The musings of a craft-challenged, LDS wife, mother, grandma, and author.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Have You Ever Used a Shoe to Hammer a Picture Hanger?

Admit it now. Surely I'm not the only one who has ever circumvented the junk . . . (excuse me) the "tool drawer", electing instead to resort to "McGyvering" my way through a task. You know, like when you use a good heavy shoe to pound a nail into the wall rather than rummaging through the drawer or the garage for the hammer? How about using a knife from the kitchen drawer as a screwdriver? Am I hitting close to home now?

Some of my adaptations are classic . . . like the time I didn't want to shower, dress, do my make-up (yes, I'm that vain), and drive to the hardware store for a proper picture hanger or nail of appropriate size. So instead, I taped five straight pins from my sewing drawer together and tapped them into the wall. My object d'art is still hanging, ladies!

My husband, alias "McGyver" around here, either chuckles or rolls his eyes at my Homespun Handi-Tactics, because he HAS all the proper tools and things and knows how to actually use them. But when he's away, and I must get the job done, I get creative and McGyver a little myself.

Take today, for example. (I am about to boast) I may have outdone myself. The story actually began yesterday, when my fancy high-fallutin wireless computer keyboard suddenly refused to spit out any further letters. I made every appropriate adjustment I knew how to do. I unplugged things, changed the batteries, rebooted, turned stuff upside down and called all my family members, but, unable to contact the Support Center, and receiving no further assistance from my loved ones, I rummaged around and found the original keyboard which had been retired because I had typed the paint off the poor keys. (I confess to being a four-finger typist who misses the correct key 50% of the time.)

Now understand that I missed a trip to Virginia Beach with my husband to stay home and write my brains out this week in order to meet a fast approaching deadline. (It's going to be fine, Kirk.)So having my keyboard go down while McGiver was out of town was just not going to deter me.

I tried painting letters on with my White-Out pen. Hmmm.... not an effective writing utensil for the available space. And then I got a flash of brilliance that set my heart aflutter. I made a text box, painted it dark gray like my keyboard, and printed large, white letters. Next, (now here's the brilliant part) I used clear nail polish to "glue" them into place!

My key board looks a little dyslexic, with the letters angled off slightly left and right of one another, but I'm back to work!!!!

Now, I must add a caution here: I have no idea what the long term affects of staring at crooked letters on a nail-polished keyboard might be. I have had other serious repercussions from some of my other McGyverings--but I assure you that I exercise caution when setting the table for guests, only setting that "special tableware" in front of family members who know how to manipulate them in their post-McGyver state.

But let us not fail to reiterate that the picture IS still hanging, and today? I can write again!!!!

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“A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.”-Woodrow Wilson