wha happened???

Another short note--I have been and continue to slack--

But, who would have thought four years ago that:

1. Wisconsin would be the political epicenter of America (because of this, this, this and this)...


2. A Republican controlled State Senate might double the number of gays and lesbians allowed to marry... (Sure, completely divided by party lines, but still...it IS a Republican controlled State Senate.)


3. That Obama would be running afoul of the War Powers Act by expanding us involvement in two more countries...


4. That Republicans would be voting to limit Presidential authority...

Things change incredibly fast, and if you weren't paying attention, your head might be spinning.

Oh, and John Huntsman is the first Republican to run for President in a while I really like. Here's to hoping he doesn't take a turn for the crazy to out-crazy the rest of the primary contenders in order to get the nomination.

self-imposed "honey-do"

So, one of the big projects I've been meaning to tackle for sometime now is re-vamping a dresser of my moms. It's been in her room as long as I can remember and has a great shape, but has seen some wear for its years. It's missing handles and has some chips and the white varnish it came with has peeled away over the years. But, I love it and wanted to make it nice again...and so the project begins.

The first step was to take off all the crap that has accumulatedthere...Then, take off all the hardware...

Then sand down the drawers to get rid of the cracks and help wear away imperfections...And then a base coat to further hide the imperfections as well as bond the paint to the wood so it doesn't flake off...Then a coat of glossy black. Well, semi-gloss. My mom said she didn't want it "shiny". It dries much less glossy than it looks here...

That one drawer took me roughly fifteen hours with the Bear running around. So, this should be done by Tuesday of next year...

Day Two

I added two coats of varnish to help protect it and hoped that the sheen would go away. I only used "semi-gloss" because that's what the paint lustre was as well. I also used a power sander, which made it go more quickly.

Next, I had to replace the knobs on the sides. The ones it came with had broken and I only had three, but needed six. I went to Hobby Lobby, but everything was tacky. These were the closest to "nice" I could find event though they didn't really match ANYTHING I have.
And so, after two days, here's the finished product. It looks like it belongs in a Chinese Food restaurant and doesn't match a thing I have. Perfect.

I know, I know. I've been ridiculously slacking in posting. This will be short as well as I have a lot of painting, sanding and cleaning to do. That being said, this video cracked me up! Apparently back when blue-screens were a novelty seen only in movies, someone had a promotion at a hotel where you could lip sing to a video and they'd blue screen for you. This little boy chose Madonna! He posted it online twenty years later and it's amazing...

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER '91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.