Author: Belinda O

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Well, the Locks Work

I love my new home, which was built in 1979 and still has mementos, shall we say,  of those early days.

No sense getting rid of something if it works, right? I learned the hard way just how well some of those pieces have held up over the years. Take the doorknobs, for example. Or let me say, take the doorknobs, please.

Last night I had one of those fluke home accidents that are difficult to reconstruct and embarrassing to explain. So rather than try to paint a detailed picture for you, suffice to say, some tissue caught on fire, I tossed it in the toilet, had the presence of mind to turn the fan on, and closed the door so the smoke detectors wouldn’t go off. It should be noted I was certain the fire was doused at that point.

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Yeah, one of the cats could’ve opened it.

Later, when I was sure the smoke was cleared, I returned to the bathroom and — the door was locked. I did everything I knew to do with a locked bathroom door, including breaking a hanger so I could use the hook at the top to pop out the lock, sliding a credit card past the latch and looking at the other locks for clues.

Oh yes, checking the door sills for a magic key. Those, no doubt, were lost long ago.

This morning, promptly at store opening, I entered Lowe’s and headed to their key counter, hoping they had a magic key. No such luck. Use a hanger, the guy told me, or a credit card.

My neighbors helped me with a tool or two, but still, nothing worked. I was forced to call my landlord, who got a good laugh out the situation. She’d done it herself, she said, but she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten the door open again.

A picture is worth a thousand words…here’s before and after…what you can’t see in this picture is how we tried to take the door off the hinges, then realized we’d have to pull it straight out and try not to tear out the latch. We abandoned that idea.

Before…
…After

Eventually Catherine, my landlord, somehow got the door open with a credit card and a screwdriver. We’d tried that before, to no avail, but this time she got it to work.,

It took an hour, and that was the time spent on it after she arrived. The cats were confused, but friendly (they like Catherine).

Last summer she debated about changing the door knobs. Now I helped make that decision for her.

But I can get into my bathroom again.

Image of Cat © geosap — Fotolia/AdobeStock

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Please don’t…

We all have our pet peeves, our idiosyncrasies, our little quirks.

Those little things that annoy, delight or otherwise garner what many consider an unusual response.

Cat brushing his teeth
Okay, this kitty is cute as he takes care of his personal hygiene.

For me (and my mom), it’s when characters on a television show or movie brush their teeth. EeYew. I do not need to see that lather, the foam someone is about to spit out. They’ve been doing it for decades, too. In the 1943 film, The More the Merrier, Jean Arthur can be seen at one point vigorously brushing her teeth. I put my head in my hands. It’s a good movie, but I cannot bear that brief scene.

For a woman I used to work with, it was needles. She could watch just about any gruesome scene in a hospital show, but pull out a needle for an IV or vaccination, and she shot out of the room (pun intended). As a news producer, she had a strict policy: no needles in the news stories. The entire station complied. It wasn’t worth not doing so.

Pet peeves are one aspect of our personality, quirks are another that make us unique. I make a few bucks every few months ironing pillowcases for a friend. It bothers her to have wrinkled cases (and now it bothers me). There are more dramatic quirks that might set others apart from the crowd, and I won’t describe them here lest I offend.

As children, anything that made anyone different was something to snicker about. As adults, we know better. Children, however, do have a wonderful capacity for acceptance when things are explained to them. Open up their world and they open up their hearts.

I’ve found adults are often less forgiving. They tend to try to temper their snobbery or bigotry by saying things that start with the phrase, “can’t she at least…?” implying that it’s okay to do whatever it is they find objectionable, just do it in the privacy of your own home. Or say it to others of like mind.

Yes, there are public and private behaviors, but not everyone is graced with the same sense of decorum, or even the ability to control their actions.

If I saw someone brushing their teeth in the Walmart parking lot, it would probably disgust me. But I’d have to wonder what brought them to do such a bizarre thing. Okay, in today’s day and age, odd behavior is fairly routine in some places, and we walk by without giving it a second thought.

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You want me to watch your show? Watch what you film!

I say to Hollywood: please think before you have your actors and actresses brush their teeth onscreen. And for the love of everything good and holy, keep them off the toilet. I mean, do I need to justify that pet peeve?

We all have them. Feel free to share yours!

Image Credits: © geosap — Fotolia/Adobe Stock

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Decorating Odd Corners

I had two problems facing me in my new home: one, lack of space for my books, and two, an odd little gap between the living and dining area that looked pretty bleak.

That space might not have seemed so empty if it weren’t for the electrical outlet that became the inadvertent focal point of the area, and the lack of any sort of buffet in the dining room.With my current budget and home needs, I don’t see a buffet arriving in the foreseeable future.

Living Room wo bookcase
Blah, empty, wasted space

That space was bothering me. Then I remembered a little bookcase I had downstairs, one I’d bought on clearance several months ago from Pier One. It had been such a good price I couldn’t imagine they had any left, but it seemed so perfect for that blank spot. It looked like I was going to have to choose between moving the bookcase and finding something new for downstairs, or looking for another option for upstairs.

Lo and behold, Pier One had at least one left. However, it wasn’t available for delivery to my area. Again, I was discouraged. The right size, the right price, and a bookcase, to boot! Then I remembered I’d be visiting my mom soon, so I checked, and sure enough, I was able to have it delivered at no cost to the Pier One store near my mom.

It fit just perfectly into my car (once I took the back seats down). My return load also included a couple dozen books I’d sent my mom over the months (she reads books like I eat candy), the very books I’d known I’d be getting back and was worried about storing.

bookcase 2
The smallest change can make the biggest difference!

Bookcases are great additions to many an odd corner or space, and they’re easy to find at the right price. Check out thrift shops, discount stores and the clearance sections of your favorite stores, or build your own! One of the cutest ideas I’ve seen in a decorating magazine lately was two workbenches nailed together, one on top of the other, and painted red.

Note: those adorable elephant bookends are also from Pier One. They actually aren’t the best bookends — the trunks get in the way — but a few small, and in this case, quite old, books fit perfectly! And Pier One had nothing to do with this post. I simply happen to have done some shopping there lately!

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The Matter With Sports

Once, in a college class, I casually — or perhaps not so casually — made the comment that people could afford to get obsessed about sports because the games really don’t matter. It’s something you allow yourself to feel passionately about, knowing it isn’t going to change your life anymore than you allow it.

Sports don’t matter?

That shocked some of my classmates, disgusted others (who didn’t even deign to respond), and amused my professor, who agreed with me.

Let’s look at what I think does matter. Poverty, putting food on the table or the simple ability to pay your bills responsibly. Family and close friends, especially as we grow older. Our health, whether it’s maintaining or regaining it.

sportsCertainly I understand the commitment professional coaches and players are going to have. It’s their livelihood, and a high pressure one at that. Yes, it matters to them. In fact, it’s likely to have a lifelong effect, one way or the other. So for anyone who makes a living in the world of sports, it matters, to varying degrees.

To those of us who just watch, bitch & moan, cheer at the top of our lungs and all the rest, it’s entertainment. It doesn’t matter.

I’m from Minnesota, which means I’m not used to seeing championship teams. In 1987, however, the Twins shocked everyone by winning the World Series. Their fans, and I was one of them, were euphoric. Good memories, fun to relive, but those games didn’t change my life one bit. Okay, I got a sweatshirt.

They won again in 1991, a top-notch World Series, and while the euphoria wasn’t the same (we’d been there before), it felt GOOD. Yet once again, it didn’t change my life, or the lives of too many of its fans. Maybe some won big money from ill-advised betting (a redundant phrase in my book), but no doubt the vast majority of that money was quickly spent, probably not wisely.

trophyStill, there is a certain camaraderie that develops. My mom is friends with her next-door neighbor, a reclusive man who few in her building have gotten to know, because he’s heard her yelling when the Vikings score a touchdown. He’s a bigger fan than she is and loves to talk about the game, what they did wrong and on rare occasions, what they did right (for some reason, Vikings fans never like to talk about their team has done right).

In the end, sports don’t matter, any more than your favorite television show or beloved novel does. Yet…of course they do,  because they’re  an outlet for all that does matter. It gives us a chance to vent our emotions and say what we have to say in a safe environment.

And damn it, it’s fun.

Image Credits: (Football Players) © Bigstock; (Sports Equipment, Trophy) © Graphic Stock