I am the man

Yes...this weekend I became a man. :)
Saturday was a warm up. Since our furnace was replaced (last year...cough) the basement has been in complete disarray from having moved half of it and cramming it ALL into my craft room. Literally. You couldn't even go into the room it was so full of STUFF. Up to the door. So disheartening. Thing is -I refused to just move junk around...I wanted to reorganize it all properly and haven't had the time to until now. I spent all saturday attacking that room...and I won. Took a whole carload of cardboard and recyclables in and a carload of old records and clothes to a local charity shop (leftover from my dad). Now, there is still a long way to go to get it more organized but the crap is gone and things are grouped for sorting out in the next few weeks. You can walk around in there and see the floor and desktops. It's a room again. My haven for me is a real room again. FINALLY.

Then sunday I proved that I can use power tools and learned about the van.
Last weekend I was embarrassed when driving home from the lake a light came on and off in the van dash and I didn't know what it was for or what to do about it. Warning lights are important and I refuse to be a ditz and accidentally ruin a vehicle by my own lack of knowledge. Turns out the mystery light was a transmission overheating light which (thankfully) was not working right or the transmission could have been damaged by driving with it on. And unlike an engine/oil light you don't turn the vehicle off immediately- for this warning light you have to pull over and idle until the light goes off and the tranny is cooled off and then you can keep driving or turn it off. We have right hand drive  Mitsubishi Starwagon Delica L300 we imported from Japan as a camping vehicle and it's my husband's second lover...I rarely drive it and I haven't had time or made the effort to learn about it until now. Long overdue. I asked J to show me all the important things on the Delica I should know to drive it responsibly. We checked the tranny fluid is full and seems nice and red, so the transmission seems OK (the sensor has been acting up apparently so we need to replace the sensor, and maybe the fluid since it's been a few years), and J showed me how to check the oil and all other fluids (which are all inside the van under the centre console and passenger seat) and where the fuses and jack are.

Then I got my RawR on and got to work. The back area of our basement has a workbench (currently mountained with random tools. ahem.) and the rest of the room is the place where all the crap that was in my craft room came from. I have needed a storage unit back there for ages...and so I measured & sketched and we were off to Home Depot in the van for some lumber and paint. Then I threw on a work jacket, gloves and toque and worked outside with my drill and chop saw and built custom storage shelves for the back room. They aren't fancy...just functional, strong and exactly what we need. Custom L shape with 4 shelves, exactly the right depth for the rubbermaid bins we will be using to sort and store all our junk in. J helped me mount them to the wall and secure the cross shelving after supper. We worked together and finished the evening with an ice cold Grolsh feeling very proud of ourselves.

RawR.