The Saturday that Was [projects, housekeepery, food]

[rebeccmeister]

I missed a lot of rowing practices this past week, due to general exhaustion and feeling like I was teetering on the brink of getting sick. So even though it's the day before another indoor rowing race, I went to practice this morning just to get in some exercise and time with teammates.

Then, home again. One of the challenges of being in the middle of the semester is it gets to be hard to figure out how to prioritize non-work projects. I eventually got underway with using some of the recently-acquired storage bins to better organize things in the basement.



Now all of the boxes of fasteners are contained in the larger storage bin on the right. The other pictured bin contains painting supplies - rollers, chip brushes, et cetera. I also put all of the extra shop vac parts in a bin, and made a fourth one for sandpaper, pictured later.

Along with all that, I tidied up the side of the workbench that I tend to use more.


I feel better about things now. My hope is the extra organization makes it easier for us to find and grab whatever items are needed for any particular project. Time will tell.

Then I broke down the giant cardboard boxes that all of the storage containers were shipped in, and filled the recycling bin with them. It's kind of hilarious that the storage containers got shipped in giant cardboard boxes, when it gets down to it. I don't especially like the amount of cardboard waste that gets generated, but at the same time, I don't regret the decision to seek out and obtain the exact bins I wanted.

Then I finally got back to work on the chair refinishing project.


I got 2 of the four chairs sanded all over with 220-grit paper, although there are still some parts I can't quite figure out how to tackle.

I might need to see about even more Dremel attachments if I really want these edges cleaned up.



But maybe I should just decide this is the point beyond caring, and move on to staining the chairs next.

We'll see.

Then, the cooking project of the weekend: using up some old semolina flour to try making orecchiete:



I should have watched an Italian grandmother making these before trying my hand at them, as mine were really thick.

But they still tasted good in the pasta dish I made with them.

Comments

[coffeetime]

I think that's my favorite pasta shape! I've never had fresh ones.

[rebeccmeister]

I never knew what they were called until this past fall, but now I really appreciate them! They are just so good for certain kinds of dishes.

[moodyduck]

Little ears!

[tylik]

I love those chairs!!

[rebeccmeister]

They're pretty fun! But they have definitely seen better days. Before I get into the finish work, I need to see what I can do to strengthen joints and other weak spots on each one, so they can persist as long as possible.