When I come to think of it - once again (hmm...) I finish and start (hmm again...) with my childhood. Yes - the same story. On one side the scarcity of ready made toys - technological or other, the lack of TV, the poor town - "forced' us kids to manufacture our own toys. Balls, guns, bows and arrows, marionettes, stages for self created theater shows, kites, and even a so called ship and an... helicopter (of wood, of course, and this one failed to bury me underneath when we tried to rotate the "rotor", lol).

On the other side - a father with golden hands. He (at times with my mother helping) was able to repair any kind of contraption invented by man, and manufacture some himself (just to make the extra buck to prevent us from dying of hunger). I learned a lot from him, and I probably inherited the corresponding genes as well. I can do anything which falls under the DIY category, with a few exceptions that have to do more with lack of interest rather than lack of aptitude. I was defined several times already by my entourage as the one to never die on a deserted island.

I guess that I owe my exceptional troubleshooting qualities to these DIY fingers and aptitude. Attitude as well, lol, never wait for someone else to do it for you. Of course, pure laziness drives me many times to get others do a job for me (yes, lack of time as well), but dirtying my hands with earth, paint or grease was never an issue with me. Actually and definitely - I love it. If only my back would have shown more clemency (and if you would show some more clemency towards me, says my back )

I do my garden, repair my roof, paint my house, build my heating system, create my alarm, repair my electric stuff... I have the tools, love the job. Less, have to admit, lately, and this because I started giving priority to... writing. Time is something I do not know to manufacture, sorry to disappoint. Not even for myself.

A sample of DIY tips I collected through the years (millions of others out there...):

- a stubborn screw stuck in wood? - heat it with a 100Watt soldering iron.
- tired of pulling out the tiny leaves of grass between tiles? - burn them with a gas burner.
- want to keep that open paint can a bit longer? - keep it upside down.
- a traffic warning glued to your car's window? - soak it in milk before peeling.
- broke a piece of tooth and want your dentist to glue it? - rush with it kept in milk.
- your grass mower clogs fast on wet grass? - mow only half width lanes.
- cheap paper glue? - flour and water.
- cutting a screw shorter? - have a repairing nut screwed on beyond the cutting point.
- is the baked pastry/bread ready? - stick a match in it, should come out clean.
- keep moth away from your papers? - spread cigarette tobacco around it.