Sherlock Mom

About a month ago, the VCR broke. I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong with it. Now I don’t really claim to know anything about electronics or other complicated machines, but I can tell if it’s not plugged in for example, or it needs new batteries ? That was not the case this time though. No matter what we did, we just couldn’t get it to accept a tape. It would just keep spitting it back out. Well finally after a week, we figured it out. Someone (Ethan) had put the soundtrack to Shrek 2 in there. Now even though I don’t know much about electronics, I do know that a VCR can’t play CD’s. So I fished it out, and the problem was solved.
Then this morning my son came to me and said “Mom, the VCR is busted again”. Well I was happy to tell him that all he had to do was take the CD out, and it would work. I knew this must have been the problem. I was so happy to have been able to solve a problem so quickly and easily. Today is going to be a good day.
Not so much. He came back about a minute later and told me there was no CD in there. So I had to go investigate. At first glance inside the machine it appeared that everything was normal. So what could be the problem? I knew that something must have been stuck in there since the VCR kept spitting tapes out just like that last time. But I couldn’t see anything in there. I just could not seem to figure it out this time. But I was determined and decided that I couldn’t give up. After all, you cannot have 3 kids and a broken VCR, that combination is lethal.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I just spent the last half hour fishing a Hot Wheels car out of the VCR. Yup, that’s right, a Hot Wheels car. It was an illusive little bugger too. It’s a black and silver car, so you can barely see it lodged in there. It kind of blends in with all the mechanical stuff inside.
Why did it take so long you ask? Well let me tell you. My 2 year old had it so creatively tucked in there, that I really though for a few minutes that I would have to actually take my VCR to a professional. But then I decided that I didn’t want to have to explain to someone how my son used it for a “gas station”, and even worse, pay for them to fix it. So I pumped myself up, got some tools-a popsicle stick and a book mark (what else would a stay at home mother of 3 use??) and I got to work. It took some doing, but I finally got it out. Now I can exhale….
Mystery solved!