A Girl And A Hammer

Before I ever came to Honduras, I had a nice little hammer that was used only for putting a nail in the wall on which to hang a picture. I was not proficient with a hammer and would have failed hammer using 101. The first year I came to Honduras, I wanted to work on a house and I discovered there were many useful tasks in house building that did not require the use of a hammer.

As time passed, I gradually got better with a hammer and I have become fair at nailing siding and flooring. But, of course, I use a girl hammer. The kind that most guys would be ashamed to be caught using. A couple of years ago, Lanetta taught me how to get the hinges on the doors and windows. I was really moving up in the world of hammering since those are four inch nails.

Recently, Karen and I have purchased new merchandise for the Casa store. Something had to be done about our store to get the new merchandise displayed. We bought some pegboard from one of our suppliers. Yesterday I bought some S hooks and other hardware that I could get into the pegboard and we could display keychain, necklaces and such. The pegboard was hung while I was in town.

Today, I was a woman on a mission. I was going to get the store ready for these last groups of the year. I immediatly encountered a problem or two. The S hooks were bigger than the holes in the pegboard.

I am a person who thinks inside the box and my mind doesn't wander from that box too often. To me, this problem seemed like it could not be overcome.

Marc took a hammer and a nail and showed me how to enlarge the hole and get the S hook in. He said after you get the hole the size you want it, just tap the hook a couple of times and it will go right in. Sounded very easy.

Marc left.

Nothing is as easy as it seems. First of all, Marc's hammer is a fat max, not a girl hammer. I could barely pick the thing up. Second of all, enlarging the hole was not near as easy as it was when Marc did it. And when, I finally got it done, I had to do more than tap the hook a couple of times to get the hook in.

After the first 30 minutes, when I did not have the first hole enlarged, I was becoming quite frustrated. I was ready to scrap the whole project. But I decided I was not going to let some pegboard and some S hooks beat me at this game. With determination, I enlarged that hole and, with all my might, pounded that S hook in the hole. It may not ever come out. But I may not ever want it out.

The next one only took five minutes. Yay! I was on a roll. I got several more hooks into the pegboard. I didn't get completely finished before I had to go on shift with the children, but I sure made good progress. My decorator friends may not think so.

Now that we all know I can use a fat max, I think I will go back to using my girl hammer.

Terri