How do you measure??

I teach English. As such, I only had to have three hours of Math credit, which I managed, through some kind of major miracle along the lines of loaves and fishes, to challenge and pass by one point. So, my last Math class of any kind was more that 35 years ago in high school. Heck, my gradebook is even set up on the computer with a formula that the Math instructor on campus sets up for me in exchange for a pair of handknit socks every year. It is worth it. I break out in hives if I have to balance my checkbook.

So, it should come as no surprise that today has been the challenge of the tape measure. Being home this weekend is a treat before the first "official" day of classes on Monday. As such, I try to always have the weekend 'before' free to do those things that nurture my soul and spirit.

So, today I have nested all day. This meant that I set myself a number of weekend goals, including clearing up things that stacked up during my Concord trip. While John and Don kept everything alive and the trash from blocking the doors, there are things that only Mums do. Things like clean the porch or hang new curtains. However, these are jobs that are near the bottom of my pleasure list. So, I decided to play a game with myself, the job and my kitchen timer. Do you do this? I find the most tedious task more doable if I set the timer for one hour and say to myself, "I'll just work on this for an hour and then I will quit." Invariably, I get the nasty job done long before the timer rings and have moved on to another task, only to do the same game again.

With timer set, gloves on, a trash bag and broom, I headed out on the porch, Don close on my heels. We scurried around, tossing, sweeping, knocking down cob webs, and moving things to my new shop building by the chicken coop. It is going to be a lovely building; the floor has a slip-not floor coating that I completed last week. While the building still needs to be painted (purple to match the goat house and chicken coop), I am ready to start the shelving and putting up. Quickly everything from the porch and side yard was in the building and the porch floor was swept just as a torrential rain dumped (thanks Brenda for sending it this way without the wind!).

This meant I got to move into the house and start hanging the dining room curtains. I found the most adorable ones with baby bees on them at Country Curtains while in Concord. The topper is a honey coloured windowpane check. I splurged on these, using my overload pay from spring to buy them, so I was more than a little excited to get them up. There is this wonderful rod that has the shir rod on the inside and the pocket rod on the outside, so you only end up putting ONE hardware up for TWO rods. Perfect!

Except..... I somehow managed to mismeasure one hole for the brackets and drilled it in the wrong place and I had hung the curtains too high the first time. I remeasured, redrilled, and moved them down. Oh, nuts! The sheers are 2" too short! Ack! Being clever, however, I quickly put up a white shelf with brackets and filled it with African violets. No one will ever know that the curtain is too short. Sadly, there aren't any longer ones at CC that will fit the window and I am determined to make these work!

Next, I went to hang the whale shelf I just painted white; it will hold some of my tea pot collection. However, the screws were too long for the shelf brackets and would have come through the front of the shelf. So, Don to the rescue! We ran to the local hardware store, found some shorter ones, and he redrilled the brackets for the smaller screws. While he did that, I measured the wall for the shelf placement, marked my holes, and drilled pilot holes. We went to put the shelf up to find that I had measured wrong for the second hole. So, I redrilled again. This time, I scratched my shelf and had to repaint one end of it. The teapots are darling up there and I couldn't be more pleased. Except that the shelf is hung too low. But, I am not about to rehang it today. I am afraid something else will go awry!

Needless to say, Don has put the drill, tape measure, and screw driver in a place I can't find them for the rest of the day. I think it is self-preservation. So, I have decided that I really need to finish cleaning the kitchen, fold some laundry, and go milk. Good thing none of that requires Math.


Added later: I went to get the laundry and the bathroom floor was a half-inch deep in water. The washer overflowed. I quit! LOL