Quote of the year....

"Just Google it!  There are millions of pictures!"  That infamous quip was made by my dear sister, Susan.  She called me the other day with a request.  It seems that she needed a "Draw-down Board" and could not find one anywhere.  She thought perhaps I could make one for her.  Since I had no idea just what a "Draw-down" was and had no idea why it would involve a board, I told her that it might be better if I could see a picture before I started.  That is when she made the comment about Google and the millions of pictures.  Surely the internet would know what a "Draw-down Board" was!  Ha!  So much for millions of pictures of such board!  Sure, when I typed it in the search bar, Google sent me plenty of pictures...millions it seems but nary a one of a board like she described.  I was still at a loss of what I was to make!  Perhaps, a "Draw-down" is a local fundraiser.  Perhaps, this is a local term.  Perhaps, I should search for something else.  I called my son, Michael...the "in-house computer tech"!  I queried if he might search for me..he did..no boards.  Now what?

After much searching, many questions and a lot of confusion, I decided that I knew enough to start on the board.  At least, I made something that might suffice as the elusive "Draw-down Board"....I hope!  The board in question is nothing more than a large grid that is full of numbers in sequence from one to whatever.  That is it..sort of like a huge chart for learning to count! Since I had no stencils for numbers, I had to hand-paint all of those numbers..not an easy task!  I found it quite difficult to make any two numbers resemble each other.  As a result..every two looks different...every eight looks different and well, you get the idea! A "Draw-down" is sort of like a raffle but a bit more confusing.  From what I gather, folks buy a ticket that is a number (ok?). they then go to a meal where they buy a plate of food, some good person puts a bunch of numbers in a large fish bowl and shuffles them around a bit and then draws one.  That one is not the winner!  That first one is the loser!  Yep..this is like the ultimate opposite of drawing for a winner.  Each time a number is drawn, that coordinating number on the board is blocked from sight. (I made little squares from paint charts to use as number covers!) This goes on until each number is drawn from the fish bowl (or whatever you use for drawing your numbers randomly) and each corresponding number is covered.  The last remaining number is the winner!  I suppose this is to build suspense but it almost seems like just a waste of time for those who are last in line..the winner has to wait while the loser is enjoying the spoils of his losing ticket!  At least at this particular "Draw-down", each losing ticket gets a free prize whether it is a plate of brownies or a cake!  Wait!  I want that plate of brownies after all, I made the board!  

Susan has not seen the board that I made for her and the "Draw-down" is just a few days away.  If I made a major error in creating this board, I think we may have a problem...or at least a new method of fundraiser.  There would definitely be a good bit of scrambling to make this work for her "Draw-down"!   Now, one piece of plywood, lots of black paint, two hundred and twenty five small nails and some neat graphing work by Michael, it appears that I did nothing more than make a nice paper and wood quilt!  Oh...I did learn a few things..like the square root of 225 is 15, my new favorite color is black, numbers are easier to paint upside-down and there is absolutely no creativity involved in repetition (unless you are painting numbers upside-down!).  Another thing learned...there are NOT a million pictures of "Draw-down Boards" on Google and never trust sisters that tell you there are!