Super Tuesday Sawing in the Living Room

One word. Sciatica. I had never heard this damn word until a couple of weeks ago. And now, it plagues me like walnut stain clings to new designer jeans. So I'm dealing with this odd pain that runs down my back all the way into my knee and trying to minimize it by not lifting heavy or awkward wooden things...like toy boxes. You see where this is going.

I have this toy box that's going to be shipped tomorrow and I needed to add the hardware so I lift it and bring it into the house to make sure it's on a flat surface (dining room table) in order to install the hinges. Not a problem just a bit uncomfortable. Now here comes the good part. I needed to jigsaw the hand openings on the front that give some finger room to lift up the toy box lid. Normally, before Sciatica, I would have taken it back out to the garage to cut and hand sand and apply stain. With Sciatica, I gently put the toy box on the living room floor, mark it accordingly, fire up the hand jigsaw and proceed to cut the openings. And sand it. Then apply stain to the new hand openings while watching American Idol.

Did I mention I left the saw dust on the living room floor? And that it's still there?

Pretty soon, Scott will come home from a business trip and the entire garage will be set up in the family room. Ah, Sciatica.

** Tomorrow I'll post about the "You Made My Day" award given by a very cool blogger named Carrie Kim.

0 is for....

(Owyn in one of Denise's designs for Dandy Social Club.)

Check out this treasury that Denise, my friend who also happens to be a genius clothing designer, made on Etsy...and included the Owyn Toy Box (named after her daughter) ---

O is for...

You can see and buy Denise's work at Dandy Social Club!

Website Redesign

If you've tried http://www.modmomfurniture.com/ and notice the links aren't working, you're not alone. The website is being redone and for whatever reason, links viewed in Internet Explorer are not working (aside from the BLOG link.) If you view the website in Firefox or Safari or have a Mac, you shouldn't have an issue.

Thanks for your patience! A new and improved website with working links should be up and running very soon!

As always, my online store can be found on http://www.modmomfurniture.etsy.com/.

A Grace "Funny"

I had to take a toy box to UPS to be packed and shipped out this week. Grace was out of school so she came along as my assistant.

"Mom, what's that sign say?"

It says, "The Pack and Ship Promise. We Pack It. We Ship It. We Guarantee it."

Grace looked up at me and said, "We Pack it. We Ship It. We Break It."

I cracked up. And of course she said it right there IN THE STORE!!!

Thankfully (fingers crossed) we haven't had any more shipping disaster stories since the three in December. (fingers double crossed)

Handwriting

Sorry I haven't been so good with keeping up the blog the last few days. I've been helping out at my daughter's school as a pre-k/preschool helper from 9-3. I've had a blast with the kids and was honored to be asked to help out but I can also say a little bit of garage time and some country music sounds REALLY good right about now.

The highlight of the three days was when Grace said to the class, after I acted as if I would forget the song and dance they're learing to perform for the parents on Valentine's Day, "My mom doesn't remember anything unless it's written on her hand."

I can't say she doesn't know me, that's for sure.

NOTE: I had to write on my hand this morning to remember to post a blog message today. I can just cross that off my hand now. :)

Fear Factor

Today is one of those days where, for whatever reason, I'm slightly more scared of the table saw than usual. Sometimes I psych myself out thinking "it's a sign" and then others, I just ignore and push through. I have to make some cuts with large scale ply today that can go wrong quickly because my table saw is too small and the wood too large.

When I went into woodworking I did it with complete fearlessness but sometimes the realization of what the blade can do creeps in. And the fact that I did a number on my finger back in the summer makes it all a reality I guess.

I jokingly tell my husband that maybe I'll just have a beer to relax before firing up the table saw. I do love woodworking and won't give it up anytime soon just need to keep finding ways to not freak myself out when I'm cutting...by myself....alone...in the garage. Oh, crap. Maybe I'll just clean the house today.

Droolicious

I'm about to do what I said I wouldn't do. Here goes....LOOK AT THIS POST ABOUT MOD MOM FURNITURE. Sorry....Frankly, I'm crazy busy with building this very toy box today so aside from this link, I have little interesting stuff to share. I'm just building, staining, dragging Grace to Lowes, and building some more.

This post was from December's Babble/Droolicious blog. Check out the author's personal blog Notes from the Trenches. It's hilarious.

Thanks to Chris for such a nice post!

A New Item For Sale

This is a photo of the toy storage piece I designed and built for the Still Thankful Still Giving charity event in Hollywood. And I'm thinking about putting it up on my shop to sell made to order. I like the tree/bird appliqué but am open to other types of "scenes". I've been thinking hard on other organic-type shapes that I could cut out and attach to the piece. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear ideas!!

I think I'll offer it with or without a veneer appliqué "scene". What do you think?

Happy Friday!

Things that made me happy today:

1. I found a new, less complicated lid-support to use on the toy boxes! I was so excited I called my Dad to tell him. It sounds crazy but I'm normally cussing when I have to install the hardware.



2. I worked out today at my new gym AND took a shower. What a day! Although, while I was there, I sat down on the lateral raise machine to work my all powerful shoulders and was motioned by a very kind, very ripped man with loads of tattoos that I needed to turn around to use the machine properly. And instead of waving thank you in a very discreet way, I yelled "thank you" across the gym to the tattooed guy doing his dead lifts because I had my earphones on and my IPOD music was apparently louder than I thought.



3. I didn't cut anything off using the table saw today. :) (See above photos my hubby took of me SHOWERED and working. It felt so weird.)



4. I learned that v-necks are the way to go when you're being photographed while using the table saw. :)
   

Design Milk

I was so excited to find out about a post that ran today on a VERY COOL site called Design Milk!

I've been visiting Design Milk (quietly without posting comments) for awhile now because the finds are so fantastic! And not just about modern kid's stuff. It highlights all kinds of cool modern things for the home.

Anyhow, I was thrilled to see the Gracie Mid-Century Style Toy Box featured on it today! Click the Design Milk link above for the post.

Now that I have a big head and think way too much of myself, let me say that I WON'T be posting about another blog posting about Mod Mom Furniture tomorrow. I'm afraid I won't be able to be in the same room with my big head if I do. Rest easy knowing that my big head will deflate quickly when I bend a nail, smash my thumb with my hammer, cut a side panel a wee bit too short, and botch a stain job. All those things to look forward to tomorrow!!

(NOTE: Tomorrow will undoubtedly be the day when Oprah calls to have me on her show and The New York Times wants to do an in-depth article but I stand by my promise not to talk about how much other people are liking my work right now. That is, unless I hear from Oprah or The New York Times. :))