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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Lesson In Patience

Hi Friends!!
I sure hope this day is finding you well and enjoying what you are doing. It is actually rainy and chilly here in So. Cal. Not something we are used to in April!! But it sure makes for beautiful flowers this year. 

Let's talk dominoes today.


I promised 13 completed domino necklaces to a dear friend as gifts. She asked if they could be drilled from top to bottom. "Oh, of course!" was my naive answer. I just have to ask my neighbor if he has a drill press.
Which he did.
And now I really want one.




Now let's talk about DRILLING dominoes. When I usually drill, I just take my dremmel and make a hole in the top, just through the width of the said domino. It gets very hots and lets off a nasty "tuna fish" smell. Lots of domino dust goes everywhere as well. When I asked my sweet, unsuspecting neighbor if he could drill through the dominoes, his reply was, "Sure! No problem! Come on over!" I thought we would drill away and be done in about 1/2 hour.
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!




It took two hours to drill six of these babies.
Yes. I did type TWO HOURS.
They aren't your run-of-the-mill Target brand dominoes. They are older, and are much thinner. I was ready to throw in the towel after the first three broke, but my neighbor wasn't going to hear of it.




After that and two broken drill bits, we decided to try drilling the Target brand dominoes. Hoo boy, we were on a roll!! Drilling right through like domino pros.
Not.




More broken drill bits. Slower drilling. Letting the domino cool before more drilling. We would think we were right there and then we would hear, "crrack!" It's like playing a mind game or something. Holding your breath, waiting, drilling, waiting...SNAP! 
Sometimes not. Sometimes we would get one all the way through. We were sure surprised every time we did!!




After a grand total of 3 hours and 45 minutes, I had 13 dominoes drilled through lengthwise.
3 hours.
45 minutes.




I offered to finish sweeping his lawn clippings during this time. He had stopped doing his yard to do dominoes for me!! The least I could do was sweep. "Nah. Don't worry about it." Did I mention we broke all his drill bits? I offered to go buy more. "No you don't" was the reply. Let me help clean up the garage? Nope. I offered to make him coffee during this time, but he can't drink it. Tea? "No thanks!" So, I would run across the street, throw in a load of laundry and come back to see the progress. And then offer to sweep his yard again.




I informed him that he sure has more patience than I do. I would have figured out a different route ten minutes into the project. My neighbor is a man who tells me he prays for patience. I think his prayers were answered. 
Instead of getting to sweep his sidewalk, I made him banana blueberry bread.




I'm hoping it made up for the mess in the garage!!!
Have a great day~
And don't forget to enter the give away!!

13 comments :

  1. I love this story and I'll remember, if anyone ever asks me to drill dominoes lengthwise, I'll say "NO" right off the bat. Your neighbor must be an angel in disguise.
    ♥Danette

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  2. What a sweet neighbor and I'm sure he enjoyed your bread!

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  3. What a nice neighbor- I'll bet it became a personal challenge! The banana bread looks delicious!

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  4. Oh my. That dear man certainly does have patience!

    Now me, I would have had a domino flinging fit.

    I bet he liked his tasty bread, but he'll probably run the next time he sees you coming with dominoes in your hand.........

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  5. LOL...Pam's got the idea :-) Poppy is just the best. So the way that might have worked better is to do half the lenght on one end and then the other half on the other end...assuming you can really line it up. Wish you had called. Dominos are not the easiest thing in the world to drill. The bread was a nice thing to do...he's amazing!!

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  6. Oh Lynn, I so had to laugh at this one!! I too have broken and melted many a drill bit drilling through dominos AND DICE! It is a challenge, but you're lucky enough to have a fanststic (and may I say, patient) neighbor. Thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only one who has these little trials along the way.

    Viki

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  7. What a neighbor you have! The bread was a great idea!

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  8. I giggled through this whole post! Trust me, it was a sympathetic giggle, but a giggle nonetheless. I would never have suspected such an ordeal!

    You are so like me. I would have done the same exact thing and tried to find SOMETHING that I could do to make up for his time and drill bits.

    I'm going to love this blog. I can tell. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, too! If I can figure out how to email, I send an answer about the smoothies so that I don't clog up this comment box.

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  9. Lynn,
    What a kind neighbor! I am even a lttle scared of my Dremel I must admit. I have vowed to get it out more and make more holes in metal. We are now on a roll for our June show.

    Lynn, Kat and I made Etsy Finds today. We were so excited, we could not believe it. A woman bought from saw t and wrote to us. I was so grateful to her.

    Ummm, that bread looks so very good! You seem like a great cook from what I have seen!

    Love,
    Suz

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  10. Oh God! I can definitely relate to the drilling part, because last year, I asked my husband to dril the bottom of some old mugs that we had....I cursed the day I asked!!!!!! As for the blueberry banana bread, dear darling I need your recipe and I'll call it "Lynn's special banana bread from CA"...and I'm not kidding you! Don't forget hopefully by this time next year I will have my bakery open. Thank u for your kind words.

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  11. What a nice neighbor. Drilling is not something you can wing!
    I bet he was tickled to receive your delicious banana bread! Yum!
    oxo

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  12. Hi
    This post sounds like my life... sometimes you think it will go easy and NOT
    You have a wonderful neighbor - the world needs more of them.
    Blessings
    Rebecca

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  13. your neighbor sounds allot like my Dad. he won't give up on stuff like that. I never knew that drilling dominoes would be such a choir, good to know. And the bread looks amazing.

    -c
    yapping cat

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