tool addict

I must confess I am married to a major tool addict.  If there is a special tool to buy to do a job AH has to have it even if he has a tool that may do the job.  Remember the TV show Tool Time?  That's Andy to a T.  I happened to mention that all the things I've been buying would be much easier to paint if we had a sprayer.  I'm thinking the one we have in the garage that is a pain to clean and very messy, but it does work. If we wanted to upgrade maybe the new sprayers where the paint goes into a cup and uses air pressure to work, cost $60-70.  No, the next thing I know he has ordered the Cadillac of high price hand sprayers and we are off to the big city to pick it up.  A friend tried to convince me he bought it because he loves me and wants to make my work easier.  I saw the gleam in his eyes and the rush he gets locating the best deal on the internet.  Maybe there's some love in there too but mostly it's that rush of getting a great new tool.  I'll let you know how I like it if and when I ever get a chance to use it, so far all I've done is move it off the kitchen table so we could have dinner.

Product update:  the sprayer works great.  The first time we used it we sprayed two coats on 15 different pieces in an afternoon.  The second time 10 pieces in half the time with almost no over spray.  The clean-up is the most difficult thing about the whole job.

new toy

In the words of Elton John, "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it.  I'm about to loose control and I think I like it."
 I got a new toy this week.  It's something I've wanted for years, since they first came out.  No guesses?  It's a Cricut Expression.  Now I rarely but anything new except socks and undies, unless it's deeply on sale, so you know I really, really, really wanted this.  I did wait til it was on sale, and  now it's here.  I feel like a little kid at Christmas!  In case you aren't a crafter, a Cricut is a cutting machine.  It works with a cartridge that has a program of designs with hundreds of options.  You just pick what you want, select the size and tell the machine to cut.  I've already played with it, trying to learn how everything works. I'm not a scrapbooker, but I do a great deal of crafting with papers.  This machine is amazing.  My techno geek, AH thinks it's awesome.  If I have it out when he's around he's right there checking it out.  I tried to bid for several cartridges on EBay, but was not successful.  I did find great prices on Amazon with none of the bidding stuff that aggravates me when I loose at the last second.  Patience is not one of my virtues.  Most of the cartridges on Amazon ran $20-25.  Not bad when the list prices are $69-89.  I'll share some of my projects when I get finished.  Several ideas are already mulling around in my brain.


On a more somber note, please keep two of my teacher friends in your prayers.  One father's daughter had to have a heart transplant last week (she's doing well) and one mother's son has just been diagnosed with leukemia.  As a parent I can hardly imagine the stress these young families are under.  I can't think of anything worse than having your child sick, being helpless to change what is happening and wishing you could take their place.