I have a small work area, but I’ve often wished that I had a table I could walk around for easier assembly of projects. I’ve also felt like I should have an outfeed table for the table saw to aid in cutting large pieces of wood. I was able to accomplish both with a single project. The plans come from the November issue of Family Handyman (an excellent magazine!) It’s built out of a single 3/4” piece of plywood so it’s pretty economical. And the plans are cleverly made so that you can cut the plywood into three 32” strips. I had that done right at Home Depot so it was easy to get home and maneuver around on the table saw. Obviously a bigger table would be nice but this has already come in very handy!
I also attempted to make this into a downdraft table (think of an air hockey table in reverse.) it would help catch dust particles from sanding, etc. There are a little over one hunded 5/16” holes in the top (that adds up to the 2.5” hose size). I drilled a hole in the side for the shop vac, but it probably should have gone in the bottom. It turns out not to matter because the shop vac doesn’t move enough air to make this very useful. If I can find an old furnace motor I might try to hook that up. It wasn’t a big loss though. The modifications to the plans were minor to try this. The top was already a box to make it easier to clamp things to the surface.
The Seahawks defense looked awesome for a third week in a row! The offense wasn’t stellar but in the second half, they finally got the better of the Eagles strong defense and started pushing them around. I’m feeling much better about the playoff picture than I was 5 weeks ago, especially with the unbelievable loss by the 49ers to the hapless Raiders. While the Raiders are definitely rejoicing in their victory, they probably cost themselves the first draft pick. (Though if you’ve read 
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If you watch Duck Dynasty, you know that Miss Kay is a great cook. We tried her banana pudding recipe a while back and it has become a staple for special family occasions. Here’s the recipe. I changed it to skip the double boiler and it works fine, but if you really want the original you can find it 
Around this time of year, it literally pays to watch the gift card section of Safeway. They regularly have deals for 2-3x gas reward points when you buy gift cards. That’s a reasonably good deal, but until 12/9 they have an even better one: $10 off your next visit when you buy $100 in gift cards.
Seahawks! Two excellent defensive games in a row with enough offense to win. I’ll take it. The road doesn’t get any easier but these last two wins were critical and they now control their own destiny. This weekend they will be on the road in Philly. I’ve been making big points off the Philly defense this season so we’ll see how the “meh” Seahawks offense stacks up.
This is a personal blog and it’s almost entirely a hobby so it makes sense that I never ask for donations or show banner ads. That being said, it’s not free. I added an Amazon.com link to the right hand side of the page. If you are planning to buy something at Amazon, consider clicking
Christmas Lights
Back in October, I finally decided on some Christmas lights and bought them. I decided to go with really nice stuff and add a little bit each year since it’s a little pricey. Tim came over to lend a hand and we got them up in under an hour. I’m really happy with the end result, but I’m eager to add more next year.
On a side note, I find it interesting that the house lights show up as different shades of white. It’s not very obvious to the naked eye. The three on the left are LED and the one up by the house is still CFL. Looking at it without a camera, it appears that all the colors of white (including the Christmas lights) match which was the intended goal.