Birthday Surprise

I have a friend who is a fitness expert. He runs a website that I help to moderate. One of the other mods wanted to get him a thank you plaque for his birthday and have some people from the forum contribute.

One of the exercises our friend likes to do is to use a sledgehammer on a tire. So, my mod friend and another mod came up with the idea to mount a mini sledge hammer on a plaque.

Since he lives in Canada, and I live in the U.S., we figured it would be easier for me to handle the funds and the shipping.

I set out on a mission to find a small sledgehammer. Shouldn't be hard, right? I figured I could just go to any hardware store, and I settled on Lowe's.

Mind you, I know NOTHING about tools and the like. But, it seems logical to me that I would find one in the HAMMER section. So, I saunter over to the hammer section, determined to find a sledgehammer on my own -- me, a WOMAN -- find a sledgehammer BY. MY. SELF.

I stare at the assorted tools and look for a label that says "SLEDGEHAMMER". Don't see one.

WAIT. Here's something. Well, it says "MALLET" though ??? Hmmmmm..... I shoulda paid closer attention to Ross' sledge vid.

I decide to ask for help. I find a worker a few aisles down and tell him I need a small sledgehammer. The guy says, "Sure, I can show you" and promptly walks me over to the very section I had been standing in a few seconds ago. *sigh*

He grabs one off the shelf and holds it up proudly.

Now, THIS is the BEST that money can buy! It's made of hickory. This sucker is SOLID !!!

And, with that ... he grabs the head and it BREAKS OFF.

HIM: Oh, I guess someone broke this one.

ME: Yeeyahhhh...so much for being SOLID. Do you have something else?

HIM: Looks embarrassed.

ME: You know what...I'll just look around.

I give the display another once over and then leave.

After discussing things with my mod friend, I seek out another hardware store a few days later. There, I find what I need.

We wanted to include a thank you sentiment and an inspirational quote on the plaque. After going back and forth, my friend found one that we agreed on. Here is the finished plaque. I think it turned out really nice, especially with the gold leaf lettering.