Architecting and Engineering

Dad, Brian…SKIP THIS POST!  And anyone else who likes to measure twice and cut once.    Or have a plan before using power tools.

I’ve had a half-brained idea of making a shoe bench for the cabin since, well, probably October.  Back then, I got four 4’x8’ boards for bunky boards for the kids’ beds.  Home Depot cut the plywood to the right size and now I want to make the shoe bench out of the extra pieces. 

So I started with this (thanks to Dad, who helped me cut some of the pieces on his table saw):

 

And some sketches on the back of a Sudoku puzzle. 

 

Is what architects do?  Just sketch what they want the finished product to look like, scribble a few measurements, cross out most of it, and hand it to an engineer?  ‘Cause I want to be an architect. 

I finished the work evening with this:

I’m running out of wood and will probably have to duct tape three boards together to make the middles shelves.  I’ve got a long ways to go—once it’s built, I will take it all apart again to sand and paint it and then put it back together again.  But it’s actually starting to look like I want it to look…not that I want to sound surprised.

 

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Okay, here’s something that’s just for the ladies.  Some female engineering, if you will.  Last week, Wesley found a lost bottle of nail polish and used it.  On many things.  How to clean this up?  I went upstairs to find some cotton balls and found a box of tampons first.  Tampons made out of cotton…with an applicator to make this the perfect pencil eraser.  Dip tip in nail polish remover, erase child’s mess, cut off tip when necessary and repeat.  I was impressed with myself.  But not with Wesley.

[While I was cleaning up that mess, he got into my deodorant and lotions in the bathroom.  While I cleaned that up, he used his foot to splash water out of the toilet in the other bathroom.  I tried to sell him that day.]