I Made it Work

I hate to throw things out.  I really do.  It hurts.  If there is any usable life in something I just can hardly do it.  Sometimes even when there isn't anything useful about it, I have a hard time throwing things away.  

Then I have Jim do it. When I'm not looking. 

So, I've been in a fix it mode lately.  I've discovered the nuts and bolts in the bulk bins at Ace.

Take this little folding kid-size chair, for example.

When on of the big rivets broke on one of the corners of this chair, I couldn't bear to get rid of it.  It was perfectly good in every way except  one corner wasn't attached.  I figured there just HAD to be a way to fix it, but Jim said "no".  So I took it upon myself  to find something.  

I found a "stove" bolt with a big head and got a nut to put on it.  I didn't think about needing something wider than a regular nut until I tried it when I got home.  It was smaller than the hole, so I got a wing nut from Jim's stash.  

Note different colored rivet.

 I also replaced one of the little rivets that hold the legs together with a nut and bolt combo.

This doll car seat, now, had another problem.  The plastic screws that hold the handle on have broken and disappeared long ago.  It's been hanging around for far too long and I just couldn't bear to throw away something with so much good on it.  

So, for this I got short bolts to hold it on. 

I also replaced some bolts on our toy wooden kitchen set and went all over it with a screwdriver to tighten everything up.  Zane has been playing with it and it needed to be in better shape. I also flattened the curved masonite board shelves by spraying them with water and putting heavy books on them. It's in better shape now that when the kids were using it. 

Here is another idea. I put iron-on tape the pockets of Jim's jeans BEFORE he wears them through.  This is a new tip I haven't tried before.  So we'll see how well this works.  I was getting tired of repairing torn pockets.

There isn't much else that gives me as much pleasure as being able to fix something and make it usable again.