Projects

We've been volunteering for Meals on Wheels this summer, delivering lunches to six or seven people on Mondays.  We're enjoying it, not only because it's worthwhile and the people are nice, but because it's a project we can do as a family.  Last week we substituted on Friday for someone who couldn't do their route.  Paul got out of the car to make one of the deliveries and I watched as a white-haired older woman came to her door, saw Paul and greeted him, reached for her food and then reached up to pat Paul's green hair!  It was so sweet.

Being in the car together for an hour gives us some time to talk and on Monday I brought up the idea of putting the TV up on the wall.  It has been sitting on top of the credenza in the TV/Guest room and I suddenly realized how great it would be to hang it on the wall so we could all see it better and our guests could use the top of the credenza for their belongings.  It was one of those ideas whose time had come and within a few hours Ben was busy installing the "full motion" mount on which to hang the television.  

By late afternoon the deed was done!  Isn't Ben amazing?  He worked systematically and calmly and the project was completed without any swearing.  Paul and I helped with some of the lifting and Paul was the one who decided on the correct placement on the wall.  

While this was going on I had my own project, to replace the modem/router supplied by Comcast with our own equipment.  This idea has been floating around our household for months as a possible solution to our Internet problems.   Paul and I agree that our Internet is way too slow and last summer when Ben's brother's family was here and three kids were sucking up wifi for their games and movies and the adults were all surfing the web,  there was a real log jam.  Calls to Comcast got us nowhere; according to them our Internet was fine.  So in the hope of increasing our Internet speed I took on the task of getting our own modem and router installed and getting rid of the equipment supplied by Comcast.  

Oddly enough I managed to pull this off (and with no swearing!) even though it involved talking to Comcast on the phone not once but twice, which is always a challenge.   Paul helped me with the final steps of establishing the network names and passwords and testing the new equipment and it was Ben who got the printer to work again, and by late afternoon we were up and running with noticeably faster wifi.  Hooray!

I've made progress on another project, a paper pieced table runner.  I finished the stars then set them on point, which was a first for me.  I like the result and am now thinking about fabrics for the border. 

I took a pause after finishing the stars to deep clean my studio, moving all the furniture to wipe down all the floors and baseboards and getting rid of the tons of debris, dust, and dirt that accumulate in a sewing studio even when it is vacuumed every week.  Sure felt good to have a clean space with uncluttered surfaces. 

Of course it didn't last long!  Here's those same surfaces this morning, and this is before I've actually done any sewing.

 Well, it is a work room.   Projects do make a mess, at least temporarily, but it's so good to get them done.