out of our troubles before things get bad we might think it is our own doing and then begin to take Him for granted.
I hate going through hard times, but after it all, when God has come through, I always think “Why did I worry?” It happens every time. To my shame, fickle creature that I am, I begin to doubt more often than not and then always find myself asking for forgiveness for doubting when, by God’s hand, everything turns out okay.
“I’m so thankful that I’m incapable of doing any good on my own.”
Caedmon’s Call
On Saturday I went to the grocery store and saw this:
So I guess if I was going to the disco that night, like I normally do every third Thursday on Leap Year, I would’ve saved some money.
No, I didn’t go to the disco, as you may have guessed, since it’s not Leap Year. But I did go to see a musical presentation, commonly referred to as a “concert” or “gig” by laymen. I went to see one Jimmy Needham with my wife and a couple of our friends.
We got seated on the second row just left of center because we knew the host. He reserved seats for us. Sweet. It was a cool concert. I had never really listened to him before, but he was very talented. He even busted out a harmonica at one point (actually sounded great) and also did a medley of some favorite Motown classics.
It was a good night.
Before today our water hose was laying in a mangled mess on our driveway. Not anymore. My wife saw this project on Pinterest and asked me to make it. It was really simple. We bought an 8′ 4×4 post from Home Depot a few months ago. We got the cheapest one possible at 2 bucks and change. It was so cheap because it was still green and moist. We had them cut it in half at the store and it’s been drying in our garage ever since.
On Thursday I sanded it with 80 grit. I didn’t go any higher because this is project is not fine woodworking and it’s going to be outside anyway. Then I put a chamfer with my router on all four corners, but stopped a little more than a foot from the bottom and a little more than an inch from the top. I thought it made it look more like a column.
Yesterday I painted it brown and started putting polycrylic (it’s a water based polyurethane). I did a second coat of polycrylic this morning. Basically, it’s all I had on hand. I would have liked to do some deck stain with weather protection, but money is tight so spray paint and poly will suffice. I wanted to at least put something on it to protect it from the elements.
This afternoon I began digging and decided to put some stepping stones around it (we happened to have 5 on hand).
Then after I put it in the ground, I put a decorative solar powered light finial and a plant hanging hook (we bought both of these the same time as the 4×4 post) and ended up with the picture at the beginning. We do plan on putting some plants behind it, so it’s not completely finished.
I’m sure that the stepping stones will eventually sink a little so I will have to get some gravel to put under them later. I did stamp down the dirt as much as I could with the other half of the 4×4 before laying them.
I made this yesterday and it was so good.
I found it online and changed it up a little. It’ll make around 8 servings.
Here’s the recipe, if you feel so inclined:
Ingredients
~1 lb Cajun smoked sausage, sliced
~1 lb chicken, diced
1.5 tablespoons Tony Chacheries
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup diced tomatoes
6 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1.5 teaspoons Louisiana hot sauce
1.5 cups rice
6 cups chicken broth
Directions
In a bowl combine chicken and Tony’s, and work in seasoning well. In a soup pot heat oil over high heat with onion, pepper and celery, 3 minutes or more. I don’t like crunchy vegetables, so I lowered to medium heat after 3 minutes and cooked about another 3 or 4 minutes then turned back up to high. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Stir in rice and slowly add broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add chicken and sausage. Cook until meat is done, about 15 minutes more. I added a little Kitchen Bouquet to darken it up a little.
The chicken broth had cooked all the way out by my second serving. At first I thought it was a little juicy for jambalaya.
I didn’t have to add anymore seasoning, which is rare. I thought it tasted just right; although, it was a little spicy for my wife and daughter.
My wife painted this wall with chalkboard paint for our daughter. She also keeps a grocery list and to-do list on it. She’s been after me to frame it at the top for over a year. Well, I finally did yesterday.
I also put a piece across the bottom for our daughter to store her chalk.
I used some old scrap wood that I had from a construction site. There were some pieces with a dado right down the middle. I’m not sure what they are used for. I ripped the dado side off and put a coat of danish oil after a light sanding to get rid of splinters.
Super simple project and it looks so much better framed on top and bottom.
I started eating fruit this week. I guess I feel like the older I get the more bad my diet will do to me. I don’t need to go on a diet; I’m still thin, but I know that my bad eating habits will eventually catch up on me.
So the last 3 days I’ve eaten strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. I still ate a couple of butter biscuits with them, but hey, it’s a start.
I saw this thing called the Paleo diet. Apparently it is a very healthy eating plan and I’ve given thought to trying it out for a while, but I don’t know if I could keep it up.
First of all, I don’t eat vegetables much at all. I eat green beans, corn, and black eyed peas on occasion. I’ll eat a salad too, but it has to be iceberg lettuce and has to have dressing.
Second of all, eating healthy is stinking expensive. The prices are ridiculous. I can’t afford to eat anything but processed foods, which is what all the vegans, vegetarians, and Paleo people tell you not to eat.
I don’t know, maybe I can try to keep a “moderately” Paleo diet. It’s healthier than what I’m eating now. At least it allows meat. Maybe once my coffee experiment is over and I’ve proven whether or not my taste buds have the ability to change I’ll start trying dressing-less salad or what I know the bane of any healthy eating plan for me will be – broccoli. Or cauliflower. *shudder*
Went to Starbucks with this little lady the other day. I got her some whip cream to enjoy.
A few posts back I mentioned I was going back to college and had started my first class. I did pass the class. Hooray!
*stops celebrating violently*
It ended there. Never took another class. The money was not there and it did not ever come. So I guess God shut the very door that I thought He was opening. I’m disappointed, to be sure, but not so much. I mean, who am I kidding anyway? After work I don’t even feel like walking, which is a very simple task that requires little to no active thought, mind you. So how did I think I would have the wherewithal to apply my mind to study every evening? I must be crazy, right? To want to volunteer what’s left of my mind every day after work to the task of trying to learn something and improve myself in some fashion . . . crazy, indeed.
So I’ve moved on. Not physically. I’m still here. Rather, mentally. I will no longer give my mind over to the lifelong desire to finish a college degree. I’ve tried to return twice now. Apparently, it ain’t gonna happen. I take it that God has said “No” to that one.
O God, in you I place my hope. There is nothing in me that I can hope in. I am indeed nothing without you and will always fail if left to my own devices. I need you. I am prone to wander, Lord. I feel it. I am prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it for your courts above.
I started drinking black coffee last month. Why? Purely for financial reasons . . . at first. I’m tired of buying sweetener and creamer. Now it’s turned into a test to see if my taste buds will change and if I will eventually acquire a taste for it. As of right now, it’s stinking nasty. I took about 2 weeks off of coffee before the switch. Now, this is my 3rd week of black.
I heard somewhere that kids try something 100 times before the really develop a taste for it and like it. I’m shooting for 100 days to see if it holds true for me. I said it’s stinking nasty now, but when I started it was horrid, so I guess maybe it’s gotten a little better.
Now it’s evolved into something more.
Ever hear of Jack Reacher? You may have now that Tom Cruise played him in a movie by the same name. The movie is based on the book One Shot, which is a good book. Lee Child is the author of something like 16 or 17 books now about his main character Jack Reacher. I’ve read about 14 of them. Now, get Tom Cruise out of your head. I haven’t seen the movie, but Tom Cruise is nowhere near a decent pick to play Jack Reacher. Big money grab by Child in my opinion.
Anyway, Jack Reacher is a man’s man. No middle name, no ID, no home. Just the clothes on his back and a pocket toothbrush. And he survives. Brute masculinity, this guy, I tell you. And he drinks his coffee. Lots of it, and black. I never even considered drinking black coffee until I read my first Reacher book a few years ago. The thought has been in my mind ever since. Every time I poured the sweetener and creamer into my coffee I would think of how much of a pansy I was. Well, not anymore. I’m reclaiming my masculinity.
Here’s to you, Reacher.
hello, it's me 