DIY - Do It Yourself. This had to start after the advent of television. Before that, we did things ourselves. We made things like clothes, furniture, canned food, and anything that could be done without paying money. There wasn't surplus money for things. In fact, there was rationing after the war in many countries. So people did without many things.
But the boom of the 50s and 60s saw the advent of consumerism where DIY gave status to the common person. When I was young we sewed our clothes, canned food, made basic furniture. Those were things that people who didn't have enough money did. If we had enough money, we went out and bought most of those things. the self-worth and creativity of a person was demonstrated through their DIY . Basic DIYs were taught to children in school. They were called home-making and shop skills.
There was no DIY phrase in home-economics when I was a child in the 1950s. We passed or failed making aprons, skirts, dresses, and cooking mint peas and blanc mange.
My sense is that while DIY began in the U.S. in the 1950s, it was the 1960s counterculture with the "back to the land" movement that made it very popular in the media. It was that Whole Earth Catalog in late 1968 that cemented the self-sufficiency ethic as a prestigious movement.
The media got a hold of how to present home economics and shop as a DIY activity on steroids. I think ofThis Old House and Martha Stewart. None of us would do what Bob Villa did - all those massive renovations. But it was fun to watch Bob explain them all. Where did it go? It evolved into blogs and websites and everyday Hacks by the common man.
What insights do our DIY jokes bring? Not many, and mostly mediocre, but here are a few:
I wanted to buy some literature on DIY shelving. Sounds easy, but try going into a book store and asking if they have "any books on shelves."
I tried to build a DIY Stair Master...The instructions were only a few steps, but they went on forever.
I bought a few pieces for my DIY orchestra today - some ensemble required.
A man was doing some DIY work on his gas stove, when it all of a sudden blew up and sent him flying through his roof and up into the sky. On his way up he passed a man falling down from the sky and asked him: “Hey, you know anything about gas stoves?” The guy falling responded, “Nope, you know anything about parachutes?”
These are canna leaves. This is the time of year to find them and get abstract prints like these.
What about those DIY tricks on amateur YouTube videos. There seem to be a lot of them. Some of them are silly, others are misinformation, and a few are remarkable. There's one that made the news in the"Good News This Week" site.
Nikki Coles has stayed busy over the last two years. At the beginning of the pandemic, the 37-year-old mom of two from Essex, England, decided if she was going to be inside, she might as well do a few projects around the house. At the same time she was studying for law school, Coles began watching DIY videos on YouTube, and soon, she was upgrading each room in her house.
With her new skills, Coles recently revamped her kitchen — she retiled the floor, changed out the countertops, and applied fresh paint to the cupboards and walls, doing everything herself. She went to thrift shops and found items for free on Facebook, so it only cost her £200 ($245) to get a stylish new kitchen. "It kind of started with a little bit of tweaking here and there, and then I really got the bug," she told The Independent.
Coles is working on her final project — redecorating a bathroom — and said it "just goes to show what you can do even as a busy mom on a budget — and if I can inspire other mums in any way, shape, or form, then I'm happy."
One of the articles references the British equivalent to our Dollar Store - it is called "Poundland".
Today's picture is Millie. This seems to be her typical pose for the camera - the worried little Cavalier look.
