Hidden Hazards of Cross Stitching

Yesterday I noticed the space bar was not working unless I tapped it rather hard and when I type, I’m zipping along and look at the screen and there’s a whole line with no spaces. Kinda hard to read. This morning, it was worse. I would have to hit the space bar several times to get it to work.

When this happens, there are usually crumbs that have been cemented by a few drops of Dr. Pepper. But since I keep my laptop downstairs and we don’t take food downstairs, I doubted it was crumbs.

I tried to pop the space bar off and couldn’t get it off and didn’t want to break it. I tried lifting a corner to see what I could see. It did have a bit of debris but I didn’t see food or anything sticky as in Dr. Pepper.

Vince came in from working outside and I took the computer up to him. He said “It’s probably crumbs and Dr. Pepper!” I said “No! I really don’t eat downstairs and I kinda checked and didn’t see anything. He tried to get the space bar off and it didn’t pop off easily so he took a business card, slid it under the space bar and tried to see if he could get anything out. He couldn’t.

He said “It doesn’t work now so I’m going to pry the space bar off. If I ruin it, I’ll order another one!” He popped the space bar off and found one little white dog hair. I said . . that’s too bad because there’s not much I can do about that. I can avoid eating around the computer but there’s dog hair on my clothes, my hands — not a lot but there’s dog hair in this house.

Vince took the computer into the breakfast room where there was more light. Guess what was causing the problem. A needle! A little cross stitch needle. Usually when I lose a needle, it’s in my chair. I get up and find it. Yesterday I couldn’t find that needle anywhere. I got the magnet and checked on the floor. I got a flashlight and checked, hoping it would shine in the light. Gone . . just couldn’t find it. At least I know where it went now and don’t have to worry about Oscar swallowing it.

Vince did get the space bar back on and it seems to be working just fine. Thanks, Vince!