Friday, March 25, 2011

Happy to be a Papercrafter

Today's story is a departure from my normal "Lookie what I made!!1!" post. Newp, today I present to you a story fraught with adventure, drama, and a sprinkling of Richard Dean Anderson.

Before I can go into details, I wanted to share with you my two furbabies, who are the stars villains of today's little story.

First up is Oliver (affectionately named Oliver Kittlesworth III). He's my photogenic lap-cat that loves to lounge and carries with him a certain "Je ne sais quoi".


This is one of my most favorite pictures of him because he's a beautiful gray lap kitty lounging on a beautiful gray laptop. When I'm at home, writing these posts, I usually have both him and the laptop on me, so this photo is a nice summary of my blogging experience =)

My other furbaby, and the catalyst for this post, is little miss Punkie Mewster (Punkie for short).


Punkie is Oliver's sister, and she's a no nonsense kinda gal.  She loves people-scratchums but Oliver is such an attention magnet that she can be very dismissive when he's around. Because of this, they have a really funny dynamic around each other.

So, now that you've met the stars of todays episode, it's time to explain why I'm happy to be a papercrafter (other than the obvious of being able to roll around in pretty papers, and go about my day with inky fingers ;-)

You see, I live in an older house whose main bathroom is desperately in need of a remodel. The sink and attached cabinet is decidedly "vintage" and the little drain stopper is long gone, so anything that falls into the sink is fair game to end up down in the pipes. I've lived here for 2 years and haven't lost anything yet, so I've been avoiding a remodel to make sure I have money left over for stampy goodness.  Genius, right?

Also important to this story is the fact that Oliver and Punkie are both obsessed with water. They love splashing around in a drippy faucet, and clamor for the sink when it's time to brush teeth or wash hands.

This particular morning, I was readying myself for the day. I had given my hair a generous spray of curl stuff, but neglectfully left the little plastic cap loose on the counter. Seeing me in the bathroom and eager to paw around the sink before her nosey brother came lumbering in, Punkie excitedly jumped up on the bathroom sink and promptly knocked the little plastic hairspray cap down the drain >.<

I peeked down into the hole, and could see it down there just out of reach.  The pipe was narrow enough that fingers couldn't get a grip on it, but loose enough that jostling the cap too much threatened to push it down into the P-trap to be lost forever.

So with thoughts of plumbers and bills and replaced pipes dancing in my brain, I wandered into my craft room looking for SOMETHING that could get me out of this mess.  My eyes settled upon my paper piercer and my trusty box of glue dots and I asked myself "What would MacGuyver do in this situation?"

I took a glue dot and stuck it onto the end of my paper piercer. The glue dots are super sticky so they don't take a lot of pressure to get stuff to stick to them, and the paper piercer was long enough to be able to reach down the drain where my fingers couldn't easily go. I snaked the sticky-ended piercer down the drain, glue-dotted the lid to the piercer, and fished the lid out, much like the steady-handed game of "Operation" I played as a child.

And just like that, my sink dilemma was solved!  Punkie did manage to finally get her scratchums just in the nick of time, because soon after, Oliver assumed his normal position:


That, my friends, is why I'm happy to be a papercrafter. To be able to fashion a household plumbing solution out of a ragtag bunch of supplies that I just "happened to have on-hand" is a beautiful, beautiful thing.  MacGuyver would be proud!

12 comments:

  1. That is a great story! How "creative" of you.

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  2. OMG! That is too funny! I have 6 furry babies,4 cats and two dogs. My one cat is always laying in my bathroom sink. I'm so glad you were able to be a do-it-yourself plummer! Summer mini pre-order is coming up.

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  3. Loved your story. I have two cats. They are brothers and I am always calling them my bad boys! Aren't cats wonderful. Think how boring life would be without them and just think, you never would have come up with the idea of the paper piercer and glue dot "tool" for fixing the problem without having the cats to create the situation that made it necessary! Great cat pictures.

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  4. What a day brightener! lol And what adorable kitties! The Boxer Twins would love them! They are two of the kittiest loving dogs ever!

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  5. Oliver and Punkie are awesome looking kitties and look like they would create lots of excitement and fun! Thanks for sharing this cute story and for showing engenuity in rescuing the lid from the sink. I think that's totally cool!

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  6. What a great story, I just love it when my craft bits n bobs come in handy around the house for other things. I am also please to hear there are other cats out there who like water, our new cat (still a kitten really) has a facination with water, he will jump into the sink or even come into the shower with me just to play with running water - and don't get me started on the mess he makes in his water bowl lol. So good to know he is not alone!

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  7. Such a cute story!! I wish we could have indoor cats, but we can't because of allergies. I love my dog, but cats are such characters. TFS!

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  8. Ha ha ha - funny story! Hopefully won't need that technique someday, but if I do...I know what to do! ;-) You're right, McGyver would be proud. :) tfs

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  9. I am laughing so hard at your post, Michey! When I started reading, I was intrigued with the Mac Guyver reference and was not disappointed. Look at you and your creativity. The kitties are adorable, too. They have the best names too. Oliver just lounges anywhere he pleases, huh? This was a great day brightener today, thanks for sharing! Hugs! :)

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