Saturday

I woke up to the alarm on Saturday. I must have set it from habit, because I didn’t have anywhere to go that damn early!

It was 26 degrees F. with a NNW wind at 8 MPH. The high today was only supposed to get to 28 degrees, BTW. So, it was not ideal conditions for woodworking in the garage. But, I had a plan…

Since I had the time, I made a real breakfast. I scrambled three eggs and topped them with hot sauce. Then I buttered two pieces of toast and cut them in half (I like to be dainty). The eggs ran out before the last half of toast, so I put blackberry jam on it and ate that for dessert.

I shaved and showered and dressed for town. I watched the Today show until 9:00 AM and then left. First stop was my dentist. No, I didn’t have an appointment. They had called me at work on Thursday and said I had won some kind of contest and could I come in and pick up my prize: an electric toothbrush. I wasn’t quite clear on what contest or how I won but, hey,  I’ll take a free electric toothbrush, sure!

So, I got there, driving in a light snow. I went in and told the ladies at the desk who I was.  They were all excited. I asked what contest I had won and why and they said they picked the best review off of Angie’s List and it was me. While I know I am a good writer, I must confess I have no idea just what I wrote, LOL!

So, they had me sign a waiver that they could put my picture on their Facebook page (I hope to God they don’t put up photos of my dental x-rays or my bridge) and took a photo of me holding up a cloth bag. In the bag was an Oral-B Professional Precision 5000 series electric toothbrush (with some sort of wireless Smartguide, a hard brushing alert system and Quadrant Pacing, whatever the hell that is), a bottle of Crest Mouthwash, a Tube of Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste and some dental floss (of course). I told them to please thank the dentist (who I did not see) and went on my merry way.

Next stop was Meijer’s for some re-supply items. I also grabbed a nice rustic baguette for tonight and tomorrow night’s dinner.

Finally, I went to Michael’s. Unfortunately, they don’t carry a clock mechanism large enough for Stephanie’s clock, but I did spend $10.00 to buy a small one to try and fix the frying pan clock from Melissa.

When I got home, I unloaded the car inside the garage (out of the wind) and then backed it outside. I locked it up and shut the garage door.

Now, a part of my discussion with B___ last night centered around the fact that I need to work in the garage, sanding the clock face. But, the temperatures are below freezing and not really conducive to staying out there for any length of time.

So, I thought I would use my propane space heater (you might remember, I used it several years ago to save my pipes and my ass when Sadie and Lu where up here for Christmas and the electricity went out). But, my thinking was that a cloud of sawdust and an open flame would pose a potential fire risk. B___ said it shouldn’t be a problem, since the belt sander has a collection bag and you would have to have a really thick amount of sawdust in the air.

But, I settled on a middle of the road solution. I got out the heater and, after a while, it fired up (I haven’t used the sucker in 3 or 4 years). I don’t really know if my garage is insulated, but it is drywalled and taped (no paint – my bad). So, I set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and let the space heat up. I put a thermometer out there to check on the results of my experiment. My plan was to shut it off after it warmed up and then sand the boards.

[Sidebar: It was funny that, when the heater first started, the burning dust (I am assuming) set off the smoke detector in the garage. I had forgotten there even was one out there, so I made a mental note to replace the batteries, later. It quit beeping (which just let me know I didn’t install it as all mine yell at me) after a bit and before I could position the step ladder to disable it.]

I went from there out back and refilled the squirrel feeder and the bird feeder. I had to move carefully as the thawing snow had turned into a sheet of ice on the concrete pad. I didn’t want to end up with a split-open head like my brother Jim.

Back inside, the timer went off and I checked. It was 60 degrees F. in the garage. Hmmm… I had a lot of Blog detail to fill in anyway, so I set the timer for another 30 minutes. Don’t forget, this space heater kept my whole house warm for three days. It’s not a little pussy one and, insulated or not, should be able to get the garage up to 70+ degrees, given time.

Sure enough, when the timer went off again, the temperature was 73 degrees in the garage! I shut the heater off for safety reasons.  But, I didn’t bother with a coat. I just went out there and sanded the back first (to get rid of any excess glue) and then the face.

I was using 100 grit sand paper on the belt sander, which means it took some time (but not a lot of wood) to get the boards clear of all my pencil marks. It took about an hour and a half, going only with the grain.

By then it was getting a little chilly, so I blew myself off with the air compressor to get rid of the sawdust  and went back inside. I was also hungry by then, so I fixed a BLT for lunch and ate it watching taped DIY shows (trying to give myself inspiration). Then I took a nap.

When I woke up I dawdled for a long while. I moved the sawhorses and the heater and got the car inside for the night. I opened the electric toothbrush box. I didn’t read the instructions or check it out, really, I just stuck it on the charger so I could try it on Sunday. I washed the microwave, both inside and out (it needed it, lol!) Then I finally opened up the boxes that the bird houses I bought last Fall came in. First time I ever saw them and they are kinda neat. I will have to distribute them in the yard soon.

Eventually, I made dinner. I had found a package of stuffed shells in the chest freezer, so I dumped a cup of store-bought pasta sauce in my foil-lined cake pan, arranged the eight jumbo shells with the cheese side up and dumped another cup of the sauce (Bertolli’s tomato and basil) on top of them. I covered them with more foil and they went into a pre-heated 400 degrees F. oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I made some garlic bread. I still remember the first time I ever saw anyone make homemade garlic bread. It was around 1974. I was dating a school teacher named Donna and she had prepared a spaghetti dinner at her place. She toasted some bread, buttered it and sprinkled garlic powder on top of it. I thought it was great!

But today, some 40 years later, I cut my baguette into four sections. I cut each section into one-inch slices (but not all the way through – like a Hasselback potato). Then I smeared each side of every slice with a mixture of one stick of softened butter, two tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley and two cloves of garlic, finely minced. I wrapped each chunk in aluminum foil. When the stuffed shells were done and out, I turned the oven down to 375 and stuck the four foil-wrapped sections of bread in there for eight minutes.

I plated my dinner and it was excellent!

I watched a forgettable movie. It was so forgettable that I fell asleep near the end. I woke up at 1:00 AM, shut everything down and went to bed for real.