About eight years ago, I stumbled into a Home Depot, itching to spend some money on hand tools. I had been married for just over three years and needed some extra bling for my apartment office shelves. As I walked down the front of the store, something bright green caught my eye.
Here was a whole rack of green rubber gripped clamps. They were less than a buck each, hard to un-squeeze, and - I decided - would look deliciously appealing in my office.
I tossed them in the cart, got sticker shock from everything else, bought them, drove home, and attached them to a shelf.
They looked as good, hanging on the shelf, as I had imagined they would.
Then we moved. And moved again. Again we uprooted ourselves. And again. Then again. And....again and again. Each and every time we moved, I lovingly packed the green clamps into a box clearly marked "TOOLS!" and made sure it was stacked on top, in the truck.
I never used them. Until today.
Let's back up a few days.
The kids store their toothbrushes in a drawer in their bathroom. It's an old sink that has seen its time. Jack (4) decided he really wanted to brush his teeth and yanked on the drawer. The front came right off in his hands and the cheap sawdust crap they use to put that stuff together with, disintegrated into powder. The front of the drawer was heavy oak.
I found out about the disaster by a thundering herd of footsteps, everyone talking at once, trying to get Jack into trouble. I informed them the sink was old, set the drawer front on top of the sink, tucked everyone in (after brushing their teeth, of course), and went to bed.
Then tonight, I got out my 150 horsepower air compressor, a brad nailer, a sleeve of brads, a 50 foot air hose, a cordless rotary saw, a cordless drill driver, a leftover slab of half inch plywood, a small vacuum, two sheetrock screws, a 3 foot tape measure, a 50 tool set, and a pack of kids. As I bundled it all in my arms, ready to go up the two floors to the sink, something green caught my attention.
THE CLAMPS!
I grabbed them too.
Twenty minutes later, I had finally christened the rubber - and not one kid was injured. The drawer was solidly repaired. A nuclear bomb could now take this house down and one solitary drawer front will be swinging in the wind.
Here was a whole rack of green rubber gripped clamps. They were less than a buck each, hard to un-squeeze, and - I decided - would look deliciously appealing in my office.
I tossed them in the cart, got sticker shock from everything else, bought them, drove home, and attached them to a shelf.
They looked as good, hanging on the shelf, as I had imagined they would.
Then we moved. And moved again. Again we uprooted ourselves. And again. Then again. And....again and again. Each and every time we moved, I lovingly packed the green clamps into a box clearly marked "TOOLS!" and made sure it was stacked on top, in the truck.
I never used them. Until today.
Let's back up a few days.
The kids store their toothbrushes in a drawer in their bathroom. It's an old sink that has seen its time. Jack (4) decided he really wanted to brush his teeth and yanked on the drawer. The front came right off in his hands and the cheap sawdust crap they use to put that stuff together with, disintegrated into powder. The front of the drawer was heavy oak.
I found out about the disaster by a thundering herd of footsteps, everyone talking at once, trying to get Jack into trouble. I informed them the sink was old, set the drawer front on top of the sink, tucked everyone in (after brushing their teeth, of course), and went to bed.
Then tonight, I got out my 150 horsepower air compressor, a brad nailer, a sleeve of brads, a 50 foot air hose, a cordless rotary saw, a cordless drill driver, a leftover slab of half inch plywood, a small vacuum, two sheetrock screws, a 3 foot tape measure, a 50 tool set, and a pack of kids. As I bundled it all in my arms, ready to go up the two floors to the sink, something green caught my attention.
THE CLAMPS!
I grabbed them too.
Twenty minutes later, I had finally christened the rubber - and not one kid was injured. The drawer was solidly repaired. A nuclear bomb could now take this house down and one solitary drawer front will be swinging in the wind.
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