Holy smokes!  You turn your back for one minute, and before you know, it’s Friday of Get Woodworking Week!

I hope you are all out in your shops, encouraging others to follow you to learn the craft or building projects for others.

You know, one of the best things about woodworking for me is that unlike what the Rolling Stones claim, you can always get what you want. As I look around my home, I couldn’t possibly imagine life without some of the projects I have built. The kitchen pantry and banquette have become critical in our food and serving ware storage. The entertainment centers I have built have swallowed up so many different things that would have had absolutely no place to go otherwise. The new bed – just needing a coat of finish – has already been filled to the gills with all manner of items that needed to find homes.

But, what I will always remember most about my projects are the moments I have spent with my family building them. This picture, from February, 2000, was of me and my oldest son Dominic before his second birthday helping me build a set of bookshelves over a never-used bar area near my kitchen. Today, it houses tons of cook books, woodworking magazines and reference books, but it also houses so many memories of the two of us working together on this project. It seems impossible for me to believe that he will be 17 in a few months.

Other projects around my house, while maybe not designed for storage, hold so many memories I will treasure forever. And, that’s why I love woodworking, because it helps me get what I want.

We have a few more awesome entries for Get Woodworking Week 2015, and here they are:

• The Penultimate Woodshop: Get The Webelows Woodworking
• Uppercut Woodworks:  Hayden Renews her Holzapfel Workbench Top
• Wood Magazine: Ten ways to get the most from your plunge router
• Home Construction and Improvement: GWW15 Boot Jack
• Woodshop 101: Get Woodworking Week

Again, my monkey sits and waits in rapt anticipation waiting for your article submissions. So, if you want to send one my way, be sure to shoot it to Iggy@tomsworkbench.com, and the monkey will be sure to get them listed!