The whole Covid-19/social distancing/stay-at-home order has come with challenges just as it has for everyone around me. The first week that we were all home was rough. Juan and I were adjusting to the constant go-go-go of our kids while trying to meet the expectations of our jobs remotely. We realized how lucky we were to still be working and be home with our kids so we felt guilty even complaining. Regardless, I was sad. I cried at probably every tenth article I read online whether they were happy tears because people were making masks for hospitals or sad tears because people were fighting over TP at the grocery store. During the kids’ naptimes, I was inclined to take a nap too because “why not”? I now had all the time in the world right? I found myself in session with at least 3 of my clients that week, coaching them on things to do for self-care such as painting, listening to music, painting their nails. It finally hit me that I needed to take this advice for myself and for me, woodworking is my self-care.
The first project that I set my eyes on was a zig-zag corner shelf for our entry way. I had had a photo of an idea saved in my phone for a while and luckily, I had purchased 30 boardfoot of wood a couple months ago so there was wood available! This was an easy build so I won’t bore you with any stories except that after it was built, I discovered the wall where it will be hung is not square and thus it does not sit flush to the wall and this has driven the perfectionist part of my personality crazy. It is still not hung and I am ok with that until I figure out a fix.
The second week was a little better. We got in a groove/schedule and I had learned to stop looking at social media so much.
For the second project, I was going to strip and restain/finish a set of end tables Juan had had since we started dating. I had refinished them a couple years ago with this awful stain/poly combo and wasn’t mindful or maybe just wasn’t aware of the streakiness of it at the time. I took one out to the garage with the notion that I could get them both done in a couple days…
However, as I started to take the first one apart this time, I realized 50% of the pieces were rotted or in bad shape. Initially I decided to toss the end table and build an identical one but when I started to look at the good wood that was still left, I got an idea. I called Juan out to the garage to ask him about his sentimentality regarding his end tables. He assured me there was none! Instead, I used the top and legs of the end table to build myself a mobile workbench to get the table saw off the garage floor.