In the new year I reviewed my 30 before 30 list and axed a few goals off the list since I just didn’t think they were really important to me anymore. So, in the back of my mind I’ve been mulling what my replacement goals may be. Well… here’s one: goal #6 - Become proficient with power tools.

To be honest I get a little scared around power tools. It’s like they all have an invisible label on them that says “Justine, don’t touch this.” But, in fact, they do not have that label. Part of it is that I’m not familiar with them (so, fear of the unknown) and the other part is that I have a sort of “full steam ahead” attitude with projects that can sometimes result in less-than-careful actions and less-than-perfect results - not an attitude you want when you’re wielding something that could amputate a finger. But alas, it’s time to put that fear aside (cautiously).

By “proficient with power tools” I don’t mean I will become a female Norm Abrams (Yeeugh… that would not be pretty), I just mean I won’t have to wait on Sean to do a job for me - I can up and do it myownself.

One project I tackled the other day (don’t laugh at me, Oh Professional Tool People) was installing hooks in our bathroom. I’d asked Sean to do this, but it’s tax season, so time to do stuff like this isn’t readily available, (and I don’t blame him for wanting to spend his small amount of time at home with me and our children). So the other day I thought, “I’m gonna try this. I think I know how.”

Rewind to how I got my pretty hooks: I bought the cheapest brass hooks I could find at the hardware store:

And spray painted them in the accent colour for the bathroom:

Tip: when spray painting hooks, screw them into some hard ground or a piece of foam so that you can spray all around them (including the tops of the screws)

But that part was not new to me. I’m quite spray-paint-proficient. THEN it was time to bust out the plugs, screws, and power drill. (EEP!)

I began by putting a line of painters tape on the wall and using my cute level to make sure it was straight.

Then I measured out where to put the hooks so that they were equidistant.

(I just mentally gave myself 10 points for using the word “equidistant” in a sentence.)

I held each hook up and marked with a pencil where the screw holes were.

(And I gained another 10 points because this was extremely hard to do and take a picture of at the same time.)

So each spot looked like this:

Then I chose the appropriate size of drill bit and drilled a hole on each pencil mark:

And hammered a small plastic plug into each hole:

After I’d drilled six holes with six plugs, I stood back for a moment and freaked out. “This better work, or this will be quite the mess to fix!” And then I proceeded to drill each hook into the wall, putting the screws into the plugs.

And I did it! I had a little celebration dance as I had not completely screwed it up (ha. Pun INTENDED.), aaand my daughter kept napping the whole time. Yesss… 10 victory points.

And now we could all enjoy the luxury of having our towels on hooks right beside the shower!

Up next, a similar project… that curtain rod in our bedroom! Onward, Fearless Power Tool Wielder!!