Reusing

I've mentioned before that my husband scraps out things. Well, when we first moved into this house, his brother gave him one of those really big, big screen TV's. It was a 65 inch, but projection, so it was also about 2 foot thick. When we got it, his brother told us something was going out in it, and every now and then the picture would squish together, and you would have to pick up the top part and drop it. Well, it gave out a couple months ago and had been sitting on our back porch waiting to be scrapped.

Today he did it. Here's what we got from it that is going to be reused: 3 different Plexiglas pieces to be used as follows: one is under the computer chair because we have carpet. I can now move my chair without difficulty. One as a cutting mat that fits my whole table. I was cutting out a can roller and trying to do it on a little cutting board. And the third one is thick, so we used it as a cover for the table. I have a double gate-leg table, antique, but it looks used. I got it for about $12 at a thrift store. We keep the leaves up, so it's like 70"X 36" But food falls in the cracks, with kids. And I insisted they all use coaster so they didn't leave a ring. Now we don't have to.

He used the main body of the TV, after everything was taken out, as a compost/garden. He got 3 really big magnifying glasses. One he gave to my youngest to play with. One he's going to give to my oldest as a Christmas present. He has trouble reading his Pokemon cards, due to cataracts. He's Down Syndrome, and it's something that goes along with it. He also got 3 lenses, red, green and I think one was supposed to be slightly yellow, or else it's clear. He gave those to my youngest, because he's so into science. A molding strip became a marble run. He's also going to take out all the aluminum and metal and turn it in.

Today, I also made 2 can rollers from cardboard we had on hand, by tracing the one I bought. But, I decided it's too difficult to make the sharp bends that are needed. Then, as I was looking at a fruit snack box, I decided it could make one with a few cuts. I had to get a scrap piece of cardboard to cover the front, but it's now a 2 drop (instead of one) can roller so I have to put the new can in the back, and get the old one out of the bottom front. It holds small cans like mushrooms or small tomato sauce. So I have 7 can rollers in my pantry, and I can rotate my food. I would love to have the money to buy a ton of those rollers, and have a whole bookshelf full of them, and not have my food in boxes. But wish in one hand, and spit in the other, as my grandma used to say, and see which fills up quicker.

It's been a hard day of cutting cardboard, and my hands are sore, but I reused cardboard that would have otherwise been thrown out. And though my husband is tired, we have 2 plots for a garden this spring, instead of the one we had this past year.