Dual Purposes

I love how household items can have a dual purpose.

For instance, I have used dental floss wrapped around a stubborn nail to get it out of the wall.

A good, strong wrench makes a nice hammer.

Then again, how many times have we used a butter knife as a screw driver?

Our family has used a belt as a dog leash in a pinch.

Instead of hauling out my food processor, I will pulse bread in the blender for bread crumbs.

And who hasn't used a magazine rolled up to swat at an insect?

I always make sure I grab an old one.

In the art world, dual purposes abound.

Paint brushes are used at both ends, palette knives are for glue as much as paint and paper towels-well! There's a doozy of a multi-tasker if I ever saw one.

I keep little, tiny tasting spoons from ice cream stores for glitter or glue.

Don't even get me started on a pencil....

Now this handy, dandy tool I got in my starter kit for soldering.

I have always known it to be a hemostat, used in the medical world for clamping of various things like veins, etc.

Nice.

Now, however, I use it for holding jump rings, and soldered pieces, as a soldered piece will heat up all the way through in no time at all. I use clothespins for this as well. But there is just something about a hemostat.

I found a new use for it tonight.

For the uninformed, these are rubber bands. Not just regular rubber bands, oh no. These rubber bands are about as big as the tip of an eraser (maybe). Their dual purpose on this earth is to make one's life an absolute misery.

Right now, it's Brenna's life.

And mine.

Sometimes Doug's.

Mostly mine.

They go around two braces on her bottom teeth on the teeniest, tiniest hooks you have ever seen and attach to yet another miniscule hook on a brace on one tooth on the top, both sides of her mouth, in a triangle fashion.

No. This is not Brenna's mouth. I don't know who has a child with teeth this clean and braces, but I can assure you that I don't.

NOR does Brenna's hook on her top tooth look like this. Noooooosireeee.

Hers is clear.

Mmmm-hmmm.

Special, huh?

Guess who gets to put them on and take them off right now?

Considering it took her two years to tie her shoes, that would be my job.

When your fingers get wet with saliva, the rubber bands become very slippery. Add to that the fear from Brenna that I will snap one of these puppies into her mouth which makes her jerk her head back,  and add to THAT the fact that I am going blind and need my glasses each time we do this, and add to that scenario that Brenna has the smallest mouth you have ever seen and, well, we have ourselves a little problem.

Enter the hemostats.

It was a stroke of genius, really. 

Doug and I were taking turns struggling to put the rubber bands in place last night, trading glasses back and forth and Brenna not being the most cooperative I have ever seen, when Doug said, "we need some pliers." To which Brenna howled, "NOOOOOO!"

Being the resourceful, dual-purpose person that I am, I ran into my art room and came back with the hemostats.

I think this poor kid will need therapy soon.

She was backed into the corner of the sink and the wall and I'm coming at her with hemostats in my hand saying, "No really, Brenna. I'm not going to touch your teeth, just the rubber band."

 Lord help us all.

Now, if you get an o.k. grip on these fabulous things, you don't have to snap them shut. If you can't get a good grip, or put the slightest bit of pressure on the handles, they slide together and make a "clickclickclick" sound until they lock into place. After that happened, I just slid the rubber bands around the teeny-tiny hooks and up...around the top hook and....

Hmmmmm.

Sometimes they are a tad bit hard to unlock.

I could have just left them hanging off of the rubber band until morning, when she needs the bands to come off for breakfast, but for some reason Brenna didn't want to sleep with them plastered against her cheek.

So, with a little twisting and a circular motion with my thumb, I unlocked the hemostats and Brenna fled upstairs to bed.

These (the rubber bands, not the hemostats) are SUPPOSED to be worn 24 hours a DAY, with exception of meal times.

Can you hear me laughing?

Me either. 

But maybe I can inspire someone at Vanessa's since I'm linking up for 

Inspiration Friday!

(o.k., maybe now I'm laughing...)