Minature Wooden Boxes; Venetian Blinds for the Bath; Venetian Blinds for the Bath - Part II

Minature Wooden Boxes Larger image

Several weeks ago, I was in the "Dollar Tree" store, in which everything actually is $1 in price. Not to be confused with "Everything's A Dollar," in which everything is not $!. Go figure!

And I wrote an entry journal - 2007-0206 - tue - 0700 about buying five miniature boxes. I've had them on the sofa table and found them so fascinating that I went back Saturday and bought ten more.

My intent was to place then in a large glass vase, so they would be on display. After Dollar Tree, I went next door to WalMart and tried to figure out which size vase to buy. But one not too expensive. I chose one, brought home and started placing the boxes inside.

I ran into two problems. The vase was not nearly big enough for all the boxes. Second, the boxes are rectangular solids of varying sizes and the vase is a curved variant of a cylinder.

So no matter how I tried to place the boxes, they didn't display very well. And there was no way to set them in position. I finally gave up. And then tried to decide what else I could use. Then I remembered the black wire mesh basket I'd bought to display the gemstones. (Except that Tiger, Tiger found it an excellent place to urinate. A trick that he has discovered he can also do with the ceramic baking dish filled with cat litter that I'm using as the place to burn incense sticks.)

I filled the basket, but this time I didn't have enough. So Monday, I moseyed back to Dollar Tree and bought ten more. This seems to be the right number. But I'm still not happy with the way they look. I do remember seeing some rectangular vases at WalMart, so I may give them a try.

Monday, I also popped by Lowe's to look at venetian blinds to replace the curtain in the bath. I thought of the perforated blinds I used for the living room windows. But the bath room window is about six inches wider. And the widest-size perforated blinds were not wide enough.

I then looked at a different pair of "wooden" blinds, but they were $80. A tad too pricey for my needs. By the way, I used quotation marks around "wooden," because I don't think any of them are actually made of wood.

Tuesday, I had to make my major shopping expedition to WalMart, so while I was there I thought I'd glance at the blinds. And, surprise, surprise, they had a vinyl, 1-inch set that would fit exactly inside the sill. For the giant price of $11.

I got them home, along with a large supply of other items including a 20-pound bag of dry cat food.

I carefully took everything out of the package, but there were no instructions. There were a few words on the carton that said, "Attach brackets, insert blinds."

The package of supplies included at least 20 screws; two cube-shaped plastic brackets with one side open and 3 or 4 holes on each of the sides; two panels for sliding into the front of the brackets once the blinds were installed; three plastic attachments for the valance at the top; three plastic attachments to hold the cords in place. The most mysterious items were two u-shaped metal brackets that didn't seem to match anything. And I still don't know their purpose.

I got all my needed supplies, a couple of nails, hammer, two screw drivers and a pencil. It took me ten minutes to figure out how the brackets were supposed to be positioned. I hammered in the nail to create a starter hole for screws. But the screws kept wiggling to the side, so I took them out. Used a thinner nail and started over. But I kept dropping things - hammer, screw drivers, screws. Because of the way the screws had to be positioned, it required a certain degree of muscle control that eluded me. I tried one way, then another, then another, and then reverted to the first effort. Of course, I splintered the wood on one of the sills. Which fits right in with all the other holes and gouges and splits. Remember, I'm dealing with 50-year-old window sills.

Finally, finally, finally I finished. And it took only a few seconds to insert the blinds and snap on the front panels. And they really look very nice. Far better than the aged curtains.

PAX! Erin Go Braugh!