Thursday, April 6, 2017

Tiny Victories

As I mentioned in my last post, addressing the issue of my incredibly irritating creaky floor is going to require major effort... which may not be entirely successful. I decided to solve two small problems so I could bank a couple of wins before moving on to the big battle.

First, the cup holders in my car. Each cup holder has a foam disc at the bottom.

Once in a while, the foam sticks to the bottom of the cup as I lift it out. Sometimes I don't notice, and later I find the foam disc on the floorboard or in the garage. Well, at some point, the inevitable happened - the foam fell out somewhere other than the car or garage, and I couldn't find it.

I used the remaining disc as a pattern to cut two new ones. I used a bright color rather than black. While black is my first choice for most things, in this case, color made more sense. Black foam in the dark bottom of a black cup holder in a black interior with black carpet had been too easy to lose.

I also cut the foam slightly larger so that it fits snugly into the cup holder and is less likely to come out. It's a fun pop of color and gives my cups a nice, cushiony seat. ;)


Second, the remote control for my workroom lamps. When I press the ON or OFF button, the little red light flashes. Well, "flashes" isn't really the right description. The little red light shoots a blinding laser beam directly onto my retinas.

Seriously, I don't know how that teeny, tiny light could possibly be so intense. I tried putting black tape over it, and it shone right through.

The solution was a tiny, glittery bat sticker. It's hard to see in the photo, but there is a black "gem" in the center of the bat. It's thick enough to block the eye-searing laser beam.

I still have to fight the difficult battle with the squeaky floor... but at least now I've had a couple of tiny victories to boost my spirits. ;)


9 comments:

  1. Few things annoy me as much as those useless LEDs! why do they put them everywhere? I have one in my reader that lights up by default whenever I turn the page (and with my huge font, that is like every 5 seconds). Do people who read paper books shine a light when they turn the page? No? Why should I want it then? Luckily, it can be switched off from the menu.

    Anyway, I hope you got enough of a confidence boost to start tackling the floor. Are you putting a new wall up too?

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    1. "Do people who read paper books shine a light when they turn the page?"
      Ha ha ha! I have this hilarious mental image of someone using a flashlight to flash out "T U R N P A G E" in Morse code. :D

      No, I won't put up a new wall. The basement is unfinished (concrete exterior walls, no heat), and I use it mainly just for storage, so there's no need to divide the space up into separate rooms.

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  2. I love your bat light solution, so smart! :)

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    1. Every home tool kit should include bat stickers. They're even better than duct tape! :D

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  3. Some interesting fixes. Sometime life is about celebrating those small victories.

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  4. This is what I like to do as well, if I'm feeling particularly useless I like to make a list of small, easy to accomplish tasks......once you cross these off it sometimes gives you the momentum to deal with something bigger!

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    1. Exactly! One little step, two little steps... and pretty soon, momentum is carrying me along to bigger things. :)

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