A couple of tiny hermit lifehacks

When I started on the Lair’s bedroom addition last year a friend’s mother said she had some kid’s bedroom furniture that had been in her basement for a long time, and I could have them if I wanted. I wanted.

I literally sized the closet wall to accommodate the dimensions of the headboard and night stand. It worked out fairly well but, naturally, not perfect.

It didn’t occur to me at the time that I need to move the bed for morning bed-making (Yes, Mark. I do.) So the nightstand fits the wall perfectly if it’s right up against the headboard, but practically that’s not where you want it. So the nightstand sticks out into the closet doorway a little. Oh. well.

The other problem was the extension cord plug* behind the night stand. It prevents the nightstand from pushing right up against the wall, and that’s just annoying. Two nights ago I lost entire rifle magazines back there**.

I think that was the incident that reminded me, “I own a Dremel tool.”

There’s a piece of fiberboard behind the night stand’s wooden structure, and it serves a good purpose but wouldn’t suffer from a strategically-placed hole.

Problem solved!

Big Brother, in addition to all his help in speeding the building season into play and getting some things done that frankly weren’t even on the agenda (I’m looking at you, roof flashing) also came bearing several practical gifts. Some of these will show up in later posts.

In the interest of providing a Plan C for keeping me on-line, he brought me a good tablet computer and a bluetooth keyboard.

It works! There are still some tweaks, like I want to get an email client working primarily so I can move pictures around, but I can and have posted on the blog using this gadget. Way better than poking at a touchscreen “keyboard,” though I have to say I’m a writer, a bit of a keyboard snob***, and this plastic thing is never replacing a decent keyboard. But wow, is it better than poking at a touchscreen “keyboard.”

And when I’m doing mindless time-consuming chores like kneading bread dough, I’d gotten into the habit of watching videos on the smartphone. The tablet is much better for this, if only because it’s so much bigger.

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*One of the more amusing/irritating ironies of moving in was that I was so very proud of myself for not skimping on electrical outlets, but even so the very first thing I had to acquire upon moving in was a couple of extension cords, just because smartphone/tablet charging cables come too short.

**Because I was practicing mag swaps, that’s why. The mattress lets you drop one over and over without breaking a magazine or the floor. And then I set a stack of mags on the night stand, and then something got bumped and I was moving furniture to find my magazines. I’m quite sure you have problems like this.

***Seriously, I was first drawn to personal computers exclusively because they were so clearly superior to typewriters – including the keyboard action.