Mrs. Fix-it |

April 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Tag Archive for Mrs. Fix-it

Can you fix a Lawnmower? – I did.

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Renee Spindle

A few weeks ago we were having some lawnmower difficulties. Difficulties meaning the darn thing would not start. Now if you are an avid follower of my blogging stories you know that my hubby is a Road Warrior (aka Travel Man). This means that his “honey-do’s” have to be very well defined and we have to try and keep the list as small as possible as his time as home is usually limited. However, my oldest son, Bryan, still lives with us and he is a tremendous help around the house and with the gardening/yard work. With the combined efforts of Bryan, myself, and Travel Man’s “honey-do’s” we get the fixes done around the house that need fixing. Teamwork!

Back to my lawnmower story now. The lawnmower decided not to start on this particular yard work day, and the boys ultimately determined that it just needed to get taken to the shop for repairs. Travel Man was on his way the next morning and the yard could not wait for him to get back from his trip to get the grass looking beautiful. I was the one taking the mower to the shop the next day, and I was not looking forward to doing this by myself. I get that way sometimes. I can do a lot of things on my own or by myself, but for some reason this task was just not appealing to me.

Then a light bulb went on for me. I remember both of my sons telling me about doing “research” on YouTube to find out or figure out how to fix things. So I thought, why not me! I searched for our brand of lawnmower, and the problem we were having. Lo and behold 5 or 6 short videos came up, and I was on my way. I watched two or three videos, which were all fairly simple to understand.

I collected my supplies, went out to the shed and got the lawnmower out. Then I had to recall my video instructions, as I did not take any of my electronics out to the shed with me. I worked on cleaning out this little tiny carburetor jet on the lawnmower, tried to start it, and nothing. I was a little disappointed, as I thought I would have immediate success. So, I did the same thing again, cleaning out this tiny little pinhole in the carburetor jet, and voila! The lawnmower started!! I was giddee with excitement so I mowed a few rows of the back yard. Then I sent a text message to my youngest son to share my good news. Bryan was at work, and Travel Man was on a plane so I could not talk to them directly.

Yay- I fixed our lawnmower just by watching a YouTube video! Now I can add this one to my list of things that I CAN fix. For the record I’m two for two with my fixes. First the thermostat, and now the lawnmower. It’s always good for me to know I can be resourceful if needed. Believe me I would always rather add another “honey-do” to the list whenever possible.

No comments Posted in Things I CAN fix

Can YOU fix a Thermostat? I did!

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Renee Spindle

Last August my baby boy got married here at home in our back yard. You can read all about the wedding here. It was a lovely summer day and pretty hot too. I remember we were so glad when the sun went down. It was such a fun night of partying and just having some fun.

My house was not only hosting the wedding ceremony, we were also the “get ready” station for the wedding party, etc. This included my grandson, Evan, who was the ring bearer. The household was a little tense to say the least. We spent the morning cleaning, decorating, and making sure all the details were in order for a wonderful wedding day.

Then came the time for the boys, including Evan, to get their best duds on to be ready for the ceremony. This caused a bit of a stir for Evan because he was already hot, tired and sweaty and did not want to put on his shirt with a bow tie. His Uncle Bryan ended up carrying him down the hallway kicking and screaming to the bedrooms to get dressed. That’s when a little fiasco happened. In the midst of his little tantrum while being carried down the hallway he kicked the thermostat right off of the wall and the batteries went flying!! We have one of those thermostats that can be popped off of the wall easily for programming.

I momentarily panicked, took a breath, and then calmness came over me. I had a house full of people, it was hot outside and we need the air conditioner running for the day. The thermostat was not going to fail us. I found the batteries rolling around on the floor, picked up the thermostat and put everything back together and back on the wall mount. I set the AC to come back on and nothing happened. Gulp, another small moment of panic. Then I did what I suppose any of us might do in this situation. I took the thermostat off of the wall again, and noticed that one of the batteries was a little loose. I proceeded to the kitchen and got out our gigantic roll of foil (Travel Man uses this for his grilling). Then I tore off a small piece of foil, folded it up, and stuck it in between the battery and the housing of the thermostat. I was totally focused on fixing this situation. The thermostat then went back on the wall and voila! the AC was up and running once again. I’m not really certain if this was the safest thing to do, but I did it and it worked.

Now a few things I need to mention here. Travel Man (my wonderful hubby) was running around the backyard like a chicken with his head cut off so I never told him all of this happened with the thermostat that day. In fact I don’t think I told him the entire story until somewhere around Christmas time. It was a stressful day for us, and I wasn’t going to add to his stress factor, especially since I was able to get the thing fixed. The other mention is that my Mom was quite emotional that day. We had just lost my Dad, her grandson was getting married, and it just really got the best of her. But, my five minutes of finessing (which seemed like 5 hours in the scheme of things) the thermostat completely entertained her and made her laugh and smile that day. I’m glad I could do that for her.

This is one of those stories that will go down in the family history books in the “Remember When” chapter. We had quite a few wonderful moments on that wonderful wedding day, but for me this one was the most stressful and most successful at the same time. And you know as I’m writing this I’m thinking that all of my own family members might not have heard this story. That’s ok though, I always want things to stay positive for everyone!

When is the last time you had a family “moment”that you considered one for the history books?