What exactly is a splat?

As you have probably read, SP is moving to a new location...4 short days before we open, woo hoo, I can't wait!

My husband and I have been spending a whole lot of time together the last few weeks. He is the definition of "jack of all trades". The man can truly fix anything. How convenient for me, right?!

Well, we've painted together...I'm the type who plops the paint can straight onto the carpet, no taping, or thinking ahead, I just open a paint can, and start painting. Not him, he carefully positions layers of plastic, stirs the paint for what seems like an hour, all while I tap my foot, twiddle my thumbs waiting patiently (yeah right!), and then meticulously paints the trim first, then rolls on a perfect layer of paint. Whatever!

I signed the lease on the new location without showing it to my husband. It's my shop, ya know? Okay, so I didn't notice a few things such as, one whole wall was covered with sheets of drywall on their sides, which hadn't been taped or sanded, they just hung there in squares. Oh my, honey was not impressed with the construction the previous tenant had done.

As we decided how many pieces of new drywall we would need, the cost, and impending aggrevation associated with drywalling, my darling daughter declared that we would NOT be putting up all new drywall, she could picture it now, each slab of drywall carelessly hung, painted a different color.

Wah Lah..There are moments when I look at it and think...wow, what did I let myself be talked into? However, I will not be carrying clothing that I personally would buy, and every teen ager who has graced the door of the new shop LOVES the paint job.

So, can you picture my DH taping all of those squares off? Neither could I, so I convinced him the dressing rooms needed to be built asap, and I freehanded the squares...yeah that's right, not tape nothing, it's how I operate, and it didnt' turn out too bad either!

About the dressing rooms...I showed DH a photo of some very simple dressing rooms. From what I could tell, it was 2 sheets of plywood mounted to the wall somehow, no big deal, not a huge project, PERFECT! DH nodded in agreement, "would you like me to print the picture of this simple dressing room honey?" I asked. Oh no, he knew what I wanted, it was all good, so he says.

Well, as the stack of 2x4s grew in the shop, I kinda figured he was doing his own thing. You can't really tell from this photo, but if there is ever an earthquake in NW Indiana, we'll all be in the dressing room. After hours of measuring and sawing, and drilling, and more measuring, he said, "look honey" and he was doing pull-ups (well one pull up anyway) from the cross piece in front. with some of the litte darlings I've seen in the shop, I guess that's not such a bad thing...at least it won't fall down.

I am proud to say that, the only expense we have so far, is paint. Okay so $300 worth of paint, but all the lumber and slatwall were carefully removed from our old location to re-use instead of buying all new...recycling really is the name of the game!

Friday night I called my husband to ask if we had a jig saw. I love when he doesn't answer my question instead says, "why?". "Cuz, I need to cut out the splat!", I lovingly reply, "What exactly is a splat?" he further questions me. Now I'm getting crabby, "do we have one or not?!". Turns out that we don't, out of the thousands of dollars worth of shopsmith equimpment in our shed, we do not have a jig saw. So I start calling around, dad, brother, etc, and finally find one at the daughter's boyfriend's house, and they'll deliver it to me! woo hoo!

Well, if you don't have a jig saw, I highly recommend you get one. First of all, I could use it without supervision, it's little it has a blade guard, it doesn't go too fast and it's very light weight. Secondly, check out what I did!! My daughter drew the outline in two seconds and in 1/2 hour, I had this cut out with the handy dandy jigsaw!Check back for a picture of the finished product, it hangs behind the front counter bearing the shop name. It looks pretty fun. The other daughter says it reminds her of Nickelodean, but she likes it because it's old school. Yeah, I know, she's not near old enough to say old school, but oh well!

4 days until we open, and all that is left to do is, paint the dressing rooms, and the front counter, clean the carpets, set up the computer, haul the totes full of clothing to the shop, hang steam and price them, put a dozen or so racks together...you know what, time for me to quit typing and get to work!

I can' wait to see you shoppers again, I've missed you all...can't wait till Friday!!