Living skills

My ex-boyfriend aka my husband once asked me why I love to bring a case of screwdrivers in my bag. My reason was and still the same and simple - I can use them in case of emergency. They can be used as a plastic opener, they can be used for self defense.. who knows! Of course I won't bring them outside my country (entah bila)!

This was my project yesterday - fixed an electric kettle:

It's a case of my screwdrivers, a scissors, a pliers and a knife.

This extension was ok except for this part. Buruk rupa extension ni.. simpan belakang peti ais!

This is 13 ampere 3-pin plug. Burnt badly at the source of neutral wire. The green box is my toolbox.

Close up. No.. I mean the wires and not the fridge.

I got this new plug from the extension. See the blue, green and brown wire. How did I do it? Look at the illustration below:

Illustration credit to Elektrik

I. Cut at about 4 cm of the PVC insulator (white colour). Leave behind the blue, green and brown.

II. Let out the enamel copper wire (about 0.5cm). Look at the red arrow.

III. Coil and press them separately.

IV. Unscrew the plug.

V. Put the enamel copper wire to the right terminal according to the color of the wire : 1- Brown/Black - life (L) terminal on your right. 2- Blue/Red - neutral (N) terminal on your left. 3- Green/Green+Yellow - earth (E) terminal in the middle.

VI. Screw back the plug.

Untuk info:

Wayar tiga teras berpenebat PVC beranyam benang digunakan pada perkakas elektrik yang menghasilkan haba pemanas seperti seterika, ketuhar, cerek elektrik, dan pembakar roti.

Tadaaaa.... see the light? Mission accomplished! I think everyone can do it!

You can use back your kettle without spending money to buy a new one. This is what I mean on living cheap. Ignore the look of my kettle. My kettle is a good servant, you see... about 5 years down the road. I had an automatic electrical water pot before but its life was too short. The brand? Elba. It was a door gift we got from husband's company when the co held its family day some years ago.

During school days if you can remember, we need to make a simple circuit. I really love KH (living skills) and that particular project. Another project was craftmanship. We've to make a wooden postal box and a display rack. Sewing was another project but I didn't like it much. I also took art though I was a science student. Our project was to make a table lamp by combining it with the element of arts i.e. anyaman daripada mengkuang. I was really excited!

My skills in craftmanship and fixing electrical appliances were came from the gene of my late father. He had 2 magical hands. He was a part time wooden house builder. And he even could write with both hands, could switch pen whenever he liked. I later love to sew too. I got the skills from my mom. My husband? Jangan bagi dia bertukang... abih ranap! Seriously... ada ke dia baca ni? Larriiiiiiii!!!

So, Ibu_Uwais_Ameenah.. I think you'll get some clues on what you can do when you turn to be a resident engineer. Keje SAHM ni tak pernah habis... ada je petty² matters perlu diselesaikan. Such as now I need to whitening the pretty ugly kettle!