Toybox Lid Repair Went As I mostly Expected

Another project a long time in being resolved is my broken toybox, its lid damaged since I got it as a wee lad. It was made by my grandfather & right off the bat it was the hinges on the back of the lid which broke off & the wood they were screwed into which completely split & the lid never again worked as made. Also as a kid, I enacted the only repair I knew - simply rework the lid so the hinges would attach. And for the most part, that plan pretty much worked.

And that was the state of the lid ever since. For over 50 years this toybox rarely held any actual toys; when I first got it, it was where my Steve Austin $6 million dollar Man & associated stuff resided. And up until May 2018, I still retained Steve in his rocket until evil stole it from me. During the time in Mom's home, it was eventually home to 7 Atari 2600s. Also stolen from me. When I got older, it rarely held any toys, much like my dresser which never held any actual clothes but instead contained my oldest videotapes.

When I moved, the toybox became storage & a seat for my kitchen area. Being of reduced & limited physical ability, it was essential. But when I moved into my current place, I decided I would figure out how to completely repair the lid problem. I decided on using Piano Hinges (aka Continuous Hinges) to replace the 2 little failed & bent hinges originally put on it. I also found out about wood filler products to fix the damaged edges & had applied some but never finished that step. But I did get to see how well the product would perform. I hope the unused portion is still viable in the cans/ I bought 2 small cans, opened only 1.

Another item I obtained, this time from Amazon, was a lid stand. Actually I think of it as an action limiter. It will hold the lid up by itself, but also prevent it from opening too wide. I seem to recall there being one but it was angrily removed & lost to time.

The only problem in fixing the lid was its eventual split. I figured I would find a way to repair it using wood dowels & proper strong wood glue. The only problem with that is I needed a drill bit large enough for the dowels I would use & a proper way to drill them perpendicular to the surfaces of the wood & on top of that, in spite of the irregular edge it now has due to splitting. Elmer's glue was not strong enough.

After a visit to Lowe's, I obtained said hinges, a small hand saw for cutting the dowels I had bought months earlier at Walmart (5/16 inch diameter), and a proper size drill bit. What I also needed was a dowel drilling jig. I got 1 of these off eBay. It came with no box nor instructions, however a video or 2 on Youtube showed me the tricks of getting this doohickey to help me get it positioned. What I also needed was a way to keep it square. That task fell to my straight edge level & 2 Atari 2600 cartridges - at least their shells.

After that was a logic puzzle to sort out how to square things up, clamp in place, then drill. 8 drill holes later after developing a flow & technique, I was fitting the dowel bits, gluing it up, & clamped. The result of that you see above. The main part was applying enough glue to have it spill out during clamping. As Julian Baumgartner has said, you want that extra glue to squeeze out so the joint isn't starved of adhesive.

Once this step has finished drying, I'm looking to once again fix the edges with that putty filler stuff (I forgot what it's called but I got it at Lowe's), drill pilot holes for the screws, replace the cross bits inside the lid I had to remove years ago, add the lid stop, and do the hinges. And then maybe clean it out? I guess I should.

My next project is fixing the other assemble it yourself bookshelf. I need more screws maybe. I thought I had some for that already. Then getting a service manual for my Magnavox big screen TV. It turns on, but no picture & I believe the CRT is getting some voltage. I hope to see a burned out resistor or transistor.  

The results of my cooking Thanksgiving 2025

The results of my cooking this year:

The pumpkin pie was baked on Tuesday & after 2 days in the fridge, I found the flavors to have a definite sweet note with the spices really being there. It's like the Pumpkin Spice mini wheats cereal. I've never tasted it so sweet so maybe the recipe I followed on the Walmart canned pumpkin needs the sugar reduced a bit?

I changed how I cooked the turkey breast roast. I put it in while still mostly frozen into an oven coming down from 350F, and baked it for about 30 minutes until the oven recovered at 325 like the wrapper said. Then I covered it with aluminum foil. I had already sprayed it with cooking spray while cold. Then at 2 hours into roasting, I added water to the roasting pan to prevent the residue from drying out since the fat had rendered out unlike other times I've cooked these. In the end, I got a good amount of drippings (if you could call it that) which made the gravy packet turn out really good for once.

I kicked up the greener beaner casserole a notch with some imitation bacon bits. I also weighed out 5 ounces of french fried onions & put the last 2 on top from the 7 ounce packet.

The loaded cornbread was different this year, but still came out okay. I also measured the cheese by weight which I probably shouldn't do.

And instead of mashed potatoes I decided to microwave a single potato & mashed that. It tends to take up a lot more room than a dollop of pre-mashed. The gravy came out kind of salty though.

A rice dish I considered was cancelled. I still have the garbanzo bean crockpot stuff in the fridge, & I'll likely open the cranberry sauce later.

I ran live streams for the Macy's parade on my laptop since the TV needs serviced. The tube seems to be getting voltage but a burned out component (hopefully just a resistor) needs replaced.

I miss my mom. She loved the holidays. At least I still cook. 

Dried Garbanzos with Vigo Spanish Seasoning?

Finally got to set up the Dried Garbanzo Beans recipe I have been trying to do for months simply because I couldn't find Vigo Spanish Seasoning. I found out using a packet or 2 of Goya Con Azafran with Taco Seasoning is very close & one smell from the open packets said the same thing. Thankfully I had found a packet of Dash! Salt Free taco seasoning.

The other part was needing 3 pounds of red potatoes, cubed. When I checked my mail, someone had donated a bag of them! I was able to fit only 2 pounds, even after cutting them up & discarding the bad bits. Another thing about my mail - the damn Comenity Envelope was actually there!!! 👍

Also dried garbanzo beans make noises while soaking.

Anyway, the whole shebang is in the crockpot on low for 8 - 10 hours. Should be interesting when it finally gets to smelling up the place.

The desk has 3 drawers once again!

Finally, a project I had been planning for the past 5 years, in the works for at least 30, and for something missing for at least 45 years... finally came to fruition today.

 

An old yellow desk which had been given to a former family member had 3 drawers originally but something happened to the bottom drawer & instead of fixing it, the parts were just thrown away. I ended up inheriting it & I vowed some day to recreate that drawer but at the time I lacked the time, knowledge, & resources to make it come true.

 

During the COVID lockdown & during a fit of having to clean my room extra well, I finally pulled out the best example of a drawer for the desk & measured it in metric. I left the plans for the drawer in a notebook for the past 5 years. It was only within the past couple of months was I able to figure out what I needed.

 

I needed a sheet of wood 7 mm thick - nothing at Lowe's was that thick, so I had to make do with 5 mm thick wood. I would need wood glue, a way to cut the pieces, and importantly, a way to cut channels in the wood for the bottom to slide in. Which also made for a way to glue it firmly in place. That meant a router / cutter accessory for my rotary tool. I got that part done on Tuesday... and getting there wasn't easy because the accessory I got off Amazon wasn't made for my particular tool. The kit required modification. But I knew once I had completed what I needed cut, the drawer would come together quickly.

 

Another problem is I had to rely on someone else to cut the wood into the pieces I needed. The result wasn't perfect but it was good enough to work in spite of the indelicate variances. They weren't horribly bad to make it not work. 

Once I was able to test fit everything, gluing it together, figuring out how to attach the front, centering the drawer pull, clamping it during glue curing... it wasn't easy & maybe there's a better easier way to do it, but I didn't know what it was. But after 2 days of using my rotary tool as a router, I was finally able to see it take shape.

I tried using 1 inch nails to hold it together, but the out of squareness of the resulting box required removing them during gluing. And repeated gluing. I was able to precisely cut a narrow strip for the bottom because in spite of measuring twice & cutting, the bottom was under 1 centimeter short. I wanted it all to glue together tightly so as to prevent ingress of pests.

Finally on Friday, I figured out how the front will attach to hide the mess behind it. I had already figured out how to center the drawer pull, having to cut the bolt to attach it, and then needing a washer to take up a bit of space for a tight fit.

Then today I got out the Polyurethane stuff & gave it all a coat. I didn't see the need to do 2 coats. What I failed to understand is this stuff was not the varnish I used to remember from years ago. It's just a protectant which just absorbed right into the wood, so I'm probably going to be looking for another small container of something.

I got it inserted into the desk & it fits tightly but that was to be expected. I may use some crayon or diatomaceous earth for ease in movement... And the drawer I had in there was moved to the bottom & then I see how that bottom drawer slot has a problem for proper closure. So another problem to figure out?  

I was able to remove the makeshift box I bought & modified to set in place so I could store some of my manga books. In the end, I was able to store all but 6 books from the box. I just need to figure out how to throw the makeshift box away. I feel bad I spent money on it only for it to not quite fit my needs but also fit my needs somewhat. I don't think it cost me much... maybe $11?

 

Not unlike Chili

I spent a few hours this afternoon working on the question of my desk drawer replacement. Finally. 3 hours using my rotary tool & a rigged up routing attachment accessory because it wasn't made for my particular rotary tool but once adapted, performed its task about averagely.

I say about averagely because the tool heated up for much of the use asked of it. The routing bit seemed like it gave up being sharp enough to affect the wood it was being asked to do something to. After 3 hours & a long day - with 1 inch left on a big piece - I gave up & decided to take a break, What I did next I had never done in all the time I owned this rotary tool - I took it apart & applied some lubricating oil to the proper parts. The inner workings are shockingly simple. A DC motor hooked to a power cord with a simple switch.

A proper rest later, I decided I was finally going to make Chili, or namely Random Chili. I start with a vague idea of what Chili is to me & I hopefully arrive later at something edible reminding me of chili. This meant defrosting a 1 pound roll of ground turkey, chopping the better parts of a decent onion, chopping a green pepper, rinsing & slicing an 8 ounce box of common white mushrooms, finding 3 small tomatoes in the vegetable drawer I had forgotten about having suddenly sprouted mold on 2 of them - I rinsed & chopped the lone good tomato - and then rounded up the diced garlic, garlic powder, chili powder, Siracha sauce, Chef Troy's Crunchy Chili Garlic Sauce, & Adobo. The canned ingredients ended up being 1 can no salt diced tomatoes, 1 small can tomato paste, 1 can no salt corn (drained), 1 can no salt kidney beans, 1 can no salt dark red kidney beans, 1 can low sodium black beans. And that was enough!

Mom would get out her stock pot & nearly fill it up with whatever she made. And we'd eat off the treasured meal for a couple weeks. Anywho, I get my chili going, get everything cooked through. And taste it. Excellent again. What's even better is it'll thicken when it cools down. I love it when I get that going on. Didn't need cheese or spaghetti.

I have plans to finish cutting the groove I need in the pieces for the desk drawer replacement tomorrow. I just wish I had been able to finish today before my stamina ran out. Or was that my pain relief? 

Pizza turned out the way I imagined it would

With free tomatoes from the donation table, I decided when I got back from my activities on Tuesday, I would make pizza. Well, I had to recover & wait until Wednesday for the pizza to happen, but it turned out as I thought it would!

Yeast raised dough from my bread machine, low sodium pasta sauce seasoned with Adobo, Basil, Oregano, Thyme, & Garlic powder. Shredded Queso, thick sliced Pepperoni, sliced small round tomatoes I got for free, 1/2 diced onion, sprinkled with some Adobo before baking & grated Parmesan afterwards, with a bit of butter rubbed on the edge crust & allowed to cool.

The best thing is I didn't use a lot of the sauce because then it would be too wet at the end. And I probably used 1/2 cup shredded Queso - it was whatever I had left in the bag, but it covered the sauce well enough. 10 minute pre-bake after rolling out the dough at 400 F, 15 minute bake at 425 F topped. It came out nicely & a bit crispy. I used a recipe which called for olive oil & only 2 cups of flour. I wanted to save on flour for this one & this dough spread out on my large cookie sheet just fine. Next time I might add grated Parmesan during the kneading. 

And I had 1/3 of it left for breakfast. Cold pizza is da bomb! It also smelled so nice baking & afterwards.

A couple Christmas Card Recipes

Checking the mail room had a few items on a donation table & 2 Christmas cards had recipes. I took pictures so others may claim them, but in the meantime, I transcribed the handwriting for this post.  

Pesto Chicken

1. Lay chicken tenders in oven safe dish.
2. Cover with pesto.
3. Cover with shredded cheese.
4. Cover with sun dried tomatoes.
5. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff 

1. Chop 2-3 onions. Separately chop mushrooms & 3-4 cloves garlic.
2. With 2 tablespoons of butter, sautee onions on medium-low heat.
3. When onions are translucent, add mushrooms & garlic and a dash of Worcestershire. Sautee & set aside.
4. In a deep pan, add beef & another 2 tablespoons of butter.
5. Sautee on medium until meat is browned.
6. Dust with flour.
7. Add onions, mushrooms, & garlic mixture to meat.
8. Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire and salt & pepper.
9. Simmer until mixture is a thick gravy.
10. Remove from heat and 3-4 dollops of sour cream. Enjoy over egg noodles!