The Two Stooges Hang Pictures...
The plan was set. Grandpa was coming over between 5:30 and 6 for dinner and to hang my pictures (really, that's not a euphemism for some under the sheets activity). He'd told me that he saw a half circle table at Fry's that would be perfect for my phone table. I looked at two Fry's but didn't find it and then used my subtle behavioral control to get him to pick one up at the Fry's Marketplace near my house on the way over. I am good.
He got here just as I was putting the finishing touches on the chicken enchilada casserole. I popped it in the oven and started on the rice. He asked how long until dinner and I said about 10 minutes since the chicken was precooked and just needed to get heated. So, he decided that he'd put together the table while I was doing my little woman in the kitchen routine.
Yeah, so it took more than 10 minutes to assemble. A lot more. First, he had to go out to the car to get his reading glasses. Actually, that was second. First, he had me trying to interpret the drawings in the directions for him. That's never a good idea. A little ways into it, he realized that he had one of the pieces in upside down. That led to a complete do-over. One of the screws wouldn't go in all the way and another wouldn't go in at all. There was some putting the glue and dowels into the wrong holes, too. It was finally finished and he presented it to me as a belated house warming gift. That was very nice. It is perfect for the spot we put it in, too.
I had turned off the oven and took the rice off the burner about 20 minutes into the assembly. I think we finally sat down to eat about 40 minutes after he started. I had a big spoon in the rice and somehow managed to hit the handle end which snapped up the spoon end and made projectiles out of lots of pieces of rice. I did that not just once, but twice. Once in the kitchen and once on the table. I later found grains in the bottom of my wine glass. Doh!
Speaking of wine, that was the creative fuel for the evening. Grandpa took a new approach to drinking it. Basically, since our glasses were the same type and we weren't keeping track of where we put them down very well, he picked up whichever glass had the most wine in it. That's usually my technique! I think he ended up drinking a half bottle more than I did by the time the evening was over.
Fortunately, dinner was still pretty tasty. He had seconds on the casserole and I don't think it was just to make me feel good. It was pretty good. I did a quick cleanup then it was on to hanging.
First off was a new big photo of a beach scene that I got at Cost Plus. It's remarkably close to the scene on my shower curtain. We hung it over the towel rack then stood back to take a look. Then, we rehung it an inch or so over to the right to even it up with the rack. G actually made me sit on the commode and look at it across the way to make sure it was even and in the right place. I felt silly but it looks great.
Then, it was on to the rest of the items. I'm a big picture person (not as in seeing the big picture, but as in taking and displaying lots of pictures). I've assembled lots of those collage photo frames over the years in various shapes and sizes. I stacked them all on the dining room table and the pile was pretty high. G told me I had to decide where they were all going to go so I spent 10 minutes running around the house and holding various frames up on the wall to see if they looked OK. I finally had them all assigned so we started hanging them.
The first two were easy. They're smallish and don't hang crooked at all. We put the third one up (a big frame) and stood back to see if it was even. Whoosh! It fell right off the wall. Usually, I would describe my reflexes as sloth-like but I somehow managed to catch it before it hit the tile. G decided to put one of those little brackets on the back then found that there was a perforation in the back matting that makes a little hanging thingie that's supposed to be used for hanging. Who knew? Clearly not I, because on the next picture we put up, I'd put the hanging thingie on the bottom of the frame.
Things were going along swimmingly until we got to the hallway. As G was putting a frame up, I said "That's getting really close to the smoke detector." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, it tapped the detector which flew off the wall and separated into three pieces: back, battery and front cover. G decided that the previous owner hadn't done a good enough job of securing it to begin with so he redid the screws with some anchors. We put it back together and it decided to start chirping. You know, that annoying low battery chirp. I tried reconnecting the battery and hitting test to reset it to no avail. So, it's now sitting on my microwave, unassembled, until I can get a new battery. Or, a new detector which, with my luck, is what I'll be needing.
In total, he hung 9 items and I was pleased as can be. It actually's starting to look someone lives here.
Now, if I could just get those last few boxes unpacked.
He got here just as I was putting the finishing touches on the chicken enchilada casserole. I popped it in the oven and started on the rice. He asked how long until dinner and I said about 10 minutes since the chicken was precooked and just needed to get heated. So, he decided that he'd put together the table while I was doing my little woman in the kitchen routine.
Yeah, so it took more than 10 minutes to assemble. A lot more. First, he had to go out to the car to get his reading glasses. Actually, that was second. First, he had me trying to interpret the drawings in the directions for him. That's never a good idea. A little ways into it, he realized that he had one of the pieces in upside down. That led to a complete do-over. One of the screws wouldn't go in all the way and another wouldn't go in at all. There was some putting the glue and dowels into the wrong holes, too. It was finally finished and he presented it to me as a belated house warming gift. That was very nice. It is perfect for the spot we put it in, too.
I had turned off the oven and took the rice off the burner about 20 minutes into the assembly. I think we finally sat down to eat about 40 minutes after he started. I had a big spoon in the rice and somehow managed to hit the handle end which snapped up the spoon end and made projectiles out of lots of pieces of rice. I did that not just once, but twice. Once in the kitchen and once on the table. I later found grains in the bottom of my wine glass. Doh!
Speaking of wine, that was the creative fuel for the evening. Grandpa took a new approach to drinking it. Basically, since our glasses were the same type and we weren't keeping track of where we put them down very well, he picked up whichever glass had the most wine in it. That's usually my technique! I think he ended up drinking a half bottle more than I did by the time the evening was over.
Fortunately, dinner was still pretty tasty. He had seconds on the casserole and I don't think it was just to make me feel good. It was pretty good. I did a quick cleanup then it was on to hanging.
First off was a new big photo of a beach scene that I got at Cost Plus. It's remarkably close to the scene on my shower curtain. We hung it over the towel rack then stood back to take a look. Then, we rehung it an inch or so over to the right to even it up with the rack. G actually made me sit on the commode and look at it across the way to make sure it was even and in the right place. I felt silly but it looks great.
Then, it was on to the rest of the items. I'm a big picture person (not as in seeing the big picture, but as in taking and displaying lots of pictures). I've assembled lots of those collage photo frames over the years in various shapes and sizes. I stacked them all on the dining room table and the pile was pretty high. G told me I had to decide where they were all going to go so I spent 10 minutes running around the house and holding various frames up on the wall to see if they looked OK. I finally had them all assigned so we started hanging them.
The first two were easy. They're smallish and don't hang crooked at all. We put the third one up (a big frame) and stood back to see if it was even. Whoosh! It fell right off the wall. Usually, I would describe my reflexes as sloth-like but I somehow managed to catch it before it hit the tile. G decided to put one of those little brackets on the back then found that there was a perforation in the back matting that makes a little hanging thingie that's supposed to be used for hanging. Who knew? Clearly not I, because on the next picture we put up, I'd put the hanging thingie on the bottom of the frame.
Things were going along swimmingly until we got to the hallway. As G was putting a frame up, I said "That's getting really close to the smoke detector." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, it tapped the detector which flew off the wall and separated into three pieces: back, battery and front cover. G decided that the previous owner hadn't done a good enough job of securing it to begin with so he redid the screws with some anchors. We put it back together and it decided to start chirping. You know, that annoying low battery chirp. I tried reconnecting the battery and hitting test to reset it to no avail. So, it's now sitting on my microwave, unassembled, until I can get a new battery. Or, a new detector which, with my luck, is what I'll be needing.
In total, he hung 9 items and I was pleased as can be. It actually's starting to look someone lives here.
Now, if I could just get those last few boxes unpacked.
