First of all, my apologies for not having written a post.  I am so busy with the sideboard project that I haven’t had a chance to even think about writing a one.  I hope you forgive me.  If you want to see how the project is progressing, click the DIY button on the right and you will be whisked away to the DIY blog.

But, before you do that, take a look at this video of a cute dancing bird.  Watch it to the end or you’ll miss the John Travolta move.

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I recently read Cute as a Buggy’s post Down The Farm and it reminded me of the time I went to conquer my biggest fear.

A kiosk had been set up at our local shopping center (Mall).  I heard they had a tarantula there and, for a fee, you could hold this thing in the palm of your hand and have a photo taken to capture your moment of extreme bravery.  I decided I would like to try that, so off we went.  Me with a mixture of fear and excitement at what I was about to do, and Mo thinking I was nuts.

Can you imagine my disappointment when, on arriving, we discovered there was not a tarantula in sight!  “Oh they were yesterday” the chap said.  “Today we have snakes”   I really wanted to hold a SPIDER.  They are the objects of my biggest fear.  Snakes not so much.

It seemed mad to go home again, without doing something remotely brave, so I decided to hold the snake anyway.

There was a tank with a lovely yellow snake inside.  It was about two foot long and quite harmless, I thought.  I sat down and prepared myself to hold this cute little snake.  Was I going to hold this cute little snake?  No I was not.  As if out of nowhere, the chap produced this HUGE snake and wrapped it around my neck. I was shocked at the weight of it.  “Head up” he said, aiming the camera at me.  It took all my strength to get my head up. This thing was so heavy!  It moved, and the sensation of it’s whole body moving under the skin was really scary.  It felt like it was strong enough to crush my neck quite easily.

Anyway, here I am with the snake, as proof of the semi-brave thing I did.  A spider would have been VERY brave.

I’d like to hear about the bravest thing you’ve ever done.  Semi-brave will do.

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Yesterday, while I was working on our sideboard, I got a splinter in my baby finger.  Every time I went to do something it hurt, so I asked Mo to get it out for me.  Was that wise?

Have you seen one of these before?

It’s called a ‘Linen Tester’ and  is a twelve times magnifier.  I used it when I was a graphic designer. Believe it or not I had to go over my whole job with this thing before sending it out to the client. One of my clients would send a job back if he thought that two letters in a 10 point type word were too close together!

Anyway, I digress (I like that word).  This thing has a tiny lens, an inch from the surface to be viewed.  You have to get your eye right on top of the lens and it’s critical that what you are looking at is level with the base i.e. one inch from the lens – exactly!

I got my trusted linen tester out of my drawer (so Mo can’t lose it) and handed it to her so she would see the splinter better.

Who was I kidding?

What followed was a real Mobabs moment.

Babs’ baby finger poised ready for the removal of the splinter.

Babs is holding the linen tester and trying to hold it one inch from her finger.

Mo, with tweezers in hand, bends over the lens.

Now Babs only sees the back of Mo’s head and has no idea where she is holding the lens.  Is it even over her finger?

You get the picture?

It’s easier if you listen to this.

Did Mo manage to get my splinter out?  Of course not! I got it out myself in a few minute without a magnifying lens.  Still it gave us our daily dose of laughter.

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I had so much fun reading all your comments and guesses.

We have two winners this time, because one of them is my sister and while I like my sisters to play along,  I can give them a Magnabeetle any time.

Congratulations to Weechuff (Sandie) and Barb!

It is, in fact a cooker top thingy.   Licorice it is not! Nor is it a woman’s foot, or a student’s desk, but the guesses had me laughing a lot!

I searched Google but can’t find what it’s actually called, so a gas ring or cooker burner will do fine.

I will message you on Facebook Barb as I don’t have an email for you.

Thank you all for playing along, and the next one will be even harder – No, not really.  I will try and make them a little easier in future.

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I have been having such fun reading some of these guesses. They made me see the photo from a completely different angle, and I definitely see a woman’s foot and shoe now!

Unfortunately nobody has guessed it this week so, as promised, here is a photo that shows a slightly larger portion.

As I said in the previous clues, there are two main types of these, though there are others. They come in a whole variety of styles and sizes. The portion in this photo is only found on one of them, though I can’t imagine that anybody hasn’t seen both types many times.

Enough clues now?

I’m sure somebody will guess now.

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Here we have another teaser for you.

Again, this is a small portion of a larger item.  It would be found inside the home, and sometimes other buildings. I don’t know of a home without one of these of one sort or another. There are two main types of these, and a multitude of different styles. In certain circumstance they can also be found outside the home.

Rules.
The first person to guess the item correctly gets a Magnabeetle of their choice.  If it hasn’t been guessed correctly I will post a photo showing a little bit more, so you all get another shot at it.  Mind you, so far they have been guessed quite early on.

This is another one that I think is easy, but Mo says it isn’t.  We’ll see.

Have fun!

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WARNING to all pet owners!

If you have a pet of any kind, be on your guard.  Pets are mysteriously disappearing, in many countries around the world.  Keep your pets close to you at all times. There are people out there that will steal them if they get a chance, and it could even be your neighbour.

They do not discriminate, and will grab ANY pet, be it a dog, a cat, a budgie, fish, a hamster or whatever kind of pet you may have.  Some of you may even have a pet snake or spider, or something more exotic.  If it’s a pet, it will be in danger.

Be vigilant at all times!

Don’t let the pet nappers get your beloved animal.

What do they want with all these pets?

To make bottles of course!

Can anybody enlighten me as to what PET actually is?   ‘Cause I don’t really think they make bottles out of cats and dogs and stuff…. Do they?

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OK, I promise, this is the last update on the furniture project.  Well, it’s finished so it has to be!

Here it is all done and dusted.

Not satisfied with this, we have now decided to venture into larger furniture!

This is the design of the piece we are making now – A sideboard – Where did that name come from?

We have a 6′6″ sideboard that’s a nice piece of furniture, but it’s too long for us.  It has to go.  We will utilize the doors from it, on our new project, but the rest of it will be broken up and cut down to make me a corner unit for all my computer bits.

I promise you I will not bore you with posts about it (unless we have one of those blog fodder moments) though I may show you a photo of it when it’s finished.

Anyone know why it’s called a sideboard?

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It gets worse!

We were watching the local news the other evening, and they were interviewing a singer/actress about her role in a show.  I was wondering who she was, as I’d missed the beginning of the interview.

Me:  “Who is she anyway?”

Mo:  “You know!”….. [sings] “You won’t find another fool like me babe”

Me:  Oh. …………. Who sang that then?

Mo:  I dunno

Me:  [Chokes on dinner laughing]

.

For your enjoyment.

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Here we are again, with an update of our TV unit making!

With the main unit finished, I proceeded to cut and glue the trim around the top.  I started to glue trim down the sides and ……..

Pee, Po, Belly, Bum, Drawers!

In my eagerness, I forgot that we needed to sand it down first.  We needed to smooth off all the corners to give them a slightly rounded look, and the trim around the top might get in the way.  As I suffer from allergies, and the electric sander creates so much dust, Mo took it into the porch to sand it down – with the front door open to clear out all the dust. Fortunately the trim wasn’t a problem.

Once that was done I glued the rest of the trim on and sanded it all down again.  We’ve put some wheels on it so that we can move it in and out easily if we need to get to the plugs for anything.  It’s quite a heavy unit.  We will put a back on it once we’ve work out where all the leads go – and there’s a heap of those!

Here it is finished and waiting for the several coats of varnish.  This is the part I like the least.

It’s less like a rabbit hutch now, me thinks.

I will post a photo of it once it’s varnished.

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