Reware Vintage Blog

A few weeks ago Dan and I went to an estate sale and found some great things, including a very old Commodore calculator. I already have a working Texas Instruments TI-1200 that I use in my office that is almost as old as me and fun to use at shows, but this cute little Commodore calculator was calling to me. It was missing a 9V battery, so I couldn’t tell if it worked, but I thought it would be worth the chance just to see if it did.

I bought it and immediately put a battery in it when we got home. I was really excited when the screen lit up and I punched in numbers. Not so much when I actually tried to do basic addition with it though – this calculator spit out nothing but incorrect sums at me. So away it went on a shelf, still cool to look at, but completely unfunctional.

I was about to throw it out a few days ago, complaining to Dan that I didn’t want to save a calculator that didn’t work, and I couldn’t think of anything to try to make out of it’s parts, when Dan had a brilliant idea (as he usually does) – make a magnet with it!

So I did. I separated the faceplate and keypad from the large backing of the calculator, and snipped some wiring away.

Then I superglued the keypad to the plate and wrapped it with a couple rubber bands to hold it all in place while it dried.

Using the superglue again I put some heavy duty magnets on the circuit board on the back and let it dry overnight. The next morning my new (super cool) magnet was ready to be placed on my filing cabinet in all it’s glory! Thanks to Dan for always thinking of something crafty to make when I can’t!

Christmas was awesome! I hoped to have finally found a Pixies or Sonic Youth record to make for Dan by request for Xmas, but alas, I couldn’t. I did find a Raiders of the Lost Ark (his favorite movie) soundtrack record, and he was quite happy about that!

My favorite X-mas presents? A USB turntable so I can first make cds out of all the poor records that meet their demise at my hands (so exciting!), and a whole nativity scene that Dan’s mother made herself in pottery class when she was in college (I was inches away from crying when she gave me that).

My stepbrother Steven, and his (now wife) Sarah finally tied the knot on Saturday, and it was a beautiful day! Well, actually the weather was kind of bad, but in every other aspect it was a beautiful day, and really great to see the family again and have some fun together. Congrats Steve and Sarah!

It was a fun and relaxing and really great holiday. I hope that yours was too!

Just realized I never posted these yet! More pics from Hope for the Holidays here.

Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to spend some money on yourself, and we’re here to help you stretch your dollar and get some rad new vintage clothing on the cheap with a super clearance sale! Check out all the new items on clearance here! (most just $5 each!)

Just sharing some Post-Christmas, Pre-New Year’s love to you all! Thanks for a great year!!

I made my own Christmas cards this year, using some vintage books I picked up at the thrift store and leftover fliers from holiday craft shows I’d done! Never having made cards before, I had a lot of fun with this and was excited by how they turned out. These were some of my favorites. Now I’ve been bitten by a new crafting bug!