I few weekends ago I spent some hours hunched infront of the lathe just playing with shapes and chisels.  I came away with a much needed maple carving mallet and a large elm bowl for Stamps-With-Foot.  She was all smiles when I presented it to her and turned it in every direction to see all the detail.  There was some kissing.  The mallet is now in my shop and I have used it for some clean-up chiseling on some trim and the bowl is sitting on our kitchen table filled with fruit and the first roses clipped from our bushes this year.

I find that if I spend a whole day in my shop and come out out with a little something that either makes the wife’s day easier or something that she has requested fixed I can get away with walking into the house covered in wood chips and sawdust.  A hour or so of labor is a fine trade for 8+ hours of shop-time were I am not penilized for not mopping the kitchen floor, washing dishes, or cleaning the toliet.