After having broken another fingernail clear down to the quick, I said to myself, I need to use more tools and less brute strength. Humans are higher animals after all. And I think part of that definition is that we know how to use tools, and we have opposable thumbs.
My life is simple in some respects. For example, if I can do the job with my hands I will do so without the assistance of any gadgets or tools.
However, I couldn’t bake as happily sans gadgets. One of my favorites is parchment paper which saves me a massive amount of time in clean-up, and that two-tablespoon cookie scoop is a must have gadget for nine out of ten tasks in my kitchen.
My unused blender has been in its place in one of those high kitchen cabinets above the microwave, behind a bunch of flower vases, forever. I finally donated it and replaced it with the juicer, oft used to support my fresh lemon juice habit. The juicer had been hidden behind useful but too much clutter in the pantry closet. It was a win-win tradeoff.
These are some of the gadgets in my life. Oh, and I broke down and got another electric can opener after mine died a few years ago and we’ve since been using an ancient hand crank one in addition to a heftier new one. The arthritis in my hand makes those things of little help except as “honey-do” tasks which make me feel needy.
By some definitions, these utilitarian small appliances aren’t gadgets because they’re practical and not novelty enough. Some definitions of gadget strictly describe a more fanciful contrivance that is considered an ingenious novelty.
Popular lists of commonly used gadgets include some devices which we use all the time in our business and personal life around here. Isn’t an iPhone or android cell phone considered a normal appendage for most people? Also, few people choose not to own a television, sound system for music, computers and accompanying printers.
Our gadgets consist mainly of either kitchen helpers or outdoor maintenance tools. I really don’t think of these as gadgets. For example, the rake is ideal for gathering piles of leaves, pine cones and yard debris. However, after I’ve raked these things into a pile, my use of the rake is finished. I then pick up the piles with my arms and glove-clad hands until every pine needle and leaf are gathered for disposal. My husband always says, “why don’t you use the fork to pick those up?” a question he knows I will dismiss with my usual manual way of doing it.
A mini, battery-powered chainsaw is an indispensable gadget used for trimming the multitudinous small branches which span our property. Years ago, a kind neighbor offered his to us when we were completing the task by more manual means and since then we complete that task no other way.
In the kitchen, I try to open jars with those handy little rubber gadgets, running hot water over the lid, or with targeted banging onto a hard surface to unseal the lid from its jarred contents. If these attempts fail, I honestly move the task to the “honey-do” list. My particular honey bought a couple of jar-opening gadgets, probably to reduce his list. Only one of them works for me, but only on small bottles or jars, and I prefer the rubber thingy anyway. The second one made its way to the donation pile as neither of us could find it of any use.
I guess I’ll conclude where I began, with my fingernails. To save them, I had purchased and was given a couple of gadgets to peel off sticky labels, tape, etc. I do use these helpers on occasion, but I’m still prone to start any job with my trusty fingernails.
You see, from this gal’s point of view, a woman who was never a girly girl nor a tomboy, I’ve prided myself on the nice appearance of my hands and feet. However, over the years as years would have it, my feet have grown bunions, and my toenails injured repeatedly have become a bit of a mess.
With age, my hands have grown ever so slightly deformed from arthritis and my fingernails are somewhat more difficult to maintain, but they remain sort of pretty. So, when I break a fingernail, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s a true assault on my self-esteem. “There goes the one thing that isn’t affected by weight fluctuations!”
I know all about the glue remedy and that I can have a professional make them pretty with the aid of prosthetics, but they wouldn’t truly be mine. Maybe I see my own pretty fingernails as an achievement, dumb as that sounds.
So, I use gadgets when I need them, but I prefer using my two gloved hands. It’s as simple as that.
I think I can supply a metaphor, or is it a simile, for this preference. Even though I suffer from seasonal allergies, I refuse to stop walking outdoors all year round. The sneezing, itchy eyes, coughing, and overall stuffed up head is worth it to walk outdoors with nature all over me. The broken fingernails are worth the freedom of just working with my hand’s sans all the available gadgets which could make the job “easier.”