I fixed it myself!

Over the summer, my fan died.  One day it worked fine, the next day it was pushing up daisies.  Somehow I didn't have the heart to throw it away.  But, lately I've been in a "if-you-haven't-used-it-in-a year (or longer) it's-time-to-get-rid-of-it" mood, so yesterday it got walked to the curb for the trash men.

Off I went grocery shopping.  But all the while I was picking stuff like kitty snacks and not-too-ripe banasas from the shelves, I was thinking about how much I loved my blue fan.

Back I came.  And there sat my fan.

I bought it just after I moved into my first house.    It was $25 at K-Mart and it worked great.  It worked so great, I went back a month later to get another one and they didn't have the same model, but I bought one anyway.  It has long since gone to fan heaven.

My Dad, who passed away last year, would never have tossed out a useful item without trying to fix it first.  So, in view of all my neighbors, I retrieved my fan from the trash and brought it back inside.  As I suspected, it wasn't broken at all.  But it had been living near our forced-air heat run for the last 17 years and it was full of dust.  (Ick--we're breathing in all that crap all winter?  Oy!)

With just the first shot with the mini shop vac, it started to run again, but then I took the back off and really gave it a good clean with vacuum, compressed air, and a dust cloth.  Now it runs like new.

All the time I was cleaning it I felt like my Dad was standing behind me giving me advice.  And best of all--I got my beloved fan back.  (Just in time to retire it for the winter. Oh well, you can't win them all, eh?)

Do you try to fix broken items?

A Dish To Pass

I collect Syracuse China Americana dishware. It all started when I visited a bed and breakfast in Stowe, Vermont. They served their magnificent breakfasts on that dishware. When I saw a piece at a yard sale, I decided then and there that I would like to use the same dishware.

Ah, but finding pieces of this restaurant (think diner) quality china has not been so easy. In the past 10 or 12 years I've managed to find:

2 dinner plates
14 cake (or sandwich) plates
6 cups and saucers
4 soup cups
1 salad bowl
3 relish dishes
1 coffee mug
2 roll plates
and an assortment of odd-sized plates.

I traveled to the Syracuse China outlet store on a number of occasions, but in all my searches I only found one piece (the salad bowl). I was told it was no longer a popular pattern and had a limited run. Since then, of course, the company has folded. So now my only option is to buy used pieces.

I bought most of my pieces at yard sales, antique stores, and thrift shops. I have yet to really look online--mostly because restaurant china is so darned heavy the shipping charges would be out of this world. (Okay, I did peek on Replacements Inc. (which sells odd pieces of china) and would be a good source--if I wanted to pay astronomical prices. That's not my goal.)

I have other dishware (Stoneware--that chips like crazy), but because I so enjoyed my time at that Vermont inn, I long to eat off the same tableware at my own home. I wonder how long it will take to find/accumulate all these place settings.

Is there something you collect that seems like an impossible dream to find?

Saved: One keyboard

I've had a lot of computers over the years, which also means I've had a lot of keyboards.  I think I've ranted before about the horrible flat keyboard that came with my iMac.  I cannot (and WILL NOT) get used to it.  Ever.  It was made for man.  A man who bites his nails.  I don't have long nails, but I they do go over the tops of my fingers on occasions, and when they do:  TYPO CITY!

That's why I'm glad I do the majority of my typing either on my PC or my laptop.  Oh, yeah--I don't use my laptop's keyboard, either--not if I can help it, at least.  It, too, was designed for a tech guy who bites his nails.  And that mouse--forget it!

The keyboard that came with my Emachine is WONDERFUL.  I love it so much, I bought a second one that I use with my laptop.  Even when I travel, I take that keyboard with me.  It's just so ... wonderful.

The problem, though, is that quite a few of the white letters have worn off the old black keyboard, and are beginning to wear off from the one I use with the laptop.  Two years ago, I bought some rub-on letters and applied them to the old keyboard.  They worked, sort of.  I painted them with clear nail polish, but eventually they wore off.  They weren't very pretty, either.  *Sigh*

I was in the craft store the other day, looking for cute kitty stickers and instead found stickers of old typewriter keys.  Aha!  That will be just great for my keyboard.  So, I bought them, brought them home, and applied the stickers to the keys that had worn off, and again painted them with nail polish.  Hubby had a look and shook his head.  "That looks dumb.  You should just put all the letters on."

So I did.

What do you think?

What kinds of creative things have you done to keep something useful from ending up in the trash?