I don’t have the usual gallery to share today. However, I do have 20 exposures from a roll of 24 all stitched into a single image. I used my Kodak Retina Reflex S camera with a 135mm t… Read More

This is the last of my rolls from my film photography class in high school. Following this class, I had a semester of digital photography which I didn’t enjoy. That class had too much… Read More

This “roll” further convinces me that I had no proper management or organization strategy of my negatives in high school. I’m sure I could go back through my negatives and… Read More

With these rolls of film from twenty-ish years ago, I try to remember what the assignment was to help understand what and why I captured what I did. Honestly, I think this roll might just ha… Read More

This roll of film appears to be a potpourri of class assignments and a handful of these photos look great to me today. This is another roll where I decided that the photos I don’t reme… Read More

At the beginning of this year, I didn’t know that photographing the eclipse on film was something that I wanted to do. Heck, I don’t think it even registered for me that there wo… Read More

Whositwhatsit? I’m pretty sure that the was the name of this assignment. Find an object and shoot it from different angles and then other people had to guess what it was. I think mine… Read More

Recently, it came to my attention that the 2024 solar eclipse will be happening next month. On a whim, I decided to take a day off, and make a day of it. I have been itching for some time to… Read More

There was no assignment for this roll, and to be honest I don’t really know why I took it. Likely, some younger form of me was trying to make the camera part of his personality and was… Read More

These photos are all bad. Really, I had to pull up the negatives to make sure I didn’t make a mistake while scanning these and sure enough, they are all bad. It looks like I had some w… Read More

Another roll, another group of photos that I am not thrilled with 18 years after I took them. What I am finding out is that I wasn’t great about keeping my negatives in order in high s… Read More

There are two groupings of photos in this roll of film. One grouping was the official assignment from my class and one grouping was a side project. The school assignment was “long expo… Read More

This roll of film is far from my favorite, nearly every photo is under exposed. What’s more than that is that I didn’t like the assignments we had to complete with these photos… Read More

This next roll from my high school photo archives was very under exposed. Nearly all of the photos needed to have their exposure bumped up a bit so they’d be viewable. I think a lot of… Read More

In continuing to share the photos I’ve taken with my film cameras over the years, this next roll is the second one I shot in high school. I cannot, for the life of me, remember what th… Read More

The photos below are the first roll of film I shot in high school photography class. If I remember correctly, the assignment was just to take a roll and figure out how to use the camera. Spe… Read More

It’s that time again, isn’t it? The past year got away from me for a couple of reasons. The thirty-fifth year was definitely one for the books. Let’s recap it, shall we? Jo… Read More

How long does it take to build a table and when do you really get to start counting? Does the timer start when you make the first cut or when you sit down to draft the piece? Maybe it starts… Read More

Throughout the pregnancy, I kept telling my wife things like, “The baby is all mine when she gets here,” and “You’ve been carrying her for nine months, I get the next… Read More

The 34th year of my life was emotional. I was presented with a whole host of new situations, good and bad, which I suddenly needed to cope with. Overall, my gut says that things went well wh… Read More

My heart cries out for my people. I saw the news as it happened last night. Russia launched an unprovoked attack on my beloved Ukraine. All the reports in recent weeks pointed towards this n… Read More

You know? It’s been a year. Can we just take a moment to reflect on everything that happened in the past year? This was by far the year I expected it to be. We entered year two of a gl… Read More

On November 14th, 2021, I ran a marathon. For me, this was no small feat. It was four and a half months in the making and decided upon a whim. Sometime in late June, I felt the need to work… Read More

Back in 2013, one of my high school friends asked if I wanted to run a half-marathon with him. He was coming out of a marriage and that meant a transformation for him. Half out of curiosity… Read More

You might remember about a year ago, I went through the process of retrofitting the electronics in an old Dahlgren 400EZ CNC Engraver. I bought it off of Craigslist for $50. To be honest, I… Read More

Let me start by asking, did anyone have the year they thought they would? Was anyone able to find peace in the year they ended up with? Would it surprise you to hear that while I didn’… Read More

Ten years. Let that sink in. Where were you ten years ago? What were you getting ready to do? Can you even imagine? Any given day, I couldn’t tell you without looking it up. But today… Read More

For years I have wanted to have a CNC (computer numerical control) router to play with and cut fun things with. For a period of time, I thought the MaslowCNC would be my entry into the world… Read More

In the Rocky Mountains, on a clear September day that I had a moment of clarity–I knew exactly what I was going to make Ellie for Christmas that year. In my mind, I had a perfect visua… Read More

I wouldn’t say that I’m a New Years resolution kind of guy, but I do find it to be a convenient way to quit or start something cold turkey. The new year tends to give me a boost… Read More

It’s been a while, and that has been by design. Being 30, for me, was about getting stuff done and seeing where that could take me. Being 31 was about focusing on all the things I need… Read More

I was done with 2018 a while ago and wrote my thoughts about it for my birthday. I’ve spent the past month treating it like a new year and actually prepping for the new year. I like to… Read More

This project was about a year in the making. Last Christmas, Ellie and I had a niece and two nephews to buy for and there was another on the way and a fifth would come into the picture a lit… Read More

I have dry, itchy skin. My wife has dry, itchy skin. Our dog has dry, itchy skin. Our cat, well she’s the odd one out. Every winter it is the same. I get really dry and really itchy. W… Read More

I’m not professionally trained in most of the things that I do. Despite this fact, there are things I think I do exceptionally well. For example, I have never been trained to cook but… Read More

Do you clean your stove, I mean like really, really clean your stove only to turn around ten minutes later and there’s food splattered on it and a splash of pasta sauce even though you… Read More

When it comes to holidays, I’m not much of a decorator. There’s a whole lot of effort that goes into decorations for very little payoff. Most of the time, you’re decorating… Read More

This is a post I meant to save for the end of the year, as posts like this tend to be placed there. But so much about what I have to say feels better to get it out sooner than later and move… Read More

At my last job I had a coworker who was the kind of person to know interesting people because she could be considered an interesting person herself. The kind of people who don’t sit in… Read More

In our ongoing quest to have a finished basement, Ellie and I just reached a major milestone. The drywall in the basement has all been hung. It has been a long journey, but maybe it shouldn… Read More

I always thought my family was a bit different than the families of my friends. The traditions we kept, I just assumed they were ours. At times, I was embarrassed by them or didn’t kno… Read More

We started the basement finishing project back in March, I believe. Since then, we’ve had fits and starts when it came to getting things done. Some of the reason for that is that we we… Read More

If I haven’t already made this clear in previous posts, I’m not a rich man. I never have been though someday I hope to be more comfortable with my finances than I am now. Because… Read More

If you don’t live in Wisconsin and/or haven’t heard about it on the news, then let me tell you that we’ve been hit with a lot of rain this year. There was a stretch of a fe… Read More

Sometimes projects take a while to complete. Sometimes, the simpler the project the longer it takes because you overthink the solution to the point of freezing on any sort of action. Sometim… Read More

As Ellie and I speed up on our project of finishing the basement of our house, we’ve broken the process down into bite-sized chunks to help us keep moving forward. The small projects w… Read More

I make a lot of things, but the thing I’m best at making is a mess. The mess can usually be justified, by me, because I have a fairly good memory of where things are in the shop. Howev… Read More

When a project is too big, I have a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around it. The biggest issue is where to get started or what to do next. Sometimes you think, I’ll just take care of… Read More

It’s been two years since Ellie and I tied the knot. We did many things in that time and learned and grew as a couple. She is a wonderful woman who I wouldn’t wish to spend a day… Read More

I like to think karma affects me. I like the concept that if you do good things, good things happen and vice versa. It keeps me honest. Sometimes the good things that happen aren’t dir… Read More

I like large, complex projects. There are many facets to them and I often learn or practice a whole host of skills to complete them. Once they’re done, I have this satisfying statement… Read More

When we bought our house, the driveway was sorely in need of an update. The blacktop was pitted and crumbling. It was clearly neglected for quite some years. I checked back on Google Street… Read More

In the ongoing saga of finishing half of our basement, we’ve been making slow progress. So far, Ellie and I have bought the bulk of the materials, and we have insulated two of the room… Read More

The previous owner of our house, that’s who. I guess the real question is, “Why would someone paint a sink?” That is an answer I don’t think I will ever have, but I d… Read More

I have wanted a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) router for years. The problem, however, is that a CNC is very expensive and only recently have they come down in price but even at that lower… Read More

Do you ever think to yourself, “Well I might as well, before it’s too late”? That’s what Ellie and I thought before we started hanging the pile of drywall we bought… Read More

I am a slob. I always have been and there have been more than a handful of people who have tried to train it out of me. Some of it has helped, but my natural state is to live in a mess of or… Read More

Let’s take a few steps backward and talk about Peace Corps, it’s been a while and I’m feeling nostalgic. If we go back six years, I would be in the summer of my second year… Read More

Ellie and I have a habit of grabbing things off the side of the road. I think it originally started as my own habit and it spread to her by association. In college, my most notable object fo… Read More

Ellie and I have a love affair with Arizona. We went there a few years back after we had been dating for about a year because it seemed like a good place to go in the middle of January. It w… Read More

This is only the beginning. This is not a complete story. It’s a work in progress and a learning experience all in one. Aren’t the best projects always like that? We didn’t… Read More

I’m particular.  I have a standard of quality. If my name is going to be tied to something, I want it to be something I’m proud of. This is a trait I developed in my twentie… Read More

In Wisconsin everyone knows someone who has a cabin up north. It’s a part of your childhood. What did you do this summer? I spent two weeks at the cabin up north. For those of us who d… Read More

I think we are finally past the wintry weather in Wisconsin. At least I hope so because recently I planted the garden for the year. In one fell swoop, I put the fate of my harvest in hands o… Read More

I’m not the most precise gardener. I like to let things grow their own way. Weeds happen, and I pull them as needed. But once the plants are in the ground, I do my best to keep them fr… Read More

One of the many things that came up in our home inspection prior to closing on the house was that the garage was in need of some love. More specifically, the home inspector told us that it w… Read More

When Ellie found the $5 MCM end table at Goodwill and asked me to refinish it, I got a bit giddy. I really enjoy refinishing old pieces of furniture and bringing new life into them. It start… Read More

Sometimes, things just were meant to be and you don’t question the why or the how. That’s just the way it is. When it comes to restoring a mid-century modern end table my wife fo… Read More

When I bought my ShopSmith 10ER, I had only the vaguest idea of what it was and how I would use it. I knew it was old and I knew there were fanatics out there, so I figured I’d be good… Read More

This project feels like it was a long time in the making, Ellie reminds me it was only about a month. A month to her I guess feels like three for me. It was roughly a month ago that Ellie sh… Read More

Marley was declawed when I got her. I didn't need to make that decision, and it was a blessing in disguise. Since getting her, I've learned more about the declawing process and am torn. On o… Read More

When Ellie and I lived in apartments, I did my best to grow herbs and veggies in containers. Last year, when we were looking for a house, I made sure to find a house with a space for a garde… Read More

On a whim, Ellie and I bought a bunch of drywall. Sixty sheets of it to be precise. We also bought 22 boxes of laminate flooring and a sheet of melamine. We were running low on all of the ab… Read More

I have a problem with dust. Not the type of dust that shows up on your shelves one day nor the type you write in. In my case, the dust is created by my disk sander in my shop and it coats ev… Read More

Has it really been a year since this whole process started? According to the closing documents, it has. It’s hard to believe Ellie and I have owned a home for a whole year now and we h… Read More

Since I’ve joined the rat race many years ago, I’ve collected a mass of business cards from the different jobs I’ve held. For the longest time, they seemed like such a trea… Read More

Okay, I know I wrote about how I don’t think collecting trash is a great idea in my post last week about my DIY Chalkboard, but this week I have another story about someone else’… Read More

I put together a shaker door build video for the Bathroom Closet Shaker Doors I built recently. This is my first attempt at filming one of my projects. Let me know what you think. If you'd l… Read More

Most of the time I reject the notion that someone else’s trash could be my treasure. I need to reject this notion because if I didn’t I would have a collection of things that I d… Read More

When I started the bathroom closet conversion project, I knew I needed to build a custom door for the closet and I knew I wanted to create shaker doors, but I didn't know I'd need to build t… Read More

Another DIY bathroom renovation project has been taken care of. In this entry, I turned our spare shower into a closet to store all of our bathroom supplies. The post Bathroom Closet Convers… Read More

There is nothing worse than a drunk argument when everybody is sober. The post On Arguments appeared first on Sassyhacksaws Read More

One of the appealing features of a ShopSmith is that it can be used as a lathe. For the longest time, I had been wanting to try my hand at turning things on a lathe but didn't know anyone wh… Read More

Tables seem to be the focus of many of the home makeover shows out right now. The trend is to prefer handmade tables that are large and stately and can seat your extended family with ease. T… Read More

Because Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day is coming up soon, I thought I'd post the recipe I have for making homemade paczki. They're time consuming, but totally worth it. Freshly made batch… Read More

When Ellie and I were looking for a house, one of the items I was looking for was a space to work on things. I didn't really have any criteria in mind. More or less, I figured the space woul… Read More

I have been the author of unalterable evils and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness. -Dr. Victor Frankenstein The post On Fra… Read More

I found one of those things I didn't realize how much I'd miss it until it was actually gone. That thing is a dishwasher. The first half of my childhood, we didn't have a dishwasher. We took… Read More

If you say, "The current job I have is everything I ever wanted," life becomes just so much more straightforward." -Sataya Nadella The post On work appeared first on Sassyhacksaws Read More

    Weekend hike at Governor Nelson’s State Park The post Weekend Hike appeared first on Sassyhacksaws Read More

Ooh boy. This is one of those posts I knew I’d get to at some point but never really imagined it being here. The weird thing is that I knew exactly when it should be written. Today. I… Read More

Sometimes home owning drags you down. You look up at the ceiling and wish you hadn’t seen the thing that needs to be fixed or you move something and find that the problem is bigger tha… Read More

Do you ever come across a website that offers to make your life better and you think, “Great, but this is too good to be true”? I’ve often come across these as ambitious st… Read More

A month ago I received an unpleasant piece of mail. The energy bill arrived and it was $30 more than it had been. And its graph highlighted that the price of the bill was increasing a little… Read More

Puppy. Puppy is the newest member of our family. Her name is Stella and she’s the best. We adopted her from a local rescue called Paddy’s Paws. She was born in Texas to a breeder… Read More

The CODAworx beginning After two and a half years at CODAworx, I put in my two weeks notice. It did not end up being or feeling like I had imagined. I expected feelings of regret and nervous… Read More

I’ve been talking about my student loans for years. It seems like it’s been a very slow process of whittling away at them to the point where they’re manageable. And what I… Read More

Gardening is easy when you have a plot of land to do it. For years, I was stuck container gardening. It worked, but it wasn’t perfect. Last year I even went and bought a Garden Tower b… Read More

I took an unplanned hiatus. At some point in the late winter and early spring, I stopped riding the bus and I started being busy with the house. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and… Read More

If you decide to buy a house, you’ll certainly think you have everything under control. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting yourself into and you’ll be confident… Read More