Don’t trust the results!

I frequently get games popping up in adverts on my phone and sometimes they say they will measure your IQ?

I just played a game where you ‘unscrew’ bolts that hold a building together. You have to rotate the building in 3d to find the bolts, and also you have to chose the correct colours to remove so that they slot into three matching coloured holes at the top of the page.

I started and kept going to the end, when the counter for IQ got over 120 I was surprised, but as I removed the screws it kept increasing (it didn’t get more difficult). When it finally got to 600 at the end of the game my scepticism peaked!

Silly game, just a test of hand eye coordination.

Putting a bookcase together!

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

I remember fighting to put a bookcase together. We had picture instructions. Various dowels and screws and covers to go over the screw heads, shelves, and a few bits that made a sort of plinth base thing. It was white coated MDF which had white hardboard that slotted together at the back. It came with pva glue that helped hold it together.

Once we got it out of the box we got confused with how to put it together. Place part A next to part C, use dowel B to join together etc etc…  But it gets boring after a bit. You spill the glue on the destructions (as I call them), which stick together and then, disaster(ish). It sort of looks like the picture on the box, but a bit like the leaning tower of Pisa! No matter, we will try putting books on when the glue dries…

New catflap

I have had problems with my cats opening the internal kitchen door- but they never close it! A friend suggested putting a cat flap in and kindly gave me one. But the door is too thick. It has a honeycomb of cardboard inside so it’s about 2 inches deep. So the catflap I was given was only thin and left the cardboard exposed. I will donate the first catflap to a charity.

I went and bought another one which has a sleeve inside it covering over the internal structure of the door. It’s screwed and glued in place now as four of the screw holes are not accessible because of the door thickness. Now I’ve got to pursuade the cats to use it. At the moment one is but the other two are reluctant. I might have to try treats! I’m hoping this innovation will keep my home warmer.

Loose handrail

My handrail is coming off at the bottom of the stairs. I’m debating what to do. I think the plaster has crumbled under the force of me holding on to it, it has been a bit damp there so it could be that which has caused it.

Anyway I’m going to try using a strong adhesive. Possibly by glueing the rawl plugs in place first, then using it to glue the plate in place and screening up the screws back into the wall. Does this make sense? Fingers crossed!

Friends making a bench….

Two old chairs and some planks of wood. Upcycling I think it’s called? Or is it recycling…. The chairs are solid so this should work. I think she’s going to make it into a garden seat with a space in the centre for a plant pot or planter. The good thing about this is that it is recycled, so instead of hundreds of pounds this could be made from scrap out of a skip and some screws to hold it together.