I’m definitely going to freeze some grapes next time for my drinks and see how it is. I think it would taste great.
Have you tried it?
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Category Archives: DIY
I’m in a Throwing Away Mood
Emptying my entire kitchen and then restoring everything has put me in a serious throwing away mood. I can’t believe the things I’ve kept. In the “junk” drawers alone, this is what I tossed:
• Pens that don’t work.
• Obsolete USB cords
• Buttons
• Pins and other promotional paraphernalia from my old job
• Rubber fittings to who-knows-what
• Brass fittings to who-knows-what
• Keys for who-knows-what
• Credit cards I’ve never used
• Business cards for businesses that no longer exist
• Rabies tags and ID tags for fur babies no longer with us
Of all the things in the above list we still couldn’t bring ourselves to toss the ID tags. Greg is keeping one as a key fob, and the other as a bookmark.
We found money too! Hidden underneath a stack of envelopes and scratch pads was $200! I also collected almost $25 in coins that had been tossed in there for the past eight years. Obviously, I need to clean junk drawers more often.
My drawers are now perfectly clean and organized. I have a set of three on one side of the kitchen. One holds all my office supplies like my address book, a business card folder, stamps, writing tools, stapler, tape, magnifying glass and scissors. The second is for medical supplies like bandages, syringes (for goats and dogs), and more scissors. The third drawer is my emergency drawer. I keep matches, lighters, flashlights, folding knives, and trash bags. It’s nearest the pass way so if power goes out, I can find a flashlight in the dark.
For the record, I keep a pair of scissors in almost every drawer in the kitchen. It drives me crazy if I need to cut something and can’t find them. I’m not naming name (Greg) but certain people sometimes don’t put things back after they’ve used them. This way bloodshed is kept to a minimum if I can find another pair quickly.
Despite the best intentions my cabinets didn’t get finished. Some of the doors were missing in the shipment. A couple were damaged, and one was too short. I have to wait for the manufacturer to build me new doors. I’ll post pictures once my kitchen is complete.
Still it’s finished enough to bring back all my supplies. The carpenter who redid my cabinets went above and beyond. I asked him if he could remove the built in microwave shelf and give me a full cabinet. He did, and then the company gave me the additional cabinet doors free. Then he gave me new shelving where there wasn’t any, and removed the wine glass racks that I never liked.
This gave me a HUGE amount of new cabinet space. There is so much space, I have entire cabinets with nothing in them! I went from bulging at the seams to light and airy space.
On top of this, Greg built me a pull out cabinet next to the refrigerator. I can’t wait to show you the pictures for that. This extra space is going to free up a big hunk of my pantry.
Whoever gets this house after us is going to think they died and went to cabinet heaven. It is that awesome.
It helps that I got rid of a lot of stuff. Aside from the things I tossed, we also hauled four big boxes of stuff that will either go to the next garage sale or got stored for the long term. Most of it is a mix of glassware, bowls, and duplicate pots and pans.
Emptying out the entire kitchen was not a pleasant task, but hey, I found $225, so I guess it was well worth it. As rarely as I clean out junk drawers, who knows when I would’ve found that money.
Have you ever found money by accident? Do you keep a coin jar for spare change? How often do you clean your junk drawers?
Dehydrating Food 101
You don’t have to grow your own food to dehydrate fruits and vegetables. I had a dehydrator for years before I started using it regularly. Part of me couldn’t believe that such a small amount of heat could make food edible let alone more delicious than before.
It’s true! Drying foods concentrates the flavors.
This is beef jerky halfway through the drying process.
My first foray into dehydrating was making beef jerky. But I’ve since dried tomatoes, okra, beans, peas, strawberries, and squash.
There are few rules to dehydrating.
• Always slice your meat, vegetables, or fruits the same thickness. If some are thinner than others place those on the top trays so they don’t dry out too quickly.
• For best results, freeze your meat until it’s firm (but not frozen through). It will make it so much easier to slice.
• Wash fruits and vegetables, then pat dry.
• Never let your food touch each other. You want air to circulate freely on all sides.
• You can make fruit leathers if you blend fruit into a puree then pour (carefully) into liners on the dehydrator trays.
• Check for doneness. They should be flexible but not rock hard. You can dry them until hard if you plan to pulverize them. Many people do this for onions and garlic, but also for tomatoes and celery. Heck, I’ve seen people dehydrate tomato skins alone and turn them into tomato powder.
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For meat, you can add a dry rub from any number of prepared mixes from the store. I’m a purist. I prefer salt and pepper.
For veggies like green beans, I coat them in a little olive oil and toss with fresh ground salt. They are DELICIOUS! Greg and I polished off an entire batch in one sitting. (That ended up being our dinner.) They’re great snacks when you want something other than potato chips or popcorn.
I don’t season tomatoes at all. I dehydrate until semi soft and put them in the freezer. When I make soup, stew, pasta or pizza sauce, the dried tomatoes go in the pot and I let them reconstitute there. It will take your meal to an entirely new level of flavor. Every year I dehydrate tomatoes rather than can them now. They are that good!
Dehydrators come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very fancy, others are nothing more than a light bulb at the base of the machine.
The one on the right is the same brand but about $50 more. It also has a 10 year warranty compared to the one above with a 5 year warranty. You can click on the pictures to take you to the Amazon page.
The dehydrator I currently have is pretty old. It doesn’t have the nicer trays or higher wattage of these newer models. When it finally dies on me I’ll probably opt for the Excalibur since all my gardening friends speak so highly about it.
If you have teenagers, jerky and dried treats are way healthier for them. Better for junk-food eating husbands too. 😉
Oven drying: You can dry food in your oven but between you and me, it’s kind of a pain. Not only do you waste a lot more money on energy usage but it pretty much monopolizes your oven until the drying is done. I don’t recommend it unless you have no other choice.
Outdoor drying: There is one other option for you heartier, back-to-the-land folks, and that’s solar drying. If you live in a climate like mine where it’s hot and has relatively low humidity, you can dry your food outdoors. 
Oiled and salted. Ready for drying.
Same green beans, dried and ready for snacking.
Have you ever tried making jerky or dried fruits or vegetables? I always say I’m going to dehydrate snow peas, but somehow I never have enough left over. 🙂 The green beans were the real surprise though. 
They were absolutely delicious. Greg wanted more but I only planted a few token green bean plants. Next year, I’m doing a big bed of them.
All Hands to the Pump: The Demolition Begins
The cabinet people called Friday to schedule their crew and install my new kitchen cabinets. I was no where near ready. I had hoped they would give me a week’s notice, but no such luck.
All weekend, I rushed around emptying my cabinets and putting everything into boxes. –Didn’t think I’d be doing that again for a long time! Thankfully, the boxes only have to move into the next room.
I moved here almost eight years ago, yet I still managed to accumulate a ton of clutter. The kitchen seems to be a catch-all for anything coming into the house.
Some of the clutter are duplicates or things that get tossed in a drawer for “safekeeping” then quickly forgotten, but some things are bulky items I might use only once or twice a year. There’s a punch bowl, a literal ton of cast iron cookware, Christmas serving pieces, and a large and odd collection of glassware.
There are the fancy water goblets that I’ve used maybe twice since I’ve been here. Then there are the pots and pans from Greg’s house. When mine wear out I’ll replace them with his. Until then, they’ll be stored in the attic. There were also entire drawer full of kitchen utensils that I use so rarely I’d forgotten I had them.
I have an insane amount of cookbooks. I didn’t realize I had that many. I’d hate to get rid of them, but I use maybe three or four–tops.
There are a lot of antiques in my clutter stash too. I found a gravy boat that I bought an antique auction decades ago. I never thought much of it. It was sold as part of a box lot. I looked it up and it’s worth $80 now. I think I spent five bucks for the whole box.
I’m sick of clutter, but I’m not ready to have another garage sale, so I’ll just store all this stuff for some other day. Before I put anything back in that kitchen, I plan to take a long hard look at what I’m putting back. If I don’t love it, or I haven’t used it in a year, it’s going in the attic.
Wish me luck this week. We’ll be without a working kitchen for at least 5-7 days. They’re supposed to put up plastic to keep the dust down in the rest of the house, but I suspect the entire house will need a thorough airing (and dusting) by the time they’re done. It’s bad enough our routine will be disrupted, but the poor dogs will be upset with strangers in the house too.
How are you with clutter? Do you sort out your junk drawers regularly? And if you don’t have a junk drawer, I don’t think we can be friends. LOL! You’re too perfect!
What Can You Live Without?
Guess what went out now? The microwave. The irony is we sold our spare microwave at the last garage sale.
A hole in my kitchen
The one I sold was a counter top model and I need a built in. If you’ve ever priced built ins, they are outrageously expensive. On top of that you also need to buy a “trim kit”, basically a metal frame to make your microwave look like it was part of the cabinetry.
Only one trim kit can’t sub for another. Oh, no. That would be too convenient and cost effective for consumers.
Each trim kit only fits a specific brand. And you can’t mount the much cheaper counter top model in place of a built in. You can, if it fits in the hole, and if it can vent properly, but guess what won’t fit? Yup. The trim kit.
I’m seething because I don’t want to buy the same model I had before. It only lasted five years. It’s a Frigidaire Professional Series. Unfortunately, it might come to that. At least I won’t have to buy another trim kit. It’s ridiculously expensive for a piece of pressed metal. I hate the idea of Frigidaire making another sale from us after they soured me on this one.
The sad part about all this is it made me realize just how much we use our microwave. It surprises me how quickly we accustomed and embedded ourselves to technology–even me–Nanook from the Wayback.
I don’t think we even had a microwave until the 1980s, so why is it so hard to live without one now?
It made me wonder what else I’d hate to lose.
• Cell phones
Handy, but I mostly use it to look up stuff on the internet.
• The internet
Wonderful as it is, the few times I’ve lost internet has been more of a blessing. I get so much more done without the distraction.
• Television
We don’t watch a lot of tv, but we do stream movies. Guess Greg and I would have to come up with something else to do. 🙂
• Printer
I’d really miss this. My hands hurt too much to print everything by hand.
• Electricity
The Mother of all Inventions. We have solar energy at Greg’s shop so we could theoretically live without electricity.
• Toilets
Okay. If there was one thing I absolutely would hate to give up more than anything else, it would be the toilet. I make no apologies. That’s the line in the sand for me.
How about you? What would you hate to give up more than anything?
Cheap Trick: Bath Time
I must’ve bathed dogs thousands of times. My dogs and other people’s dogs. I don’t even look at it as work. It’s just something that has to get done.
I’m short so most of the time my breasts ended up plastered against the tub. It could be torture depending on the size of the dog (or cat), plus I always ended up drenched.
Since I was already soaked, I usually dashed off to the shower to clean up, and that’s when it occurred to me that it would be easier to wash the dogs there too.
I prefer to wash the dogs in my shower. It’s smaller, and they seem less agitated in a confined space with me. We also have a huge walk-in shower where we used to wash extra large dogs like Tanky. He’d go anywhere if it meant he was getting a massage out of it. With cats or small dogs I usually bathed them in the laundry room sink. It’s ample enough for a small creature and easy with a spray nozzle.
Is pet washing a big chore for you? Are your pets easy to bathe or do they fight the suds?
6 Internet Tricks You Should Be Using
I’ve used the trick about using misspelled keywords to find deals on Ebay and Craigslist. I also use the screen capture to copy images that can’t be normally copied.
PS: You can ignore the last minute of this video. He’s just selling something.
10 Life Hacks: Some Silly, A Couple with Potential
A couple of these are definitely unethical, but the fire extinguisher is just dumb. If Greg ever has to call Apple Customer Service I’ll be curious to find out if that hack works.
DIY Cloud Lamp
I could see doing this as a great party decoration. It looks pretty easy too.
• Plastic bottles, or paper lanterns
• Glue gun, glue
• Fishing line and hooks to hang them from the ceiling
• Cotton batting
• LED light strip with controller
7 Money-Saving Hacks
The battery hack is kind of cool. Would you split your wifi bill with a neighbor? Is that even legal?
How to Make a Soda Cap Container
I saw a DIY project for soda caps on Facebook, but when I went back I couldn’t find it again so I looked up something similar on YouTube. This is really easy to make and really useful.
I always keep a couple of small containers for aspirin or other meds in my purse. It’s also handy for trips when you don’t want to lug whole containers of pills for a short trip.
15 Life Skills Everyone Should Know by Twenty-One
Last week Greg and I had lunch with a friend. She works in a nursery (the kind with plants). She had mentioned she was retiring soon and leaving the day-to-day business to a very enthusiastic 21 year old.
Every one should have a sewing kit. This would make a good gift for kids going off to college.
I was floored because I couldn’t fathom how anyone could not know how to do such a simple task. My friend (who’s around young people a lot) told me it wasn’t all that unusual. They know how to change code to a web site, but they don’t know how to change a tire. It boggles the imagination.
I’ve mentioned before that I have no real skill with needle or thread, but even I have a sewing box. They’re cheap insurance. The one shown even has a book for the rank beginner.
If I were to list fifteen things everyone should know by the time they’re twenty-one, these would be my top choices.
- Sew on a button, or hem a pair of pants.
- Be able to change a tire. I’ve been stuck in areas with no phone service.
- Unclog a toilet.
- Balance a checkbook.
- Bake a cake–even if it’s from a mix.
- Do your own taxes.
- Write a proper thank you card.
- Create, and stick to a budget.
- Know basic first aid.
- Know how to hang a picture.
- Learn to read a map.
- Know how to jump start a car.
- Make a meal from real food (not processed).
- Negotiate a deal for a car, furniture, or other big ticket items.
- Know how to do a proper load of laundry.
I was on my own by eighteen, but I think most of the skills from the list above were already honed while I was still a child. I didn’t learn home maintenance or car repair until I actually had a car and home. We were too poor to hire anyone, so we had to learn to do things ourselves.
Poverty teaches you to be very self-sufficient. 😀
What would you add to the list? If you have children, did you teach them any of the skills on the list before they left home?
Quick and Simple Home Hacks
I did not know the one about Febreze. And I am definitely trying the almonds next time I have a headache. Have you tried any of these? Do they work?
Hide Things In Plain Sight
Some interesting hiding places for your stash. I especially like the last one.
I once put my spare keys under some brick in the dog run, thinking no one would be crazy enough to enter a dog run with rottweilers in it. It was safe…until a certain border collie came to live with us. She must’ve caught my scent under the brick because she went for that brick only and pulled out the keys. And she was only a puppy!
Father’s Day Gifts for All Kinds of Dads
One of his favorite toys of late has been a drone (with camera). They’re quite cool actually, and the video feed has great resolution, but the techy lovers probably get a bigger kick out of them than I do. If you’re at a loss for a different kind of toy for your best dad, a drone is a good choice.
I felt bad for my dad. We used to give him terrible gifts. Poor guy. We gave him the gifts kids back then gave their dads. For us, it was handkerchiefs and bow ties. (He wore bow ties!)
I’m sure he’d rather have had books. He read a lot. To teach himself English, he read comic books because he could follow along with the pictures, but in his native language, he liked to read novels and historical accounts of famous people.
Even when I got older, he was hard to shop for gifts. He was content with whatever he had. He had lived through the Depression, so anything he had was like a gift to him. I think I learned my frugal ways from him.
My dad died of pancreatic cancer in 2001. In the weeks leading up to his death he regaled us with stories (he was a great storyteller) and memories. Looking back, I think he was trying to recall every good moment in his life and pass them on to us. His body might die, but his memories and stories will live on. I know I’ll never forget.
While dads (and dog dads) generally get the low end of the stick compared to moms on Mother’s Day, remember that they could use some fussing too. I try to pick things around their hobbies…or is that vices?
Here are some other ideas for dads.
• Sporting event tickets or paraphernalia: You’ll know if he has a favorite sports team. Guys never keep that a secret.
• Life experience gift: I once gave Greg some flight time in a helicopter. We couldn’t afford the lessons, but at least I could give him a taste of it.
• Electronics: If he doesn’t yet have a tablet, there’s a perfect gift. Greg doesn’t go anywhere without his.
• Liquor: I never saw a man turn down alcohol. Find out what his favorite is then buy the good stuff.
• Clean his car. Get the kids to do this for him as a gift.
• Professional massage. There are lots of places to try. Some might have Father’s Day specials too.
• Gardening supplies: Man or woman, father, mother, aunt, or uncle, if your favorite person is a gardener, he’ll always appreciate quality tools–or plants for his garden.
• Food: What man doesn’t like to eat good food? Whether you make it yourself, use a specialty service, or take him to an extra special restaurant, he’ll know he’s being treated like a king.
Are you doing anything special for your favorite guy?
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On another note, I noticed that Amazon has DROPPED the price for the Roomba 880. This is definitely the lowest price I’ve seen, and I’ve been keeping track. This offer ends in a few days, so if you’ve been on the fence about this machine, get it now.
Update on my Roomba review. I still love this thing. It has a couple of quirks but I think it has more to do with my house than it. For example, it stopped once in the middle of cleaning. We don’t know why, but we clicked the button again and it finished its job. We suspect it got confused between the different levels of floor. It only happened that one time though.
The biggest reason I’m still happy with it is that Iko has been shedding like crazy but my floors are still clean. His undercoat is very fine fur, the kind that likes to float in the air. I run that machine twice a day sometimes and it’s been great at picking up all that hair. It’s been a lot of fur too. Iko has been the real test on the Roomba’s ability.
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Cheap Trick: Track Your Paper Usage, Plus a Transplant Tutorial
A quick tutorial on recycling empty cardboard rolls.
• Take your empty and cut 1 inch slits across one side.
• Fold the slits down until it forms a flat surface.
• Pack a little potting soil inside each tube.
• Plant your seed.
• Stand them up in a tray and water regularly.
• Once sprouted, plant tube and all directly in the ground.
Not only does it provide a collar against cutworms, but you never disturb the root system. The tube will disintegrate within the season and provide additional mulch to the soil.
Renovate Your Laundry Room With These Great Tips
I love that she says they’re a one-income family. None of what they did was hard or expensive. Most of the materials can be found at remodeling surplus stores. I’ve picked up ready-made cabinets and storage bins at garage sales that I’ve used in my potting shed and studio. Recently, I bought a wall cabinet and a rolling 5-bin cart for less than $10.
Does anyone have a laundry room? I have to admit, mine is in shambles. It’s a decent size but I don’t think I utilize it well–probably because I make it pull duty as a laundry room and a parts warehouse for every machine we’ve ever owned. Not to mention the cabinets are full of cleaners, paints, batteries, and light bulbs. No wonder I have no room to sort laundry. It’s something I need to address.
Cheap Trick: Stronger Tomato Plants
I’ve used this trick for decades so I know it works. One extra tip: After you’ve pinched off the lower leaves, gently scrape the sides of the stem with a fingernail. It will help to form roots more quickly. If you use rooting powder it’s even better.
Once the tomato is planted, wrap a small piece of foil, no more than an inch high around the base of the plant. It will deter those blasted cutworms from decapitating your tender seedlings during the night.
Below are two pictures of the same plant. What a difference a few weeks make. The seedling (on the left) has been stripped of its lower leaves and I buried the stem about 3 inches from the lowest leaves (where my thumb is), then wrapped the base with a tiny slip of aluminum foil.
Anyone growing tomatoes this year? What’s in your garden?
Build Your Own Tool Kit for Your Car
We always keep a few tools in the car. I’m in awe what Greg could accomplish with nothing more than a pair of channel-locks (tongue and groove pliers) and a couple of screwdrivers.
Not that I can perform the same kind of magic, but it’s nice to have a few tools in case I need to fuss with the battery cables or change a tire. Tires, battery, and windshield wipers are the extent of my automotive experience–and that’s only if my auto club can’t help me.
No one should be stranded though. I find even a couple of these tools prove handy for everyday situations. Here is what I keep in my tool bag.
First, a tool bag. They’re not terribly expensive, so make the investment. I’ve found it’s a lot easier to find things if they’re all in one place instead of scattered all over my car. If I’m stuck somewhere I’m already rattled so I don’t want to waste time looking for a wrench in the boneyard I call my back seat.
The tools:
• Screwdrivers: One flat head and one Phillips head. You can invest in one of those screwdrivers with tips that can be changed. I have one, but I still prefer a regular screwdriver. It’s stronger and there’s no chance of losing the tips.
• Flashlight: A regular
Greg bought GRDE Zoomable Headlamp. I didn’t want to spend $20 on a headlamp (I use a cheaper one) but his is far superior to my cheapo version. Very sturdy, secure on any size head, with a tremendous amount of light. We use this a lot more than I expected.
• Bungee cords: Buy a pack of them. We used them ALL the time to keep things from shifting inside the car, or to tie things to the roof.
• A good knife: Greg always carries a knife on his person, but I prefer to keep mine in the vehicle.
• Pliers: If you don’t have a multi-tool, toss in an extra set of all-purpose pliers.
• Leather gloves: I never know if I’ll be hauling lumber or untangling wire. Saves the hands.
A tool bag doesn’t need a lot of tools, just the right tools. Most of us can’t work on our cars, so you need only enough for the mundane tasks that crop up. Go with the bare minimum tool kit if you must but if you’re on the road much I recommend the more stocked bag. I’ve been stranded on more than one occasion (despite the auto club!) so it pays to be prepared.
On the left: The bare minimum tool bag.
On the right: The fuller tool bag–but don’t
forget the screwdrivers like I did in that picture.
In the picture on the left, I added a measuring tape. They come in handy if you shop garage
sales like I do.
Do you keep any tools in your car? Have you ever been stranded?
This post may contain affiliate links. Clicking on these links cost you nothing, but they do help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting MariaZanniniHome. I appreciate you!
Free to Cheap Hobbies
Even when our plates are full, those of us who understand balance know we have to make room for our hobbies.
Hobbies can be expensive. I speak from experience. Every time Greg started a new hobby, it cost big bucks. Over the years he’d taken up many hobbies. Off the top of my head, there was photography, karate, guns, swords, a boat, and motorcycles.
After seeing the price tag for some customizing he was doing to his bike, I complained there was no way he could find anything more expensive than motorcycles.
That’s when he took up flying.
Oy! I will never make such a challenge again. I think he did that purposely!
Hopefully, you don’t have an expensive hobby.
My hobbies tend to be on the creative side. I’ve b
uilt miniature furniture, dioramas, and dabbled in clay. Mostly I paint–or I used to. I was looking at my brushes the other day and thought it was time to paint my Tanky’s portrait.
Painting is not particularly cheap but I’m good about catching sales and buying quality materials so they last a long time.
Side Story: We adopted Iko to rouse Tank out of a pit of lethargy and depression after my Chelly died. Boy, did he ever do a good job! He was a typical puppy. Before Tank knew it he was playing tag and mopping the floor with the little monster. It pulled him out of his doldrums. This first photo of all teeth looks menacing, but it was all show and bluster. Those two loved each other dearly. Iko grieved just as much as we did after Tank passed away.
Back to hobbies. Check out the list to see how many you’ve done.
• Reading, of course. That’s why libraries exist, but if you can channel your reading into reviews you can also get free books from places like Library Thing and Net Galley.
Public Service Announcement: If you like a book, be a pal and leave a review. Authors can use all the reviews they can get.
• Journaling: All you need is a journal (paper or on your monitor) to record your daily thoughts.
• Drawing or painting: Quality paint can get a little pricey but a piece of charcoal or a few pencils won’t break the bank. Even if you think you have no skill, you might be surprised what your doodles reveal about you.
• Photography: I’m including photography only because every cell phone has a camera now, but it can still run big bucks for those who do their own prints and enter shows.
• Meditation: I’ve never been able to meditate except when I was in yoga class. My mind is always racing. But meditation is free and you can do it anywhere.
• People-watch: Writers do this all the time, but it’s fun to do it for no reason at all. Sometimes I try to guess what people are thinking as they go by.
• Puzzles: Good for all ages. Word puzzles, picture puzzles, number puzzles. Number puzzles? How did that get in there?
• Walk: I like to walk, especially in the woods or by gardens. It’s so relaxing.
• Card games: All you need is a deck of cards.
• Board games: I bought a Monopoly game over Christmas. We still haven’t played it yet!
• Chess, a board game requiring some skill: Greg was a chess master once. And this is why we don’t play.
• Watch tv: Hey, movies and television count as a hobby. As long as moss doesn’t grow on you, you’re not overdoing it.
• Museums, Zoos, and Arboretums: I love all three but we so rarely go. We must make amends to that this year.
• Gardening: That’s not a hobby for me. It’s a way of life.
• Scrapbooking: I’ve always marveled at scrapbooks. Although all the tools and doodads can get expensive, with a little recycling I’m sure it can be done for pennies.
• Needle craft: I have no skill with needle and thread besides base training. My mother taught me how to embroider when I was a child, and a neighbor taught me how to crochet left-handed. She was right-handed but she noticed I was having trouble following along. Compassionate woman that she was, she practiced crocheting with her left hand and then taught me. That’s when I picked it up.
I was forced to be right handed all my life, and although I do it by rote now, anything I learn has to be tried left-handed first or it doesn’t stick. Weird, huh?
What’s your hobby? Is it expensive?
Are you right-handed or left-handed? I’ve become ambidextrous by default though I might’ve grown up less stressed if my teachers had allowed me to be left handed.
