I now know why Tim "the Toolman" Allen was the character he was on the sitcom "Home Improvement."
There is just something about revving up a drill that makes you want to build things.
ARGH-argh-argh.
My first drill conquest was to put holes in a steel entry door so we could hang blinds. Seeing the bit bore its way through solid metal made me think to myself, "alright, I can get used to this."
I immediately took a tour of the house seeing what else I could bore into.
The unsuspecting victim? Our garage.
We have a piecemeal tool box full of various starter sets. When Brad and I combined our tools, we suddenly had too many screwdrivers and not enough drawer space.
Add to that a blossoming tool community gathered by awesome family well-wishers, and the need for order took over. I remembered my grandfather's wood shop and how he had each tool outline on pegboard over his workspace.
The home improvement store was very helpful. Why they don't put pegboard accessories with the actual pegboard is beyond me, but I eventually found what I needed. The employees even cut wood down for anchors.
It was cheap, too!
I spread out my ingredients for the first She-ra with powertools project and realize I'm missing critical parts. Namely, long screws to go through the wood, drywall and into the studs AND something to tell me where the studs were.
My tapping for hollow sounds method failed me in the past, and I didn't want to brave Highway 21 traffic again to go back to the store for a studfinder.
Lucky for me whoever attached the walls to the foundation left marks where each stud was. After some simple measuring and geometry I had the general idea of where to drill.
But what to do about my short screws?
Powertools to the rescue!
The drill came with bits to make holes up to an inch wide. I chose the bit that was slightly larger than the head of my screws and made an indention about halfway through in each place I wanted a screw.
Full of myself for being so clever, the rest of the project went like a breeze.
I was hanging tools with the 42-piece accessory kit when Brad pulled into the garage. He had been trying to call my cell phone (which was inside), and when I never answered he made a trip home to check on me.
After finding me perfectly healthy and glowing with powertool radiance, he studied my work and said:
"Good job. So should I expect that you'll do more projects around the house without telling me?"
Probably. I am a pro now.
