DIY Saw Horses

Mandi discovered a bunch of DIY projects that use pallets, either whole or the pieces. She also found a perpetually refilled pile of pallets conveniently sitting across from her building at work, so we got to thinking about what we would use them for. We have a few projects lined up (one that might end up not using a pallet, more on that later). My first project was to build a couple of sawhorses. I've been on the lookout for free or cheap options without any luck. I decided to look up plans for building my own and found some good guidelines. My biggest challenge was trying to figure out the angles for the legs. The plans I found required cutting the ends of the legs at a 60 degree angle, but my circular saw can't do that. I finally figured out that I could use my speed square to mark the angle on the support piece and use my jigsaw to cut the angles. Once I realized that it was a breeze putting them together. Mandi was kind enough to document the process of building the second sawhorse. I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. Cost? Zero. The wood was free, I found the nails in the garage, and I already had the bottle of wood glue. The only source of cursing, other than trying to figure out the angles, was when I whacked my thumb with the hammer.

The pieces.

Marking the support placement on the legs.

Making sure the legs are flush with the top.

Applying the glue.

Ready for nails.

Leg fully assembled.

Final assembly.

Nailing the legs.

Final product.

Breakfast Fail

I was feeling ambitious this morning (plus we were out of yogurt for smoothies), so I tried to make myself an omelet for breakfast. I've never tried it before and I found instructions in our copy of "Be Thrifty". I thought I was doing OK until the eggs were almost done. Somehow I got to the point that I couldn't get the uncooked eggs on top to drain under the fluffy cooked eggs. I think they cooked enough that they weren't runny enough to slide underneath, but they weren't cooked enough to not be a little runny. (Wow, that sentence is pretty craptacular) Nevertheless, I carried on and added my cheese, green peppers, and onions to the middle, folded it over, and slid it onto my plate. It looked great. In my haste to sample my concoction I forgot to take a picture. I was hoping that the slightly runny eggs would continue to cook a little bit and solidify. Sadly that wasn't the case. Plus my green peppers and onions were frozen and I didn't have them over the heat long enough to warm up. So my lovely looking omelet was filled with slightly runny eggs in the center and cold veggies. Next time I will try it with just two eggs and I'll find a way to warm up the veggies before I add them. I think having three eggs made the omelet too thick for the top to cook before the bottom started to burn. Or it was just my sloppy technique since this was my first attempt. Hopefully round two will go my way.

(Cheap) Date Night

This past week, the Haus of Kendi has been finding cheap ways to entertain ourselves that don't involve movies or TV.  A recent trip to the dollar store resulted in this scene for almost a week straight...

The hardest puzzle the dollar store had to offer.  We finished it on Friday night.  I can't remember the last time I sat down and did a puzzle but I will definitely be going back for more. 

Cheers!