As much of a downer it is to be unemployed, there are some benefits. I save a ton of money on personal hygiene products as most days I spend moping about the house wallowing in my own filth. I have to take a shower occasionally to warm up, as I’m keeping the thermostat lower to save money. If the SO has noticed my increasing grossness, he thankfully hasn’t said anything. He did mention my disgusting face-breakout though, so I’ve made a point of trying to cover that up when he’s around. That counts as effort, right?
Here’s how I did it:
So, the interesting news is that I have an interview on Wednesday. True to my “hopeful pessimist” persona, I’m trying not to get my hopes up for fear they’ll be dashed. At least I made it past the first cut. It used to be that if I got an interview, I got the job. Now, middle-aged and over-qualified, that’s not the case anymore. I was even rejected by the Container Store for an hourly position. Really? The Container Store’s too good for me? Anyway, this interview has stirred up a whole new problem – do I get a hair cut?
My hair is really short, and naturally curly, so if it grows out a bit it starts to look really weird. Do I embrace the weird look (I am an “artist”, after all) and try to tame it with lots of product, or do I bite the bullet and drop the $40 to get it cut by a real person? The other option is to cut it myself, which I have done in the past, but I can’t get the back and the SO is decidedly unhelpful in this regard (which is probably best for him, actually). What to do, what to do…..
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It’s amazing what you can do when you have a lot of time and not much money, and need things. I needed a bird feeder. My back yard is like a wildlife preserve – tons of trees, a creek, and no fence. When my dad was alive, he was really into feeding and watching the birds, and so am I. The bird feeders you buy are either so cheaply made, ugly, expensive or prone to be ruined by squirrels, so I decided to make my own. Here’s what I used:
- Stoneware dinner plate, bowl and salad plate (bought at the after-Christmas sale for 75% off. I reckoned the birds didn’t care one way or the other)
- ¼” eye bolt, 3 ½” long
- ¼” threaded rod – 3’ long
- ¼” nuts
- ¼” washers
- ¼” hex coupler
- Bird feeder hanger
- Electric drill with a ¼” carbide-tip masonry bit
- Hacksaw
Make sure that the nuts, coupler, rod and eye bolt all have the same number of threads per inch, to avoid irritation and multiple trips to the hardware store. You can make two bird feeders from one length of rod, so whilst you've got all your tools out, why not?
Here’s how I did it:
(Probably best to use safety glasses, natch)
Start out by using the hacksaw to chop the threaded rod approximately in half. I actually did this after I already threaded the top plate on, but obviously, it would have been easier to do it first. Duh.
Mark the center of the two plates and bowl with a permanent marker.
Get to drillin’. This part was a bitch. It takes a lot of patience and not a small amount of elbow grease. The glaze on the stoneware is really difficult to penetrate; you just have to keep at it with lots of pressure until you breach the barrier. Once you get a bite, keep a lot of pressure on the drill and move it around a bit. Eventually it will poke through on the other side. When that happens, flip the piece over and drill at it from the other side. It should, if you’re lucky, make a nice, clean hole. If you’re unlucky and it chips, not to worry - ain’t no thang. Drill all three pieces. Take a break.
Thread the eyebolt and a washer through the upside-down plate, and thread the hex coupler on the other side of the plate onto the eye bolt stem.
Attach the hanger, fill with bird seed, and hang. Your feathered friends will be dying to get in at the new restaurant!
You can make these with multiple feeding levels, too. I also had an idea to make an indoor planter using a cup and saucer – I’ll try that out and post the how-to.
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