small things {flower power}

small things #10 ... flower power

Everybody has that thing their kids do that makes them crazy.  That thing that truly isn't a big deal, but over time (day after day after day) and through insane persistence (really?  again??), that little thing, transforms into a big deal.  A really big deal.

For me, that thing was the inability of the bathroom hand towels to stay on the rack.  Ever.  At all.  In any way.  I am quite certain that the culprit is the smallest person in this house ... but the other bigger people have been accomplices in stepping over said towels.  Which adds to my head-holding.

I thought about counting the number of times I picked those coral and green towels up off the floor.  How many times in a day would it be?  But then I decided it would probably make me cry, so I didn't.  

It's really not a big deal.  Pick the towels up and re-hang them.  And re-hang them.  And re-hang them. Suddenly I have a grumble in my re-hanging.  And a twitch in my left eye.  One more re-hang and Snap! I start growling.

I don't like to growl.  So I came up with a solution.  

Join me on my journey to less re-hanging.  Less grumbling.  Less twitching.  And less growling, too.

Upon entering the bathroom, I might find something like this:

Not technically needing to be re-hung.  But not exactly pleasing to my twitchy eye, either.  I would also like to note that this would most likely be the result of a taller and older hand-dryer ... making other bathroom users look a little bit guilty.

The towels might also be in this condition:

And a little damp, as well.

Or, perhaps this technique:

Not actually on the floor, but not nearly on the towel rack.  And still damp.

Because of the apparent increased gravity forces in our bathroom and the inability of the towels to stay hung, I often looked like this:

Oh, my head!

Or perhaps more like this:

Hang. Them. Up!

Certain that this towel trouble is not unique to our home, I did a little Pinterest search.  To my surprise, I found only two solutions and both of them required sewing.  One showed how to stitch velcro to the ends of the towel to make a loop that hung over the rod.  The other instructed how to stitch the towel into a loop resulting in the need to remove the towel rack every time a new towel is hung.  Hmm ... not what I was looking for.

I headed to JoAnn's Craft Store with a vague solution in my head.  And my fingers crossed.

I came home with these:

Giant safety pins without the little loop on the end and a package of Clip-Eez.  The flowers have a little metal clip on the back with sharp little teeth that grab.  (Even your finger if your not careful.  Ouch.)  According to the package, the little Clip-Eez, "clip onto flip-flops, slides, hair bands, jeans, scarves, bracelets, belts, jackets, handbags, shirts and so much more!"  This project fell under the "so much more."

I pulled out my trusty glue gun and assembled the pins and flowers:

A little dot of glue was all that was necessary before closing the clasp over the back of the safety pin.  (Watch your fingers ... see above.)  Once the glue cooled, they were ready to try on the towels.

I found that I needed to widen the pin a bit in order to poke through the four layers of fluffy towel, but the pins were plenty large enough to accommodate all the fabric.  I also chose to hang the towels long (with most of the towel in front and only a few inches in the back) in order to make the new situation work for my shortest hand-washer.

Now our towels look like this:

And I look like this:

Now here's hoping they don't pull the entire rack off the wall. :)

Flower power ... hand towels hung, less growling by me and I only spent $4.98 and 15 minutes.  Priceless.
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I hung the flower pins this past Saturday and I haven't re-hung a single rumpled, wrinkled towel.  And the wall is still standing.