Saturday's child

" Saturday's child works hard for his living"

But does the Saturday child work on Saturdays?  Well anyway, I was born on a Friday.  It is 9pm on a Saturday night and I haven't fixed anything today.  Saturdays seem to be a whirlwind; after soccer, grocery store, naps (me too!), and maybe a family walk, there isn't any more day left.  I can take the camera off the list because I found the button to switch back to the mode I want.  (Sometimes it is embarrassing to have a degree in engineering and be so clueless about gadgets.) 

I have three new things to add to the list.
1) I'm going to patch the $2 balsa wood glider toy one more time before I ground it permanently.
2) The soccer ball need air, and finding the needle and tire pump in the garage is, well, like finding a needle in a haystack.
3) My son decided to tune his 8 string melody harp himself.  He managed to make the longest string play a higher note than the shortest string before it broke.  I have replacement string, but I've never done it before.  I hope I can find the instructions.   I think I'll tackle one or two of these tonight....

 I've been looking for that needle for months. 

The pump was easier to find, mainly because I used the hammer yesterday.  Maybe I should store this with the soccer ball.  Anyway, the soccer ball is no longer flat so at least one thing is fixed today.

I restrung the harp too.  I used a pair of pliers that include wire cutters.  One side of the string was already twisted around a little bead and I just had to string the other end through the holes, cut it, bend it, and use the tuner to wrap it around its post.  Tuning the thing is another matter.  I don't have the finesse to get the pitch right when I use a tuner, but when you have a preschooler warping the strings every time he plucks them, almost tuned is good enough.   It is a neat training instrument though.  It comes with several cards of songs he knows and he plays them by following the dots.

Day 6, Score: 4 (old score 4, 3 new fixed, 3 new broken), Funds: $19.55

Right to the Point

Here is the next problem, and I'm amazed that no feet have been punctured yet.  I bought a carpet bar some months ago, but it has been just sitting against the bathroom wall, holding it up.

 Very amazed.

 I'm sorry sir, it is just too long.

Measure where to cut and mark it with erasable marker.







 


I'm not sure what the best tool for the job is, but the best tool we already have is a little hacksaw.  It actaully worked just fine.  Once I got a cut started, the work went quickly.  It just takes patience.

I see someone who needed to measure twice before she cut and her knees made it into the picture.

Measure again, this time also, the inner cut that I want to make.











That's about right, now nail it to the floor.

I'm not entirely happy with the result.  It doesn't sit against the grout as neatly as I hoped because the old bar is pushing it up.  The old bar is in the grout and would have taken longer to remove so I decided to nail over it.  I think it is still low enough that little toes won't catch in it, but I may add some caulk under the edge to make sure.

The tools I used: hacksaw, hammer, ruler, marker.

Since I had the hammer out and some extra nails handy, I finally put up the cross that my son received for his baptism a few years ago.  While I did so, I gave thanks for the guardian angel sent to watch over my family's feet.

My camera stopped showing the picture on LCD screen before I take the picture, but it still takes pictures.    I also remembered that I want to add a safety device to my son's upstairs windows before he figures out how to open them. Day 5, Score: 4 (old score 3, 2 new fixed, 1 new broken), Funds: $14.55

Sew and Sew

My daughter really needed her baby stroller, so I moved that up to the top of the list.  It tore where the seat attaches to the frame and was held in place by a safety pin that kept tearing the fabric more. 

I ripped out the trim so that I could sew the fabric back in there.

This sewing machine is on loan from a friend.  It is much nicer than any I have used (not that I have used many), and user friendly with pictures right on the top of how to thread the thing.

I'm not exactly sure what all these knobs do, but I managed to figure out which stitch and size I wanted.  Place the machine foot down on the cloth and my foot on the pedal and go.

I was lazy and left the bobbin on the bottom the color that was already there instead of trying to match the top thread color.

The top thread does match the cloth color as you can see.










All better!

OK, that was good practice.  Since I have the sewing machine out, I'm going to knock out the curtains too.  When I installed the new curtain rod, I decided I wanted it lower, but then that made my curtains too long.  They collected bugs, cobwebs and dog hair for a year or so before I took them off, washed them and left them off until the problem was solved.  They are cluttering up my desk and I really need to reduce clutter. (More on that later)  They need to be about 4" shorter.  I'll hem them right next to the embroidered trim.

I cut about a 3/4 " away from the bottom of the trim, but I never did figure out how to cut a straight line.  It has plagued me since kindergarten.  So, I folded it over and tried to even it out some to make the two halves of the crooked line match.

 I folded the over 1/2 of the 3/4" and then over again the other half and pinned it.  This is to keep the fabric from unraveling on the other side of the stitch and also looks like a neater hem.  My folds kept wanting to unfold and I needed a lot of pins.  It took a long time to pin. 

I remember a girl scouts project I did when I was about 9, where the troupe leader had us make a skirt.  She showed us how to iron the seams and hems down before pinning and sewing to make it easier.

I really dislike ironing.  I dislike the awful screech of the ironing board unfolding, and how it hits me in the head because I wasn't ready for it to pop open.  I dislike burning myself with the iron or the steam.  I dislike hard water flakes on a black shirt.  I dislike water spots on a silk shirt.  I dislike ironing in a new wrinkle that never can be made straight again.  I dislike how everyone who ever tried to teach me to iron stood over me and told me I was doing it wrong (especially anyone who knows how the military does it).  I think I can do this project without ironing.

I do want the thread colors to match this time, so I need to thread a bobbin.  I've always thought it was cool how a sewing machine does this.  Put the new bobbin on a peg next to the thread.  Wrap the thread according to the pictures.  Push the peg over to the guide.  Push the pedal to make the machine go until you have enough thread on the bobbin. 

It's tricky to put the bobbin in the machine and bring the thread up.  I've tried to see how the mechanism works and never succeeded.  I just know if I follow the rules, it works.

 Put the bobbin in the holder so that pulling the thread makes it turn clockwise.  Pull the thread through the opening in the holder.

 Place the case back int the machine.  Wind the top thread through the machine and into the eye of the needle.  Hold this thread and gently turn the wheel to make the needle dip.  DON'T USE THE PEDAL!!!  A loop of thread comes down and picks up the bottom thread, pulling it up by the needle, where you can pull it out a few inches and hold it back with the top needle.

I was still having problems with the hem unfolding before I could sew it, but I dislike ironing (have I mentioned that already?).  I fold a hair clip worked pretty well after I pulled the pins out.

  Not bad, but not good either.  I just remembered that I have to iron the curtains before I hang them anyway, so I might as well iron the hem on the other curtain to see if that helps.

I put Macgyver on the TV and set up the ironing board there to make me feel better about the whole business.

The fold holds without pins after creasing with the iron.  I only used a few pins to help it hold in place.

The sewing was much faster without trying to wrestle the hem to stay put and all the pins!!!  It still isn't perfect, but that is just because I need more practice.  That reminds me of another funny story that I'll put at the end.

Now you can't see how much the windows need to be cleaned and the hems don't rest on the floor.

It just occured to me that I can fix the ironing board, does that count as something new?

Day 4, Score=3 (2 fixed, 1 broken) Funds: $9.55

 

 Funny Story

My husband and I started studying martial arts from a Korean Master and reached black belt before we had kids. He has the words "We Need More Practice" in big, bold red, on the walls of the school. His wife runs the business part and he has 4 kids, all black-belts before they were 10 that help with the school. He stresses the importance of family and started teasing Dan and I about having kids before it was too late. One night we were leaving the school and he started pushing and in exasperation I said, "We need more practice!"

He looked startled, laughed, and never said another word about it. We now have two, so I guess the practice paid off ;-)

Drip, Drip, Drip

I'd really like to be able to use my shower again, so fixing the leaky hot-water valve is my next project.

Turn off the water.  This is another thing in need of fixit and I have the materials, so might as well knock this out too.  When we bought the house, the previous owners had yet to move out and they let their movers do some damage that they never offered to fix.  A hole in the wall of the staircase was one and driving the moving van over this and the sidewalk was another.  The concrete around our valve was smashed, the neighbor's is still mostly in tact.  As a stop-gap, I cut the bottom out of a coffee can and put that in the ground around the valve.  That was almost 10 years ago.  A couple of months ago, I bought a piece of PVC pipe coupling to replace the coffee can.

  

It fits perfectly! (that's what she said)

Dig out the debris, using gloves because spiders like to hide in here. 

 Huh, look at that, it wasn't a coffee can after all. That must have been from when hubby still gave me Valentine's gifts. 

Watch dog on alert for squirrels and other dogs.

 Hmm, I think I'll go get a piece of pipe and fix the neighbor's too.

 OK, water is off, let it drain out of the pipes by turning on the taps in a downstairs sink.  Here is the problem the plumber left for me.  It is the hot water that is leaking.

 

 Take off the valve stem handle.

The flange next to the handles should just pull off, like on the shower valve, but it is stuck.

 I would then unscrew the flange behind that and use this nifty gadget to tighten or remove the stem.  It looks like the problem is just that the whole stem isn't screwed in all the way, but I'm going to remove it anyway and do some other maintenance on the valve while I have the water off and easy access to everything.

This is where the pipe wrench comes in handy.  First I hit the flange with the pipe wrench to see if it would loosen.  Then, I unscrewed the wall flange enough so that I could put the pipe wrench behind it  and took the valve stem off that way.

Yuck.  The rubber gasket that sits against the seat (still in the wall) is worn.  The screw that holds it in is corroded.  The plumbers tape is mostly gone.  The washer still looks good.  (The plumber guessed that the washer was gone without even looking at it.  All he really had to do was tighten the whole stem.  OK, I'll quit harping on that, lesson learned.)

Here is the nifty, seat removing tool and the seat that presses against the valve stem when you turn the water on and off.

 

 Here is the difference between the old washer and the new one.  There is a little bit of wear and hard water build up, but not too bad.

 Put plumbers tape on the screw thread of the seat to keep water from leaking through the threads.

 Use pliers to take off the old screw because the end is too corroded for a screwdriver.

Replace the gasket and screw and add plumbers tape to the valve stem screw threads.

 Put the valve stem back in place and take out all the yucky insulation I can reach.  Make sure all is dry around the valve.  Turn the water back on and check for a leak.  No leak!  I let the water run for a while while I flushed the air out of the pipes.  I did this by turning on all faucets in the house and then turning them all off, starting with the downstairs.  Still no leak!

A funny thing happened though, when I went to turn the water off here last, after checking for moisture, the valve stem was pretty warm and the flange that was stuck just fell off.  I'll have to remember that trick next time.

Since I'm not ready to close the wall up and I'd like to use the shower again, I found a heavy piece of plastic and glued it to the wall with silicone caulk.  It's not my best work, but it gets the job done for now.

Here are the tools I used:  Ratcheting screwdriver, pipe wrench, plumbers tape, utility scissors, seat wrench, pliers, file (for cleaning off some lime from in the valve stem), caulk gun.

Now to Lowe's to get another PVC pipe coupling...

I ended up smashing the concrete pipe with a sledge hammer to get it out because the ground was hard and I couldn't loosen it up enough.  I was really just trying to tap it loose, but I think it was already cracked and broke easily.  I also used the hammer and an old screwdriver to loosen the soil around the valve handle to dig it out.  I don't think the neighbor has been turning the water off as much as I have.  It looks like it is rusted in place.  I think I'll just leave that up to him.  Anyway, here is the finished product.

 So, day 3, 2 new things fixed, no new things broken, yesterday's score was 0, today's score is 2.  Money spent on the neighbor's PVC coupling piece $7.88, $2.88 more than $5, so subtracting from yesterday's total leaves $4.55.  Also, I thought of two more old things to add to the list, a rung in one of the dining room chairs is broken and the brakes on my car are squeaking badly.