“It’s amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.” — Charles F. Kettering

Today in brainstorming a blog idea, my conscience convicted me to address the title of my blog: Creative in Everything. Could I show that everyday people with everyday problems can be creative in everything?

I brainstormed the creative solutions I’ve come across over the years. Without judging their worth, because we can be creative in poor solutions, I merely report them.

How Everyday People Creatively Solve Their Everyday Problems.

1. How do you lighten the day of a passerby on your rural road? The photo says it all.

2. How do you bore your mind to overcome insomnia? Spell every word that comes into your overactive mind. You don’t have to spell the words correctly.

3. How do you keep the hall light from shining in your eyes while you watch TV in your room? Tear off a portion of the tissue box next to your recliner and wedge it between your face and the ear handle on your glasses.

4. How do you repair a snag in your fingernail when you’re paralyzed on one side? Have your son glue an emery board to an end table.

5. How do you protect 5-year-olds’ ears at a drag strip? Stuff their ears with blobs of tissue.

6. How do you manage a runny nose during allergy season? Twist two tissues and stick them up your nostrils.

7. How do you reduce headache pain? Loop a belt around your head and thread the free end through the buckle end. Then pull the free end as tight as you can, making a vice grip.

8. How do you close the trunk of your sedan when your lazy-man’s load debilitates you? Balance on one leg and lift the other high and close the trunk with your foot.

9. How do you hide the new package of cookies from your family? Put them in the dishwasher. (I’m told they’re fine after they’re forgotten and washed.)

10. How do you at age 3 entertain the neighbor’s child while your mother is occupied? Dust an entire container of baby powered over the playroom, or dump the birdseed into the dryer.

11. How do you manage a stretched-out maternity slip that won’t stay up in the store? The next time it slides down your legs step out of it and keep walking.

12. How do you remind preschoolers not to go near the river? Stick orange flags every few feet a couple of yards from the riverfront and instruct the children not to go beyond the flags. Then  watch them like a hawk.

13. How do you keep your son-in-law from juggling your fresh tomatoes you store in a bowl? Place three red rubber balls in the bowl and store your tomatoes out of sight.

14. How do you get a class of four-year-olds to listen to the story and answer questions? Tantalize them with the promise that after each correct answer, you’ll inflate more of a hippopotamus balloon that you’ll let fly after the questions are done.

These are the few I could recall in thirty minutes. So, it seems anyone can be creative anytime they see a need.

What creative everyday-life solutions have you witnessed?