Superfluous...

Have you ever felt superfluous? Totally and utterly useless? I feel that way sometimes, and I just finished an 8 week temporary position that reinforced that uncomfortable feeling within me. So...I wanted to do something useful. Know what I mean?

The husband went to Texas to his father's retirement party and I spent the week finishing up unpacking/sorting stuff I had let go too long. I was pleased that I finally finished that, but it wasn't enough.

The first week the husband was back was my week between jobs. My temporary position ended on 11/11/11 and my new position doesn't start until 11/21/11. I set some goals for this week off...yeah, ME...setting goals!!!! OMG, and the world didn't even come to an end!!! Go figure...

I decided I was going to get my hands on a hand sander and refinish the top of the kitchen table I inherited from a friend. She had had it on her covered patio, and when we moved into this house, table-less, she gave it to me. I don't know if the top of the table had been white like the legs are, but she had spray painted the top purple.

At first I had decided simply to Spackle the deep gouges and then to repaint the table cobalt blue, my favorite color. But then I found a set of chairs on Craigslist. They were all wood. And suddenly the goal was clear: Sand the top, stain the top, seal the top and repaint the legs. So I did!!!

Monday I sanded the top of the table. It took 4 hours counting breaks because the vibrations numbed my hands and wrists. There was purple dust EVERYWHERE!!!! (It's winter, so I did this indoors, much to my chagrin...breathing purple dust sucks).

Tuesday morning I went to Lowes after researching stain online. I had wanted Minwax stain in Natural, but they didn't have that. The lightest color they had was Maple, so I bought that and a cheap painbrush. I put 2 coats of stain on the table letting it dry 6 hours in between.

Wednesday the husband was home sick, so I decided NOT to polyurethane and went to a friends for a few hours instead.

Thursday morning I went to Lowes after researching sealing Minwax stain and got a can of Minwax Polyurethane sealant. I put 2 coats of the sealant on the table, allowing 6 hours to dry in between. I was rather disturbed that this sealant didn't "finish" like I thought it would. But I got over it.

Today I stopped at Lowes (why didn't I do this all at once, you ask? I dunno) and got a quart of paint. I didn't know how much I would need...so I gambled on a quart. It was WAY too much. Oh well, live and learn. I got eggshell, which is just off from white, because it was on sale for $10 less than the other whites. I was happy.

I came home and painted the bottom edges and legs of the table. Waited a few hours and put on another coat. Waited a few hours, flipped the table and put on a final coat of the polyurethane sealant. VIOLA!!!! Done. Whew.

Then I fixed the toilet tissue fixture that fell apart, fixed the towel rack in the downstairs basement that fell apart, and hung the blue shelf and sconces in my room.

EVERTHING I set out to do before starting my new job: DONE!!! WOOHOO!!!! I can set goals and accomplish them!!! I am not as useless as life sometimes makes me feel!!! It's an amazing feeling. Now I know how people get so goal oriented: They want the accomplishment payoff!!!