That or having my arms up inside a cow’s uterus trying to turn a calf without a glove.

But I’m probably less squeamish than most – I grew up on a farm and sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I didn’t bookmark the resource I got from google unfortunately (it was largely to check that what i thought was the clutch was in fact so). Type in your car make, model and year, and “clutch adjustment”, and you’ll be surprised what exists curtesy of google’s search function.

I fixed my broken toaster oven a few months ago. When it suddenly stopped working I went online to see if it had happened to anyone else and found out what had likely gone wrong (a fuse had blown). I opened it up, cut the fuse out, put the two ends of the wire back together and it worked! I did have my husband borrow the soddering tools from work to finish but that was the easy part.

I also replaced the ceiling fan in my bedroom when I was 16. It had been sitting in our living room for a year waiting for my BIL to install it so when it got hot again I decided just to do it myself. My mother freaked out and made my BIL open it up to make sure I had done it correctly but I had

I pulled all the hardware and the mirror down, scraped what was left of the painted-over wallpaper off, and got to work with drywall joint compound. I floated the walls back to smooth and even patched up some of the gaps that the paper had concealed. Then I primed and painted it, and rehung everything.

Making walls smooth is difficult, which is why most people choose to texture them. My brother (who has done renovations like this for a living for the last decade) was incredibly impressed with my work. And I’m extremely proud of my pristine, new-looking bathroom!

Like Rrrowdy, I come from a line of mechanically capable females but seem to have taken after my decidedly un-handy father. But I’m discovering through necessity that I’m capable of more than I thought.

For example, today I took apart my Dyson vacuum cleaner to clear out a massive hairball that was cutting off the suction. Clogs seem to be the theme of my weekend.

I diagnose and fix computers on a daily basis. I’m fairly certain I can do anything that any not-professional can do, man or woman. And why not?

But that I’m not daunted doesn’t mean I’m very good at it. I had to call in help to fix my washing machine (even if the solution was fairly simple, electricity scares me). And I must admit: I could’ve done it myself, but not as good as the help did it.

What I am proud of? The screen of my iPhone broke, and I replaced and fixed it myself. I trembled all through it, but I kept thinking that if other amateurs could do it, with the help of google and solid thinking, so could I. And I did it.

I thank my father for that attitude.