Today I fell in love with a mouse sander. I hate mice, but this cool little sander fit both my hand and my love of detail work.
I have never been a D.I.Y person (though I love watching those D.I.Y shows on HGTV.) It’s just that it looks hard, and like something I don’t have the skillzz for.
But here it is, Fall Break, and we are stripping, sanding and resurfacing the kitchen cabinets. And it’s turning out to be really fun! I like it. (And it beats the hell out of writing, that’s for sure.)
Wood is so satisfying to work with. It smells nice and it feels nice. It has grain and weight and character. It’s both soft and hard. The sanding reveals the grain that’s been hidden under the old finish and the grime. The sanding brings the wood back to life.
And after a day sanding, there is now a neat stack of cabinet doors awaiting stain, (which will come tomorrow.)
I wish writing was as satisfying as sanding. Both activities have things in common, of course: working with the grain of a sentence, shaving off the rough edges, refining words and phrases so that what you want to say is revealed, etc.
But at the end of a day of writing there are just pages, whereas at the end of a day of sanding there are beautiful, soft, grainy, aromatic cabinets.
Inspiration Location 