Back on Friday April 10th, when I'd kept mostly inside because it was pretty nippy and terribly blustery, the dinnertime endeavor was a house favorite: braised chicken thighs over Brussels sprouts and shallots. Not only was dinner most excellent that night, but it always has this nice added bonus that I get to be thinking about dear friend and colleague Donna Whitley-Smith whenever I make it, because she is the source of it.
That Friday was also marked by yet another slip drawn from my quarantine task jar: "Master Bathroom Mirror." Another example of a somewhat minor house chore that I just kept avoiding or overlooking, this small project was simply about rotating the bathroom mirror from landscape to portrait orientation. Look, when the renovation and addition project of 2008-2009 was completed, and I now had four and a half baths that needed to be finished out, I wasn't exactly smart or strategic about mirror placement. I'm pretty sure I thought the same general principles of hanging art applied, which results in mirrors that are simply too high to be fully useful.
So, for 10 years now, I've had to go stand on the bottom step of the raised tub in order to see if I'm tying my tie correctly in the mornings. Well, that's no longer a problem. It still took closer to two hours from start to finish, since I had to keep dashing about the house to gather and deploy the tools that were needed to get this done...and done perfectly, I might add, according to my measurements and handy dandy levels. This mirror, by the way, is not strung with picture wire but instead I was attaching it via the two installed hooks on either side. Sturdier that way, but also requires a lot more precision! My accompanying picture and wall art might not be quite so symmetrical but I really like the finished look. And the much improved functionality of a much more useful bathroom mirror.
I didn't earn the nickname "Mr. Precise" in eighth grade for nothing...and here's that very eighth grade shirt to prove it, which I was able to still wear after I overshot my weight loss goals and got everyone worried about me.
"Braised Chicken and Brussels Sprouts," in Everyday Food, Issue 97, November 2012, p. 22.
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